Post-Cruise Question

[ch27088]

DH and I are cruising on the Sunshine out of New Orleans in March 2014. We are taking the train from Birmingham, AL arriving one day early, and will stay at the La Quinta Hotel when we arrive.

 

Now my question is this...when we get back from the cruise on Sunday, 4/6/14, our train will have already left (7:30am), which is fine as we had plan on staying an extra night. If we get a hotel, normal check-in isn't until around 3 or 4pm, so what do we do with our luggage? I was thinking of calling the hotel and explaining our situation to them and if possible could we leave our luggage at their front desk until we check in. I know that some one else might have encountered this at another port, so please, I'm all ears.

[Swayde]

DH and I are cruising on the Sunshine out of New Orleans in March 2014. We are taking the train from Birmingham, AL arriving one day early, and will stay at the La Quinta Hotel when we arrive.

 

Now my question is this...when we get back from the cruise on Sunday, 4/6/14, our train will have already left (7:30am), which is fine as we had plan on staying an extra night. If we get a hotel, normal check-in isn't until around 3 or 4pm, so what do we do with our luggage? I was thinking of calling the hotel and explaining our situation to them and if possible could we leave our luggage at their front desk until we check in. I know that some one else might have encountered this at another port, so please, I'm all ears.

 

Definitely call the hotel and see what arrangements can be made. Many of them will have a closet they can stick them in and lock until your room is ready. You might even be able to arrange for an earlier check in.

[tncap]

I doubt La Quinta has bell service but they will still gladly store your luggage for a few hours until check-in.

[RWolver672]

We did the same thing in Fort Lauderdale when returning from our Freedom cruise. We took the shuttle to the LaQuinta, told them who we were and that we had reservations and they said the rooms weren't ready yet. They had us fill out tags for our luggage, then locked them in a room behind the check in desk until our rooms were ready. They even told us that breakfast was still being served and we were welcome to help ourselves. Most reputable hotels will accomodate you in those instances.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

We've never had a problem leaving the luggage when we're too early for check-in. I've called ahead to a couple hotels on our upcoming vacation to let them know we'd drop by early to leave the luggage--no issues at all, even at B&Bs. :D

[Mizzouaholic]

DH and I are cruising on the Sunshine out of New Orleans in March 2014. We are taking the train from Birmingham, AL arriving one day early, and will stay at the La Quinta Hotel when we arrive.

 

Now my question is this...when we get back from the cruise on Sunday, 4/6/14, our train will have already left (7:30am), which is fine as we had plan on staying an extra night. If we get a hotel, normal check-in isn't until around 3 or 4pm, so what do we do with our luggage? I was thinking of calling the hotel and explaining our situation to them and if possible could we leave our luggage at their front desk until we check in. I know that some one else might have encountered this at another port, so please, I'm all ears.

 

We have done that before. Granted it was on a land vacation in Hawaii, but essentially the same thing. They stored our luggage in a closet and we walked around Waikiki and ate lunch to kill about 4 hours until the room was ready.

[irishnyc]

I've never had a hotel turn me away from storing luggage before I could check in. You'll be fine!

[yogimax]

Every hotel will store luggage for you

[ch27088]

Thanks everyone, all it took was a simple phone call and no more stress!!! They will store our luggage for us and even said that if they are filled up for the day, the rooms might be ready early, so it pays to call. Thanks again for your help.