How to receive a FedEx in port

[MattSaw]

With my family, I am going to be on the 11/15 sailing of the Adventure of the Seas. My office is going to need to FedEx me some papers during the first part of the week. :eek: (I hope that I won't have to mess with the papers for long!)

 

I'll need to receive the papers either in Aruba on the 17th, or in Curacao on the 18th.

 

Any ideas on where I can receive a FedEx in these cities? Can I receive them at a FedEx office? Does the ship have a way to receive FedExes in port?

 

By the way, is it possible to get a FedEx from the eastern U.S. (North Carolina) to these ports in one overnight?

 

I would be grateful for your advice and tips.

[cruisinfanatic]

With my family, I am going to be on the 11/15 sailing of the Adventure of the Seas. My office is going to need to FedEx me some papers during the first part of the week. :eek: (I hope that I won't have to mess with the papers for long!)

 

I'll need to receive the papers either in Aruba on the 17th, or in Curacao on the 18th.

 

Any ideas on where I can receive a FedEx in these cities? Can I receive them at a FedEx office? Does the ship have a way to receive FedExes in port?

 

By the way, is it possible to get a FedEx from the eastern U.S. (North Carolina) to these ports in one overnight?

 

I would be grateful for your advice and tips.

Only ones that can answer these questions is FedEX. Not answers on this board which often times are far from accurate.

[djneph]

Call RCI and ask them for the contact info for their port agent in Aruba. Then you can call the agent and let them know and have the package sent to their office. You can then pick up the package at their office. This happens quite often. The customer service agent should not give you any trouble, if they do have them transfer you to GFO (guest FLight Operations) and they will assist you.

 

I used to work in that department and this type of request was common. Usually people mailing medicine or passports to themselves.

 

Make sure the package has the name of your ship, stateroom number, and day it will be in port. I am not sure if the agents office is in Oranjastand(sp?), but most of the port agents at the different ports of call are really nice and accomdating and will find a way to help you.

[reallyitsmema]

You need to call Fedex directly. I know when people have asked if they can send a box to the ship so they won't have so much luggage, the answer was no, so I would doubt they will accept a fedex package.

 

See if Fedex can help you. If they can't, I would try DHL. See if you can have something held at a local post office for you or even contact a hotel and see if they will accept a package for you for a small fee. One other option is a local office of your business or a local office of a customer or a supplier.

 

Good luck!

[irun5k]

Call RCI and ask them for the contact info for their port agent in Aruba. Then you can call the agent and let them know and have the package sent to their office. You can then pick up the package at their office.

 

That is good advice, and almost certainly your best bet. I used to work for a vessel agency and our sole goal in life is to help the ship while they are in port. Of course, this involves lining up all the paperwork, customs, immigration, line handlers, harbor/river pilots, etc. For us it even involved personal services, e.g. taking the captain to buy Levi's jeans for his teenage daughter back home overseas.

 

Just make sure the package is prominently marked with the name of the vessel and under that, "passenger name: xxxx cabin:yyyy" and you should be set.

 

The other option is to mess around with having some local business in the port town receive and hold your package but they have much, much less of a vested interest in making sure you receive your package.

[djneph]

OP,

 

Did my advice work? Have you called RCI?

[judyzoo]

I agree with those who said to contact the ship's port agent in the location(s) where you want to receive the FedEx. Get the contact info from RCL, and be sure to get the agent's name and phone number. Then call the agent directly (do not rely on anyone from RCL to do it for you) and find out exactly how the package should be addressed (in addition to having your ship, date, etc. info on the package). Only the agent will know when, whether, and how a FedEx package can be received at the agent's location. Tell the agent to expect the package, and find out when you can pick it up from the agent. If the package arrives before you, it might be that the agent will even deliver it to the ship -- probably to the purser -- for you.

 

I have done this and found the agent very helpful once I was able to reach him. The most difficult part was getting the actual info from the cruiseline (but it wasn't RCL, so maybe RCL will be less secretive about it).

[cryscruiser]

And I have found when mailing to the Caribbean, it might take up to one to two weeks for it to arrive there.

[AMR40509]

It is at ALL possible to have them sent to you electronically, print them, and then send them back in hard form, that might be much easier.

[xxoocruiser]

I usedto do business travel extensively internationally for months at time and found that even difficult for a FedEX package to meet up with me on an exact date and time.

 

Shipping time - FedEx does not do overnight, 2nd day deliveries or speciafic A.M. deliveries for on international shipments. In fact Fedex will only give an estimated day of delivery and does not gaurantee that when shipping internationally. There's too much out of their control when shipping internationally.

 

Customs delays - This is one of the variables that is out of FedEx control. A package can be hung up in customs for days and even weeks for the simplest of errors.

 

Weather rerouting - This can be by Fedex as well as the Cruise Line

FedEx planes can be delayed due to bad weather.

Cruise Ship could be diverted delayed arriving in port or even miss a port completely due to bad weather.

 

Shipping Location - Your office will most likely be sending these documents with a "SIGNATURE RELEASE " only to be signed by you given the situation and importance of these documents getting in your hands. That's one reason the cruise line will not accept FedEx packages for passengers. Therefore the only reasonable shipping location would be to have your office ship to the Aruba Fedex office ( provided FedEx has an office there) and request that it be held for you to be picked up at that office. Again I have to stress that all the variables previously stated still apply. Even this method does not ensure that you will get the package.

 

Contacting the FedEx office and not the forum is your only chance it trying to determine how and if the package can be shipped to you to ensure that you get it. Even that FedEx won't guarantee anything .

Good luck. If it were me I'd do everything possible to have the documents in hand before leaving for the cruise.

[MrsFixitCT]

Is it something that can be faxed, vs shipped?

 

We recently closed on a house...all by fax with followup "hard copies" USPS'd out....they faxed the documents, we reviewed with seller and closing attorney via conference call, signed our copies and faxed them back, then followed up with "hard copy" signed documents later the same day which replaced the "faxed signature" documents...

 

I would think it would be easier to find someplace that would accept a fax (like a internet cafe or similar) than it would to try to coordinate a package delivery...

[MattSaw]

It's me, the OP. Sorry to be slow to reply. Thanks for all the great advice. So far, I have been told that the port agents will no longer accept shipments to pax. I am making arrangements to have it shipped to FedEx in Orangestad, Aruba, with the knowledge that it might not make it there in time.

 

This is about a 50-page item, so in truth, printing or faxing would do the trick. I've never seen printing for pax in evidence on the ship (although I get stuff printed routinely at hotels). Whom on the ship would I see about forwarding a big e-mail attachment and getting it printed with a minimum of eye-rolling? Price is not an issue.

 

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

[travelntreats]

It's me, the OP. Sorry to be slow to reply. Thanks for all the great advice. So far, I have been told that the port agents will no longer accept shipments to pax. I am making arrangements to have it shipped to FedEx in Orangestad, Aruba, with the knowledge that it might not make it there in time.

 

This is about a 50-page item, so in truth, printing or faxing would do the trick. I've never seen printing for pax in evidence on the ship (although I get stuff printed routinely at hotels). Whom on the ship would I see about forwarding a big e-mail attachment and getting it printed with a minimum of eye-rolling? Price is not an issue.

 

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

If emailing the document is possible, just have it emailed to your email addy and use the internet cafe onboard where you can check your email and print them out (for a fee and 50 pages may be costly !), or see if there is an internet cafe in the specific port of call you want to check your email at off the ship (at much lower costs) that you are able to print from (again, probably at much lower costs). Good Luck

[Rancher Dave]

Depending on security of the documents...ie for your eyes only etc... and if you are D+ or in a Suite, the concierge may be able to receive and print off the document. You said price is not an issue...for 50 pages that may rate a charge maybe not.

 

If not in a suite, I'd call RCCL and see what they can do to help you...easier for you to print and send or fax back the document than spend a bunch of time trying to get over to FedEx office and find the document not there...

[joeyancho]

I agree with travelntreats. Ask one of the crew members where the local internet cafe/store is in any given port. Go there and open the attachment and have them help you printing it out. They probably can receive and or send a fax for you also. I would be hesitant about doing the FedEx thing. PS sorry you have to work on your cruise.

[S&C2]

Can't it wait one week?

 

If it were really that important, perhaps the cruise should wait, you won't be enjoying it anyway worrying about where your "papers" are going to end up!.

[AMR40509]

I thought the internet lounge on RCCL ships always had a free black and white laser printer - doesn't it?

 

I would check and be sure there is plenty of paper in it before you start messing with it, but it should be fine. I have printed off boarding passes for airlines several times from RCCL ships and don't remember any fee other than the normal computer/internet per min. fee.

[AMR40509]

Can't it wait one week?

 

If it were really that important, perhaps the cruise should wait, you won't be enjoying it anyway worrying about where your "papers" are going to end up!.

 

 

Sometimes things are important to other people and don't stop just because you are on vacation.

 

For example I own a business, with employees. I will be away this December on a 12 day cruise, during which a pay date falls. You can bet that I will double check the payroll numbers to be sure everything is as it should be, I would hate for an employee to get the wrong pay check amount over the holidays! I will still be gone on Jan 1st also, so you can bet I will be checking in with my office a couple of times to be sure that various items with firm year end deadlines are taken care of.

 

It sounds to me like the OP is going to have to take an hour out of his/her trip to do a little business - worse things could happen - like skipping a week of fun due to needing to do an hour of work.