I am planning to move from Massachusetts to Alaska in November. One of my friends suggested I take the Alaska Ferry from Bellingham, WA to Haines rather than drive the AK highway which could be snowy or icy, plus sketchy gas station availability, cold, etc. in November.

From talking with the ferry people, you need to keep your dogs contained in a car or kennel for most of the journey. They told me they give us regular 'potty breaks' to walk the dogs, but I'm not real clear on where they could relieve themselves on board (I need to call and check on that).

The journey takes about 3 days, with four stops, but the first leg to Ketchikan takes about 36 hours (I need to double check the details). From there, the stops are regular enough so that I could walk the dogs in port.

Has anyone done a ferry trip like this with their dogs? Are they likely to get seasick?

I haven't booked passage yet, and I still need to call and get the lowdown on the dog situation, but was wondering first if anyone had first hand experience.

My dogs are super active, husky and shepherd. If I were driving I'd walk them every 3 hours, with one long run (1.5 hours) for every day of driving. The car for the amount of time required to travel from Washington to Alaska might be very confining. However, the trip by ferry would be beautiful with less risk of driving in icy or blizzard conditions or running out of gas- but I won't do anything that would harm my dogs.

Thoughts?

Here's a link to the pet ferry information page for those that might be interested: http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/pets.shtml

I've never been on that particular ferry trip but I do take my pups on Washington State ferries all the time. Usually there is no problem with sea sickness any more than normal carsickness, ferries however are noisy and have a moderate rumble to them. Most of my dogs sleep through it.

I don't see why this wouldn't be workable. 3 days is a long time but way less risky than driving across Canada in November when the winds really start up. It's a La Nina year so we're expecting pretty skunky weather out here.