Question about large dog transport

[Andrea J.]

from AQUAMAN aka John

here goes.................
I was thinking of posting an enquiry to see if anyone has info on passenger berths on cargo ships to Aruba from Miami or other East Coast ports. I need to know this for the future as we are looking at taking down our large pedigree Irish Setter

[lizzardo]

Andrea -

I will tell you it took over a month for our container to arrive in Miami. I'm not sure how many crew are on these ship and you would have to make special
arrangements to have him fed. Plus it it really hot on the ship. Don't know
where he would do his 'business'.....

I know that our vet did give us a special letter for our pets in cargo saying that they were allowed to fly in weather up to 91 degrees. But going from Aruba to Miami they actually asked us about our cats so the pilot could set up the cargo area for them.

I had people fly to Vancouver with a cat but that was in the plane. But I will tell you that a lot of airport hotels do allow pets.

Have him PM me if he wants more details....

[Arubalisa]

Originally Posted by lizzardo

Don't know
where he would do his 'business'.....

On cruise ships, (service) dogs use 4' x 4' OR x 3' box filled with sod, cypress mulch, wood shavings or paper pellets...

[aquaman]

Thanks for the responses so far. To clarify, we would not send the dog as cargo. We are looking to obtain passenger berths for ourselves as well and accompany the dog. I know that there are many container/cargo ships that offer this. My question was whether anyone has used such transportation to get to Aruba by sea from the East Coast of America. There are several businesses representing this form of travel, but I have yet to find one for Aruba. See: http://thetravelersnotebook.com/how-...by-cargo-ship/

Any info appreciated

A

[Chadd]

It might be easier to get your dog certified as a service dog and then make arrangements to fly with him. It wouldn't be easy but may be better than a month on a cargo ship.

[lizzardo]

John,

Why can't you just fly him with you in the cargo section? Most airlines
allow large carriers.

I can also get you in touch with some dog rescue people on the
island who know all the ins and outs of this.

[aquaman]

Hi Liz,

We checked with several airlines. It turns out that there is a Federal law governing this from what we were told by the airlines. If the temperature at either the departure or arrival airport is 86 (or expected to be) the airlines cannot take the dog. ( You may want to check what happened yesterday with American Airlines and the 7 pups that died from heat
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100805/...e_dead_puppies )

I have emailed 2 companies who represent shipping companies who have passenger accomodation on container ships. Should be interesting to see what they respond with. I am told there is a weekly ship from Miami direct and it takes about a week. Not sure about passenger accomodation though. There is also a ship that goes via Jamaica but takes longer

[Karen Lutzker]

Possibly getting your dog certified as a service dog might be the way to go if at all possible. Twice we have seen dogs as large as yours with a person that seemed to have sight problems lay in front of owners feet in the bulk head row.

[Andrea J.]

john in an email told me his dog was too stupid to be a service dog.
that being said, i think service dog status is the way to go.
stupid or not (and i have a real stupid pooch) i would at least research that service dog info.

[luvsun]

John, we are also going to be bringing two large dogs. We thought about the cruise but then thought it would be so much longer for the dogs to be confined than a 5 hour flight out of Chicago. The direct flight we are looking at leaves very early in the morning 6:00 and gets into Aruba around 2:00. The women I talked to didn't think there would a problem with temp. .. Maybe we could charter a flight!! ;~)
But if you get any good info from the cruise people could you forward it on to me, I'd appreciate it. Our dogs are 107 lbs. and 90 lbs.
As far as service dogs.....one could be...the other??? Maybe the one could be a service dog for the other one?! ha