sea and land alaska baggage question

[JUSTCRUZIN13]

we are doing the CORAL PRINCESS sea and land cruise in june 2017. i do not understand the luggage requirements. sea cruise is first, so what exactly do we CARRY ON train and bus ? what else will go with us on train to Denali Lodge. also what stays until we return for flight home. little help here as i find this confusing.

[RRFPresident]

We did the land tour first and then the cruise so our experience may be different but hopefully can make things a little clearer. There are some things people pack for a cruise (i.e. formal wear) that they won't need on the land portion. So they choose to separate out their luggage and make one suitcase for just that kind of items and the rest in another suitcase. On the land portion, they give you different luggage tags to use. Ours said "meet me at the lodge" and "meet me on the ship." In this case, we would have put the "meet me on the ship" tags on that formal wear suitcase and it would be stowed away until it showed up in our cabin on the ship. In your case it would be until you were ready to fly home.

 

We only brought the one suitcase each so we only used the "meet me at the lodge" tags and each lodge we visited, our suitcases were brought to our rooms. If we traveled via motorcoach bus, our luggage was stowed in the cargo area underneath the bus. If we traveled via train, it was driven in a big truck and was delivered to our rooms soon after we arrived.

 

Carry on is the same as you would want to carry on to the ship or a plane - electronics, meds, and the like. They tell you to only bring carry on items for train and bus because of the smaller space.

[caribill]

We did the land tour first and my report at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1727858 explains how the luggage is handled.

 

The difference for doing cruise first is that the luggage that does not go with you on the tour will meet you at the end of the tour.

[Green4me]

Caribill,

 

Excellent review from your 2012 trip. W had sailed in Island Princess back in 2007 North bound and did a self land tour for two nights as we did not have the time/$ with our family of five to do the Princess land tour. This time we start in Fairbanks and will do the three day Princess tour and south bound crusie so your info on luggage was very helpful.

 

Best

[SewMuch]

On the cruise you will have all your luggage, of course. When you leave the cruise you will have 3 types of luggage. Anything you no longer need (formal wear) you you will put in a suitcase to meet you at the end of your trip. For the land part you are each allowed 2 bags. One of the bags will have most of your stuff in it and will meet you at your lodge. It will not be available to you on the road. The other bag is a small bag you will keep with you, filled with whatever you might need during the day : rain jacket, meds, camera, etc. Princess says no larger than 14x17x4 because it will be at your seat with you.

[Ginster1]

Thank you SewMuch

I have another question-the 3rd bag you mentioned that you stow your evening wear on, does this suitcase travel with you to your land based nights after departcation or does a Princess hold it until you're ready to fly home?

[LeeW]

Thank you SewMuch

I have another question-the 3rd bag you mentioned that you stow your evening wear on, does this suitcase travel with you to your land based nights after departcation or does a Princess hold it until you're ready to fly home?

 

The luggage that is not marked "Travel with Me" gets bused to the end of your land portion and stored. For example if you are ending in Anchorage, they fill up entire ballrooms at the Captain Cook hotel waiting for the people to catch up with their luggage. The hotel has three or four people there whose sole job is to keep track of that and pull it out when the guests finally are ready to head to the airport.

 

Download the Cruisetour guide for more information: http://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/faq_answer_legal/CAB_Alaska.pdf

Edited May 21, 2017 by LeeW
more