Animals travelling Cunard

[Rob Lightbody]

What a brilliant topic, I'm loving it    Reminds me why this site exists.

[Andy Holloway]

In the days when QE2 carried vehicles for passengers, we regularly had US & Canadian - but mainly US - forces personnel returning back to the US after completing their postings in Europe.

Some had dogs & cats with them that were 'quartered' in the kennels, even a cockatoo once, but one that sticks in my mind was a family whose children had their 'smaller' pets with them - 2 gerbils and a hamster!

Although they had declared them on their booking form they wanted to know if the pets could remain with the children during the voyage.
I was approached by the lady i/c embarkation, who just happened to be the wife of the Agent, and asked if i could help. "I can't make that decision myself but i know the man who can."
So off i went to speak to one Mr John Duffy, John said as far as he was concerned it was OK but just to clear it with Housekeeping, from a hygiene and cleanliness point of view. HK were happy so i returned to the terminal to pass on the 'good news' to the children, who were exceedingly happy.
On arrival into NY the pets were duly declared to USPH who checked them over and allowed the family to proceed on their way 'home'.
Lots of 'brownie points' for Cunard & QE2.

 

[Willum]

Ref the dog kennels, that logo could be just clip-art but might have been drawn by a Security petty officer known as 'Darky' who was a good cartoonist. His drawings were signed 'Arky' and regularly appeared in the ships newspaper. Another dog kennel related story was a variation on the 'go to the technical stores for a long stand' trick played on the novice employees. " Theres a message for you, call 311 and ask for Mr Barker "  ----
"Hello Dog Kennels" "Can I speak to Mr Barker please?"