TNcruising02

I have always printed the free luggage tags and attached according to directions, folding and taping with a good clear tape (like a wide packing tape the post office or Walmart sells), covering all the vital information. Print as many as you want if you like putting more than one tag on as a previous poster stated. We have never lost any of these tags before or after a cruise and have to cut them off before the next trip. Paper is a lot stronger than you think when it's folded. I also put our name, address, phone numbers inside the luggage for identification purposes just in case.

I've done the same thing. I print out the tags and lay them flat. Then I put the large clear packing tape on both sides (just like laminating). Then I fold it over a handle and use the clear packing tape to secure both sides together. It will not come off unless it's cut off.

Thanks for posting the video. It was nice to watch. My husband and I are cruising on the Harmony later this year and it was great to see the ship from a passenger's perspective.

Seven days. :D

Has anyone done this on the Getaway? What time did you line up? What time were you off of the ship? We have done this on two other cruise lines and found the process very easy.

Our port is in Miami. Thanks.

I went on a Carnival cruise in June and the laundry facilities were fine. There weren't any clothes all over the place. The only thing was that the change machine was out of coins, so I had to go to guest services. Other than that, doing laundry on the ship was uneventful. It took 30 minutes to wash the cloths. Then I divided them up into two dryers for 30 minutes.

I think everyone has different things that they do on vacation. Some people like to spend an hour to do a load of laundry in order to pack less and have fresh clothes. Other people enjoy things like dressing up on formal night. I have zero interest in dressing up on formal night, but can respect that many people love that part of the cruise. If they did away with formal night, I wouldn't care.

I think I will just pack enough so that I don't have to worry about washing clothes since it would do no good to have the bag of laundry returned to me at the end of my trip. I usually wear two outfits a day. One during the day because we work out in the morning, then I change in the evening.

The $28 wouldn't be that bad if:

 

1) The bag wasn't made of thin paper and rips easily when you try to stuff it.

 

2) They do a very poor job -- much inferior to when you pay per item (though they don't tell you this when they run the specials.)

 

 

As someone else said, it's like they just rinsed your clothes with no detergent. That's how they came out looking and smelling when I did it on my last cruise.

 

This time around, I will preemptively complain (that is, about the prior time) and ask them to ensure that my clothes are properly washed. I'll report back to see if this works. I have a feeling that they just overstuff the machines when these promos run, because so many people are taking advantage of it at the same time, and they have no other way to get it done on time.

Those things would bother me too. Before I read this thread, I thought all ships had self-laundry. I know it's not a big deal to people who never do laundry while on vacation, but I can definitely relate to the people who do since that is what our family usually does too.

I wanted to post an update about the transportation.

We used the hotel's shuttle to get from the airport to the hotel. That worked out well.

For our Carnival cruise we purchased Faster to the Fun Passes. The only perks that I noticed were boarding the ship before the general population, getting into a special line at guest services, getting off of the ship before the general population, and our room being ready as soon as we got on the ship. Those perks were worth it to our family. Our luggage did not get to our room any sooner though.

Since we had the Faster to the Fun Passes, we were able to meet in a dining room at 7:30 with all of our luggage. They let the frequent cruisers get off of the ship first and then the Faster to the Fun people. We were on the bus by 8:00 am, but it took almost 40 minutes for the bus to fill up. We headed to the airport at 8:40 and stopped at the other airport first.

We still made it in plenty of time for our flight with hours to spare. Self disembarking works well for people who have early flights.

It's disappointing to find out that there is no self service laundry on NCL. I've only been on two cruises before and both ships had it. We cruised on Disney and Carnival. There weren't any fights in the laundry areas. Nobody left clothes unattended for hours. On my last cruise, about five people came in to see if the machines were available, so it looks like there are quite a few people who use them.

We usually pack light and do laundry once during our vacations. It is good to know that NCL at least offers a fill-your-bag service because there is no way I would ever pay their price-per-item fees. My husband and I will definitely pack with this in mind. It just seems like if Carnival and Disney can make it work without mass destruction and mayhem, then NCL could too. I think it's definitely a way for them to make more money, which is their choice.

I am excited about our cruise though. The Getaway looks like an amazing ship. Honestly, I would rather pay them $28 to wash my clothes. I just hope the schedule works and the laundry bag will hold what we need washed.

Thanks everyone! Since I had already paid for non-refundable airline tickets I will just hope for the best.

We are flying in the night before the cruise leaves, so at least there is no stress for my arrival. We're excited about staying near the beach. Since we arrive early, we will be able to have plenty of time to explore the area.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with the other posters here. A 1:10 departure from IAH will be difficult to make. If cannot change your flights to Hobby, can you at least change to a later flight from IAH? I would opt for something no earlier than 3:00 pm. Here's a couple of good reasons why this would be best:

 

• Your ship arrives in Galveston at 8:00am, I believe. In our experience, the earliest debarkations usually don't begin until 830 at best. First off the ship will be Diamond, Platinum, FTTF, and Self-Assist passengers. After that, you are called by your pre-assigned zone number. Not knowing your situation, I can't tell you what time you can expect to be off the ship, but I feel that it's unlikely it will be before 9:30 or 10:00.
  
• Once you are off the ship, you will proceed into the terminal to collect luggage (if you did not carry it off yourself), and proceed through customs. Here's where it can get bogged down. The operations at the Galveston cruise terminal are unpredictable. Congestion builds up quickly and frequently. And the porters and dock workers are union. They do not work for Carnival. And as dock workers union members, they are subject to union guidelines and restrictions when it comes to working hours, breaks and lunches. They can be forced to take lunch breaks right in the height of the debarkation process, and Carnival cannot do anything about it. We experienced this on the Magic on March 2 of this year. The terminal backed up so far that we did not get off the ship until 1130.
  

Look at our history below, and you will see that we have sailed out of Galveston quite a number of times. More than once, we have experienced some stressful and uncomfortable debarkations. Experience has taught us to plan ahead for any possible situation at Galveston. Of course, we are close enough to the port that we can drive and don't have to worry about catching flights. But the principle is still the same: you have just wrapped up by what will have been an enjoyable and memorable cruise aboard a beautiful ship. Why put yourself in a situation where the last thing you remember about your cruise is the stress of worrying if you will catch your flight. I urge you to look at all of your options. Feel free to throw your questions out here . . . and on the Galveston page on the Home Ports threads. We will do our best to offer suggestions.

We aren't going to put our suitcases outside of our room the night before. If Carnival is like Disney, you can keep your suitcases and take them yourself at 7 am to disembark early. We were literally on the Disney bus by 7:15.

Wow, it sounds like it's hard to get off of a ship in that port. We cruised on Disney and we were off in less than 15 minutes. I guess Carnival self-disembarkment takes a lot longer!

What I ended up doing is calling Carnival back and talking to customer service. She said that they guarantee flights leaving after 1:30. Our flight leaves at 1:10. That's only a 20 minute difference, so I will take the risk. She said that if I removed the flight information, I can book the transportation with them. I need to show my itinerary to customer service at some point during my cruise. I figured this made a lot more sense than booking other transportation when I have no idea when I will get off of the ship. We will carry our luggage ourselves and disembark as soon as we can.

With Disney, they had buses waiting and loaded them up fast and then we were off to the airport. Maybe that experience isn't realistic on other cruise ships.

The problem is that I already booked my tickets. I guess I just figured it would take the same amount of time to get from Galveston to IAH as it did from Port Canaveral to Orlando. We got off of the ship at 7:10 and were at the airport before 9:30. I definitely shouldn't assume.

We are cruising on the Magic at the end of June. I booked our flights, thinking that 1:10 pm (flying home) would be a safe time. However, when I went to enter the flight on the Carnival website I got an error. I called and they said that they only accept flights out after 1:30. I had to cancel my transportation with Carnival and need to find another way to get to the airport.

I have a couple of questions:

We are flying in the night before our cruise, does anybody have a shuttle service that they recommend getting from IAH to a hotel at the port (Country Inn)?

When we get back from our cruise and need to leave the ship, can we show up at the exit at 7 am with our luggage? That's what we did for our Disney cruise and we were at the Orlando airport before 9:30.

What time should I tell transportation to meet us to take us to the airport? This seems like a tough one since I don't know how fast we will be able to get off of the ship.

Thanks! I thought that since I had been on a cruise before, everything would be the same. Different cruise line, different port, different rules.