People taking their own luggage off

[UK_Cruiser]

This was our first NCL Cruise and we were amazed how many passengers took their own luggage off.

 

As far as I am aware on RCI if you choose to do this you have to do the early exit before 7:30.

 

On Saturday lots and lots of people chose to take their own luggage off between 8:30 and 10:30 and consequently ended up clogging up the elevators with luggage making for very long waiting times for elevators for everyone. What is it that makes people decide to do this ? It's far easier to leave luggage out the night before and collect once off the ship......isn't it ?

[dtiger]

I find it far easier to take my own luggage off. You don't have to scramble through the piles of luggage looking for your bags.

[UK_Cruiser]

I find it far easier to take my own luggage off. You don't have to scramble through the piles of luggage looking for your bags.

 

 

Took me all of 60 seconds to locate my luggage once off the ship.

[orangegrove]

Took me all of 60 seconds to locate my luggage once off the ship.

 

Ditto, we carried off once, never again. However, if you are getting off at 7:30am, then it is very empty and you can be on your way very quickly. I saw people heading for the garage at 7:20am and there was no line.

[UK_Cruiser]

Ditto, we carried off once, never again. However, if you are getting off at 7:30am, then it is very empty and you can be on your way very quickly. I saw people heading for the garage at 7:20am and there was no line.

 

 

Oh I totally understand if you need to be off early but why cause yourself all the hassle of trying to squeeze large suitcases into elevators and preventing others that play by the book entering the elevator.

 

I was also very surprised at how rude some people became on debarkation day. Pushing and shoving and shouting at NCL Staff to "get a move on".

[FineB4U]

Oh I totally understand if you need to be off early but why cause yourself all the hassle of trying to squeeze large suitcases into elevators and preventing others that play by the book entering the elevator.

 

I was also very surprised at how rude some people became on debarkation day. Pushing and shoving and shouting at NCL Staff to "get a move on".

 

Is taking your own luggage off not "playing by the book"? I thought that with NCL, it is perfectly acceptable to take your own luggage. Part of the "Freestyle cruising" concept. :confused:

 

I hope I don't witness people shouting at NCL staff! :eek: That's horrible behaviour. Although I must say that after working in retail for years, I am certainly not surprised. Some people think they're 'above' the people who work service jobs, but think what would happen if we weren't there...

[GigCrusier]

We have found self luggage a common event on all lines lately. I would also like to see that the carry-off folks also be required to use the stairs.

[UK_Cruiser]

Is taking your own luggage off not "playing by the book"? I thought that with NCL, it is perfectly acceptable to take your own luggage. Part of the "Freestyle cruising" concept. :confused:

 

I hope I don't witness people shouting at NCL staff! :eek: That's horrible behaviour. Although I must say that after working in retail for years, I am certainly not surprised. Some people think they're 'above' the people who work service jobs, but think what would happen if we weren't there...

 

 

So whats the point of coloured luggage tags then ?

 

The carrying off of luggage caused real problems getting an elevator for many people and also clogged up the buffet and great outdoors at breakfast as well. I put it down to paranoia of some people convinced that their luggage will not be safe left outside in the corridor for collection the night before.

 

As for rudeness......It was apparent throughout week 2. On excursion to beach at St Maarten........Bang on departure time of 10:20 am.........."Hey Buddy !!!!! Are we gonna make a move or WHAT ??? Come on lets get a move on we're paying for this !!!!!!"

[garycarla]

We hate packing everything up the night before. I somewhat dislike trying to find our bags, or waiting for our color to be called. We just like to be in control of our bags and timing.

 

It is so easy to just take our own bags off. The elevator thing is a bit of an issue though. If I was not taking my bags off, I would just walk down the stairs though. We take the stairs 95% of the time on the cruise, even when returning from shore. Works off some of the great food we eat too much of.

[electricron]

I pack lightly and only have one bag per person to carry off.

I prefer to keep it with me; on the ship and on the plane.

 

But I will agree with you over those who pack several bags per person. I've seen trains of bags being pulled (never pushed) by someone. :eek: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :mad:

 

The call the colors as the bags are transferred from the ship to the pier. If you go before your color is called, you'll be looking for a while until they transfer your bags to the pier.

 

I don't know which makes me angrier, those carrying too many bags or those getting in the departure line before their color bags are called? Both make me angry.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

It does make sense that people who are taking their own bags off should have a certain window of time to do it by -- say from 7-8AM or something, so they are off the ship and on their way before the crew starts calling the tag colors of the rest of the passengers.

 

I remember it was like that on my first NCL cruise, so we decided to put our bags out and stay for breakfast instead.

On our last cruise, it was as UK Cruiser described it above - lines and chaos as everyone decided to start leaving with their bags after the other departures were already being called. Did nothing but slow the lines and clog the walkways for everyone, so there really was no advantage to it.

 

:rolleyes:

[valleyvillage]

We love cruising, we love the ship, we hate to leave! We keep our luggage in our suite, sit on the balcony until the very last minute. When we disembark it is almost empty, no problem with the elevators, hallways.

 

Farewell!

[Mr. Luckytoo]

When we did our Epic cruise I was shocked at the number of people lugging around LARGE bags.

 

I "thought" that luggage carry-off was supposed to be limited to carryon bags and had to be DONE by 8:30....

 

The only bag I want to carry off is my computer bag otherwise it sits outside and I let the ship do it. It is soooo much easier and more efficient.

 

But I guess for some it means "giving up control" - probably the same people who don't want to be told "when to eat" :confused:

[scorpioncrawl]

I personally do not care who carries off and who doesnt.....such a small thing to worry about. But! We do carry our bags off now and never use to. It it soooo easy and we are early risers, so it works for our fam and NEVER had any problems with rude pple or long lines. To Each his own....right?

 

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[fergusonvt]

We have found self luggage a common event on all lines lately. I would also like to see that the carry-off folks also be required to use the stairs.

 

Did you mean that the non-carry off folks be required to use the stairs? Personally if I can carry it, I can carry it downstairs and would be more inclined to use the stairs if they were less crowded.

[gordandmichele]

Ditto, we carried off once, never again. However, if you are getting off at 7:30am, then it is very empty and you can be on your way very quickly. I saw people heading for the garage at 7:20am and there was no line.

 

When we disembarked from the Sun in Buenos Aires in January 2009, we had the ship take our luggage off. We followed all the rules, waited for our color to be called, went to the right spot, etc. After an hour of waiting, hundreds of passengers still didn't have their luggage. Seems that whoever was supposed to move the luggage to the correct color stations decided to put all the bags in a completely different area of the terminal and just dumped them all together. We finally found our bags after about an hour and a half.

 

Never again. I carry off my own bags every time now.

[PrettyPictureLady]

We took our bags off, thinking it would be easier (first time cruisers). If I were to do it again, I would use the colored tags.

[ENGINEER]

We never book too early of a flight, so we stay on the ship as long as we can. I here that RCI is starting a new program. For a fee (like a shore excursion) you can stay on the ship until 45 minutes before it departs for the next cruise. Kind of like going throught your first day twice, but without the muster drill. we would sign up for that in a heart beat.

 

enginer

[maja651]

How does the color coding work for suite guests? Is it easier to find your bags when you get off the ship?

[Brighton Line]

I choose for NCL to take my bags off. My large 70" was at the 50lb limit (cough cough, lets just thank goodness I wasn't flying or it would have a HEAVY tag) and I wasn't carrying it down stairs.

When we got to the pier 88 in NYC at the escalator down to where the bags were, they forced anyone with two bags to wait for the elevator and would not allow them on the escalator. If you had a gym bag and a suitcase you had to take the elevator and that line was very long.

I don't know if that is standard in NY but I'm sure it was a pain.

[littlebabywulf]

It was our first cruise. The party we traveled with has cruised NCL twice before and said that disembarkation is generally a huge cluster no matter what you do. We all agreed that once we'd docked in Seattle that we just wanted to get on with our lives. So, we met in Bar City at 7:15 with our luggage and played cards while we waited to carry our luggage off (which was supposed to be between 7:45 and 8:00). We were off the ship by 7:50, through customs by 7:55, at our car by 8:00. We decided we wanted to end our cruise on a high note by eating at the most amazing breakfast place we've ever eaten at that we stumbled upon on embarkation day and were there by 8:10. After breakfast, we were on the road back home by 8:45, and home by noon.

 

For us, I don't see a real reason to hang out on the ship any longer than we have to once we've docked. There's not anything to really do, we were pretty tired of cruise food at that point, and we just wanted to get home to our cats, pick up our pibble, and spend the rest of the day relaxing.

[jb6075]

For us ... it depends on the time of our flight departure. If our departure is early, we will carry off. If it is late a.m. (and I've both a lot of junk) - we let the ship do it.

[FineB4U]

So whats the point of coloured luggage tags then ?

 

 

I don't know, you tell me. Obviously you are a more experienced cruiser than me. I've never cruised before and I thought that removing your bags yourself or letting NCL do it were both perfectly acceptable methods of leaving the ship. I don't know NCL's procedure for disembarkation and I asked a very polite question, receiving a reply that didn't answer my question in the least, and in fact seems to have a rather arrogant tone to it.

 

I've been in very large hotels on the day a convention is checking out. I imagine it's the same thing as what will happen on the ship. People clog the elevators with all their bags and displays and whatever else they needed for the convention. It takes a while to get an elevator that has enough room on it for you and your stuff, and then it stops at every floor on the way down. My personal solution is to leave a little earlier or sit and enjoy a cup of coffee in my room for another half hour or so until the group thins out. No point getting my panties in a wad over something that may inconvenience me slightly but somebody else has every right to do.

[raventhebouv]

We never book too early of a flight, so we stay on the ship as long as we can. I here that RCI is starting a new program. For a fee (like a shore excursion) you can stay on the ship until 45 minutes before it departs for the next cruise. Kind of like going throught your first day twice, but without the muster drill. we would sign up for that in a heart beat.

 

enginer

 

We also stay on the ship as long as we can, especially since we take the bus and our bus does not get to the port to pick us up until around 1pm. Last cruise we got off after 11am. Had to wait only a short time for an elevator. Would sign up to stay on board until 45 min before ship departs in a heart beat also!

[Mr. Luckytoo]

I don't know, you tell me. Obviously you are a more experienced cruiser than me. I've never cruised before and I thought that removing your bags yourself or letting NCL do it were both perfectly acceptable methods of leaving the ship. I don't know NCL's procedure for disembarkation and I asked a very polite question, receiving a reply that didn't answer my question in the least, and in fact seems to have a rather arrogant tone to it.

 

I've been in very large hotels on the day a convention is checking out. I imagine it's the same thing as what will happen on the ship. People clog the elevators with all their bags and displays and whatever else they needed for the convention. It takes a while to get an elevator that has enough room on it for you and your stuff, and then it stops at every floor on the way down. My personal solution is to leave a little earlier or sit and enjoy a cup of coffee in my room for another half hour or so until the group thins out. No point getting my panties in a wad over something that may inconvenience me slightly but somebody else has every right to do.

 

FineB4U, since you've never cruised before you won't be aware of the colored tag system. On the next to last night (or maybe the last night) guests get colored tags that they are to place on their bags before setting them outside your room. Different colors correspond with different departure times.

 

Ideally the cruiselines would allow all passengers without bags off first. Then those guests taking their own bags off disembark. In order to make the process more efficient people are given different colors and requested to leave at specific times.

 

For example if you have a flight that departs prior to 10 am you get a "white" tag while someone else with a 4 pm flight would get a purple tag. The white tags would have an anticipated debarkation time around 8-8:30 while the purple gets off from 10:30-11.

 

When everyone does what they're supposed to the system works well - kind of like boarding by zones on an airline. However when people who want to take their own bags off wait around until say 9:00 or people who have purple tags want to leave the ship around 8:30 instead of 10:30...well it can and usually gets congested...

 

Your solution, assuming you don't have an early flight, is what I choose to do as well, except when doing a weekend cruise at my home port because once I get off the ship I go straight to work - so I NEED to get off at 7:45! :eek: