Pet Travel to Portugal
SHORT ANSWER
Yes, and I would rather let our customers make that case than make it myself. Every week I read the reviews and stories that come in from families who have actually moved their pets to Portugal with us, and the same themes show up again and again: relief that someone else was managing the paperwork, gratitude for real-time updates during a long flight, and more than a few stories about a coordinator solving a problem the family did not even know they had. One reviewer called it "well worth the cost to have the peace of mind that professionals are taking care of everything." Another told us our team rebooked their kitties' flight overnight during an airline strike, days before the cats were set to travel, without the family having to lift a finger. That is the kind of thing that is hard to plan for on your own, and it is exactly why people choose to hire us instead of managing a Portugal move solo.
What Our Customers Actually Say About Working With Us
I do not think a company should just tell people it is good. I think the better evidence is what happens when something goes wrong and a customer tells the story afterward. Here is a review from Laurie Lawson, who relocated her dog Maggie from the United States to Portugal: "We recently used Starwood Pet Travel to manage the logistics of relocating our pet from the US to Portugal. The Starwood team made it a seamless process and managed all aspects of our pet's journey in compliance with everchanging EU regulations. I highly recommend Starwood for your pet relocation needs!" (Google review via starwoodpet.com/locations/portugal).
That phrase, "everchanging EU regulations," is worth sitting with for a second. Portugal follows the EU's non-commercial pet travel rules, and those rules are genuinely subject to updates from year to year. Laurie did not have to track any of that herself. That is the actual product we sell: someone else absorbing the regulatory tracking so a pet owner does not have to.
When a Move Does Not Go According to Plan
The review that I come back to most often is from Ben Mellerup, who moved five cats, Rusty, Bella, Bruce, George, and Sadie, from Boston to Portugal. His full review is worth reading in his own words: "We could not have been more pleased with the service provided by Starwood and the wonderful people who work for them to transport our kitties from Boston to Portugal. Our furry family members were well cared for and we received many updates with pictures and video all along their travel. Special shout out to Cassidy Ryan who had to navigate a pilot and worker strike of the airline right at the last minute when our kitties were set to leave. She worked day and night to secure a flight so that they could move with us. She also had to navigate the fact that my wife and I had to leave 11 days prior to our kitties due to a medical condition that prevents flying, so we had to take a transatlantic ship. She worked with us and our daughter, who stayed with our babies and delivered them to Boston, and was in contact with us daily with check ins and dealing with the flight issues from the strike. We highly recommend Starwood for anyone needing to transport their furry family members. The people who work for them are amazing." (Google review via starwoodpet.com/locations/portugal).
I want to be honest about why I like sharing this particular story. It is not a smooth, uneventful trip. It involves an airline strike, a family that had to split their own travel from their pets' travel due to a medical condition, and five cats instead of one. Nobody can predict an airline strike. What a family can control is who they have in their corner when one happens. Ben's family had a coordinator working nights to protect their travel dates instead of finding out about the disruption from a gate agent.
As I tell people directly when they ask me whether hiring Starwood is worth it for a Portugal move, "the reviews that stick with me are never the routine ones. They're the ones where something outside anyone's control went sideways, and our coordinator's job was to absorb that stress so the family didn't have to. That is what you are actually paying for. Not paperwork. A person who does not let a strike or a medical emergency become your pet's problem."
The Quieter Value: Updates While You Are Not There
Not every testimonial involves a crisis. A lot of what shows up in our reviews is simpler than that. Allyson Dykhuizen, who moved her dogs Royal Tenenbaum, Roosevelt, and Lord Bullington to Portugal, put it plainly: it was "WELL worth the cost to have the peace of mind that professionals are taking care of everything," especially since an international move already demands so much attention elsewhere (starwoodpet.com/locations/portugal). That is a common thread across the reviews I read. Moving your whole life to another country is already a full-time job for a few months. Handing off one major, high-stakes piece of it, safely getting your pet there, frees up bandwidth for everything else on your plate, from visas to housing to school enrollment.
We also try to make sure that peace of mind is not just a feeling but something backed by an actual system. Every pet family gets updates during travel rather than radio silence between drop-off and arrival, which is part of why the "updates with pictures and video" detail shows up in review after review. When your pet cannot tell you how the trip is going, someone else should.
Not Every Move Needs a Coordinator, and I Will Tell You That
I do not think every pet owner moving to Portugal needs to hire a relocation company, and I would rather say that plainly than oversell what we do. If you have one small, healthy, young pet, a flexible timeline, and you are comfortable managing a multi-month paperwork process yourself, plenty of people do that successfully. What tends to change the equation, based on the stories our own customers share, is exactly what shows up in Ben Mellerup's review: multiple pets traveling together, a medical situation that complicates your own travel plans, or the simple bad luck of an airline disruption landing right before your departure date. Those are the moments where having a coordinator already assigned to your move, rather than scrambling to find help after something breaks, makes the difference between a manageable delay and a real crisis.
What Other Pet Owners Say About Doing It Alone
It is also fair to look at what happens on the other side, when families handle a Portugal move without professional help. On r/PortugalExpats, one owner planning a move from the US described discovering that their dog's weight plus crate exceeded their airline's checked baggage limit, forcing them into cargo shipping quotes around $4,500, well above their moving budget, and leaving them asking Reddit strangers for "trustworthy pet shipping companies" with limited time left before their move (r/PortugalExpats). That is the kind of surprise a coordinator is meant to catch early, well before it becomes a budget crisis close to departure.
Read the Full Stories, Not Just the Ratings
If you want more than a star rating, we keep full customer stories on our site, including Maggie's trip from Seattle through Frankfurt to Porto, written from her own perspective as a dog discovering a new country one cobblestone street at a time (Maggie's Trip to Portugal). We publish these because a five-star rating tells you people were satisfied, but a full story tells you what their move actually involved, which is usually more useful when you are deciding whether a service like ours fits your own situation.
Real Testimonials from Portugal Pet Moves with Starwood
81 days ago
We recently used Starwood Pet Travel to manage the logistics of relocating our pet from the US to Portugal. The Starwood team made it a seamless process and managed all aspects of our pet's journey in...
129 days ago
We could not have been more pleased with the service provided by Starwood and the wonderful people who work for them to transport our kitties from Boston to Portugal. Our furry family members were wel...
197 days ago
Do not mess around with the safety of your pets. From beginning to end, the Starwood team was top of the line. You will still worry when your pets are away from you, which is why you need to get to kn...
225 days ago
Everything went great! Our pets were well taken care of while documents were being generated and during the move from USA to Portugal.
290 days ago
WELL worth the cost to have the peace of mind that professionals are taking care of everything! With everything else I had to worry about with our international move, it was great to know that the pet...
360 days ago
We recently moved from Seattle to Portugal. With the cost of moving, we were concerned about the cost of moving our two dogs and one cat over. More stressful was the thought of them traveling. I decid...
442 days ago
We had some very special needs and Ashley took care of everything. We are very grateful.
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Review from Laurie Lawson
81 days ago
We recently used Starwood Pet Travel to manage the logistics of relocating our pet from the US to Portugal. The Starwood team made it a seamless process and managed all aspects of our pet's journey in compliance with everchanging EU regulations. I highly recommend Starwood for your pet relocation needs!
View more reviews →Review from Ben Mellerup
129 days ago
We could not have been more pleased with the service provided by Starwood and the wonderful people who work for them to transport our kitties from Boston to Portugal. Our furry family members were well cared for and we received many updates with pictures and video all along thier travel. Special shout out to Cassidy Ryan who had to navigate a pilot and worker strike of the airline right at the last minute when our kitties were set to leave. She worked day and night to secure a flight so that they could move with us. She also had to navigate the fact that my wife and I had to leave 11 days prior to our kitties due to a medical condition that prevents flying, so we had to take a transatlantic ship. She worked with us and our daughter, who stayed with our babies and delivered them to Boston, and was in contact with us daily with check ins and dealing with the flight issues from the strike.
We highly recommend Starwood for anyone needing to transport thier furry family members. The people who work for them are amazing.
Review from Carol Peltier
197 days ago
Do not mess around with the safety of your pets. From beginning to end, the Starwood team was top of the line. You will still worry when your pets are away from you, which is why you need to get to know and trust your transport team. I was able to email and get a quick response especially during the transit time when I was worried, but Starwood kept me in the loop with every step. Moving is often filled with one issue after the other, but I wanted to make sure the issues did not relate to my cats, who were delivered to our overseas location right to our new doorstep. I cannot thank the team (Paul, Sarah, Marianna, Rita) enough. They truly treated our cats like family, and it shows in how quickly our cats are acclimating here!
View more reviews →Review from Lisa Kempke
225 days ago
Everything went great! Our pets were well taken care of while documents were being generated and during the move from USA to Portugal.
View more reviews →Review from Allyson Dykhuizen
290 days ago
WELL worth the cost to have the peace of mind that professionals are taking care of everything! With everything else I had to worry about with our international move, it was great to know that the pet move was well in hand and being managed. My nerves wouldn't have been able to handle worrying about everything on my own!My crew was well taken care of, and communication throughout the process was perfect. Would highly recommend using Starwood Pet Travel!
View more reviews →Review from Eva Juel-Medina
360 days ago
We recently moved from Seattle to Portugal. With the cost of moving, we were concerned about the cost of moving our two dogs and one cat over. More stressful was the thought of them traveling. I decided that the cost and peace of mind that everything was in order and the animals were in the best hands was worth every penny. I was not wrong. The week we left was very stressful but I never worried about my animals. Everything was ready and scheduled and I didn’t have to do any of it. Everyone on the team from start to finish was thorough with great communication so nothing was missed. From pickup to drop off everyone displayed caring for the animals and patience and understanding for the owners! I would highly recommend Starwood. They are the best.
View more reviews →Review from Andrea Rapp
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442 days ago
We had some very special needs and Ashley took care of everything. We are very grateful.
View more reviews →
Seeing Whether This Fits Your Move
If any of these stories sound like your situation, whether that is multiple pets, a tight timeline, a medical complication, or simply wanting one less thing to manage during an international move, the best next step is requesting a free quote so we can walk through what your specific move would look like. If you have questions before that, you can reach our team directly through our contact page, and our Portugal relocation page has the full collection of testimonials and stories referenced here, along with more detail on the routes we handle regularly.
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