Can anyone who recently went on the Alaska Cruise/Tour further explain how your bags are handled?

[Moondoggy51]

We're going on the Alaska Cruise/Tour with the Denali Tour first.  The instructions indicate that you need to pack a separate suitcase for the Tour and another set of suitcases for the cruise and that upon arrival Princess with  arrange for the cruise baggage to be stored and when you arrive for the cruise your suitcases will be in your room.

 

That being said, when you arrive at the airport do you take all of your suitcases to the hotel and that's where the tour and cruse luggage is separated?  If yes, does the hotel have your bag tags for the cruise luggage or do you print your bag tags ahead of time and attach them to the suitcases before you depart from your home airport or at the hotel?  I've already printed by tags but since they are only printed on plain paper I'm wondering if I should have them laminated ahead of time so there will be less of a chance of them getting ripped off.  Any info will be appreciated.  

[TwoBadKnees]

I've "laminated" my paper luggage tags using the wide clear box packing tape. Haven't lost a bag tag.

 

As far as your other questions, sorry, I can't help.

 

Enjoy the trip!

[beg3yrs]

Yes, you first take all your suitcases to the hotel. Bags will be separated before you depart your first lodge/hotel.

 

You will need your ship bag tags for all your bags. You will also be given two sets of tags, one labeled "Meet Me At the Ship" and the other labeled "Meet Me Tonight".

 

There's a third set of tags you use for transport of your bags to the next lodge. They will be given to you upon arrival to the previous lodge. On the very last day of the land tour you will attach the ship bag tags to your remaining bags.

 

On our tour the director took the ship cabin-specific tags and did a great job of attaching them to cover a lodge tag. Very tough and no worries about them getting detached.

 

[leck57]

12 hours ago, Moondoggy51 said:

We're going on the Alaska Cruise/Tour with the Denali Tour first.  The instructions indicate that you need to pack a separate suitcase for the Tour and another set of suitcases for the cruise and that upon arrival Princess with  arrange for the cruise baggage to be stored and when you arrive for the cruise your suitcases will be in your room.

 

That being said, when you arrive at the airport do you take all of your suitcases to the hotel and that's where the tour and cruse luggage is separated?  If yes, does the hotel have your bag tags for the cruise luggage or do you print your bag tags ahead of time and attach them to the suitcases before you depart from your home airport or at the hotel?  I've already printed by tags but since they are only printed on plain paper I'm wondering if I should have them laminated ahead of time so there will be less of a chance of them getting ripped off.  Any info will be appreciated.  

 

This seems to get unnecessarily confusing. We did a Princess Alaska land tour before a cruise and we had one suitcase each plus one backpack. The cases went to each lodge as we did and we had the backpack with us at all times (if we overnighted at a lodge then passports etc were left in the safe). We never had bags marked for the cruise and from our observations, most on our land tour were the same. If you take more than one suitcase per person than they may be different but not for us. I certainly didn't want to be separating stuff for cruise and land.

If you do want to have tour bags and cruise only bags, you get an envelope on day 1 with the different tags to use as you wish. You get tags for each upcoming lodge at each stop as there may be different tours at your lodge heading in a different direction. However your Tour Director will explain it each time. In our case the cruise only bag tags were not used.

Edited July 3, 2022 by leck57

[Moondoggy51]

On 7/2/2022 at 5:31 PM, beg3yrs said:

Yes, you first take all your suitcases to the hotel. Bags will be separated before you depart your first lodge/hotel.

 

You will need your ship bag tags for all your bags. You will also be given two sets of tags, one labeled "Meet Me At the Ship" and the other labeled "Meet Me Tonight".

 

There's a third set of tags you use for transport of your bags to the next lodge. They will be given to you upon arrival to the previous lodge. On the very last day of the land tour you will attach the ship bag tags to your remaining bags.

 

On our tour the director took the ship cabin-specific tags and did a great job of attaching them to cover a lodge tag. Very tough and no worries about them getting detached.

 

Thanks.  So if I understand you correctly I will use the printed bag tags that were available to me on the Princess website that Identify our cabin and if I have 3 suitcases I'll put one of those tags on each bag at the hotel.  I will then put one  of the Meet me Tonight labels on the TOUR bag and the Meet me at the ship tags on the other two bags correct?  

[beg3yrs]

2 hours ago, Moondoggy51 said:

Thanks.  So if I understand you correctly I will use the printed bag tags that were available to me on the Princess website that Identify our cabin and if I have 3 suitcases I'll put one of those tags on each bag at the hotel.  I will then put one  of the Meet me Tonight labels on the TOUR bag and the Meet me at the ship tags on the other two bags correct?  

That's essentially correct. You don't have to ship tag the TOUR bag until your last day.

[compozer]

we were just there.   There were four of us.   One checked suitcase each and a carry on.   We sent one checked suitcase on to the ship  (meet me at the ship tag given to us the first night)   with formal wear and kept the others with us - the checked ones needed to be put outside our door by 6:30 am each morning - they gave us special meet me tonight tags at each lodge..   We took our carry-ons with us - they put them under on the buses - plenty of room.   And we took them on the train - there was a car next to ours with lots of space so the conductor put our carryons there along with many other ones.    Some people are trying to make such a big deal that you can only have a small backpack - not true.

[hapster85]

On 7/2/2022 at 1:37 PM, Moondoggy51 said:

We're going on the Alaska Cruise/Tour with the Denali Tour first.  The instructions indicate that you need to pack a separate suitcase for the Tour and another set of suitcases for the cruise and that upon arrival Princess with  arrange for the cruise baggage to be stored and when you arrive for the cruise your suitcases will be in your room.

 

That being said, when you arrive at the airport do you take all of your suitcases to the hotel and that's where the tour and cruse luggage is separated?  If yes, does the hotel have your bag tags for the cruise luggage or do you print your bag tags ahead of time and attach them to the suitcases before you depart from your home airport or at the hotel?  I've already printed by tags but since they are only printed on plain paper I'm wondering if I should have them laminated ahead of time so there will be less of a chance of them getting ripped off.  Any info will be appreciated.  

When we arrived in Fairbanks, we were told it was no problem if we wished to keep all bags with us. Just ask if we needed more tags. Sending any bags on ahead to the ship was completely optional. Yes, this is contrary to information on the website and elsewhere.

 

In retrospect, we wish we had elected to keep our spare bag with us. We've been in Anchorage since Friday, after I tested positive for covid on Thursday. The folks at the Mt McKinley Lodge sent word to the team at the pier to pull our bag and send it to our Anchorage hotel, but it has not yet arrived. We have not been able to contact anyone who could tell us if the bag got pulled, if it got loaded on the ship, or is stuck somewhere else. As long as pre-boarding covid testing continues, anyone on a land tour may wish to think twice about sending any bags ahead.

 

We are in Anchorage until Wednesday morning, but with each passing day, we are less and less hopeful of it being returned to us. It's only stuff, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. Everything else regarding our isolation has gone smoothly, and everyone has been quite helpful.

[Cali Viajera]

We kept all our bags with us the whole la d tour. The big luggage went in the belly of the train, and we brought the carry ones with us into carriage. Easy Peasy!