First cruise with husband's service dog

[Island gecko]

Good day everyone! I know this topic has been covered but I'm wanting to get more specifics. In October my husband will receive his first service dog for his service connected disability. We love cruising and due to the virus we had to reschedule our dream cruise to Alaska. Now we will be sharing our cabin with an extra companion! While we are excited about this addition after 2 years of waiting, I want to make sure it is as seamless as possible for them. Our boat is the Carnival Miracle and it will be a 11 day sail. My husband's disability will still allow him to be away from his dog for a limited time so some excursions, such as the helicopter tour, the service dog will be staying grounded. We were told that is fine as long as he is crated. I've spoke with his service dog provider and received tons of support from their end, just looking for tips and tricks to help them be more comfortable and things go smoothly. Do I need to get a suit(mid shize to large dog)? Do I need to bring anything special? We will be training him on the litter and box to get him comfortable with it but what else was a surprise? I assure you the dog is properly trained and not an emotional support animal so he will not be eating in public or sitting on any of the furniture,  all the proper etiquette will be followed! Thank you in advance!!

[1025cruise]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. There is a thread in this forum all about service dogs. You might want to peruse it.

[Island gecko]

26 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic. There is a thread in this forum all about service dogs. You might want to peruse it.

Thank you! I've read most of them. Looking for specifics with this ship and destination.  Some of the boards were lengthy and got in to more foreign spots. 

[chengkp75]

I know that most specially trained service dogs are trained to only defecate on command, and some are trained also to only go on a specific material.  Not sure if you are planning on training to a specific material (you mention litter (cat?)) or not, but I would say that this can cause some issues.  I was on one cruise when the head office did not give us the usual week's notice of a service dog, only a couple of days, and no details of the dog's requirements, so we filled the litter box with shredded newsprint.  Well, the poor dog was trained only to go on cat litter, so it had an uncomfortable night until we could get to the next port and get to WalMart to buy litter.

 

We also had an issue when a seeing-eye dog's owner got too far away in the pool, and the dog decided to jump into the pool.  This, of course, initiated a draining and cleaning of the pool.

 

Was it the cruise line that approved you leaving the dog crated while you go ashore for the day?  I'm surprised, as most do not allow the dog to be left unattended.

 

A dog life vest is also something you might consider.  A non-collapsible crate will make it a struggle in a normal size cabin.

[Island gecko]

Thank you for the response! Carnival let me know the brand of litter they are using and we will be working on that. The agency we are getting his dog from is already working on making sure he's comfortable on multiple surfaces for that very reason. 

 

A professionally trained service dog should never do something like jump in a pool. I hope the owner didn't follow!! Thats a really scary thought that a blind person could be lead in the water!! The dog will be on leash at all times and under control. 

 

The cruise line explained that as long as it was not left out and unattended it could be. We want my husband to experience all Alaska offers and there's some stuff unsafe for the dog. I've spoke to three different people in the department regarding it so hopefully no issues. 

Life jacket for this guy isn't needed. We live on an island so he is trained to be very comfortable on all surfaces! Thank you again for your input!

[chengkp75]

10 minutes ago, Island gecko said:

A professionally trained service dog should never do something like jump in a pool. I hope the owner didn't follow!! Thats a really scary thought that a blind person could be lead in the water!! The dog will be on leash at all times and under control.

No, the visually impaired person was swimming in the pool, and the dog apparently got nervous and followed.

11 minutes ago, Island gecko said:

Life jacket for this guy isn't needed. We live on an island so he is trained to be very comfortable on all surfaces! Thank you again for your input!

Life jacket would be in case the unthinkable happened and you had to abandon ship.

[Island gecko]

Oh! Gottcha! That makes more sense. We are lucky we are getting him in october and the cruise is next August. We will be training him in different situations so we make sure he's clear on his place. We live where it's hot year around so we've specifically asked for training with pools and such. Most dogs wont have that extensive training on it. I'll check in to the vest. It will be handy here at home when the dog is on the boat with us too. You always want to be prepared! Thanks again!

[Mabbiez]

On 6/17/2020 at 7:47 AM, Island gecko said:

Oh! Gottcha! That makes more sense. We are lucky we are getting him in october and the cruise is next August. We will be training him in different situations so we make sure he's clear on his place. We live where it's hot year around so we've specifically asked for training with pools and such. Most dogs wont have that extensive training on it. I'll check in to the vest. It will be handy here at home when the dog is on the boat with us too. You always want to be prepared! Thanks again!

 

They make some super cute life vests for dogs. I have one for my dog that looks like a pink mermaid tail. 

[Island gecko]

That's awesome! I already have his bow ties for formal nights. This has been such a long process I just want it to go smoothly.  2 years on a waiting list for a specialized dog is hard but we can't wait to get my husband some help!

[ShipsandDipper]

On 6/15/2020 at 8:12 AM, Island gecko said:

We were told that is fine as long as he is crated. 

 

On 6/17/2020 at 4:39 AM, chengkp75 said:

Was it the cruise line that approved you leaving the dog crated while you go ashore for the day?  I'm surprised, as most do not allow the dog to be left unattended.

 

 

On 6/17/2020 at 5:27 AM, Island gecko said:

The cruise line explained that as long as it was not left out and unattended it could be. We want my husband to experience all Alaska offers and there's some stuff unsafe for the dog. I've spoke to three different people in the department regarding it so hopefully no issues. 

 

Please, please think through all scenarios before you leave your dog crated and unattended in your cabin while you go ashore.  Things don't always go according to plan.  What if you miss the ship?  What if there is an emergency on land (like the earthquake in New Zealand) or on board the ship while it's docked (like the fire aboard the Oceania Insignia while it was docked in St. Lucia)?  You might not be able to get back to the dog.

 

I would not leave any living animal, particularly one as precious as a service dog, crated and alone on the ship while I went ashore, no matter what the cruise line might allow.  

Edited June 25, 2020 by ShipsandDipper

[Island gecko]

That's awesome! I already have his bow ties for formal nights. This has been such a long process I just want it to go smoothly.  2 years on a waiting list for a specialized dog is hard but we can't wait to get my husband some help!

[Island gecko]

Great points!! We are looking at companies that can accommodate them and do some big stuff. 

[DUTRAVEL]

20 hours ago, ShipsandDipper said:

I would not leave any living animal, particularly one as precious as a service dog, crated and alone on the ship while I went ashore, no matter what the cruise line might allow.  

You make some very good points. Everyone has a different comfort level, but I would never ever leave my service dog alone on the ship. What if one of you had an accident or medical emergency while onshore? Two years ago, we were in Hilo when there was a 6.9 earthquake, luckily there was no tsunami or the ship would have left port before we could get back. Last year, when there were fires on Maui a Celebrity ship had to move to a different docking location and guests who were on shore excursions had to be bused to the new location and could not re-board the ship until very late that night. You can never predict what might happen.

[Island gecko]

Thank you!

[notentirelynormal]

 

I am very surprised by your comment of being allowed to leave the dog alone in a crate on or off the ship.  I was told by several different people from Princess that I was NEVER allowed to leave the dog alone in the cabin.  I couldn't even go to dinner without her.  I was told that if the dog couldn't go on the shore excursion then someone would have to remain on board and stay with the dog - period - no exceptions.  I can't imagine that a CCL ship has different restrictions on this issue just because it is Carnival over Princess. 

 

That is one of the many reasons for choosing not to bring my dog.  I, for one, am having a terrible problem of finding the requirements just for bringing her to Europe.  I mean, what do I do if I get there and can't bring her into England and then each individual port. 

 

But my second issue was tours and being able to take her with me on them.  Some of my private ones had to "check with the tour operator" and were then going to charge me an additional 150 Euros for cleaning afterwards. I can understand charging me for this however, if I can't bring the dog on tours and I can't leave her on the ship alone then my only choice is for someone to have to miss the port.  Bringing a cart was never a suggestion for leaving the dog alone.

 

Please double check on this.  It would be a shame if you find out while on the cruise that you can't leave the dog alone requiring one or both of you to miss excursions.

 

[Island gecko]

Hi there!! Just an update... because we got so much conflicting info from not only this group but the cruiseline itself, we've decided to cruise without his service dog. Because he is for mobility and retrieval I will just do what I've been doing all these years and help. There were 3 of the excursions that we would not have took him on and we did not want to miss out. Luckily the company that provided my husband with the dog will keep him while we are gone. This way we don't worry about him learning bad habits from just a sitter or boarder. We are looking in to shorter cruises with less adventurous excursions to try with him but this one is just a bit too much for him. Thanks for all the info!!