tnygroves Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 Hi all, I am new to motorhoming and live in N Ireland. I transit through The Republic of Ireland to Wales via Rosslare-Fishguard. The journey by ferry is 3.5 hours. Can you please advise me what I need to do to keep my dog comfortable on the ferry journey. TIA :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 tnygroves - 2020-05-19 2:03 PM Can you please advise me what I need to do to keep my dog comfortable on the ferry journey. TIA :-D Just get it used to being left alone in motorhome we brought home a friends JR he'd never been in our van or really knew us but was happy enough Ros / Ply 9 hrs gave us a look that said WF do you 2 want when we woke him in morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g7eor Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 My std poodle is quite happy to stay in the van traveling to and from Jersey .We put a very small bowl of water for her to drink and ask if we can go down to the car deck to check on her. You have to be escorted to the car deck whilst the ferry is at sea. The crossing is about 8 hours on the slow ferry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roccobay Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Oh, we seem to be on the same boat here. We hope to travel to Northern Ireland with our Cavalier in May. We travelled in the summer from Cairnryan to Larne and she had to stay in the car which was a bit of a worry, but as it was only an hour long sailing it was manageable. Getting spill proof dog bowl was a great idea. We are from the south of England so had to break our journey up. I have heard that there are some crossings (from Liverpool?) where your dog stays up in a kennel area and can be walked about. Has anyone tried this and can give me any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtravel Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 On some ferries, I don't remember if in Scandinavia or from/to Ireland, I saw that some ferries provide quite big dog cages on the passenger decks. This possibility should be checked with the individual ferry companies. Given the limited availability of places, I imagine that an advanced reservation is necessary. Max Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Roccobay - 2021-03-12 9:58 AM Oh, we seem to be on the same boat here. We hope to travel to Northern Ireland with our Cavalier in May. We travelled in the summer from Cairnryan to Larne and she had to stay in the car which was a bit of a worry, but as it was only an hour long sailing it was manageable. Getting spill proof dog bowl was a great idea. We are from the south of England so had to break our journey up. I have heard that there are some crossings (from Liverpool?) where your dog stays up in a kennel area and can be walked about. Has anyone tried this and can give me any advice? We had a bad experience crossing Portsmouth to Bilbao with our dog in the ferry’s kennels; she really didn’t like it - mainly because another dog was howling all the time. Kennels we’re just cramped stainless steel cages in a row , one row above another. Exercise was on the lead on a small area or nearby open deck which was also the only toiletting opportunity. We couldn’t get a pet friendly cabin, despite booking 12 months ahead. Never again. We’ve since always stuck to short crossings, where the dog stays in the MH, which she copes with perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weldted Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 If you have travelled a lot in your van with your dog, they will be used to the van, if you give them a good walk before the trip I am sure that will be quite happy in the van against in strange kennel. Most times when we returned to our van after a ferry crossing their bed is always warm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpyman Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Hi we have travelled to and from the Republic via Dublin to Holyhead with our dog using the Jonathan Swift Ferry which is very fast only takes two hours. The cost is slightly higher but well worth it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curdle Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 People should be aware that the Brittany ferry to Santander on their new ferry has no kennel space and the only way to transport a pet is to book a "pet friendly" cabin. These in my experience are in extremely short supply. Disabled and also have a pet? Drive to Spain seems your only option, no such thing as a a disabled AND pet friendly cabin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roccobay Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 Oh, we seem to be on the same boat here. We hope to travel to Northern Ireland with our Cavalier in May. We travelled in the summer from Cairnryan to Larne and she had to stay in the car which was a bit of a worry, but as it was only an hour long sailing it was manageable. Getting spill proof dog bowl was a great idea. We are from the south of England so had to break our journey up. I have heard that there are some crossings (from Liverpool?) where your dog stays up in a kennel area and can be walked about. Has anyone tried this and can give me any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 We have taken labradors on long Spanish crossing using the kennels, also to Ireland and also up to Shetland. To Ireland, Pembroke to Rosslare is only 4 hours so she stayed in the Moho. Being a Labrador she was quite relaxed and no problem Aberdeen to Shetland is 12 hours so we put her in a kennel. Went down with a crew member ( Kennel on vehicle deck) after a few hours to see if she wanted a wee but, with no grass it was no dice, she just looked at me in disgust. We calculate that with time before the ferry and finding grass after we unloaded she waited 15 hours. This was our last lab, about 13 years old and she was fine but when we did find grass it was a very very long wee! Have taken our current lab, 2 yrs old, twice on the 4 1/2 hour Oban to Barra ferry, she stayed in Moho in her crate and as far as I can tell slept through the whole proceedings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roccobay Posted April 27, 2021 Share Posted April 27, 2021 We've always traveled with our dogs. At present we have a 12 yr old golden retriever and a young Czechoslovakian Wolfdog . Since we've been used to large trailers we're not sure how we'll deal with both of them in our B. May have to leave the older dog at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted April 27, 2021 Share Posted April 27, 2021 Hi You can book different size kennels. We have always booked the largest to give our labs plenty of space. The only problem we ever had was on a very rough crossing and she was sea sick, like quite a few of the passengers! Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fifo Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 curdle - 2021-03-12 8:12 PM People should be aware that the Brittany ferry to Santander on their new ferry has no kennel space and the only way to transport a pet is to book a "pet friendly" cabin. These in my experience are in extremely short supply. Disabled and also have a pet? Drive to Spain seems your only option, no such thing as a a disabled AND pet friendly cabin. There are both kennels and pet friendly cabins on the Galicia ( ie the new BF ferry ) on both crossings to Spain and France https://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/ships/cruise-ferries/galicia/pets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curdle Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Fifo - 2021-04-29 4:35 AM There are both kennels and pet friendly cabins on the Galicia ( ie the new BF ferry ) on both crossings to Spain and France https://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/ships/cruise-ferries/galicia/pets Not for cats, dogs only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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