Crossing The Atlantic on QM2 with a Dog

I’m starting this post somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  Far from any kind of dry land.   We have been at sea now for 3 full days.  Enough time for us to settle in and form some opinions on this sailing, and specifically how the experience is when you have a dog on board.  I will wait until we disembark in the UK before I finalize this review so that I can relay our entire experience from start to finish.

First, some things you should know and keep in mind when reading this.  Neither I nor my wife Amy have been on any type of cruise.  So this is our first experience on a large passenger ship.  Prior to this we hadn’t done any transits by sea other than large ferries.  Because of this I have no basis of comparison to a typical cruise ship.  I do know from my extensive research that the Queen Mary 2 (QM2 for short) is NOT designed to be a cruise ship.  She was specifically designed to cross the Atlantic as an ocean liner.  For this reason it lacks many of the over the top frills you might expect to see on a ship this size.  That is by design.

You should also be aware that the experience on board when transiting with a dog can be quite different than for a typical passenger.  I will point out these differences throughout this post.

Ok, let’s get on with it!

Mavi hanging out on the “poop deck”

BOOKING

Where to start?  A good place would probably be the beginning.  That would be the booking process.  Booking for a kennel on the QM2 is kind of like trying to get Taylor Swift tickets when they go on sale.  Ok, maybe not that bad but it is one of those things that sells out in a matter of minutes or hours.  This happens 1.5-2 years before sailing.  This is not a trip you take on a whim.  It takes a lot of planning.  

Once I decided I wanted to try and make this trip happen I had to make a few scary commitments.

1. Set a date when I was willing to walk away from my job if they did not agree to letting me take the time required to enjoy this trip.  I did not think it would come to this, but I needed to be financially prepared just in case.
2. Take the leap of faith that we wouldn’t be tied down by other life circumstances outside of your control.  Everybody has a lot of things going on in their lives.  We like to put things off until the “perfect moment”.  In reality there is rarely if ever a “perfect moment” to do something like this.  But usually you can find a way if you just make the commitment to doing it. 

The process started with contacting the ship’s operator (Cunard) way back in December 2022 and getting set up with one of their Cruise Vacation Planners.  I then explained in an email that we hoped to book a kennel on two future crossings 4-6 months apart.  The response from Cunard detailed that 2023 & 2024 were already sold out and we needed to wait for the schedule to be released for 2025/26.  In the meantime we sent details about our dog (height, weight, breed, age, etc) to help accelerate the booking process when the time came.  

Over the coming months our contact was good about keeping us apprised on when it would be time to book and how we could better our chances of obtaining a kennel.  This included picking our preferred dates and providing backups.  I tried to be as flexible as possible to give us the best chance to get a spot on the ship.  I wasn’t that concerned with trying to make it over for a specific season.  Frankly we preferred traveling outside the summer months to enjoy cooler weather and smaller crowds.  This probably helped us because when the day came on October 4, 2023 our planner went to work and was able to secure us our first choice of dates.  We had to put a total of $2,000 down in deposits to hold our reservations.  For the first time this was becoming real and we were excited!  For references here is a breakdown of the costs.  One downside of booking on the first day to get a kennel is that you are not going to get any kind of promotional discounts on your room.  There is no waiting for a sale which is usually possible for a normal passenger.  We did splurge a little and got a balcony.  I think the inside rooms were around $900 which would save some money.  Here is a breakdown of the costs:

• Outbound crossing, Aug 2025 (NYC to Southampton UK): 
• Cabin: $2,277.35 USD pp / $4,554.70 Total
• Kennel: $1,000
• Return crossing, Dec 2025 (Southampton UK to NYC): 
• Cabin: $1,898.50 USD pp / $3,797.00 Total
• Kennel: $1,000

I think our deposit was refundable as long as we canceled prior to final payment being due which is 4 months prior to sailing.  Once you pass that date the cancellation fee starts at 25% of fare and increases as the date gets closer.  The kennel fare is always refundable.  Please note that starting in 2026 I saw the kennel fee is increasing to $1,500.

As you can see, sailing your dog is a lot more expensive and complex than flying your dog.  But for us it is worth it.  To us flying a dog is scary and we would not do it for leisure.  Only if we were moving overseas and had no other choice.  With high anxiety dogs I don’t think I would ever do it under any circumstances.  

Mavi sporting his official QM2 coat. He’s not a coat guy 🙂

DOGGIE RED TAPE

Oh the paperwork!  This was the most confusing and stressful part of traveling on QM2 with our dog.  It is the same process as flying but the stakes are higher.  Usually you can catch another flight to your destination within a day or two if things go sideways with your papers.  If you miss your QM2 sailing because of paperwork issues you are really in a tough spot.  It is probably a month until the next sailing and it’s going to be sold out with dogs already on the waiting list.  We really didn’t want to be in this position with all the financial, time and emotional investment we had in this trip.

This process was probably simpler before the UK exited the European Union (commonly known as Brexit), but maybe not.  I have not done the research to confirm that.  As we are traveling in 2025 the UK has its own separate pet health forms and requirements from the EU.  Because we wanted to travel to mainland Europe with Maverick but we were disembarking in the UK we had to worry about the legal requirements for both governments.  Thankfully they are mostly the same, but trying to decipher what is needed from the information on the internet and what the cruise line supplies is extremely confusing.  I think I finally have it figured out and will try to lay it out here in detail.

Step 1: Get a USDA vet:

The first hurdle is getting the proper vet to fill out your paperwork.  This has to be a USDA (US Department of Agriculture) certified vet.  Not all vets have this certification.  Mavericks Vet did not, so we had to see a different vet.  Thankfully there was a USDA vet only minutes from our home and they were amazing.  Your USDA vet will likely be handling international travel paperwork regularly and will know the process.  You just might find they rarely if ever get a QM2 pet.  Most are flying.

Step 2: Set up an initial Appointment

Set up an initial appointment with your USDA vet so they can meet your dog and review their medical and vaccination history.  This may not be necessary if your usual vet is USDA certified.  Your dog doesn’t need any special vaccines to enter the UK or EU, but you want to make sure that any boosters that are coming up are done more than 30 days before sailing and are valid throughout your entire travel period.  They also need to be microchipped and/or have their existing microchip scanned and validated.  Don’t skip this.  Maverick was microchipped as a puppy but his chip either died or found its way out of his body which can happen.  You need that microchip!  At the end of this appointment you will set up two more appointments.  One is for the “official” USDA examination where the travel documents will be filled out and signed by the vet.  This needs to be done within 10 days of departure.  The second appointment is for a deworming pill that is required by the UK (please note, some crossings stop in the UK and continue to Hamburg Germany.  If you go directly to Germany you may not need the deworming).  The deworming has to be done between 24 and 120 hours before departure.

Step 3: USDA examination

The USDA vet will perform a quick exam and fill out the appropriate paperwork.  This is the Great Britain Health Certificate if you are sailing to the UK, or the EU Animal Health Certificate if you are sailing to Germany.  They then transmit the form electronically to the USDA for validation.  The vet will also send a prepaid UPS or Fedex overnight label to have the validated paperwork sent back prior to departure.  Yup, paper has to come via parcel service!  Hard to believe, but it is true.  

Step 4: The waiting is the hardest part 

Here’s where the stress kicks in.  We had our exam 10 days out and then sat on pins and needles for an entire week waiting for the paper to ship.  Checking the tracking number over and over.  It’s hard because if that paper doesn’t come on time you are sunk (pun intended).  After much handwringing and some sleepless nights the tracking number finally showed SHIPPED!  We celebrated with some wine and prayed that UPS did its job.  The next morning the doorbell rang and the envelope was in our hand.  We were really going to make it on the boat with Mavi!

Step 5: Deworming

One last appointment with the USDA vet was for Mav to get his deworming pill.  He got them in pill pockets so was happy to take them.  The vet filled out and signed the final section of the form and we were ready to head to New York City to grab the boat and cross the pond!  One note on the deworming pill.  It did have one side effect on Mav.  For about a day and half he was really restless and acting kind of crazy (even by his standards).  Keep that in mind if your dog takes this pill.  They might be a little gonzo for a couple of days.  Luckily it wore off before we boarded the ship.

Simple right?  I wish someone had laid it out like this for us before we got started.  It would have been really helpful.  Hopefully this helps someone doing this in the future.  

We do have two other doggie red tape items on our future agenda.  When we cross from the UK into the Netherlands about a month into our travels we need to obtain an EU Animal Health Certificate (AHC).  I found many UK vets that can do this.  I am working with one that can create one from our GB Health Certificate and then we just set up a pickup date within 10 days of departure.  They will scan the microchip and give us the AHC.  The fee is 99 british pounds (about $135 USD).  I’m in the process of booking this and will report back later on how it goes.

The second item is returning to the UK from the Netherlands to catch the QM2 home.  Our AHC obtained from the UK vet allows us re-entry into the UK for 4 months after it is issued.  The only thing we need to do is deworm again (I look forward to Maverick acting like a crazy dog again for a couple of days).  I have a vet appointment setup in the Netherlands a couple of days before our ferry back to the UK to have the deworming administered.  Again, there seems to be many vets that provide this service.  Especially near border crossings such as the Eurotunnel and Ferry terminals.

Enjoying some family time on board

BOARDING

Departure day had finally arrived!  We checked out of our hotel in Brooklyn around noon.  We stayed in the Holiday Inn Express NYC Brooklyn – Sunset Park for 27,000 IHG points.  I chose this hotel because of its proximity to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.  About a 20 minute drive.  My father was gracious enough to drive us to NY and to the terminal the next day.  As you might imagine, arranging transportation to NYC with a dog would have been difficult.  We likely would have had to rent a car and then find an Uber that would accept a dog.  The hotel also had a reasonable pet fee of $40.  Most other hotels in the area were charging $150 which is insane.  It was nothing special but included a free (but not so great) breakfast and reasonable parking rates ($34).  Our travel ferry godmother seemed to be with us on that stay because the hotel never charged us the pet fee and the parking garage charged us 34 cents instead of $34!

Drop off at the cruise terminal ended up being much easier than I expected.  We drove right up and there were porters standing by to unload our bags immediately.  It then was only a few steps to the entrance where we stood in a quick line for passport checks and security.  People were already showing interest in Maverick which ended up being a recurring theme throughout the voyage.

After security we were whisked into a private room with the other dog families.  Some dogs seemed totally fine.  Others were extremely anxious.  This made the room a bit unpredictable.  Maverick did well.  Just having an exciting day driving to the city and going out to dinner along with a hotel stay had made a dent in the newness of the situation.  This is how it usually goes with Mav.  The longer he travels the more well behaved he gets.  

In the room there was staff that were checking everyone’s doggie paperwork and we met Oliver the kennel master for the first time.  After maybe an hour of waiting we were given the green light to board with Oliver and a parade of dogs proceeded onto the ship, through fancy rooms on plush carpets, up an elegant elevator to the top deck where the kennels are located.  We were on board and ready to begin our stay on the QM2!

Mavi with his new BFF, Oliver the Kennel Master on the ship.

DEPARTURE AND DAYS AT SEA

Once we arrived in the kennels we were given a quick orientation and we handed the dogs off to the kennel staff.  At this point we were able to go find our room and settle in for a few hours before returning to the dogs.

Later that day we had our first “visit” with Maverick and the rest of the pups.  Understandably the dogs were all on edge to varying degrees.  Anxiety levels were high.  This was apparently normal for the first day or two which is not surprising.  There is not an abundance of indoor or outdoor space and we had 14 dogs and 5 cats in the kennels.  Most of the dogs did not want to do their business on the deck.  Basically you spend the beginning of the trip trying to settle the dogs down and get them comfortable with the new environment.  As you can imagine this ends up being the hardest portion of the voyage.

Eventually you settle into a routine very different from the rest of the guests on the ship.  Visiting hours in the morning are 8-12.  In the afternoon we had 4-6.  And then in the evening we had 7:30-8:30 where they opened up the adjacent larger deck for the dogs to have more exercise and other guests could visit and interact with the dogs.  So a typical day at sea for us looked like this:

8am – 9am – wakeup, eat breakfast, shower and dress

10am – 12pm – 1st puppy visit

12pm – 4pm – lunch and a little relaxation (usually this was only a 3 hour block because we lost an hour every day for time zone change

4pm – 6pm – 2nd puppy visit

6pm – 7:30pm – dinner

7:30pm – 8:30pm – 3rd puppy visit

8:30pm – maybe grab a drink if we weren’t too tired

Our days pretty much revolved around the dogs.  You want your dog outside the kennel as much as possible so it’s hard not to be there most of the time.  This leaves little time for anything else.  We found out on the first day that we couldn’t eat in the main dining room because even if you went right at 6pm when it opened it would take over an hour and a half to eat.  This would cut into the evening time when the dogs had more space to move.  Also many of the shows started at 8:15pm and that also conflicted with our evening doggy time.  Not to mention you had to dress up for the dining rooms and events after 6pm.  It doesn’t make much sense to wear nice clothes to the kennels where dogs are jumping and slobbering all over you.

Because of the dog schedule we ate most of our meals in the buffet and missed most of the entertainment.  At night we were usually exhausted which seemed impossible because it didn’t feel like we did much.  But it wasn’t just us, many of the other dog parents felt the same way.  If you decide to take a trip like this with your dog keep this in mind.  Don’t expect to be romping around the ship all day hitting activities and events.  Unless you abandon your dog that won’t be possible.

One of the coolest aspects of the crossing is the relationships you develop with the other dog families, their dogs, and the kennel staff.  Most of these people are doing something really interesting such as moving overseas or doing extended travel like us.  I think we will come home with at least a few new friends from these crossings.

Portrait of (almost) all the dog families on the ship

FACILITIES & SERVICES

As I previously mentioned we have never cruised before so we have no basis of comparison from that perspective.  The QM2 has many of the features of a cruise ship albeit toned down.  There are no waterslides, roller coasters or go karts.  The QM2 tends to cater to what we’ll call an older, more refined crowd.  I’ll run down the facilities and services that we experienced on the ship.

Food

The food on board was overall pretty good.  We ended up using room service for breakfast every day.  Each day they would leave a menu outside our door that we could fill out and leave for them to pick up before 1am.  You could choose your delivery time and pick from a selection of juices, coffee, tea, bakery items, fruit, and a main dish.  The main dishes every day were the same, an American breakfast, English breakfast, a vegan frittata, and yogurt/granola/fruit bowl.  All were good, but none amazing.  Delivery was always 10-20 min before our delivery window started so getting it late was never a problem!

We only dined in the main dining room our first night.  We arrived at 6:05pm, 5 minutes after dinner service started.  We were underdressed because we had to be at the kennels at 7:30pm.  Dinner consisted of a selection of starters, mains and desserts.  It took almost an hour and a half to get our starters and mains so we skipped dessert to get up to the kennels.  We never went back to the dining room because of the slow service and our schedule.  The food was good, I’d say better than the breakfast.

The buffet was our go to dining strategy because of all the visits to the kennels.  It had long hours and the dress was always casual.  They did a good job of rotating some of the dishes and the food was always pretty good.  However, a week of buffet food twice a day gets old pretty fast.  I wish there were more casual dining options, especially for dinner.

We did manage to make it to the pub on board for a few lunches.  This was a welcome change from the buffet.  Most of the food items offered were included in our cruise fare so there was no extra expense.  The food here was also good.  Our main complaint is that the pub is not very big and only serves food from 11:30am to 2:15pm and most days the 12-1pm didn’t exist because of the time change.  You either had to come really early or right at the end to find a seat.

The other places we visited were the cafe and the pool bar.  The cafe had decent specialty coffees which cost extra and some light dishes during lunch time.  We didn’t try any of the food here.  The pool bar was a nice place to have a drink outside when the weather was nice.  I will say that the beverage prices were very reasonable.  I was expecting to be extorted on board (we didn’t buy any drink packages) but were pleasantly surprised.  Beers & ciders were $6.50-7.00 and specialty coffees were $4.50-$5.00.  I usually pay more at home!  The selection was good as well.

Entertainment

I honestly can’t give much of a review in this area.  Our doggie schedule kept us from going to most of the events.  The entertainment was definitely targeted at the type of guest drawn to this ship.  There were a lot of lectures and the special entertainment guest on board was the English National Ballet.  Not exactly what you would find on a typical cruise ship.  There are some events I would have attended if I had the time, but there was nothing I would have gone out of the way to see on my own.  The only event we made it to was the planetarium show on board.  It was a short 30 minute show on the solar system.  It was a good little show.

Mavi taking in a sunset over the North Atlantic

DISEMBARKATION

Land ahoy!  After 7 days at sea it was finally time to disembark!  I think all the dogs and dog parents were starting to go a little crazy after nearly a week of pacing the same tiny deck space.  It’s a unique fun experience, but it definitely has an expiration date.  

We slid into Southampton harbor in the early hours of the morning.  Our day started with a 5:30am alarm as we needed to be at the kennels by 7am.  The dogs are part of the first disembarkation group.  Everyone was excited to get back on land.  After waiting around for a bit we got the call that it was time to leave.  The kennel masters guided us together as a group through the ship.  Unlike embarkation we were mixing much more with the regular passengers.  Many were happy to see the dogs, some were not impressed.  It all felt a bit chaotic going from one elevator to another, climbing down stairs, and wading through crowds.  Eventually we made it out to a large storage area where we collected our suitcases and made it outside onto the street.  Free at last, we had made it to the UK!

Luckily we did not have to go through any type of border control when exiting the ship.  Maverick’s paperwork was processed electronically while on board and our passport was checked on board as well.  We just walked off the boat and into the country.

The last thing we had to do was get to our hotel.  There were plenty of taxis and some will take dogs, you just need to ask.  We decided to walk since the weather was nice and we hadn’t been on a proper walk in a week.  Luckily we packed light enough that this was doable even with the dog.  About a half hour later we arrived at our hotel in central Southampton and amazingly got into our room right away even though it was 9:30am!  

What a week!  I hope you find this post useful if you are interested in doing the crossing with your dog.  Maybe I talked you into it, maybe I talked you out of it.  Either way, I appreciate you taking the time to read it.  I’ll be back soon to write about exploring Wales with a dog.  

Cheers!

Mavi enjoying his first patch of grass in a week