Dogs on the ship

[sail7seas]

I don't mean to make fun of emotional support animals, but the idea of flying pigs has me giggling.

 

I certainly mean no disrespect but that made me giggle as well. :D

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

I certainly mean no disrespect but that made me giggle as well. :D

 

 

"When pigs fly" is one of my favorite expressions.

[serendipity1499]

I can not imagine anything less relaxing than a cruise with my dog . A service dog, needed for a specific function I can understand .... but Fido? - I am my dog's service person and I would be afraid I could not deliver the quality of service ....

 

Susan

 

Love it!:D:D Brandy would be constantly shaking.. At 15 she still shakes in the car.. DH & I & Brandy too are much happier leaving her here at one of her Friends homes.. She has a ball..:)

 

"When pigs fly" is one of my favorite expressions.

 

I smile at that too..:):)

Edited August 18, 2015 by serendipity1499

[mcmarya]

Here's the service cat on the bow of the ship for the canal transit and in the hall--beautiful cat. This was from 2009, before the service animal definition clarification. Guess its cruising days are over.

Edited August 18, 2015 by mcmarya

[holacanada]

Here's the service cat on the bow of the ship for the canal transit and in the hall--beautiful cat. This was from 2009, before the service animal definition clarification. Guess its cruising days are over.

 

 

WOW ! A mini tiger ! Thank you for these pics !

 

Holacanada

Edited August 18, 2015 by holacanada

[Watson's aunt]

Hi

 

Other than service dogs I think its cruel taking a dog on a cruise. If people loved thier dogs they would leave thier dogs home and not stress them out. really dogs do not like to be moved around never mind on a cruise ship.

 

 

 

 

Mary

[GUT2407]

Hi

 

Other than service dogs I think its cruel taking a dog on a cruise. If people loved thier dogs they would leave thier dogs home and not stress them out. really dogs do not like to be moved around never mind on a cruise ship.

 

 

 

 

Mary

 

I'm not sure where you get the statement "dogs do not like to be moved around".

 

Some absolutely love it.

[DocF]

I have had several dogs that liked to move about. Fritzi, the first dachshund, loved to go on our family cruiser. She had her spot and curled up and slept. Hildie, the second dachshund, liked the boat some too. She also figured out how to get on and off and would go ashore when we hit a port.

[GUT2407]

I have had several dogs that liked to move about. Fritzi, the first dachshund, loved to go on our family cruiser. She had her spot and curled up and slept. Hildie, the second dachshund, liked the boat some too. She also figured out how to get on and off and would go ashore when we hit a port.

 

Yep one of my Dallies would go in the ca, on the back of the truck on a mates boat, sitting up high on a horse and cart, anything so long as she didn't have to walk.

 

One friend even took her up in his Cessna she loved it.

[Emerald city gal]

When doing Amazon cruise on Veendam in Sept. 2006 a lady had 2 service dachshunds with her. They were for her son but he was not on cruise! They did not seem to cause any trouble. Wonder how much they were helping from such a distance.

[JB&JLG74]

OK, this thread has hit my hot button. Let me start by saying that I am all for legitimate service animals; I have sailed with some and they are absolutely wonderful -- valuable to their owners and discreet and well behaved, never a problem. But the ADA does have a huge loophole that is being taken advantage of and needs fixing. I really wish there was some sort of a grass roots movement to lobby for change. I do not believe that the inquiry should focus on the individual -- yes, the ADA provides them privacy and I respect the confidentiality of their health information. I don't think a doctor's note or asking questions about what the animal does for its owner is the answer.

My problem is with the animal's training and qualifications (or lack thereof). I think that true service animals show be certified by an agency that is itself registered and/or licensed to train service animals and/or (to accommodate the female vet with a well trained DIY) should be able to pass some sort of a test to prove they have been properly trained. This focuses on the animal and not the individual's disability. Because in the end, it is the animal's behavior that annoys me -- if a well mannered therapy dog slips through the cracks because it can pass the test, well that doesn't really bother me.

I had the unfortunate experience of spending 78 days on the 2014 Grand Pacific and Far East voyage (on the Amsterdam) with a dog that was no more a service dog than I am (there is a thread about this). Let me say I don't blame the dog -- a dog is only as good as its owner and does what it has not been trained to stop doing.

This dog was supposed to detect changes in blood pressure. OK, but wouldn't that imply that the woman should have been with the dog at all times? But no, the Asian countries would not allow the dog off of the ship so she was going on 12 or 14 hour excursions and leaving it behind (often looked after by the front desk staff). She even did an overnight in Beijing!! So why did the dog have to eat with her at food venues and attend cooking class? The dog had a larger wardrobe than I did (rhinestone collar for formal night, Halloween costume, sailor suit, oriental suit, etc). It has portraits taken by the ship's photographer. It caused a tripping hazard because it walked with it's leash stretched out as far as it could. And it mistook the carpeted area in the elevator foyer aft of the Lido as the relief area (the owner just walked away, never even reported the accident to staff to clean up).

Of course this generated many complains and about a third of the way into the trip there was a notice put in the Daily Explorer that I found hugely insulting -- it explained that service dogs could be anywhere their owner had a right to be, that they could be any size or breed, and that they were not limited to helping the blind. As if I didn't know and appreciate this. It did not address the dog's behavior. At the Q&A sessions with officers the topic came up and the answer was that they were not going to discuss it.

I had several exchanges with guest relations after the cruise where the same stance was taken -- basically telling me about legitimate animals and not making a distinction between legit and fraudulent animals. They told me that I could inquire from their disability compliance department to find out if a service animal was booked on my cruise although the situation might change if one booked after my inquiry. I couldn't make them understand that I did not care about legit service animals and wanted to know what they would do about obviously fake animals.

As I said, I don't blame the dog. This owner was so bad that when the dog relieved itself in a park in Alaska and the guide asked the woman to clean it up her answer was that she didn't have to because the animal was a service animal. Give me a break -- I watch from my kitchen window a blind woman who cleans up if her dog does its business on my front lawn. And I have no problem with it.

Sorry for the rant -- I admit this is a hot button.

[Himself]

Oh -- I meant to say that the dog never wore a service coat/vest.

The woman was always in a wheel chair and she never wore shoes.

Both the woman and dog smelled.

 

You did smell.

they did stink!

[Himself]

I just got back from Alaska on the Statendam and noticed at least 3 "service dogs" on the ship. I don't think I have ever seen dogs on the ship before. Just wondered if this is more common now and how others felt about it. I'm not much of a fan of sitting next to a dog in the MDR.

 

I was on the same ship and I noticed the same dogs. One had a muzzle on its mouth.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I don't want to quote the long post above, but KB&JLG74, I understand how you feel. Fake service dogs are an insult to the people who put in a lot of time to train them and the dogs who provide such important service.

 

But as long as the questions that can be asked are so limited, there is nothing that can be done. Nobody at HAL would talk to you about the dog on your cruise because of privacy issues. The owner said it was a service dog and she said what it was trained to do. Sure sounds to me like she was lying. But there is no system in place to identify liars and cheats.

 

In this case, the dog was not meeting the standards for service dog, as they are supposed to be housebroken, and this woman and the dog felt they could do whatever they wanted wherever they wanted. But what could HAL do? If they said anything or tried to make her pay for cleaning, she'd say she was being discriminated against. Once again, HAL's hands are tied.

 

Maybe one thing they could do is require an extra deposit in case dogs do cause problems, like soiling carpets. I think some hotels do this. Maybe if it cost them enough money in "poop fines," the fakers would reconsider the cost of a kennel.

 

Now, the woman traveling with her son's service dogs but not her son...I'd love to know how that scenario happened.

[Himself]

The Statendam is going off line in a few months. Perhaps we can say the Statendam is "going to the dogs."

[ScriptOhio]

[Tampa Girl]

Here's the service cat on the bow of the ship for the canal transit and in the hall--beautiful cat. This was from 2009, before the service animal definition clarification. Guess its cruising days are over.

 

Oh. . . I would be so worred that it would freak out and go overboard!

[JB&JLG74]

*****

In this case, the dog was not meeting the standards for service dog, as they are supposed to be housebroken, and this woman and the dog felt they could do whatever they wanted wherever they wanted. But what could HAL do? If they said anything or tried to make her pay for cleaning, she'd say she was being discriminated against. Once again, HAL's hands are tied.

 

Maybe one thing they could do is require an extra deposit in case dogs do cause problems, like soiling carpets. I think some hotels do this. Maybe if it cost them enough money in "poop fines," the fakers would reconsider the cost of a kennel.

 

*****

You are exactly right. Just weeks before our sailing HAL was served with a disability discrimination suit by someone who claimed discrimination because she said she was delayed in boarding because of her service dog.

 

Technically, if a dog misbehaves, an establishment has the right to ask that the dog leave but must offer the service to the individual without the dog. But all that does is set them up for a discrimination claim that then must be defended. And in this case, there was no place that the dog could have been put off of the ship even if HAL had wanted to because the countries were not allowing the dog off of the ship. That is why I think that the ADA needs to be fixed. However, I think that HAL was more interested in selling expensive shore excursions as their own website said that they would not be dog sitters.

 

I'm not sure HAL can charge an extra deposit if the animal is a service animal. Maybe, I just don't know. But it would not surprise me if that practice was not allowed.

[JB&JLG74]

Under a recent settlement:

•Carnival Corp. will appoint an ADA compliance officer at the executive level, two ADA responsibility officers – one for Carnival Cruises and one for Holland America Group, which includes Holland America Line and Princess Cruises, and ADA shipboard officers for each ship who are responsible for resolving ADA-related issues that arise at sea;

This was under a lawsuit dealing with physical issues like cabins and effective communications.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-reaches-agreement-carnival-corp-over-ada-violations-carnival-cruise-line

I do hope, however, that these people also know their rights rather than just rolling over with regard to fake service dogs. I do realize that it is a loose loose situation.

[JB&JLG74]

What could HAL do? Below is the answer I ultimately received from HAL in February:

 

To ensure that pets are not allowed on board under the guise of being a service animal, we require documentation describing the specific task the service animal has been trained to perform. Further, as we are only allowed to ask if the guest has a disability and what task their animal assists with, we focus on verifying what task or work the animal provides to the guest. Once the guest has made it through this review process, they are provided with the rules, responsibilities, and issues they may experience when travelling with a service animal.

 

For on board issues, we ensure that our staff is well acquainted with standardized practices and guidance for handling our Service Animal Policy. As soon as any issues arise on board, management in our corporate office conducts a more in depth review and would make corrections as necessary. In addition, we also may consult with our Legal Department, although this depends on the severity of the case. If inappropriate behavior is determined to have occurred, we would counsel the guest with the service animal of expected and acceptable behavior, and any future requests to bring service animals on sailings may be denied. If the issues go above and beyond these steps, the guest and their service animal may be disembarked at the next port of call. In regard to your specific case, we apologize if this did not occur, but also want to state again that your feedback was presented to the management of our Access and Compliance Department for use in their review.

[ZandZ]

This isnt limited to dogs or cruise ships...

wanting to take my son to a popular Florida park, i called them today to ask if there are accomodations in place for special needs children. Specifically i wanted to bring a note re his condition to customer relations without discussing the situation as my child isnt aware of his diagnosis. I was told that a note from a doctor will not be reviewed due to HIPA regulations and all i have to say when i speak to them is that we need accomodations and a special pass (or some equivalent, cant recall the exact verbiage) will be provided. I am glad i wont have to have this discussion in front of my kid and i guess this protects his right but it also allows for anyone to walk up and get the privileges.... whatever they might be....

 

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

[Cruizer Bill]

I know some people are allergic to cats. How about dogs, are there people allergic to dogs? If so, who wins in a situation of service dog vs. allergic person matchup (especially in the MDR)?

[GUT2407]

I know some people are allergic to cats. How about dogs, are there people allergic to dogs? If so, who wins in a situation of service dog vs. allergic person matchup (especially in the MDR)?

 

Yes some people are allergic to some dogs, it is actually why they are moving many service dogs to poodles r poodle crosses, because way less people have allergies to Poodles.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I know some people are allergic to cats. How about dogs, are there people allergic to dogs? If so, who wins in a situation of service dog vs. allergic person matchup (especially in the MDR)?

 

They will sit people as far apart as possible. Dog/cat allergies tend to be close up or contact issues (like sitting on the couch after the dog has sat there). For most people with dog allergies, distance should be enough.

[JB&JLG74]

I know some people are allergic to cats. How about dogs, are there people allergic to dogs? If so, who wins in a situation of service dog vs. allergic person matchup (especially in the MDR)?

 

I think they try to accommodate both. It should be easy in the MDR as it is so large. But when push comes to shove, the service dog would win unless the allergy is so severe as to qualify as a disability (a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities).