wanderlust58

We use Luggage Free regularly both for shipping luggage to the ship and sending it home from the arrival port because we don't need cruise wear as we tour wherever after the cruise. Every time it has been waiting for us in our stateroom when boarding. We just used it April 3 when we arrived in Southampton. They literally picked it up mere steps from the door leaving the terminal. It arrived, as promised, at my sister's a week later. Not cheap but totally worth not having to schlep it around for weeks after the cruise.I'll use it again in November for our TA leaving from Rome so I don't have to carry it before our departure too. When you call, ask if they have any new customer or other specials on. Sometimes they do.

Sorry this happened to you. What a horrible experience. I think that staff personalities , levels of compassion and competence vary widely, as they would anywhere else. Of course that’s not an excuse. The service stank. Our story is that 6 years ago, on our honeymoon no less, my husband began hemorrhaging as we approached Tenerife. We spent 3 hours trying to keep him from dying until they were able to stretcher him off the ship to a waiting ambulance. Looking back , I suppose I should be grateful they at least called for it. Several pints of blood and plasma and surgery and 3 days in hospital, he survived. On our way out the door, I handed the nurse a scrap of paper (with a phone number) and asked her to deliver it to guest relations. I asked them to call our private tour operator to explain why we weren’t coming. They couldn’t manage to do that and he and the group waited for us shipside , cutting us some slack, thinking we were late for another reason. Luckily, I saw the guide on the way to the ambulance and managed to explain. He, and the crowd waiting for us showed infinitely more compassion and help. Horrible experience for us and 1 hour cut from their excursion because the nurse and guest relations couldn’t manage a phone call. Happy ending- the guide contacted me after that day and offered a private version of the excursion once he could leave the hospital. We took it.

After the cruise is booked (on board for me), I transfer it to my travel agent. She's invaluable in keeping everything under control and I don't have to worry at all.

I don't have any experience with this, but I get lots of emails from Azamara offering reduced prices for solo travelers. The most recent said "Solo clients pay as low as 125% and 150% of stateroom fares."

In a word, no. They don't mind at all. Order away!

Yes, you can ship luggage from home directly to the ship or vice versa. For this TA Luggage Free will pick it up at Southampton and deliver it to my sister while we are in England. Haven't decided yet about the November TA. If anything, I'll use it to ship our bag home from TPA since it will be the day before Thanksgiving. You still have to do your own check-in for the flight, though.

Since I wasn't helpful in suggesting Luggage Free, perhaps someone can explain what exactly Luggage Valet is/was.

JLS07, Have you had any recent cruises on Royal Caribbean? If so, how do you compare your recent experiences on Celebrity with RC? I'm assuming/hoping that Silversea isn't having these problems (yet). Have you had any recent Silversea experiences?

We haven't used this service, but we have used Luggage Free several times and have been very happy with it. Each time, our suitcase has been waiting for us in our stateroom when we boarded. On our upcoming TA, we'll be shipping it back to the US at the port. We'll spend a few weeks in England and I didn't want to schlep around a bunch of inappropriate clothes for our casual follow-on journey. And, they'll pick it up at our disembarkation; we don't even have to take it anywhere.

I've asked, without problem, to have the fridge emptied before our cruise. I travel with medication that needs to be refrigerated, and I'm always able to stick it in there immediately upon arrival. They've also frozen my blue ice and delivered it to me on disembarkation morning.