Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
A little spinoff from our Labratour thread to be easier to find for anyone wanting to know how the whole pet-friendly cabin works. Brittany Ferries has pet-friendly cabin routes from both the UK and Ireland to France and Spain.
First of all, unless it's low season like when I travelled, book early. The routes to Spain especially sell out of pet-friendly cabins early. Cost-wise the pet-friendly cabins were twice as much as the normal cabins of the same size on my sailing, though I've read elsewhere that the prices are the same. I guess it depends on the route. Carbon and I sailed on the Connemara, with is billed as 'economy class'. Essentially this means no restaurants, entertainment or really anything else. Even wifi is a hefty up charge - EUR25 extra. So bring your own picnic, load up the movies, podcasts and Kindle and go to bed early!
All booking can be done online and is easy. There are also good resources on the website for telling you what you need to travel with your dog. All dogs need a valid passport with up to date rabies. Dogs traveling to the UK or Ireland also need a worm treatment 24 to 120 hours prior to sailing. A French vet did this for me at no charge a few days before we sailed, easy peasy. Your dog needs a muzzle that he needs to wear anytime outside of your car or your cabin.
We were told to be at the ferry terminal 90 minutes before departure. I got there 2 hours early. The extra 30 minutes was a bit silly on my part as the ferry staff show up precisely 90 minutes before sailing. I joined a queue that looked to be cars and most of those clearly had pets in them. I was happy about that as I'd get to see how it worked for others before it was my turn.
Waiting in the first queue...
The first queue is to check your booking number as well as human and pet passports. The car in front of me had two humans and four pets (three dogs and a cat!). The stack of passports they handed over was impressive. The person in the booth hands you a chip reading device and it's up to you to open your car, scan your pet and hand the chip reader back to the ferry employee. She then checks the chip number against the pet passport. Make sure to secure your dog in the car so they don't go flying out when the car door is open. Also it's helpful to know where the chip is on your dog. They can move. Brogan's had migrated to his right upper thigh by the time he was 10 years old!
By the time I watched the man in front of me go through four different pets, I had the process down and Carbon and I sailed through. Once the chip is read, you get a hangar for the car and a big green sticker identifying your car as having a pet.
So you're home free now to go get settled in your luxurious cabin? Not even close!
From the first booth, all the cars are queued up again. Pet cabin cars are put into a separate queue to the side. Now security personnel walk down the lines of cars. Each door and the trunk/boot of each car is opened by security. Again, it's important to keep your dog secure because they will open the doors. The people were nice - even petted and fussed over Carbon - but it did take quite a while to get through the security bit. Another sticker is put on your windsheild/screen once you complete the security check.
Once all cars have been through security, everyone is again waved forward to form new queues. The dog cabin cars are the last to go to the new queues, which are for human passport control. The European passport queue went fairly quickly. As an American with a German car, I confused them, so it took a bit longer for me. It didn't really matter because once through immigration, the dog cabin cars were again herded to the side and asked to wait.
All other cars, vans, trucks, etc. who weren't dog cabin cars then loaded on the ferry. Finally we got to go, yay! The dog cabin cars were directed to the very top open deck of the ship. The ramp was steep and slippery - it was a bit hair raising to be honest! But once on top there was plenty of space to park. The crew members up top seemed a bit confused as to what we were all doing there, but eventually everyone just started to get out of their cars with their luggage and dogs. There was only one flight of stairs up to the cabin deck but it was steep and outside, so also wet. They were also open tread metal stairs with a very steep drop over the side of the ship. Some of the dogs were very scared by all this, especially while wearing a muzzle. Carbon did great, but he's an old sea hand from Venice.
The whole check in process took just under two hours.
Can you spot the Tardis behind the green van?
Carbon sporting his muzzle and looking so over this whole experience...
The pet friendly cabins are accessible from the outside of the ship and pets are not allowed in any other part of the ship. There is one very narrow, very wet area for 'elimination'. There was no hose, just a trash can. The railings were more of a suggestion than any help in keeping a dog from going over. On one side it was a straight drop to the car deck and on the other a four storey drop directly overboard. No one spent much time out there, including Carbon and me. Carbon certainly didn't have a wee and frankly I didn't blame him!
Luckily the cabins were better than the outdoor pet area. Big porthole, a hot shower that actually worked and beds that were very clean if a big worn looking. I had a plan to put Carbon on one berth using this blanket and then I'd take the other, but by the time I'd put all my stuff on 'my' bed, I was already feeling seasick so just shoved Carbon over and bunked with him instead. There was actually plenty of room for a short if round human and a 30 kg Labrador.
That was pretty much it. I fed Carbon dinner, took a shower and then went to bed. Not the bed sleep I've ever had with the seasickness, but that wasn't Brittany Ferries' fault.
About 30 minutes prior to docking, we were told to leave our cabins and wait in the lounge. Of course the dog cabin people couldn't go to the lounge, so I stood with all my things plus Carbon on the outside deck. Yikes was it cold! Turns out they'd forgotten to tell the dog cabin people to just stay in their cabins until arrival in port. Oh well, no big deal - I was frozen but the views coming into Cork harbour in the dark were worth it.
The rest was easy peasy: once docked, we were allowed back into our cars, then herded out of the ferry and onto land. No further checks needed.
I don't know if I'd do it again as I was pretty miserable from the seasickness, but Carbon managed it like a champ and it did save me several days of driving!
First of all, unless it's low season like when I travelled, book early. The routes to Spain especially sell out of pet-friendly cabins early. Cost-wise the pet-friendly cabins were twice as much as the normal cabins of the same size on my sailing, though I've read elsewhere that the prices are the same. I guess it depends on the route. Carbon and I sailed on the Connemara, with is billed as 'economy class'. Essentially this means no restaurants, entertainment or really anything else. Even wifi is a hefty up charge - EUR25 extra. So bring your own picnic, load up the movies, podcasts and Kindle and go to bed early!
All booking can be done online and is easy. There are also good resources on the website for telling you what you need to travel with your dog. All dogs need a valid passport with up to date rabies. Dogs traveling to the UK or Ireland also need a worm treatment 24 to 120 hours prior to sailing. A French vet did this for me at no charge a few days before we sailed, easy peasy. Your dog needs a muzzle that he needs to wear anytime outside of your car or your cabin.
We were told to be at the ferry terminal 90 minutes before departure. I got there 2 hours early. The extra 30 minutes was a bit silly on my part as the ferry staff show up precisely 90 minutes before sailing. I joined a queue that looked to be cars and most of those clearly had pets in them. I was happy about that as I'd get to see how it worked for others before it was my turn.
Waiting in the first queue...
The first queue is to check your booking number as well as human and pet passports. The car in front of me had two humans and four pets (three dogs and a cat!). The stack of passports they handed over was impressive. The person in the booth hands you a chip reading device and it's up to you to open your car, scan your pet and hand the chip reader back to the ferry employee. She then checks the chip number against the pet passport. Make sure to secure your dog in the car so they don't go flying out when the car door is open. Also it's helpful to know where the chip is on your dog. They can move. Brogan's had migrated to his right upper thigh by the time he was 10 years old!
By the time I watched the man in front of me go through four different pets, I had the process down and Carbon and I sailed through. Once the chip is read, you get a hangar for the car and a big green sticker identifying your car as having a pet.
So you're home free now to go get settled in your luxurious cabin? Not even close!
From the first booth, all the cars are queued up again. Pet cabin cars are put into a separate queue to the side. Now security personnel walk down the lines of cars. Each door and the trunk/boot of each car is opened by security. Again, it's important to keep your dog secure because they will open the doors. The people were nice - even petted and fussed over Carbon - but it did take quite a while to get through the security bit. Another sticker is put on your windsheild/screen once you complete the security check.
Once all cars have been through security, everyone is again waved forward to form new queues. The dog cabin cars are the last to go to the new queues, which are for human passport control. The European passport queue went fairly quickly. As an American with a German car, I confused them, so it took a bit longer for me. It didn't really matter because once through immigration, the dog cabin cars were again herded to the side and asked to wait.
All other cars, vans, trucks, etc. who weren't dog cabin cars then loaded on the ferry. Finally we got to go, yay! The dog cabin cars were directed to the very top open deck of the ship. The ramp was steep and slippery - it was a bit hair raising to be honest! But once on top there was plenty of space to park. The crew members up top seemed a bit confused as to what we were all doing there, but eventually everyone just started to get out of their cars with their luggage and dogs. There was only one flight of stairs up to the cabin deck but it was steep and outside, so also wet. They were also open tread metal stairs with a very steep drop over the side of the ship. Some of the dogs were very scared by all this, especially while wearing a muzzle. Carbon did great, but he's an old sea hand from Venice.
The whole check in process took just under two hours.
Can you spot the Tardis behind the green van?
Carbon sporting his muzzle and looking so over this whole experience...
The pet friendly cabins are accessible from the outside of the ship and pets are not allowed in any other part of the ship. There is one very narrow, very wet area for 'elimination'. There was no hose, just a trash can. The railings were more of a suggestion than any help in keeping a dog from going over. On one side it was a straight drop to the car deck and on the other a four storey drop directly overboard. No one spent much time out there, including Carbon and me. Carbon certainly didn't have a wee and frankly I didn't blame him!
Luckily the cabins were better than the outdoor pet area. Big porthole, a hot shower that actually worked and beds that were very clean if a big worn looking. I had a plan to put Carbon on one berth using this blanket and then I'd take the other, but by the time I'd put all my stuff on 'my' bed, I was already feeling seasick so just shoved Carbon over and bunked with him instead. There was actually plenty of room for a short if round human and a 30 kg Labrador.
That was pretty much it. I fed Carbon dinner, took a shower and then went to bed. Not the bed sleep I've ever had with the seasickness, but that wasn't Brittany Ferries' fault.
About 30 minutes prior to docking, we were told to leave our cabins and wait in the lounge. Of course the dog cabin people couldn't go to the lounge, so I stood with all my things plus Carbon on the outside deck. Yikes was it cold! Turns out they'd forgotten to tell the dog cabin people to just stay in their cabins until arrival in port. Oh well, no big deal - I was frozen but the views coming into Cork harbour in the dark were worth it.
The rest was easy peasy: once docked, we were allowed back into our cars, then herded out of the ferry and onto land. No further checks needed.
I don't know if I'd do it again as I was pretty miserable from the seasickness, but Carbon managed it like a champ and it did save me several days of driving!
