Taking your own luggage off the ship

[Stacylee]

Has anyone ever just taken their own luggage off the ship and not put it outside at night? Can you even do that? Does the luggage have to go thru security etc?

Our next cruise is just 4 nights and it is just my son and I so I imagine we will have one large suitcase and a hanging bag - easy to take off ourselves. Just a thought to save time and hassle.

[queenL]

I've done it before. There are advantages and disadvantages either way. One time was pre-9/11. I just carried my own luggage off. The second time was after 9/11 and I was scrutinized a little more by security and customs who may have viewed that as suspicious. I think the simplest thing would be to have a smaller carry-on type suitcase, carry that off and let the cruise line pick up your larger luggage. Happy sailings!

[Iamthesea]

If you carry it off, you must be able to hold the suitcase with one hand and use the handrail of the escalator or you will have to wait in line to use the elevator.

[kc320]

My last cruise was also a 4 night & I packed everything in a large duffle bag. Carried it on & OFF no problem.

 

For the 2 of you it might be easier to each have 1 smaller suitcase instead of having to wrestle a big one down the escalator or wait on the elevator.

[signman]

This is called Self Assist or Self Disembark, and it means you carry off all of your luggage yourself. Self Assist desembark can start as soon as 30 minutes after arrival. There are no porters to help you on the pier. Just get off and go on your way.

[Gael_wins]

We carried off our luggage when we sailed on the Navigator in May. There were six of us in our party and we each had two bags. You can get off any time after the ship clears customs. We were on deck 7 and just took the elevator down to 4. It was no problem and no one searched our bags.

[KamloopsCruisers]

When we last sailed on the Voyager passengers were able to carry their own luggage off the ship. This program was called "Travel Lite". A word of caution - there were long line-ups for the elevators with many passengers trying to either take the elevator up to the Windjammer for their final breakfast, or passengers waiting to get their luggage on to the elevator.

 

Great way to travel though if you have an early flight etc.

[jkg227]

What about carrying luggage onto the ship instead of leaving it on the curb with the porters? I understand that this avoid the wait for my luggage. However, what if the rooms aren't available yet? Will we have to carry the luggage around with us until our room becomes available????

 

Thanks for your help.

Jill

[42trvl]

Unless you're in a real rush and get off the ship very early, I can't see any real advantage to carrying off you're own luggage. We had quite a long wait to get through Customs when disembarking and our luggage was waiting for us as soon as we got through the line, so no time would have been saved by having luggage with us. In fact, elevators/lines/stairs/escalators, etc. were kind of a pain even with our smaller carry-ons, so the less stuff to lug around the better, as far as we're concerned.

[critterchick]

Your bags will have to fit through airport-style scanners. We did see a woman with a too-large suitcase on our Monarch cruise, but I didn't see what happened to her when she got to the scanner. I imagine they did an open-bag search, at least I hope they did.

[frankied53]

We found that keeping our luggage (which was a rollaboard for each of us, on a 4-night cruise) had the following benefits:

1. You don't have to be without your clothes and stuff the night before and the last morning. No stress deciding what to keep and what to put in luggage. You can always access anything you might need until you get off the ship.

2. You get off the ship when you want, not when they call your color.

3. You know where your stuff is at all times.

4. No looking for your luggage in huge crowds after you get off the ship.

 

Frank

[Stacylee]

Thanks for the info! We are on Deck 4 of the Majesty - looks like that may be the main deck to disembark anyway. I can only think of positives with carrying my bags on and off - as a family of 4 it would have been a pain. But with my teenage son and myself, I think we can do OK. We'll see how it goes as I start packing!

[Boomer23]

On Enchantment this summer (in Philly), they offered this option. You had to request the option of early disembarkation a few days before the end of the cruise and were notified that you were granted this option before the last night, the option was limited in number of pax allowed. You were issued a blue pass that you had to show as you left the ship, otherwise, you might have been stopped from leaving. You were notifed that there would be an announcement for early departure around 07:45 (ship docked at 07:00). The announcement came early and we were off the ship by 07:30.

[jm3156]

I just got off the Voyager of the Seas this morning and carried off my bags. I usually do this on other cruises also but this time they made us get off the elevator on deck 2 and line up to walk down a flight to the gangway. My bags were heavy and I found this inconvenient. We should have been allowed to exit on deck1 and not have to walk down . I am really not complaining but I wish I knew beforehand and maybe I would have left my bags outside the night before

[Princess_Sunflower]

We thought about taking our luggage on/off VOS until we found out that you have to take a shuttle bus to the ship. I don't know if they would even let you because there really isn't alot of room for more than people and small carryon luggage on the bus. We're glad we didn't because it really wasn't an inconvenience. It only took us about a half an hour to find our luggage, pay our duty bill and get to the car when left the ship.

[Vyhanek]

OK, let me understand. One poster said the luggage has to fit thru the air-port scanner security device. Is this true to get OFF the ship?

 

I can lug a honkin big suitcase all by myself if it means I don't have to stand around the ship waiting on my color to be called. I don't care how heavy or big the suitcase is, if I can get away from the crowds standing around the public areas waiting for their color it would make the end of the cruise so much better.

[sha88]

We took our own luggage off last cruise and it worked out really well. We were the first group to be called off the ship, too. I highly recommend it!

[Princess_Sunflower]

We took our own luggage off last cruise and it worked out really well. We were the first group to be called off the ship, too. I highly recommend it!

 

 

So you were able to take your luggage on the shuttle bus then? Also, we waited for our color to be called in the Solarium, went directly to the elevator down to the ramp, got off the ship and on to the shutle bus and didn't really see any crowds of people to get in our way but that's just our experience of course.

[pmccunn]

Saw others doing it this week. Wish we would have done the same. We would have had an extra 3 hours of sightseeing!

[kc320]

OK, let me understand. One poster said the luggage has to fit thru the air-port scanner security device. Is this true to get OFF the ship?

No, your luggage isn't scanned going off the ship. I think that poster was referring to people who want to carry all their luggage ON the ship instead of leaving it at the curb with the porters. I have a 20" rolling upright I am going to use on my 5 night Empress cruise, it should fit thru the scanner so I will be taking my bag ON AND OFF.