Concern about luggage delivery to room.

[rogerwaters]

So it seems as if they just pile up suitcases in the hallways? Like a free-for-all? And when they announce rooms are ready, people just scramble to the hallways in hopes to find their bag? And all bags are pretty much lined up so anyone at anytime can pick them up?

 

Not that I ever carry anything of value in my suitcase, but it seems a little creepy they just pile up the suitcases for anyone to grab and dig through if someone chooses to do so. :confused:

 

Am I being overly concerned?

 

P.S. My concerns are only based on the fact my hubby & I just came back from another vacation. After the security screening, as my hubby was pulled aside for the "wand wave-down" by security, he went to retrieve his bag and saw a man walking quickly away towards the restroom with HIS rolling bag. He ran over to the man and pointed out that was his bag. The man apologized and said the bag "looked just like his". My hubby's bag was a black bag with a yellow handle and a bright blue luggage tag. This mans bag (after we watched him go retrieve it) was a smaller black bag, no yellow handle, no bright blue luggage tag. And this was the same week we read an article about people "taking the wrong bag" in airports, train stations, cruise ships, etc. on purpose, simply to swipe through the bag quickly, remove an electronic item such as an ipod, movie player, etc., then returning it to a pile of bags and walking away. :(

[time2cruise1]

If you really are concerned then carry all you bags onboard and drag them around until the room is ready. :eek:

That said this is the way bags have been handled for as long as I have been cruising. Never had a problem. Well once my bag did not show up but it was in the naughty room and that is another story. Chances are your bags may not even be there when the rooms are ready. As always pack everything of value in your carry-on and split everyones stuff in different bags just in case one does not make the trip or someone does put the wrong bag in their room. That does rarely happen but normally when they get around to unpacking that night the mistake is noticed and the bag routed to the correct room.

[MAMA "B"]

Sort of along the same line, when we left from NY a few years ago, we were told to lock our luggage. Is that still the case with the Epic & Miami? I thought I read somewhere that they want you to leave them unlocked when handing them to the porters. Doesn't seem very safe to me. All checked luggage at that time was also left in the hallway near your door. Locked and contents safe.

[UK_Cruiser]

If you really are concerned then carry all you bags onboard and drag them around until the room is ready. :eek:

 

That said this is the way bags have been handled for as long as I have been cruising. Never had a problem. Well once my bag did not show up but it was in the naughty room and that is another story. Chances are your bags may not even be there when the rooms are ready. As always pack everything of value in your carry-on and split everyones stuff in different bags just in case one does not make the trip or someone does put the wrong bag in their room. That does rarely happen but normally when they get around to unpacking that night the mistake is noticed and the bag routed to the correct room.

 

 

Not true

 

I have never been on a cruise when your bags weren't left outside your room.

 

OP is talking about SD Mikes review that seems to suggest that all bags were sorted into piles at each deck level rather than being delivered and left outside of your room.

[UK_Cruiser]

Sort of along the same line, when we left from NY a few years ago, we were told to lock our luggage. Is that still the case with the Epic & Miami? I thought I read somewhere that they want you to leave them unlocked when handing them to the porters. Doesn't seem very safe to me. All checked luggage at that time was also left in the hallway near your door. Locked and contents safe.

 

 

You are supposed to leave it unlocked.

[rogerwaters]

Not true

 

I have never been on a cruise when your bags weren't left outside your room.

 

OP is talking about SD Mikes review that seems to suggest that all bags were sorted into piles at each deck level rather than being delivered and left outside of your room.

 

 

Yes, I was referring to sdmike's review.

 

I've never cruised so I don't know what to expect. :confused::o

 

To think that all bags are just piled up according to deck level, as opposed to in front of each door, kinda scares me.

 

Or, maybe was this pile supposed to be sorted thru only by the porters taking luggage to each room and that cruisers were not supposed to sort through that pile and just wait for the bags to show up to your room?

 

Again, not like I would carry anything of value in my bag, but for some reason I thought once bags were handed over to the porters, they delivered the bags directly to the stateroom.

[cowbuoy]

Not true

 

I have never been on a cruise when your bags weren't left outside your room.

 

OP is talking about SD Mikes review that seems to suggest that all bags were sorted into piles at each deck level rather than being delivered and left outside of your room.

 

Not True. Mike says the bags WERE outside the room "sorta". BUT he was in a group of three rooms and there were 11 people in his group and his luggage was large. That is a lot of luggage and there is not enough wall space for that much luggage and then you have a chain reaction. Was the luggage of other nearby cabins delivered first? If so, where on earth are the guys supposed to put the bags without blocking the hallway? They are trying to deliver 4000+ bags in a matter of a few hours for crying out loud! Were there inside cabins across the hall making it even more of a problem? How much luggage did people with the inside cabins have? When was their luggage delivered?...

 

Just think it through.

 

He also said the hallways were narrow. With large suitcases and 4 people in a room and narrow hallways, there is no way to put that many large bags directly outside the room without blocking the hallway. You make it sound like there are piles of luggage scattered on each deck and you are supposed to dig through the piles to find you luggage. They discourage people from going up to their cabins right away for the exact reason that they are trying to get all of the luggage delivered and set the bags along the wall - one bag's width deep - to allow the luggage carts room enough to get pushed down the hallway.

[rogerwaters]

Oh, and on the same note.......

 

Does the check-in line seem longest at like 11am-12noon, when everyone is trying to get on the ship early? Or if we wait until 1pm-2pm is THAT when the lines are long? Apparently it seems like a lengthy process to be sure everyone's luggage is screened. I could care less about being on the ship early or late, I'm really just looking to avoid any long lines.

 

:D

[UK_Cruiser]

Not True. Mike says the bags WERE outside the room "sorta". BUT he was in a group of three rooms and there were 11 people in his group and his luggage was large. That is a lot of luggage and there is not enough wall space for that much luggage and then you have a chain reaction. Was the luggage of other nearby cabins delivered first? If so, where on earth are the guys supposed to put the bags without blocking the hallway? They are trying to deliver 4000+ bags in a matter of a few hours for crying out loud! Were there inside cabins across the hall making it even more of a problem? How much luggage did people with the inside cabins have? When was their luggage delivered?...

 

Just think it through.

 

He also said the hallways were narrow. With large suitcases and 4 people in a room and narrow hallways, there is no way to put that many large bags directly outside the room without blocking the hallway. You make it sound like there are piles of luggage scattered on each deck and you are supposed to dig through the piles to find you luggage. They discourage people from going up to their cabins right away for the exact reason that they are trying to get all of the luggage delivered and set the bags along the wall - one bag's width deep - to allow the luggage carts room enough to get pushed down the hallway.

 

 

 

OK I misunderstood what Mike was saying

 

Just think it through

[UK_Cruiser]

Yes, I was referring to sdmike's review.

 

I've never cruised so I don't know what to expect. :confused::o

 

To think that all bags are just piled up according to deck level, as opposed to in front of each door, kinda scares me.

 

Or, maybe was this pile supposed to be sorted thru only by the porters taking luggage to each room and that cruisers were not supposed to sort through that pile and just wait for the bags to show up to your room?

 

Again, not like I would carry anything of value in my bag, but for some reason I thought once bags were handed over to the porters, they delivered the bags directly to the stateroom.

 

 

Why does piles of luggage scare you ?

 

Are you Bagophobic or something ?

[micheleg]

Since when do you have to leave your bags unlocked for a cruise? We've never left our luggage unlocked when the porters take them to load to the ship from the pier.

[UK_Cruiser]

Since when do you have to leave your bags unlocked for a cruise? We've never left our luggage unlocked when the porters take them to load to the ship from the pier.

 

 

Well how else would they confiscate peoples booze ?

 

Actually just one thing I have noticed since posting on this board instead of RCI, there is much much much fewer smuggling threads over here.

[sdmike]

Not True. Mike says the bags WERE outside the room "sorta". BUT he was in a group of three rooms and there were 11 people in his group and his luggage was large. That is a lot of luggage and there is not enough wall space for that much luggage and then you have a chain reaction. Was the luggage of other nearby cabins delivered first? If so, where on earth are the guys supposed to put the bags without blocking the hallway? They are trying to deliver 4000+ bags in a matter of a few hours for crying out loud! Were there inside cabins across the hall making it even more of a problem? How much luggage did people with the inside cabins have? When was their luggage delivered?...

 

Just think it through.

 

He also said the hallways were narrow. With large suitcases and 4 people in a room and narrow hallways, there is no way to put that many large bags directly outside the room without blocking the hallway. You make it sound like there are piles of luggage scattered on each deck and you are supposed to dig through the piles to find you luggage. They discourage people from going up to their cabins right away for the exact reason that they are trying to get all of the luggage delivered and set the bags along the wall - one bag's width deep - to allow the luggage carts room enough to get pushed down the hallway.

 

Exactly correct. My luggage (bright yellow samsonite, which I highly recommend. lol) was a couple of doors down. They line it up in the hallway but it would be impossible to put it exactly outside of your door. You sorta have to hunt for it a little bit. Well, we didn't because ours stood out like a flashing neon light, but my brother had to scan a length of hallway for his big black bag.

[sdmike]

We were told to leave the bags unlocked.

[micheleg]

Well how else would they confiscate peoples booze ?

 

Actually just one thing I have noticed since posting on this board instead of RCI, there is much much much fewer smuggling threads over here.

 

If they think there's booze, NCL puts your bags into the "suspected contraband" room. When you don't get your luggage and you call, that's when they have you open up your luggage if it's locked.

 

Although they might ask you to leave your luggage unlocked, sorry...as the song goes..."I'm from Miami Trick". Just sayin...

[garycarla]

for the airlines, you need to have bags unlocked, or TSA approved locks.

 

On the ship, they do not inspect your bags. If they have an issue, they have you visit them and open the bags in front of them.

 

As said, leaving bags in the hallway has been the normal practice for many years with millions and millions of cruisers.

 

On a related note, we rarely leave our bags out the night before as they sit there for awhile waiting to be picked up. the real reason is I do not like to pack until morning, and we roll our own bags off.

 

P.S.: not sure why this is posted in the Epic thread as this applies to all NCL ships, and just about every other cruiseline for that matter.

[Bgem75]

This will be our first NCL cruise but on all of our other cruises we have 1.)never had a problem with our luggage being delivered. (thank God!) and 2.)We always lock our luggage and have never had someone say to take it off.

3.)In the past we have put our luggage our the night before and never had a problem with it(and yes it was locked) however this time we are going to carry it off ourselves in order to get off the ship at the time we need to.

Just sharing my past experience(DISCLAIMER:I do not speak for anyone else...LOL)

[DrD]

for the airlines, you need to have bags unlocked, or TSA approved locks.

 

On the ship, they do not inspect your bags. If they have an issue, they have you visit them and open the bags in front of them.

 

As said, leaving bags in the hallway has been the normal practice for many years with millions and millions of cruisers.

 

On a related note, we rarely leave our bags out the night before as they sit there for awhile waiting to be picked up. the real reason is I do not like to pack until morning, and we roll our own bags off.

 

P.S.: not sure why this is posted in the Epic thread as this applies to all NCL ships, and just about every other cruiseline for that matter.

 

 

On my previous 9 cruises luggage has always been delivered INTO the cabin. You do put it in the corridor on the last night for pickup.

 

Having said that I always do have valuables in my carry-on, if only because I usually need them before evening which is when you might get your luggage. (mostly electronics etc.)

[Giorgi-one]

If you really are concerned then carry all you bags onboard and drag them around until the room is ready. :eek:

That said this is the way bags have been handled for as long as I have been cruising. Never had a problem. Well once my bag did not show up but it was in the naughty room and that is another story. Chances are your bags may not even be there when the rooms are ready. As always pack everything of value in your carry-on and split everyones stuff in different bags just in case one does not make the trip or someone does put the wrong bag in their room. That does rarely happen but normally when they get around to unpacking that night the mistake is noticed and the bag routed to the correct room.

 

Bags are not handled like this on Celebrity! There is no pile of bags where eveyone can go to retrieve their bags. I do not remember this happening on RCL either.

[garycarla]

On my previous 9 cruises luggage has always been delivered INTO the cabin....

 

 

You know, I just got thinking, we have seen a mix of deliveries. Maybe the people dragging all the bags do not go in the room and just drop them off. And then the room stewards put them in the room. So, depending where you and your room steward happen to be at that moment, they could easily wind up in your room.

 

Still, if anybody is concerned, I would be more concerned on that last night. After all, if you packed something, you would not know it was missing until after your bags were transferred downstairs, then transferred ashore, then transferred to the airport, then transferred back off the plane and through baggage claim. I could see at least a dozen places where people could do something. And, you would not be looking for anything to be missing until you got home. At least when you board, you unpack and would know right away if you had a problem.

 

Oh, and regarding the PILE of bags issue. There is a moment in the process as bags are offloaded on each deck. They come off the elevator, and the handlers go back down to get more. Other staff on that floor then move them to the rooms. So, if you are standing there before they get moved, there is a pile. It is not the intent for people to go through the pile, but someone was inpatient, it could happen.

[sjbdtz]

Bags are not handled like this on Celebrity! There is no pile of bags where eveyone can go to retrieve their bags. I do not remember this happening on RCL either.

 

 

And it doesn't happen like that on NCL either...some poster misread some other poster's post.

[Collcoll]

I've only had one other cruise. Carnival. But how it worked for us was that we were given luggage tickets that had our room number printed on the ticket. They were color coded by deck. Anyway -- we went to Lido, had lunch and soon we were told our rooms were ready. When we arrived our luggage was stacked on the bed. Not in the hallway. That makes little sense to me. I'd think first, there is a risk managment issue in terms of potential injury. Narrowing the halloway, then announcing to a boatload of passengers hey go to your rooms now. What a mess? Secondly, there is the issue of reports of lost or damaged property. But mostly, it's just plain lacking... not very nice to treat your guest that way. Here go root through the hall and get your own luggage and drag it into your room. I hope that isn't how it will be. I'm also hoping I think more of NCL after I cruise that I do now.

[rogerwaters]

Cool.

 

Thanks for all the responses folks.

 

As I said, this September will be my first cruise ever, so all of this is new to me.

[Giorgi-one]

I've only had one other cruise. Carnival. But how it worked for us was that we were given luggage tickets that had our room number printed on the ticket. They were color coded by deck. Anyway -- we went to Lido, had lunch and soon we were told our rooms were ready. When we arrived our luggage was stacked on the bed. Not in the hallway. That makes little sense to me. I'd think first, there is a risk managment issue in terms of potential injury. Narrowing the halloway, then announcing to a boatload of passengers hey go to your rooms now. What a mess? Secondly, there is the issue of reports of lost or damaged property. But mostly, it's just plain lacking... not very nice to treat your guest that way. Here go root through the hall and get your own luggage and drag it into your room. I hope that isn't how it will be. I'm also hoping I think more of NCL after I cruise that I do now.

 

Every cruise line delivers the luggage to your room. The post referred to people who were impatient and went to get their own bags.

[orangegrove]

Our bags 2 red, 1 bright purple and a red carryon were in front of our room and not mixed in. But, the location of our room was next to a linen closet the cabin stewards used so there was an extra 3 feet of space and we were at the end of the bump out.

 

The halls are not straight per se. One side is straight the other side moves in and out (like a wave).