Pros and Cons of shipping luggage to ship???

[jkudzu]

I admire the folks who can take a 7 day cruise with only a carry-on! But I'm not one of them. ;)

I'm hearing more and more about folks who ship their luggage (either by mail or by the guys in the brown uniforms or some other service). I was wondering if anyone had done this and what their experiences were?

Thank you for your help!

[Colorado Kat]

If you're flying in the night before, I think it would be much safer to ship to a hotel. Just addressing luggage to a port might go astray? Kathy

[STARFISH*4]

wouldnt that be $$$:confused:..its just $$$ mailing pkgs these days.

for me i would at least like to know i was taking my luggage to the ship and not have to WORRY about whether it got there or not...its enough to WORRY whether it arrives when i do at my airport destination...i am not a CARRY-ON only GIRL...i HAVE to CHECK too!!

[Happy ks]

From what I've read, you can't ship your luggage to the ship, but you can to the hotel. Costs are definitely high, think around $100-300 per bag, each way. Plus, you have to have your bag sent at least a week or so in advance.

 

Do a pretend shipping with your choice of shipper to see for yourself.

 

OK, I checked UPS, ground shipping 5 business days (I'd add on a couple extra to be safe) the cheapest rate is $61, 3 day was up to $139, 2nd day air $232, overnight was $292. These choices are a lot less than the luggage valet prices I've seen in the past.

 

All of the above are more costly than the $35 current second bag charge by the airlines.

[paul929207]

My mother shipped her bags home from LA to New Jersey (her cruise started in NYC). It worked great for her.

[Arwenmark]

I don't believe the cruiselines have any facitilty in place for accepting shipped luggage.

[Happy ks]

My mother shipped her bags home from LA to New Jersey (her cruise started in NYC). It worked great for her.

 

 

I thought later to add that this choice would work for someone not able to handle luggage on their own and didn't mind the expense.

[jkudzu]

From what I've read, you can't ship your luggage to the ship, but you can to the hotel. Costs are definitely high, think around $100-300 per bag, each way. Plus, you have to have your bag sent at least a week or so in advance.

 

Do a pretend shipping with your choice of shipper to see for yourself.

 

OK, I checked UPS, ground shipping 5 business days (I'd add on a couple extra to be safe) the cheapest rate is $61, 3 day was up to $139, 2nd day air $232, overnight was $292. These choices are a lot less than the luggage valet prices I've seen in the past.

 

All of the above are more costly than the $35 current second bag charge by the airlines.

 

Yes, I'm sorry. I will be flying in the day before and thought of shipping it to the hotel. Thanks so much for these prices. Not the great deal I'd been told it was. That second bag price doesn't sound so bad now.

You all are so great to help with information. Thank you!:)

[printingchick]

I read an article on line about this today, which I found a bit unbelievable. It recommended shipping your luggage, but it seemed only to be practical if you were visiting the home of a friend or family member in another state.

 

The article claimed that the cost would be comparable, by the time you considered checked bag fees, particularly if your bag was over-size or over-weight. I find that difficult to believe. The cost might be somewhat comparable if you were shipping ground. However, when shipping via the most economic means, there is usually a delivery WINDOW. The package could take 5-10 days to arrive. Is a hotel REALLY going to store your package for a week for you for FREE? And what is to keep THEM from losing it?

 

Just doesn't seem really feasible to me.

[xxoocruiser]

If money's no object there are services that ship and deliver you luggage . Here's a link to one of the services. You can check the rates for yourself and decide if it's worth it or not. Personally, I'd bring my bags with me and save the money for all the extras on board.

 

Additionally Fedex and UPS will also ship the bags to hotels. The Bill of Ladding needs to be marked "HOLD FOR GUEST ARRIVAL DATE MM/DD/YEAR. " and yes the Hotel will store the bags for free. When working had to have cartons of materials shipped in advance to hotels all over the world and never once did I incurr a charge from the hotel for storing the cartons... even if for week.

https://www.luggageforward.com/cmain.do?event=QUOTESTART

[MrsPete]

Last summer we did a fly-and-drive road trip out west -- we flew to Vegas, then rented a car and drove to many of the western national parks: Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore. It was wonderful!

 

But I digress . . . our "to Vegas" day (and flight) were going to be a little difficult. I had to take my husband to work (he didn't want to leave his car in the city), get the dog to a relative's, come back home for our kids and luggage, back to work to get my husband at noon, to the airport, flight at 2:30, connecting flight . . . it was going to be hectic. So when I read about the mail-your-luggage concept in a magazine, I thought it might be worthwhile to do it.

 

Then I started looking into the cost. WOW. Another poster mentioned LuggageForward.com. I checked that site, and I checked a couple others. The cost is astronomical. We're a family of four, and we each had one 21" suitcase -- mailing them two ways would've been over $1000. We didn't do it, though I must admit that when our first flight was late and we were LITERALLY RUNNING through Phoenix' Sky Harbor airport and arrived at our gate LITERALLY as they were closing the doors, I was wondering whether I'd made a good choice in toting our own luggage.

 

I looked into the possibility of using UPS. That would've been cheaper than any other option . . . but I would've had to box up the suitcases, and it still wasn't cheap. For that particular trip, if I had it to do again, I'd pack in duffle bags instead of suitcases (would've been a little easier packing/unpacking as we went from hotel to hotel), and that would've made UPS more possible because duffles weigh significantly less than suitcases.

 

I DID mail all our toiletries (and pocket knives and kitchen knives) in an all-you-can-stuff-into-it-for-$14-priority-mailer from the post office. That was very worthwhile; I called the first-night hotel to verify that they'd accept a package from me -- no problem -- and I mailed it a week ahead. That was great. We had NO liquids on the plane, which made security easier.

[MrsPete]

. . . The cost might be somewhat comparable if you were shipping ground. However, when shipping via the most economic means, there is usually a delivery WINDOW. The package could take 5-10 days to arrive. Is a hotel REALLY going to store your package for a week for you for FREE? And what is to keep THEM from losing it?

I've left luggage with hotels numerous times, and I've never had any problem. My husband ships business items to hotels (for conferences and presentations) frequently. Storing items for guests is something that they're used to doing.

 

My problem with the concept is purely financial. If I could ship my bags for, say, $25 each and avoid flying with them, I'd pay it. But more than that, and I'm just too cheap to do it. Instead, I think about what I could do with that money.

[marco]

This isn't really an answer to your question, but it is somewhat related..... "Once upon a time" when most ships sailed out of NY, if you lived within a hour or so of the piers a service would deliver an empty wardrobe to your house/apt. You'd pack it, they'd pick it up, deliver it to the ship and that was your "closet" for the entire trip. I would be in your cabin when you got there. At the end of the trip, they'd just wheel it out of your cabin, you'd claim it on the dock, go through customs, the customs agent would put a sticker on it and you just walk out and go home. It would be delivered to your house/apt the next day....and it cost $100.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Our Newspaper just did a check comparison between US Airways and Luggage Forward.

 

First bag is $25 -- one bag to Florida cities via Luggage Forward -- $116

Second Bag - $35 -- same price for second bag for Luggage Forward.

 

And those are one way fares.

 

[kitty9]

We're shipping four bags to our next cruise, via Luggage Concierge, and the cost, round trip is a bit over $500. Since I'm disabled using a scooter, it's worth it for us.

[jkudzu]

Thanks so much for all of your help everyone!!! You are great!:)