Luggage Questions if You Bring Your Own Luggage to Embarcation Point???

[Golfette]

We live in Southern California & can drive to San Pedro where we get on the ship. Do we still run the risk of losing luggage under those circumstances? What is the process - do you just deliver your luggage to a "porter," or do you put it in a protected designated area or what? We will also be bringing golf clubs - has anyone ever brought their clubs on a cruise? Did you take them yourselves to your stateroom or could you check them like luggage? Thanks for your help everyone!

[fllady]

If you are taking your luggage to the porters at the ship, no problem. Make sure you have the tags securely on your luggage, that gets it to your cabin. The porter will load them right there onto large transfer cages that will be brought on board. It is usually a covered area. I never brought anything like golf clubs, so ask the porter what is safe to do. If you are doubtful take them to your room yourself.

[Iamthesea]

No problem with the clubs, as long as they are in a carrying case. Be sure to tip the porter and then watch as your luggage goes into a bin.

[merela]

You can bring your luggage all the way up to the conveyor belt/holding cage, but be sure to tag every piece of your luggage. The golf clubs should be in a case or carrier so you can tag the bag. The conveyor belt/holding cage is never far from the curbside where you are to be dropped off.

 

If you have multiple pieces of luggage and you get dropped off far away from the conveyor belt/holding cage, you can flag down a porter and just give him all your bags to him. Anything expensive and don't want to risk the chance of loosing/breaking it, I hand carry it. Some people say you don't have to tip the porters because they work for the port (long shoreman) and not Princess, but some cruisers say you have to tip them. I've had these porters asking for tips before we had a chance to tip them. I would be afraid of not tipping them because your luggage is in their hands once you give the bags to the porter.

 

But you don't really need a porter. If your luggage has wheels and you can manage, just wheel it up to the conveyor belt. These porters essential wheels your bags from where you were dropped off to the conveyor belt as well.

 

HTH.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Okay, trade secret here: hubby pulls up to the loading zone, we unload bags and girl and I wait with them while hubby parks the car.

[marly]

We brought our bags to the porter and watched him load them on the cart. Our bags never got delivered. After several phone calls and then finally a trip down to the purser's desk in the evening, my husband saw our bags. The tags had fallen off somehow and they were about to be delivered to the wrong cabin.

 

We now put our names and cabin number on masking tape and tape it in several places on the bags.

[Sandy R]

Like Marly, we also put our travel iinfo i.e. cabin #, etcl, inside our luggage with masking tape, one the upper part of the luggage, where it can easily be seen if our luggage is opened. There are several porters who take your luggage. I've never followed the porter that take our luggage but I suppose you can. I also suggest you tip them.

 

You can hand carry any number of piece of luggage as long as they fit in the x-ray machine, which is the same type used by the airlines.

 

We have sailed out of San Pedro several times... Once you off-load your luggage, you enter the passenger terminal. At that time, you are given a card with an embarkation number, unless you're Elite or Platinum. You then take an escalator up to the 2nd floor, where you check in and get your cruise/key card. You then wait in an area according to your cabin number. Elite or Platinum have a special waiting area, where someone checks your status before you enter. Your hand luggage is not put on the x-ray machine until just prior to boarding.

 

Hope that helps...

 

Sandy

[cactusrose]

Does the checked in luggage just go on the conveyor belt/holding cage without being x-rayed? I hope not, but I've never actually watched the process to see what happens.

[VibeGuy]

I am not disinclined to carry stuff on that I'm worried about; for shorter cruises, that may include everything, as the DH and I are both stout-framed gentlemen who can handle a rollaboard and a carryon each. If I cared about the clubs and it would make me even a teensy bit less nervous at check-in and embarkation, I'd just carry 'em on....given that I schlepp them around 18 holes on a regular basis, it's not like it's a Big Load.

 

Eric

[jerwick]

A generous tip to the porter always helps insure the safety of your luggage dockside.

[DandyCandy]

A generous tip to the porter always helps insure the safety of your luggage dockside.

 

what would be considered a generous tip? anything over 5 bucks?

[bearette]

Though some people want to you can't bring everything with you onboard. They have to be able to fit on a X-ray machine like they do at the airport. The x-rays are not big enough to carry large pieces of luggage. Since golf clubs are long and skinny you should be able to carry them on with you. If they are expensive then I would carry them with you since the porters are not known for being gentle.

As for skipping the porters all together...I'd like to see anyone try! Our biggest complaint is the porters are like vultures. They swoop down on you take your luggage and then put their hand out for a tip. About a dollar a bag is sufficient or slighlty less. (Ex five bags give a $4 tip.) This isn't a place to get cheap and not tip since there are horror stories of people not getting their luggage. That porter is making sure my bags get onboard so I can give him a few bucks to make sure it gets there. Now before anyone says anything, not all porters are nasty. I have met a lot of nice ones too who where very helpful. It has just been my experience that more of them are nasty than nice.

[sc cruiser]

Does the checked in luggage just go on the conveyor belt/holding cage without being x-rayed? I hope not, but I've never actually watched the process to see what happens.

 

My husband is a scuba diver and brought his dive bag w/equipment on a Carnival cruise. He inadvertantly left his dive knife (blunt tip) in the bag. We received a call from security after the ship sailed to come down to their office. (At the time we had no idea what we had done!!) :eek: We had to fill out a form for the knife (which they held) and had to wait until the ship returned to claim it in the port security office back in Fla. which was fine with us. We met another diver who made the same mistake. So the answer is yes--all bags are x-rayed....we found out the hard way!!

[Pam in CA]

If you plan to carry them onboard, be sure to put a luggage tag (or two) on each set of golf clubs. There's alwasy a chance they'll make you put them aside for a porter when you get to Security.

 

I always put two tags on my luggage: one on the side and one on the roller handle as I've had bag handles ripped right off and there goes the luggage tag. And, make sure you have identification on the bag, even if you drive to the port.

[GramaFran]

This is not a big issue - my DH drags his golf clubs in a roller bag cover on all of our cruises. He has golfed everywhere.

So we just check them with the rest of our luggage - locked with cable ties -making sure all pieces have bag tags on them. The bigger issue is storing them in the cabin. If you are really nervous to check in your club, just take the personal items you use, shoes, balls, glove, tees in your luggage and rent clubs at the courses. Most good courses have very good clubs for rent.

 

Yes, tip the porters - just like the skycaps at airports - we give $1 to $2 per bag. And we get really friendly with the porters so they will be nice to our luggage. We have never had a problem getting on or off the ship.

 

We also have a 8 x10 piece of paper on the top of our clothes inside the suitcases and in pocket of golf cover. Giving all the info about the bag.

Our name, address, phone, cell phone - dates of where we will be with phone numbers - ship name and cabin number - even flight info. Probably go overboard with info but if our suitcase/bag ever gets lost the airline/ship etc. can alway find us. I have the basic info stored in a word doc and just add then trip info.