luggage fowarding

Hi .. after searching through older threads for recommended luggage shipping services, it appears that Luggage Forward has 'reasonable' rates..

for Florida to Barcelona...75lbs...in the $450 range. Silversea was closer to $800. Has anyone used Luggage Forward recently? Any other recommendations or cautions?

Also, it was mentioned in old thread to perhaps ship to hotel vs port. Any thoughts regarding that point?

Thank you all

I used Luggage Forward on my recent Venice-to-Venice cruise on the Spirit, shipping my large bag with most of my clothes and shoes. The bag was delivered to my suite about an hour after I boarded, everything intact. I shipped the same bag back home. A Luggage Forward representative met me at the ship terminal after we disembarked and took the suitcase off my hands. It arrived at my home not much more than 24 hours after I got home -- good service.

Thank you Carolfay....

If we ship luggage, I prefer to send it to the hotel. Just me. Unless, of course, SS is paying for it!

The advantage of shipping the luggage directly to the ship is you don't have to deal with getting it from the hotel to the ship.

We have been shipping luggage to and from ships the past few years.

For us we take what we need with us in the way of luggage and just ship the rest directly to the ship.

Keith

My viewpoint, too, Keith. I didn't want to struggle with my big bag through the airport and to my overnight hotel. I carried on the plane what I'd need for the first day and a half, and somebody else got the bulk of my belongings on and off the ship for me -- nice.

Any recent reports on Luggage Free?

Thanks.

Any recent reports on Luggage Free?

 

Thanks.

Used them in August. What do you want to know?

Used them in August. What do you want to know?

I have seen your quite favorable report regarding your experience with Luggage Free on another board, Keith. Thanks for that. I would welcome additional input, if there is any out here on the SS board.

Observer, I will say one thing about them. And that is my last experience was not favorable by any means.

When things go well all is good.

When something goes wrong then that is something to be concerned with.

I have a friend who used them and they didn't show up in Shanghai to pick up their luggage at the specified time. Thankfully they were not flying home that day as they didn't show up for a few hours.

When I arrived to Serenity last month, our luggage was not there. I felt that it likely was because of three ships in port. That turned out to be correct as it showed up later in the day. However, this is what happened. It was a weekend. I called the number and it said if an emergency call x number. I did. The person who answered said hello. I said is this Luggage Free? OK, then I spoke with him and said could you verify that the luggage was delivered to the port agent? He said yes and I'll get right back to you. Great. An hour later I called again. Well he said he couldn't reach the person and sent him an e-mail. Ummm. Is that getting back to me? OK I said please followup and once you hear let me know. Well my luggage showed up but I never heard back. I had one other issue sending luggage that was with Federal Express and Customs.

Now my other experiences were good.

I have now sent them an email about the more recent one as I wasn't in a rush on that.

My point is just like when you have insurance the key is how do things work when something goes wrong.

Now I've used another company and they are not perfect either.

Keith

Observer, I will say one thing about them. And that is my last experience was not favorable by any means.

 

When things go well all is good.

 

When something goes wrong then that is something to be concerned with.

 

I have a friend who used them and they didn't show up in Shanghai to pick up their luggage at the specified time. Thankfully they were not flying home that day as they didn't show up for a few hours.

 

When I arrived to Serenity last month, our luggage was not there. I felt that it likely was because of three ships in port. That turned out to be correct as it showed up later in the day. However, this is what happened. It was a weekend. I called the number and it said if an emergency call x number. I did. The person who answered said hello. I said is this Luggage Free? OK, then I spoke with him and said could you verify that the luggage was delivered to the port agent? He said yes and I'll get right back to you. Great. An hour later I called again. Well he said he couldn't reach the person and sent him an e-mail. Ummm. Is that getting back to me? OK I said please followup and once you hear let me know. Well my luggage showed up but I never heard back. I had one other issue sending luggage that was with Federal Express and Customs.

 

Now my other experiences were good.

 

I have now sent them an email about the more recent one as I wasn't in a rush on that.

 

My point is just like when you have insurance the key is how do things work when something goes wrong.

 

Now I've used another company and they are not perfect either.

 

Keith

Oops. I did not know of your experience once arriving on the ship. I had recalled -- correctly, I hope -- your appreciation of their service when your UPS/FEDEX tag fell off your bag in transit.

There are so many moving parts in something like luggage shipment that one wants something as close to perfect as possible. :)

I used Luggage Forward on my recent Venice-to-Venice cruise on the Spirit, shipping my large bag with most of my clothes and shoes. The bag was delivered to my suite about an hour after I boarded, everything intact. I shipped the same bag back home. A Luggage Forward representative met me at the ship terminal after we disembarked and took the suitcase off my hands. It arrived at my home not much more than 24 hours after I got home -- good service.

We have been using Luggage Forward for about 5 years and have nothing but praise for them. Our neighbors used them based on our recommendation for their two past Siversea cruises with excellent results. We now use them for travel other than to cruises and will definitely use them for our two cruises on the Muse next year. We just returned from a Seabourn cruise and noticed that our bag was damaged. In the matter of a couple of hours I sent them photos of the damage and they offered a generous cash reimbursement to use for a new bag.