? About sending luggage to airport

[Tabanana]

Just curious why you have to leave the ship early if you sign up for this option?

 

We have never used this option but looking at it for our next cruise.

 

Thank you.

[RocketMan275]

I wasn't aware that one had to leave the ship early to use this option???

 

https://www.maketraveleasier.com/holland

[CruiserBruce]

I believe you have to recognize your bags at the baggage collection area ashore. At least that is what someone else said a couple of days ago when explaining the program.

[Gigi1977]

They told us that it’s in case your bags are detained by customs.  In the 6 times we have used this service , we have never had our bags detained and have never seen our bags after putting them outside our door until arriving at our home airport. That being said, our ship departure time is with the early group usually 8:15 to 8:30 and labeled luggage direct.  You don’t choose the time, you choose luggage direct.  

Edited January 17, 2020 by Gigi1977
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[Tabanana]

I can't find it currently but there was a topic that bragged about this service but mentioned the only negative was they had to be off the ship early.......and they had a later flight ..they would have liked to have taken them time instead of rushing.

[llbz327]

we used luggage direct in nov. we were told we had to leave the ship first. we did not seen our luggage until we arrived  at our airport. it did not matter what time our flight was. that was the only downside

[DaveOKC]

Interesting.....  We did Port Valet in Seattle and did not have to be off the ship first thing, and we had a HAL transfer to the airport.

 

[VMax1700]

I understand that it is required in case of US customs requiring to inspect your bags.

We always took the view that US customs would have little interest in bags destined to Europe so we always disembarked as late as possible. A frw times we were slightly reprimanded by security staff when disembarking. Along the lines "you are late! You should have disembarked early" but we just smiled and said thankyou!  Don't know how a US resident would be fixed.

[CruiserBruce]

44 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Interesting.....  We did Port Valet in Seattle and did not have to be off the ship first thing, and we had a HAL transfer to the airport.

 

That's because the system in Seattle is different than the Luggage Direct service offered in a couple of other ports.

[jagger16]

Just throwing it out there that I was once detained when using Luggage Direct. So it does happen. We were traveling with family and I was the only one that this happened to. It did take time and they went through my bags thoroughly. We were OK but if your time to get to your flight is tight, you may want to consider this. 

[Highway27]

We wondered about this also. We used Luggage Direct at Port Everglades, our flight was at approximately 6:15 PM, yet we were in the first disembarkation group at 7:30 (which we definitely didn't want).

 

I was wondering in the future if there was trouble to get in if we just... didn't leave until later. I figure they're not going to hold up groups because some straggler from an earlier group hasn't made it off the ship. Sounds like the customs issue is only one of delay if you have a short transfer window also. So I think next time we'll just sleep a little later, grab breakfast, and then mosey off the ship if we have the time. Not having to drag the big bags around is a great service, but having to get up early felt like a punishment (we are not early risers).

 

Is there any lasting downside to staying on the ship past your disembarkation group? I don't mind a light scolding in this case.

[Tom O.]

I confess that I have never used Luggage Direct, but I was wondering if the reason for early departure is that all of the Luggage Direct bags are put on a truck together, regardless of flight times. If that is the case, then if one bag is delayed, it might hold up the whole truck load. They would have to get all of the luggage to the airport before the earliest flight time.

So, then even if someone has a late flight, if their bag is the one held up by customs, it could cause a bag with an early flight to miss the flight.

Don't know if this is the case,  just an idea on my part. Probably only someone who handles the luggage could tell you for sure.

[Highway27]

22 minutes ago, Tom O. said:

I confess that I have never used Luggage Direct, but I was wondering if the reason for early departure is that all of the Luggage Direct bags are put on a truck together, regardless of flight times. If that is the case, then if one bag is delayed, it might hold up the whole truck load. They would have to get all of the luggage to the airport before the earliest flight time.

So, then even if someone has a late flight, if their bag is the one held up by customs, it could cause a bag with an early flight to miss the flight.

Don't know if this is the case,  just an idea on my part. Probably only someone who handles the luggage could tell you for sure.

That's an interesting idea, and you're probably right that to economize the operation they need to minimize the number of trips from the port to the airport. I wonder if the remedy would be "you forfeit the service if you needed to be interviewed by Customs and didn't show up".

 

I do have to say that I found the Luggage Direct service to be a pretty good deal, since for us they also waived any bag overweight fees, in addition to providing boarding passes/check-in. The early time would be a bit more palatable if the reason was something like this. It was just somewhat of a surprise to us that "hey, you have to get off the ship first" when we had planned on being off last.

Edited January 20, 2020 by Highway27

[RuthC]

1 hour ago, Highway27 said:

That's an interesting idea, and you're probably right that to economize the operation they need to minimize the number of trips from the port to the airport. I wonder if the remedy would be "you forfeit the service if you needed to be interviewed by Customs and didn't show up".

Tom is correct about the reason everyone with Luggage Direct has to disembark at the early hour. The luggage is all sent at once in the truck. 
The remedy, if someone doesn't disembark when directed, is that none of the luggage is sent to the airport until that person chooses to show up. In that case, people with early flights may get home to find their luggage did not come along for the ride. 

[Highway27]

2 minutes ago, RuthC said:

Tom is correct about the reason everyone with Luggage Direct has to disembark at the early hour. The luggage is all sent at once in the truck. 
The remedy, if someone doesn't disembark when directed, is that none of the luggage is sent to the airport until that person chooses to show up. In that case, people with early flights may get home to find their luggage did not come along for the ride. 

Thanks for the information. Guess I'll have to get up early again.