Shipping a Suitcase Home- Post Cruise

[sandyeggo]

We plan to tour in Europe after our cruise and would like to lighten our luggage from two suitcases to one. Ideally, the suitcase would be picked up at our hotel in London before we depart for the Continent. We made enquiries with Oceania but this service is not offered by them.

 

I have been trying to make an arrangement from our end stateside, but apparently it needs to be arranged with a UK company.

 

Does anyone have experience shipping a suitcase from London? If so, any advice or information will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

My email is: vignale212@yahoo.com.

[amer_can]

You might get lucky with your hotel concierge and it can be handled from there or check with UPS..I have seen them in Europe. Good idea to cut down. Trips can be nearly ruined by too much to tote..

[LHT28]

try

http://www.luggageforward.com/quote_international.jsp

 

DHL might also ship them

 

Air freight

[JimandStan]

We once used Luggage Forward for a special occasion vacation. Although it was fantastically convenient it was aso wildly expensive.

 

The next time, we'll use that kind of cash to stay in a suite at the Ritz Carleton for another weekend, and struggle with the bags ourselves.

 

As you'll be in London, I'd suggest that you use the Royal Mail:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm

 

Their Global Economy service will get a 50 lbs bag back to your home in the United States within the month for less than £150.

 

For a further £50, you may track the package on-line and have it delivered within the week, but since you'll still be in Europe, I don't imagine that you'll need the suitcase in a hurry.

[orchestrapal]

You can save all that money and worry by condensing into one suitcase and a carry-on. We just spent 6 weeks on Oceania and Europe and in addition to our 38 paperbacks (yes we read them all) managed very ell with this set-up. Lay out everything you think you want to take and then put half of it back you'll feel much lighter and happier.:)

[wripro]

I have used luggagefree.com often and have always been satisfied. Their rates seem to be less than other companies. Yes, it is expensive but value is in the eye of the beholder.

[Paulchili]

I have used luggagefree.com often and have always been satisfied. Their rates seem to be less than other companies. Yes, it is expensive but value is in the eye of the beholder.

 

 

+1.

Echo the sentiment -have used them twice.

[frqttrvlr09]

I have used Luggage Free several times to ship luggage (and boxes of items purchased during the cruise/trip) to and from ports and countries throughout the world and also in the US prior to and after a cruise. Their rates are reasonable, their service is reliable and impeccable, and it is worry free.

[DOJO466]

You can save all that money and worry by condensing into one suitcase and a carry-on. We just spent 6 weeks on Oceania and Europe and in addition to our 38 paperbacks (yes we read them all) managed very ell with this set-up. Lay out everything you think you want to take and then put half of it back you'll feel much lighter and happier.:)

 

Oh my, 38 paperbacks..have you considered a Kindle, we love ours.

[Leonid]

Oh my, 38 paperbacks..have you considered a Kindle, we love ours.

 

Can't imagine using one of those devices. It's too bad we're getting to the point where hard back reading material is passe. Very sad:(

[wripro]

That's what they said about the typewriter.

[kelmac]

We plan to tour in Europe after our cruise and would like to lighten our luggage from two suitcases to one. Ideally, the suitcase would be picked up at our hotel in London before we depart for the Continent. We made enquiries with Oceania but this service is not offered by them.

 

I have been trying to make an arrangement from our end stateside, but apparently it needs to be arranged with a UK company.

 

Does anyone have experience shipping a suitcase from London? If so, any advice or information will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

My email is: vignale212@yahoo.com.

 

Here is another option:

 

My wife and I have done this a couple of times. We did several days traveling precruise and left all our cruise stuff at our first hotel and picked it up just before we boarded our ship. We were going to spend another 14 days post cruise traveling by rail -- so here was our strategy -- we packed second tier clothing that we could live without; like an older dark suit, a few dresses my wife could do without..., At the end of the cruise, we trashed or gave away ALL of our cruise clothing and dumped our older travel luggage. We transfered all our "touring" clothing to our two "backpack" luggage bags and off we went.

We too, looked into shipping stuff home or to our last hotel before flying home and the cost was prohibitive.

We actually had fun finding older stuff we could live without (i.e. cleaning out the closets). Our cabin steward thought it was strange that we would wear something and trash it that evening.

 

European travel is so much easier with just two backpacks (think Rick Steves). Our first European trip was for 54 days using these two bags and we had it down! Laundry once a week -- locals will do it for you for a small fee, or we did it ourselves. Met the most interesting people at the self serve laundry.

 

Good luck!

Kel:)

[Tutuma]

I have a Kindle. Every person I know had a reluctance to an electronic book...and then they tried a Kindle. And every person I know, who has tried it, has a love affair with a Kindle. You will love it! Don't knock it until you tried it!

[hondorner]

My son has a Kindle. I borrowed it for a month to see how I would like it. I have no objection to the technology itself. BUT -- I would quickly be guilty of spending too much on the speculation that I might read the book some time. Also, I found it much more difficult to select books based on write-ups than actually picking up a book and skimming whatever synopsis may be there. Even cover art helps "turn me on" to a book. I have some favorite authors; seeing an occasional title of theirs on a bookshelf is exciting; seeing the extensive lists of all books they have written is intimidating, and sorting through which of those books I might want to buy is daunting.

 

But, the overriding issue that made me return his Kindle without buying my own was the overwhelming fear of forgetting it somewhere. If I forget a book, oh well, it's a few dollars but not the end of the world. If I forget the Kindle, it's the loss of a substantial investment.

 

Finally, the same thing applies to the longevity -- it's tough to break a book, but I was constantly fearful of sitting on the thing, or getting it wet, or otherwise damaging it.

 

I'll stick with books.

[Jancruz]

My son has a Kindle. I borrowed it for a month to see how I would like it. I have no objection to the technology itself. BUT -- I would quickly be guilty of spending too much on the speculation that I might read the book some time. Also, I found it much more difficult to select books based on write-ups than actually picking up a book and skimming whatever synopsis may be there. Even cover art helps "turn me on" to a book. I have some favorite authors; seeing an occasional title of theirs on a bookshelf is exciting; seeing the extensive lists of all books they have written is intimidating, and sorting through which of those books I might want to buy is daunting.

 

But, the overriding issue that made me return his Kindle without buying my own was the overwhelming fear of forgetting it somewhere. If I forget a book, oh well, it's a few dollars but not the end of the world. If I forget the Kindle, it's the loss of a substantial investment.

 

Finally, the same thing applies to the longevity -- it's tough to break a book, but I was constantly fearful of sitting on the thing, or getting it wet, or otherwise damaging it.

 

I'll stick with books.

 

Don you can do all the things you talked about with the kindle..you can even read the first chapter without buying the book to see if you like it..I will bring mine with me on the Marina and I will be happy to show you..

I find using the kindle to travel so much easier than dragging all those books. I am leaving June 27 on a cruise and just ordered Lee Childs new book on my kindle, took me 30 seconds from home.

Jancruz1

[JimandStan]

Perhaps it is because I'm not really a novel person (and you can read that any way that you like), but a Kindle just does not work for the kind of books that I read on vacation

As my eyes get older, the deck-plans are harder to read anyway.....just imagine how small they would display on a kindle.

[wripro]

Actually, now that we have the IPad, isn't the Kindle already passe?

[dg613]

Luggage Forward is good but expensive. Luggage free might have reasonable price.

[Ms Understood]

My husband loves his Kindle because he can enlarge the type so when he cant find his glasses he is still good to go. I am leaning toward getting the Ipad but for the moment, still lugging the hard bound books around. Anybody in a position to compare the Kindle to the Ipad yet?

----------------

Helen

[ClaudiaF]

Actually, now that we have the IPad, isn't the Kindle already passe?

 

yes..

[threeedogmedia]

My husband loves his Kindle because he can enlarge the type so when he cant find his glasses he is still good to go. I am leaning toward getting the Ipad but for the moment, still lugging the hard bound books around. Anybody in a position to compare the Kindle to the Ipad yet?

----------------

Helen

 

Helen, I have both. I love my kindle but I was able to download the Amazon Kindle app and was able to load all my books in my kindle library without any extra cost. The times when it might be nice to use the IPAD is when it's dark because the iPad has backlighting.

Karen

[caribbeansun]

The Kindle was passe some time ago but not because of the over hyped IPad.

 

Depends what you want and how you wish to use them.

 

Actually, now that we have the IPad, isn't the Kindle already passe?

[burm]

Helen, I have both. I love my kindle but I was able to download the Amazon Kindle app and was able to load all my books in my kindle library without any extra cost. The times when it might be nice to use the IPAD is when it's dark because the iPad has backlighting.

Karen

 

I checked Amazon to see if the books I wanted were available for Kindle, but they were not. I think book readers are an excellent concept but will wait until all new books printed are available. By then the price will have dropped too.

 

I also checked our local library to see what ebooks were available. There is a fairly good selection but they have to be "checked out" and returned (by self destruction) after 2 weeks. :confused: I assume you can burn them to CD but I don't want to have to carry CD's on a vacation.

 

Probably most people will have book readers within 5 years or so.

[Riverroad]

 

I disagree that the Kindle is passe. The iPad is much more expensive and does more things that you may not need or want. I love my Kindle as do all my friends that have one. They are the perfect solution for a long trip, cruise or otherwise. You can buy a small book light for reading in the dark or low-light conditions. I still read "regular" books as well and probably always will.

[LHT28]

I have found the libraries on board have a good selection ..enough to get me through a cruise

I will not be packing any books ...I do not have much time to read on board anyway;)

 

Lyn