OH NO!!! Our transatlantic crossing has been cancelled!

Dazzle and I have been planning for a few years to make the transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2, the only cruise ship that has kennels. OK, technically it is an ocean liner, in fact it's the only ocean liner in service today, but still it's the only ship with kennels. We booked the journey about a year and a half ago.

Queen Mary 2 Kennel Master with four legged passengers

We've been so excited for our planned April 30 crossing from New York City to Southampton, England that it's pretty much all I've been talking about for months. I've spent countless hours doing research and purchasing clothing, travel guides, maps, and other items for living three months abroad, and I don't even want to think about how much money I've spent. This was to be the trip of a lifetime. A dream. Bucket list.

I awoke this morning to messages on the Cruise Critic forum for my particular journey saying that today's crossing from Southampton to NYC was cancelled, leaving some 2,000+ passengers scrambling to figure out how to get to NYC.

Queen Mary 2 docked in Southampton, UK for repairs

There was much speculation as to whether our April 30 Eastbound crossing would also be cancelled, then we received the e-mail:

"We are very sorry to advise you of the cancellation of Voyage M311A from New York to Southampton on April 30, 2023. This is due to necessary technical maintenance taking place on the ship in Southampton this week.

You will receive a full refund and a Future Cruise Credit of 20% of monies paid. This will be set up automatically and will be registered to your Cunard World Club number. You will be able to use this Future Cruise Credit on any future booking booked prior to 23rd April 2025.Any shore experiences purchased for this voyage will also be fully refunded to the original payment method.

If you booked your voyage as part of a holiday package with a third party tour operator, please contact your operator regarding any gesture of goodwill.

Once again, we are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience this will cause.

Kind regards,

Cunard"

The dreaded letter cancelling our long awaited voyage.

I'd planned today to blog a bit about the requirements to get Dazzle into the UK and our progress through them. On Friday we had a vet visit for an exam and to fill out mounds of UK import paperwork. On Saturday I made the 7 hour round trip drive to Gainesville to drop off the paperwork with a prepaid Fedex label so that they could endorse it and overnight it in time for our trip. She is to be dewormed on Thursday. Now that the ball is rolling and the funds have been spent, the latest she can enter the UK without needing new documents or another deworming is May 1.

Dazzle waiting to see the veterinarian for her health exam.

USDA APHIS office in Gainesville where we dropped off our paperwork for approval

This looming deadline meant that I needed to scramble ASAP to get her into the UK, or I'd have to start the expensive and time consuming process all over. So today was spent trying to find another way to get us into the United Kingdom by May 1.

As it turns out, it is nearly impossible to get a dog into the UK on an airplane except for private jets. The only reasonable ways are the Queen Mary 2, a ferryboat from an EU country, or the Channel Tunnel. If by Chunnel, the dog can NOT travel on the Eurostar train. It seemed my only solution was to fly to France and then find a way to England on a ferry or car transport. Renting a car was not a reasonable solution as a French rental car apparently cannot be dropped off in the UK because the steering wheel is on the opposite side of the car. Or so said the rental agencies.

I already have a nonrefundable ticket on JetBlue for April 28 from Orlando to JFK, but my first thought was to just eat the cost and find a flight directly from Orlando to France. However, none of the many flights I looked at would work as they were all code sharing and that meant no pets aboard.

After spending hours waiting on hold for various airlines whose pet policies were ambiguous, I finally reached an Air France representative. As it turns out, I can still fly on JetFlue from Orlando to JFK on April 28 with the ticket I already have, then catch a nonstop Air France flight directly to Paris. The cost is astronomical, and their pet fee is a whopping $200, but what could I do? There was no way I was going to cancel my entire summer abroad. So I said "charge it" and I have a confirmed booking for Dazzle and me.

Now that getting to France was sorted it was time to find a way into the UK, and Le Pet Express seems to be the perfect solution! There are many very expensive pet transport companies, like $1,500 to go through the Chunnel, but LPE is reasonable. They charge $205 to get a pet and their parent through the Chunnel. I've also found that I can "probably" walk onto a ferry from Dieppe to Newhaven for about $60, and when I have to return to the UK from Portugal at the end of July, I will attempt to do that.

Simple solution to get a pet from France to England.

I'm emotionally exhausted from this but relieved to have an alternative plan set into place. I just keep reminding myself that at least the roof of my motorhome didn't blow off in a remote area on a North Dakota interstate. Yes, that really happened to me in 2017, but that's a story for another time.

Many thanks to my Facebook friends who were cheering me on today as I was able to change course to save our summer. I hope that you will subscribe using the form below, and feel free to share with your friends. More later! Thanks for reading,

love,

Debby and Dazzle