sending luggage ahead

I really did do a "search" to try to find info on this subject because I kind of remember its being discussed in the past. Couldn't find, so:

If you've had experience doing this (with Luggage Forward or others), I'd appreciate hearing about it. As we've aged (and become more decrepit!), it's more and more difficult for us to travel, especially to haul luggage around. I looked into prices, and though the cost is fairly high, we might decide to bite the bullet (so that we don't have to bite the dust). Before I sign up, I'm hoping to hear pros and cons, especially any no-no's. I'll try to find info on other sections of CC too.

Thanks!

Poss,

I recal reading a thread mentioning this on the Crystal board, it was about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I don't think the thread was named as a luggage topic but it was mentioned by a few posters, if that's any help to you, Jean.

My family has been using Luggage Free for years. Never had a problem or had our luggage miss the ship. If departing from a European port, they usually collect our suitcases about 7 days before we board. They have a few different costs per pound, based on how close to sailing you wish to have your bags picked up.

Can't mention any No-Nos. Only time we had an issue was after our cruise ended in Copenhagen, one of our bags did not arrive back home and it turns out there was a compressed can of shaving cream that had to be taken out. Seems to vary by country on how strict they are with perfumes, aerosols etc.

Hope this helps.

Our Luggage Free shipment was just delivered today. We disembarked in Miami last Wednesday and it was delivered to our office this afternoon. This is the second voyage we used them - round trip Miami this time and previously a Tokyo/Southampton trip. Japan had weird requirements but Luggage Free was very clear with their details on what could and could not be shipped (such as OTC meds, liquids, etc) but part of that may have been due to the fact that our bags were flown to/from the ports. This time it's likely that they went by truck so we sent regular-size things like a liter of mouthwash in a sealed zip-lock bag, for example, as we were going on a long voyage. Not a problem! Agree with previous poster thT they will pick up your bags 7 or more days in advance depending on where you are and where your bags will be shipped.

My husband and used the service once and as much as the bags got to Alaska from New Jersey, I expected them to be waiting for me in my room when I got there. They took a few hours to appear and that was after I had to go complain. Since there were early, I would have thought they would be in my room on time.

I've used Luggage Free for years - both in domestic and international situations - and have not had any problems - they are good about answering emails and my cases have been picked up and delivered on time.

Same here, we have used Luggage Free and both times had our bags shipped to our pre hotel, no problems at all. We notified the hotel Concierge about our bags arriving and got emails the day they arrived and in one case they were in our room when we arrived, in the other were delivered within about 15 minutes. Worth every penny, although we don't do it very often, usually only in certain circumstances, have been very happy both times.

We've used Luggage Free and Luggage Concierge but not Luggage Forward.

Yes, it did come up on the Crystal Board and I also read some positive posts on Forward.

The positives about all three services are that you don't have to deal with taking your luggage with you to and from the ship. Yes, the service is costly.

Overall we've had good experiences but things can happen.

For example, as much good success is that we have had with Luggage Free one of our friends told us that they were getting off a ship a few months ago (not Regent) and Luggage Free didn't show up. Thankfully they were not flying home that day because it took repeated phone calls and a few hours for them to show up.

That is our only concern with any luggage service when leaving the ship. This is why for our return tips when we are leaving the ship we use whatever service the cruise company might be affiliated with so if there are any issues I can get help from the cruise line.

One other piece of advice. Each company has a different methods of pricing. One charges per pound regardless of how many suitcases whereas one of the other ones changes a flat rate based on where you are shipping the item and the size of the suitcase rather then per pound.

I would go to each of the three web sites. All the companies are good about responding to e mails and you can pretty much price it out using their web sites.

Keith

Hearty thanks to all. Lots of good feedback (including from that excellent, long thread on the Crystal board).

I've spoken to the three main companies and read through the material. Since Luggage Free seems to be Regent's preferred company, and since I like their charging on weight rather than weight and size, I plan to use their service (not sure whether it makes sense to upgrade to "premium" over "standard" service). It interested me that the Crystal connection (with Luggage Concierge, the most expensive of the three) seems to be more solid than Regent's connection with Luggage Free. I.e. many people on the Crystal board say that they like the fact that if anything goes wrong, Crystal will get engaged in resolving the problem. When I called Regent and asked that question, I was told no. (But who knows?)

poss, when we've used Luggage Free we used the premium service.

The advantage of that was that we had a two hour window for the pick up of our luggage. There could have been other benefits but that is one that sticks out with me and the added cost was small.

Keith

I really did do a "search" to try to find info on this subject because I kind of remember its being discussed in the past. Couldn't find, so:

 

If you've had experience doing this (with Luggage Forward or others), I'd appreciate hearing about it. As we've aged (and become more decrepit!), it's more and more difficult for us to travel, especially to haul luggage around. I looked into prices, and though the cost is fairly high, we might decide to bite the bullet (so that we don't have to bite the dust). Before I sign up, I'm hoping to hear pros and cons, especially any no-no's. I'll try to find info on other sections of CC too.

 

Thanks!

Greetings, poss, from South Beach. Whenever we go on cruises that originate elsewhere, we use Luggage Forward. So far, that amounts to three times. Last June, we sailed Insignia from LA for a Panama Canal transit. The luggage was aboard when we arrived. We spent several days in a hotel first. The other two cruises began in Europe, one in Rome, and the other in Barcelona. No problems either time.

We travel business class, and enjoy going to lounges with just carry-ons. The trick is packing them with everything we need for a week. So far, we manage pretty well.

Mary

We have used both luggage Free and Luggage Concierge, and the only problem we have had was with Luggage Concierge.

When we arrived to our Hotel in Hong Kong and opened my bag more than half of my clothing was gone......Luggage Concierge would do nothing for us, only fight with us. They refused to compensate us and insisted that it was looted in customs, which was their responsibility. Lucky for me Hong Kong has great shopping!

We have shipped our luggage to Hong Kong 3 or 4 times with Luggage Free and to Europe numerous times with them and have received excellent service. Our bags have always arrived earlier than the date they have given us and we have gotten an email from them upon their arrival.

We will be shipping our luggage to Hong Kong with them again this fall.

Thanks for continued comment. I've made a note to myself to telephone Luggage Free-- again, mainly because of the Regent association (weak as that may be). Keith-- I believe another advantage of premium is that they will shrink-wrap the luggage. I don't know how important that is, or even whether it's good idea.

poss. yes it is nice when they shrink warp the luggage. The biggest advantage is that it keeps it clean. They can't guarantee though that it won't be removed by the shipper. Our experience is sometimes it remains no and other times it does not.

Keith