Seeing eye dogs on Princess...should I cancel?

I cannot speak for the rules which apply to seeing eye dogs but I know that
the contract that my daughter signed with NEADS when she was paired with
Heidi, her hearing dog, is specific in that Heidi has to go wherever Danni
goes.

When we cruised the Panama Canal in 2001 there were two other dogs on board,
Idaho, a seeing eye dog, and Ross, an"assistive" dog, whose job it was to
pull his master's wheelchair.

Heidi and Idaho got along. They used to meet in the afternoon after lunch
on the Sports Deck and play, supervised by us, but the people with Ross
never wanted to mingle and thus we avoided them as much as possible.
--
DG in Cherry Hill, NJ
ojunk


"Meredith Dixon" wrote in message
...
On 31 Aug 2004 19:27:39 GMT, ando (RTCReferee) wrote:

I have cruised and dined with blind people before, but they did not bring
their
dogs along. They got along just fine with their cane and their loved one
with
them, including on shore excursions.... Based on that experience, I
tend to feel that for most blind people, the service animals are not
REQUIRED
on vacation if they have a traveling companion with them, though I
realize they
would miss their dog.

You might just as well say that, because you have met farsighted people
who can
read the newspaper perfectly well with a magnifying glass, most farsighted
people
have no reason to take their prescription reading glasses with them on a
trip,
just a magnifying glass -- though of course they would miss their glasses.

Some blind people do manage perfectly well with canes. Others are far
more mobile
with the help of their dogs. Moreover, people who are used to working
with dogs
are often rusty at cane use. It depends entirely on the individual's
skills and
limitations.



--
Meredith Dixon
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For victims and survivors of bullying.
And for those who want to help.


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"Danni" wrote:

I wonder if there is not some violation of the ADA happening here. It's
an Alaska cruise. I'm wondering whether Princess notified the blind
passengers
that they wanted to identify them to other passengers.

That part bothers me. Pointing out a specific group traveling to the rest
of the passengers. Offering money back so that one doesn't have to travel
with "them".

I've cruised with the blind before (on Sitmar, which was bought out by
Princess), and was OF COURSE not notified. But there were no dogs with the
blind people.
It's not the blind people that are the reason for the notification, but that
there is a group of dogs assisting them. Surely you "see" the difference.

The earlier cruise (May 26) was Alaska, the upcoming cruise (October 16) is to
Mexico.

Jeff Coudriet wrote:

I kinda wondered about the veracity of that as well...."Hi, this is
Princess, we have 300 African Americans sailing on your sailing" or
whatever. Can't imagine Princess would have called other passengers and
offered them a full refund for what, 10-20 blind people.
Hmmmmm....doesn't seem to pass the smell test somehow.

You are wondering about the truthfulness of the statement?

By the OP?
By Princess?
By me after calling Princess?

Veracity means truthfulness . I assure you the statement about the October 16
cruise that the OP made is truthful, because I checked it out myself.

As to the rest of your statement, it is just ridiculous.

It is OBVIOUSLY related to the DOGS on the cruise, not on their blind owners.

linsifer wrote:

Guide Dogs for the Blind use a lot of Labrador Retrievers, Goldens and a
mix of these two breeds, bred for gentleness, temperament and soundness. They
breed their own dogs. Both breeds are the best!

http://www.guidedog.org/index.html

Thank you for posting that link. I'm sure the dogs are great. I am normally
opposed to eugenics, but breeding for this very important purpose is something
I can get behind, albeit not with a pooper scooper.

On 31 Aug 2004 19:27:39 GMT in rec.travel.cruises,
ando (RTCReferee) wrote:

Based on that experience, I
tend to feel that for most blind people, the service animals are not REQUIRED
on vacation if they have a traveling companion with them, though I realize they
would miss their dog.

unless you were blind, how the hell would you know, you selfish
twit?

In article , Danni
wrote:

I wonder if there is not some violation of the ADA happening here. It's an
Alaska cruise. I'm wondering whether Princess notified the blind passengers
that they wanted to identify them to other passengers.

Even if the ADA could be applied I would guess it would only be a
violation if they did not allow the guide dogs on the cruise.

If as Ref says they are letting people know because there are those
allergic and those with a fear of dogs, offhand it sounds reasonable to
notify passengers there will be a lare group of dogs onboard. You have
to wonder if there was some incident that brought about this policy as
it does seem unusual for a cruise line notify passengers.

--
Charles

"Danni" wrote in message ...

I wonder if there is not some violation of the ADA happening here. It's an
Alaska cruise. I'm wondering whether Princess notified the blind passengers
that they wanted to identify them to other passengers.

That part bothers me. Pointing out a specific group traveling to the rest
of the passengers. Offering money back so that one doesn't have to travel
with "them".

I think the "them" here is more the dogs than the blind people. If
dogs weren't involved, I don't think the OP would be deciding whether
or not to cancel the cruise, AND, I doubt Princess would have alerted
the other passengers that there would be eleven blind people on the
ship if they weren't travelling with dogs.

It could be absolutely miserable to cruise with dogs if you are highly
allergic or scared to death. Fortunately, I'm neither, so ther
presence wouldn't bother me a bit. But, I do know folks who simply
can't breath when they're around pet dander. Don't you think tith's
fair that they know that they'll be entering a potentially hostile
environment and let them make a decision about it based on their own
health and phobia issues?

Lee

Lee Lindquist wrote:

I suppose that's a compliment, but even then, I care little what fake
people with fake names have to say.

Interesting, coming from one who posts using a fake email address to one who
posts a real one, n'est ce pas?

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 16:16:39 -0400, clint wrote:

Why would a blind person go on a cruise?

To not see the sea.

There was a guide dog on the cruise we took on the Norwegian Wind to
Alaska. For the first two days dog was one of the major attractions
aboard ship. Iit's owner said it was bred to be hypo-allergenic.
After that it just blended into the background and was, to the best of
my knowledge, never a problem.

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