Over summer, me and my husband decided to do a South Island road trip with our dog, Kora. We heard about the new Bluebridge ferries which now have dog friendly cabins available and knew immediately that we wanted to secure one of these instead of leaving her in the kennel or in the car during the ferry ride (we’d heard some horror stories). Since they’re still quite new, I thought I’d go over our experience to help those still deciding which option to choose when travelling between islands with their fur babies!
Booking tickets
There are only a limited number of specific dog-friendly cabins available so they can be a hot commodity, especially if you’re travelling in peak travel times/summer. In general, ferry tickets between the North and South Islands sell out pretty quickly over the summer months too, so making sure you get in early is essential. I would recommend you sign up for email notifications, which will alert you when tickets go on sale. They don’t announce in advance when tickets will be released so it’s good to be ready. For reference, in 2025 when we booked, tickets were released in April for the 2025/2026 summer period. If you’re late to the party or aren’t able to book so far in advance, cancellations do pop up every so often so it’s still worth keeping an eye out!
Cost: At time of writing a two-bedroom cabin is $89 and a four-bedroom is $109 on top of the base cost of the ticket.
Check in process
If you’ve never taken the ferry in New Zealand before, you need to arrive rather early if you have a car. You get lined up and then you have to sit and wait for an hour or two before you drive onto the ferry. Because of this, it’s good to make a plan regarding the time of day, the weather and how that works with toilet breaks and heat for your dog/s. On our first trip, it was early morning so we were able to sit in a comfortable temperature while playing some treat games with Kora in the back of the car. However our return trip was midday on a hot sunny day and even with the windows down it was stinking hot. In the Picton port there’s only one little patch of grass with shade in the immediate area that all of us with dogs were trying to share.
Boarding
Because all the dog-friendly cabins are located in the same area, it does make boarding and disembarking a little chaotic. Once you park on the ship, everyone with a dog is heading for the same entrance. If your dog doesn’t do well around other dogs, it may be best to wait in the car for everyone else to go first, as you do need to wait in line to be given your room key (and complimentary dog bowl + poo bags). At the other end, someone knocks on each door one by one to try to avoid the chaos of all dogs leaving at once.
The cabins
The cabins come in two-person or four-person options and with a max of two dogs allowed per room. Rooms come with beds, and a bedside table between the two with power sockets to charge your devices, and a shower & toilet. There’s also a communal dog area for you to take your dog out for a potty break if needed (this is just a couple of patches of fake grass). I will note that not all cabins have a window. On our trip there, we had a windowless room and on the way back, we had a window. Seems to be luck of the draw which room you get put in, since I didn’t see an option to choose when booking.
Our thoughts
We loved having the option to take our dog onto the ship with us and we’d definitely choose this option again if we were to do another South Island trip! The cost seems super decent to have the peace of mind of having your dog with you! Some other things to weigh up would be:
- How anxious your dog is (separation anxiety etc.)
- If your dog is already comfortable staying in a car or a kennel by themselves
- What time of year you’re travelling (summer heat in the car for the three hour trip may be too much)
If you’re interested in more content about New Zealand travel with a dog, I’ll be writing more posts about where we travelled and how we managed it with Kora. Feel free to sign up to my mailing list if you’d like to be notified when I make a new post or check out the other posts that I already have available!