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Supporting the local economy


WholeNewWorld
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I'm starting to get very excited for my world cruise! (Oceania) I have planned/budgeted to support the local economy heavily, but I'm not sure how to store or get my goodies home. Have any of you shipped items home from a cruise?

Any thoughts would be helpful!

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On my first world cruise I took a folded up suitcase inside another one. Coming home I filled it with the items I purchased. Does Oceania have large drawers under the bed? That is where I stored all my purchases so they would be out of the way and not getting in the way of things I needed on the cruise.

 

Hope you have a great time. You do know that world cruises are addictive, don't you?;)

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When we take a world cruise we have one bag that has a lot of toiletry and over the counter medical products much of which we use up and remaining items we dispose of and that opens up quite a bit of space to allow us to add items that we purchased.

 

Some people we know will purchase an additional suitcase at one of the ports and fill that up with items they have purchased.

 

Many people do ship bags to and from the port of embarkation and or disembarkation.

 

We now ship some our bags.

 

There are three services that I am aware of and we have used the first two. Prices vary by company including where you are shipping to and from.

 

Luggage Free - http://www.luggagefree.com

 

Luggage Concierge - http://www.luggageconcierge.com

 

Luggage Forward - http://www.luggageforward.com

 

We would ship other items but not those we purchased because of issue with customs.

 

Keith

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On Oceania, we put suitcases under the bed (not all of them) for storage of items not used. There are no drawers under the bed. I brought fabric under bed storage containers with me, but ended up not needing them. We had space under there to hold all of our purchases. In San Diego, we walked to a Fed Ex store, bought a couple of boxes, and returned after packing them to ship home. We were able to fit the boxes in a couple wheeled suitcases, to make it easier to return to the FED EX store. Fortunately, No customs to have to drag all of that through. The price was lower than what it would have been to pay the extra bag fee, and the boxes arrived at home shortly after we did. We did laugh however, when we figured out that all those treasures we bargained for were worth far less than the shipping fee! Some passengers went to a local Goodwill and bought old suitcases for their extras. We did bring a collapsible suitcase, but after 180 days, those little things you buy for the kids/grandkids do add up, and I am not a shopper! I do know of someone who shipped things home from Pago Pago. If you are on the 2018, hopefully you have a couple of west coast stops that you could find a way to mail those extras, just to avoid the hassle when arriving back in Miami.

An alternative, would be to pay Luggage Free for the extra bag delivery home, but I think you pay by the pound for that service.

It was amazing the last weeks of our ATW cruise to see everyone trying to decide what to do with all their "stuff"!! You are ahead of the game by thinking of this already!

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I plan to leave many of my clothes!!! I will be sick of them after 4 months and the ship's laundry will probably have boiled them to death! We will fly home from London so will be limited to 2 bags. Viking is providing Luggage forward service but only 1 way which seems strange to me!

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I plan to leave many of my clothes!!! I will be sick of them after 4 months and the ship's laundry will probably have boiled them to death! We will fly home from London so will be limited to 2 bags. Viking is providing Luggage forward service but only 1 way which seems strange to me!

 

Yes, I have heard of others discarding so-often worn clothes. They were sick of them! (But, this surely is a First World issue. Why not take them home and donate them to Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.?)

 

I found that I had to buy an additional piece of luggage in order to get all of my collected and purchased "stuff" home. Fortunately, I had a certain number of bags that were picked-up from home and delivered home included in my cruise fare. I had to pay for the shipment of that extra piece of luggage, but it was not unreasonable in price.

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Oceania had a deposit bin at the end of the cruise for those wishing to donate clothes and other items that went to the crew fund. Somewhere, in some port you could donate the clothing you don't want anymore, no need to pack it up to take home. We had excellent laundry service, but even so, there were items I didn't want to see again, not necessarily because they were damaged.

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