Baggage handling

[lindabodrum]

Exactly why does it take so many hours to X-ray and deliver cases to cabins. If an airline can manage then cruise lines need to get their act together. It's an inconvenience to guests and seems from comments that the longer we are separated from our possessions there is more chance of it going astray . What's the quickest time you've ever got your bags, and the longest. We waited four hours on our first cruise.

[LHT28]

depends on how many passengers are on the ship & how many bags they have to scan & deliver

The airlines send all bags to the carousel where you pick it up

 

The cruise lines have someone physically drag it up to your cabin on several different decks

They can only load so many bags on the cart to take down the hallway

They have to sort it by deck then load them up then deliver them ..all takes time

Relax your on vacation;)

[cb at sea]

It's not always that the x-rays are taking time....if your bags are on the BOTTOM of the pile, it will take longer for you to get them!

[NLH Arizona]

Exactly why does it take so many hours to X-ray and deliver cases to cabins. If an airline can manage then cruise lines need to get their act together. It's an inconvenience to guests and seems from comments that the longer we are separated from our possessions there is more chance of it going astray . What's the quickest time you've ever got your bags, and the longest. We waited four hours on our first cruise.

Because the airline delivers it to one location (the carousel) and the cruise line has to deliver it to all passengers' cabins, which can be in the 1,000's.

 

If it is an inconvenience, you can always carry your luggage on the ship yourself and that way it will be in your cabin with you when you arrive.

 

The quickest I've gotten mine was 2 hours and the longest time was probably around 6 hours.

Edited March 25, 2016 by NLH Arizona

[JanineM]

Just to add to what everyone else has said, the cruise line also can't allocate hundreds of people to deliver luggage. Would you rather get a drink or have lunch - or get your bags quickly?? Not only do they need to be loaded on to the ship, they have to be moved to the correct deck, sorted, moved to the right segment of the ship, then to the cabins.

 

We've gotten luggage in maybe an hour, or waited until 9 pm. That is why we carry important items (prescriptions) and a change of clothes in our carry on.

[Clarea]

Exactly why does it take so many hours to X-ray and deliver cases to cabins. If an airline can manage then cruise lines need to get their act together. It's an inconvenience to guests and seems from comments that the longer we are separated from our possessions there is more chance of it going astray . What's the quickest time you've ever got your bags, and the longest. We waited four hours on our first cruise.

The quickest we have gotten our bags is when our stateroom opened at 1pm. The latest was 10pm on embarkation day.

[lindabodrum]

My luggage was with me but handed over at the terminal in Barcelona. Next cruise is flight free from Southampton so will we be able to keep luggage til embarkation time then board with it, P and O cruise

[Keith1010]

Keep in mind the luggage is not only x-rayed but also is loaded onto the ship by port personnel and then must be delivered. Also much of this is not automated as the airports are.

 

Personally I think the cruise lines do an extraordinary job.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

And the food is much better then airline food. :)

 

Happy Friday.

 

Keith

[LHT28]

My luggage was with me but handed over at the terminal in Barcelona. Next cruise is flight free from Southampton so will we be able to keep luggage til embarkation time then board with it, P and O cruise

It must fit though the xray scanner to be carried on the ship

just like at the airports for carry ons

Sounds like you are getting off one cruise & boarding another ..is it the same day or will you be at a hotel in between cruises ?

[lindabodrum]

When I said next cruise, I don't mean back to back , but one in October. Will just be patient and enjoy the buffet and a prose of. Happy Easter all

[taglovestocruise]

Exactly why does it take so many hours to X-ray and deliver cases to cabins. If an airline can manage then cruise lines need to get their act together. It's an inconvenience to guests and seems from comments that the longer we are separated from our possessions there is more chance of it going astray . What's the quickest time you've ever got your bags, and the longest. We waited four hours on our first cruise.

 

The baggage crew moves up to 7000 pieces of luggage starting at midnight, then they move 7000 pieces into a disembarking time group, at 6 am they start moving 7000 pieces into the terminal, at 9 am they start grouping what will be another 7000 pieces, at around noon they move another 7000 pieces up to 7 different deck levels.. how inconvenient that you have to wait a couple of hours for your luggage... maybe the crew is tired..happy luggageless cruising to you..

[MCC retired]

Let's see now ,

Airline process's hundreds of bags and delivers them to 1 location.

Cruiseline process's thousands of bags and delivers them to 1000's of locations .

[Moochieg]

Our bags were waiting at the door of our cabin when they became available at 2:00,

[SewMuch]

I'm thrilled if my bags show up before dinner.

[Nic6318]

Hi there

 

If you feel that you need to get your bags quicker and you are also concerned that they might go astray being out of your sight, you might consider carrying your bags on board. This would fulfill both requirements.

 

Many people on these threads have commented how they have learned to pack light and manage with only one carry-on. This might be an option for you.

 

have a great cruise

[OzKiwiJJ]

Personally I think it's wonderful that I don't have to lug the bulk of my baggage onboard with me, and lug it around the ship until my cabin is ready, then lug it off again at the end of my cruise.

 

I carry a change of clothes and other necessities in my carry-on. I'm more than happy if the rest of my baggage arrives in time to unpack before muster drill and, so far it always has. If it doesn't then no worries, I can always unpack next day.

[Dayenu]

I wonder when the start delivering luggage. Is it when we board? Or is it after the muster drill?

 

To the OP: is it 4 hours since your boarding, or 4 hrs since sailing?

[leaveitallbehind]

I wonder when the start delivering luggage. Is it when we board? Or is it after the muster drill?

 

To the OP: is it 4 hours since your boarding, or 4 hrs since sailing?

 

Luggage is loaded on board continuously from when the first passengers start to board until all luggage is on board. It is then delivered to each stateroom continuously in the same manner until all is at each stateroom. Muster drill time has nothing to do with it.

 

In our experience ours has arrived as early as 1 PM as well, and as late as early evening. Typically we have ours by early to mid afternoon so as to usually be unpacked an organized by dinner.

Edited March 26, 2016 by leaveitallbehind

[Dayenu]

Luggage is loaded on board continuously from when the first passengers start to board until all luggage is on board. It is then delivered to each stateroom continuously in the same manner until all is at each stateroom. Muster drill time has nothing to do with it.

 

In our experience ours has arrived as early as 1 PM as well, and as late as early evening. Typically we have ours by early to mid afternoon so as to usually be unpacked an organized by dinner.

 

Thank you for your reply! I knew the luggage is loaded continuously, didn't know that it's delivered continuously. Never had it early, but we are always on the lower decks.

[leaveitallbehind]

Thank you for your reply! I knew the luggage is loaded continuously, didn't know that it's delivered continuously. Never had it early, but we are always on the lower decks.

 

Deck location should have little to do with it. Not aware that higher level decks are delivered before others. There is crew assigned to each deck for deliveries.

[donaldsc]

Exactly why does it take so many hours to X-ray and deliver cases to cabins. If an airline can manage then cruise lines need to get their act together. It's an inconvenience to guests and seems from comments that the longer we are separated from our possessions there is more chance of it going astray . What's the quickest time you've ever got your bags, and the longest. We waited four hours on our first cruise.

 

I do not see why it is so inconvenient to have to wait a bit for your luggage to be delivered. If there is something that you need to have immediately, put it in your carry on.

 

Re your comment that there is a positive correlation between the time you have to wait and the probability that it goes astray - do you have any good experimental evidence to back up this claim. If course, if your luggage never comes because it is lost, this skews the curve on the positive correlation side but this is outlier data that can probably be excluded from the data set used to calculate the correlation coefficient between wait time and loss probability.

 

The problem is that it would be very difficult to get enough data to test your luggage loss hypothesis. You would have to poll everyone on the ship and probably more than 1 ship to get enough data and this is just not going to happen.

 

DON

[lindabodrum]

The ship I was on didn't board 3000 passengers as it was picking up and offloading each day at a different port. So an average of 500 on and five hundred off if full capacity. I presume there are several crew allocated baggage handling so still don't think a couple of hours is unreasonable to deliver

[chengkp75]

Probably the largest difference between airport luggage handling and cruise ship luggage handling, is that the ship does not allocate acres of real estate to handle baggage. The same areas and equipment that handles baggage is also used for ship's stores and provisions being loaded, crew passageways, and crew elevators.

 

Baggage goes off first thing when the ship is docked, via every single side port on the dock side of the ship. Then the provisions start coming on, and this usually takes nearly all turn-around day, and ties up the aft side port from being used for any other purpose. Ship's stores will also be loaded as soon as the bags are off. This is the engineering spare parts, paint, hotel stores like spare linens, toilet paper (by the pallet load), spa supplies, art auction and shop inventory. Generally, this is done about the time that embarkation starts, so the bags will start loading then. The baggage carts are loaded onto the ship and stored on the I-95 main corridor, until crew are available and space is available.

 

The crew assigned to handle baggage are people like wait staff and bartenders, whose venues are closed on turn-around day, but who still have duties in those areas preparing for the day's service, and who also were up most of the night taking the baggage down for offloading, so they needed to sleep sometime.

 

Baggage carts cannot just be left anywhere, due to safety regulations, so it becomes a ballet as to where the carts are left, leaving crew access, when elevators can be taken out of service for baggage, and how many carts can be on each deck. Then the empty carts have to be taken back down, folded and stored.

 

Then begins the transition between the wait staff and bar staff, who have to get to their normal duties, and the cabin stewards who have just finished servicing every cabin onboard, taken 1-2 hours rest, and are now taking over the baggage delivery.

 

They will also not start delivering baggage until the rooms are cleared for occupancy (in my experience), so that the bags don't interfere with the cleaning carts.

 

So, rather than a purpose built area for baggage, and employees who are solely baggage handlers, you have shared space and equipment and shared employees.

[leaveitallbehind]

The ship I was on didn't board 3000 passengers as it was picking up and offloading each day at a different port. So an average of 500 on and five hundred off if full capacity. I presume there are several crew allocated baggage handling so still don't think a couple of hours is unreasonable to deliver

 

It's all relative. Same analogy on a different scale - still less luggage on a single airplane going to a single carousel location. Less crew on a smaller ship assigned to handle luggage, but still at least 2 large pieces of luggage per stateroom times 500 passengers is 500+ pieces of luggage going to 250 different staterooms.

 

Agree with some of the other posts and don't understand your frustration in waiting a few hours for it to be delivered. It is quite different from the airlines when each piece of luggage, once scanned, has to be individually identified and delivered to individual stateroom locations.

 

I am sure if the cruise lines adopted a similar manner as the airlines and had all luggage taken to a single location on board for each passenger to stand in a crowd to pick up each piece individually to then take back to their staterooms on their own, it would be faster and easier on the crew. But then how happy would you be with that?

Edited March 26, 2016 by leaveitallbehind