Cruising With A Service Dog....everything You Ever Wanted To Know!

[wizard-of-roz]

We made our airline and hotel reservations last week for our Alaska cruise in August. Even got the bulkhead seats for both flights. Now we wait and hope the airline doesn't change the flight times. I like them the times they are now. And now we wait!!

 

Have you ever been bounced out of bulk-head? I was told they're "first come first served!"

My kids can't travel in August because of Basketball practice. My Granddaughter is on the Varsity Girls Basketball team and if she misses any practices she has to sit on the bench. They can only vacation in June or July.

Edited January 19, 2016 by wizard-of-roz

[Insuregal]

Been meaning to tell you all about the tornados that came through Sarasota on the weekend and killed two people.

 

Raylene started vigorously trying to wake me up around 3 a.m., but we thought it was just the thunder and lightning spooking her and I told her it was OK, to go back to bed.

 

But she kept pacing much more than usual in storms, all around our bed over & over, until I finally got up, went into the bathroom and took her with me for some comfort-petting. Then she went right back to bed. I know she was warning me - WAKE UP AND MOVE - because it coincided with the timing of a fast-moving tornado that came ashore on Siesta Key a few miles north, as we learned the next day.

 

 

Chris, do you have civil defense sirens in your area that also sound when severe weather is threatening? Is there any possibility that Raylene might have heard the sirens in addition to the tornado itself? We have these at the two elementary schools less than a mile from our house. Gibson never seems to notice them, but he isn't a hearing dog, just a regular old service dog. So glad you folks are safe!

Thanks,

Beckie

[DisneyKidsDad]

Have you ever been bounced out of bulk-head? I was told they're "first come first served!"

My kids can't travel in August because of Basketball practice. My Granddaughter is on the Varsity Girls Basketball team and if she misses any practices she has to sit on the bench. They can only vacation in June or July.

 

We have never been bounced out of the bulkhead seats. We have bounced other people out of them though. I have a confirmation with the seat numbers on it. Those are my seats! We always get to the airport early because of the wheelchair and Orson. Sorry you guys can't join us in August. It would have been a hoot!!

[DUTRAVEL]

We have never been bounced out of the bulkhead seats. We have bounced other people out of them though. I have a confirmation with the seat numbers on it. Those are my seats! We always get to the airport early because of the wheelchair and Orson. Sorry you guys can't join us in August. It would have been a hoot!!

 

What airline are you flying? I have found that Southwest and JetBlue have decent leg room in the bulkhead. We were on Lufthansa and the bulkhead had very little room, no way we could have had a dog there.

 

We are taking our first flight with my service dog Henri next week to Las Vegas on JetBlue and I have had good luck with them assigning a bulkhead seat. I am trying to figure out which airline we should use to fly to Vancouver for our Alaskan cruise.

 

Dianne

[DisneyKidsDad]

What airline are you flying? I have found that Southwest and JetBlue have decent leg room in the bulkhead. We were on Lufthansa and the bulkhead had very little room, no way we could have had a dog there.

 

We are taking our first flight with my service dog Henri next week to Las Vegas on JetBlue and I have had good luck with them assigning a bulkhead seat. I am trying to figure out which airline we should use to fly to Vancouver for our Alaskan cruise.

 

Dianne

 

We are flying Air Canada to Vancouver. We used them once before for the same flight and they worked out very well. It says they have room for a bassinet in front of the seats. We have confirmed seats for both flights.

[Caribbean Chris]

Chris, do you have civil defense sirens in your area that also sound when severe weather is threatening? Is there any possibility that Raylene might have heard the sirens in addition to the tornado itself? We have these at the two elementary schools less than a mile from our house. Gibson never seems to notice them, but he isn't a hearing dog, just a regular old service dog. So glad you folks are safe!

Thanks,

Beckie

 

No, we don't have sirens, and it was discussed in the Sarasota newspaper after the tornados. The consensus was that people should be sure their smart phone settings haven't been accidentally turned off - the built-in alert's noise woke up a lot of the people interviewed - and keep their phones by the bed during anticipated storms. There's also a NOAA box sold at Walmart ($10-15) that apparently does the same alert.

[frecgenswl82]

What airline are you flying? I have found that Southwest and JetBlue have decent leg room in the bulkhead. We were on Lufthansa and the bulkhead had very little room, no way we could have had a dog there.

 

We are taking our first flight with my service dog Henri next week to Las Vegas on JetBlue and I have had good luck with them assigning a bulkhead seat. I am trying to figure out which airline we should use to fly to Vancouver for our Alaskan cruise.

 

Dianne

 

Dianne would Alaska airlines work for your flight. In my area they have lots of flights to Seattle and beyond. Susan

[rangeley]

Anyone been on American with their SD? We always fly Jetblue so I'm alittle nervous.

[S.S. Cruisers]

My beautiful niece works for Jet Blue! :D

[Algebralovr]

No, we don't have sirens, and it was discussed in the Sarasota newspaper after the tornados. The consensus was that people should be sure their smart phone settings haven't been accidentally turned off - the built-in alert's noise woke up a lot of the people interviewed - and keep their phones by the bed during anticipated storms. There's also a NOAA box sold at Walmart ($10-15) that apparently does the same alert.

 

I used to have a NOAA radio but I finally got rid of it. It would go off at every single thunderstorm, and we get a lot of them.

 

Now, I depend on my cell phone. I signed up with a service from the TV station to text me when there is a Tornado in my county.

 

Some counties also have a service that will call you when a tornado alert is up for your county. In my case, the university will call and text when there is a tornado alert.

[fairbourne]

Hello and a belated welcome to all our new friends - lovely photos of Duncan, a good solid Scottish name if ever there was one! We were greeted by a very young Newfoundland (mind you he was the size of a shetland pony!) in St John's, Newfoundland, along with his labrador pal and their human Tourist board peeps - a few years ago now when we arrived on a cruise ship. As we had been on board for a few days sailing across the Atlantic, we were over-joyed to see the dogs and have the opportunity for some doggy cuddles as by then we were missing our two labs. I can tell you they brought a smile to most of the passengers on our ship!

 

I thought you might like to catch up on how "our" Bonnie is doing. She's quite the young lady now and is feisty, confident, smart but is still working hard on all sorts of commands which she is picking up but is quite easily distracted, so we are working on that. We also are working very hard at walking on the lead as she's doing the crab shuffle and has tripped me up a few times - DKD you will know how that goes! So it's just patience, patience and practise, practise, practise and more patience! :rolleyes: How is Sutter doing?

 

Aruba continues to be the gorgeous, gentle girl we all know well, but is teaching Bonnie some baaaaad habits - stealing shoes, dish towels off the kitchen rack, re-organising the fire wood stack - what can I say! They are great pals though! And very, very funny when they get up to their antics - its hard not to laugh!

 

We are taking Bonnie in to meet her sponsors this weekend - they are all looking forward to meeting her, so it will be exciting for us to take her in.

 

I found out the other day that the house we lived in before we moved to our current home was flooded in the storm we had just after New Year. That brought it home to me as I always wondered if the river would burst its banks there, it did occasionally, but nothing like this and certainly never came near the houses. Apparently the water came rushing in torrents into the houses in the space of about 5 minutes with over 4 feet of water - some people are going to be out of their homes for up to a year! I know it doesn't sound like a lot compared to some flooding and awful weather around the world, but we have never seen anything like this in these areas in living memory!

 

I have to log in every time I make a new post. Host Walt, is there something I can do so I don't have to re-log in every time I make a new post? I've read the sticky and cleared cookies etc., but still the same. Any help would be appreciated - thanks!:)

 

[fairbourne]

Best of Pals!

 

 

[fairbourne]

Gang of Four

 

 

[DisneyKidsDad]

Hello and a belated welcome to all our new friends - lovely photos of Duncan, a good solid Scottish name if ever there was one! We were greeted by a very young Newfoundland (mind you he was the size of a shetland pony!) in St John's, Newfoundland, along with his labrador pal and their human Tourist board peeps - a few years ago now when we arrived on a cruise ship. As we had been on board for a few days sailing across the Atlantic, we were over-joyed to see the dogs and have the opportunity for some doggy cuddles as by then we were missing our two labs. I can tell you they brought a smile to most of the passengers on our ship!

 

I thought you might like to catch up on how "our" Bonnie is doing. She's quite the young lady now and is feisty, confident, smart but is still working hard on all sorts of commands which she is picking up but is quite easily distracted, so we are working on that. We also are working very hard at walking on the lead as she's doing the crab shuffle and has tripped me up a few times - DKD you will know how that goes! So it's just patience, patience and practise, practise, practise and more patience! :rolleyes: How is Sutter doing?

 

Aruba continues to be the gorgeous, gentle girl we all know well, but is teaching Bonnie some baaaaad habits - stealing shoes, dish towels off the kitchen rack, re-organising the fire wood stack - what can I say! They are great pals though! And very, very funny when they get up to their antics - its hard not to laugh!

 

We are taking Bonnie in to meet her sponsors this weekend - they are all looking forward to meeting her, so it will be exciting for us to take her in.

 

I found out the other day that the house we lived in before we moved to our current home was flooded in the storm we had just after New Year. That brought it home to me as I always wondered if the river would burst its banks there, it did occasionally, but nothing like this and certainly never came near the houses. Apparently the water came rushing in torrents into the houses in the space of about 5 minutes with over 4 feet of water - some people are going to be out of their homes for up to a year! I know it doesn't sound like a lot compared to some flooding and awful weather around the world, but we have never seen anything like this in these areas in living memory!

 

I have to log in every time I make a new post. Host Walt, is there something I can do so I don't have to re-log in every time I make a new post? I've read the sticky and cleared cookies etc., but still the same. Any help would be appreciated - thanks!:)

 

 

Nice to hear from you fairbourne. Bonnie is a real looker and Aruba is as cute as ever. Sutter is doing very well. He is just over 8 months old. He has no fear of anything and is always exploring new sounds. Who knows, maybe he wants to be a hearing dog. He is in his glory this week. We are watching Milani until Tuesday. She is a 6 month old Golden/Lab cross that another puppy raiser is raising. They went away and we volunteered to watch her. It is non-stop play with Sutter around here. They will surely miss each other. Other than that we are hunkering down for the snow that is coming on Saturday. Nobody will commit to how much we will be getting. Anywhere from 3 to 18 inches is predicted. I'm hoping for rain.

[Hoover]

The ship may ask you to have certain papers for your dog. If there are special titer testing or extra rabies vaccines, etc. You can tell them that you will be meeting the ships criteria to board the ship but you will not be getting off in Tortola and will NOT have any paperwork required by that port.

 

Good Afternoon,

 

I myself would be not comfortable not completing the port requirements for all cruise stops. I asked Celebrity about not doing the paperwork for island visits that we were not going to plan on visiting.

They strongly discourage me from doing this for 2 main reasons. If we had to leave the cruise for an emergency or health crisis then if we did not have the paperwork for my service dog for the island we had to get off on then my service dog would not be able to go with me.

The other reason was if the ship had to be evacuated for any reason and if I did not have the paperwork Duncan could not come with me. For my peace of mi d I will do the paperwork for all islands.

 

I sent a text to Bonaire customs about service dog paperwork , they need a current license 1 yr rabies vaccine and a microchip that is the new longer numbers 11 or 15 I believe.

 

I did join the IAADP organization yesterday, I paid for 2 yrs and they join me for 3 years. I can't wait to get my paperwork so I can utilise some of the benefits.

 

Bye, Duncan & his mom

[Caribbean Chris]

Good Afternoon,...

 

I sent a text to Bonaire customs about service dog paperwork , they need a current license 1 yr rabies vaccine and a microchip that is the new longer numbers 11 or 15 I believe....

 

Bye, Duncan & his mom

 

Right you are, Duncan's mom!...I kept typing "ISO 10-digit chip" in my posts the other day but it is 15 digits....a mental block or something.

Edited January 21, 2016 by Caribbean Chris

[wizard-of-roz]

Gang of Four

 

 

 

Whoever said that all Labs look alike have not seen this group. I love their different faces. They really make me smile. :p Such joyful, wonderful dogs!

 

I'm sorry about your old home flooding, that's very sad. Water can be so destructive!

 

I'm also having to log in every time with the longest numeric password in the world. Come on Walt, where are you?

[wizard-of-roz]

Nice to hear from you fairbourne. Bonnie is a real looker and Aruba is as cute as ever. Sutter is doing very well. He is just over 8 months old. He has no fear of anything and is always exploring new sounds. Who knows, maybe he wants to be a hearing dog. He is in his glory this week. We are watching Milani until Tuesday. She is a 6 month old Golden/Lab cross that another puppy raiser is raising. They went away and we volunteered to watch her. It is non-stop play with Sutter around here. They will surely miss each other. Other than that we are hunkering down for the snow that is coming on Saturday. Nobody will commit to how much we will be getting. Anywhere from 3 to 18 inches is predicted. I'm hoping for rain.

 

We're hearing about your upcoming snow on all our news channels. I hope it's not as bad as they say. We're getting rain, here and there but nothing like they thought it was going to be!

 

I hope all of you on the Eastern side of our country stay safe, please!

[wizard-of-roz]

Good Afternoon,

 

I myself would be not comfortable not completing the port requirements for all cruise stops. I asked Celebrity about not doing the paperwork for island visits that we were not going to plan on visiting.

They strongly discourage me from doing this for 2 main reasons. If we had to leave the cruise for an emergency or health crisis then if we did not have the paperwork for my service dog for the island we had to get off on then my service dog would not be able to go with me.

The other reason was if the ship had to be evacuated for any reason and if I did not have the paperwork Duncan could not come with me. For my peace of mi d I will do the paperwork for all islands.

 

I sent a text to Bonaire customs about service dog paperwork , they need a current license 1 yr rabies vaccine and a microchip that is the new longer numbers 11 or 15 I believe.

 

I did join the IAADP organization yesterday, I paid for 2 yrs and they join me for 3 years. I can't wait to get my paperwork so I can utilise some of the benefits.

 

Bye, Duncan & his mom

 

I absolutely understand how you feel. I would NEVER want to be separated from my dog! You must do what feels right for you. I'm glad that you are such a responsible dog handler.

[fairbourne]

Nice to hear from you fairbourne. Bonnie is a real looker and Aruba is as cute as ever. Sutter is doing very well. He is just over 8 months old. He has no fear of anything and is always exploring new sounds. Who knows, maybe he wants to be a hearing dog. He is in his glory this week. We are watching Milani until Tuesday. She is a 6 month old Golden/Lab cross that another puppy raiser is raising. They went away and we volunteered to watch her. It is non-stop play with Sutter around here. They will surely miss each other. Other than that we are hunkering down for the snow that is coming on Saturday. Nobody will commit to how much we will be getting. Anywhere from 3 to 18 inches is predicted. I'm hoping for rain.

 

 

DKD. - I just love all the "new" stages of this puppy walking for the pups, everything is exciting and new for them - I imagine Sutter IS having great fun. Gosh you reminded me of my late Mum when you wrote Sutter "is in his glory", that was a phrase I haven't heard for a while! :) But it's a great phrase, isn't it?

 

Anyways keep safe, I've just seen the news reports - my dawgness! And please don't send it our way! ;)

 

We've only recently started naming storms in the UK, people can choose the names, I've no idea how or why but that's something I think has come from the U.S.

 

Wanted to ask, anyone live near Miami or Port Canavaral? Passing through (on a cruise ship of course!) this year and just thought it might be fun to meet up.

[Caribbean Chris]

DKD. - I just love all the "new" stages of this puppy walking for the pups, everything is exciting and new for them - I imagine Sutter IS having great fun. Gosh you reminded me of my late Mum when you wrote Sutter "is in his glory", that was a phrase I haven't heard for a while! :) But it's a great phrase, isn't it?

 

Anyways keep safe, I've just seen the news reports - my dawgness! And please don't send it our way! ;)

 

We've only recently started naming storms in the UK, people can choose the names, I've no idea how or why but that's something I think has come from the U.S.

 

Wanted to ask, anyone live near Miami or Port Canavaral? Passing through (on a cruise ship of course!) this year and just thought it might be fun to meet up.

 

Loved the photos of the Fearless Four! Such beautiful pups. I have my hands full with one - you and Mr. Fairbourne have my admiration for being Puppy Walkers.

 

Wish we were closer to Miami - but if your ship ever comes into or sails out of Tampa, we're on! Only an hour's drive to the Port from our house.

[Caribbean Chris]

Hi Chris, Thanks for your input.

...Duncan will have to get a new chip implanted as he has the US version which is not accepted, I cringe, it is so brutal having the implant.

 

I've read in several sources that an option if your dog does not have an ISO 15 digit chip is to carry your own chip scanner so you could demonstrate as needed that the dog matches the chip number on the form 7001.

 

I found and ordered a scanner on Amazon this week called the Halo for $80. Much less expensive than most, which are $250 or more. Also cheaper than having the dog chipped again. Reviews seem good, but I will post my experience with it when it arrives.

[Hoover]

I've read in several sources that an option if your dog does not have an ISO 15 digit chip is to carry your own chip scanner so you could demonstrate as needed that the dog matches the chip number on the form 7001.

 

I found and ordered a scanner on Amazon this week called the Halo for $80. Much less expensive than most, which are $250 or more. Also cheaper than having the dog chipped again. Reviews seem good, but I will post my experience with it when it arrives.

 

 

Oh please let us know. I HATE the thought of having to do that to Duncan again.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

[alexspepa]

Hey Chris!

 

It's cold and icy and wet in the old home state!

 

Keith

[Caribbean Chris]

Hey Chris!

 

It's cold and icy and wet in the old home state!

 

Keith

 

I know! ...my poor nephew is freezing while holding the fort - the rest of the family on Grand Cayman enjoying sunshine.

 

Stay warm, and most important, stay safe when you are on the roads.