recent experiences with EZ check?

[Fa-Li]

Any reports on the option to check luggage all the way home from the ship before disembarkation? Not the whole EZAir thing - we booked air travel on our own.  I may be calling the service the wrong name, but I mean the thing where Princess takes your checked luggage the last night and gets it to the airline. 

 

I've never used it, and not sure they are still offering it since the restart.  We will disembark in Port Everglades and would love to not deal with our bags since we have a later flight out that day.  Have you used this option with Princess recently?  If so, did your bags indeed arrive at your final airport?

 

And, if anyone has done this in Fort Lauderdale, did it make your experience at that small, overrun airport any better?  

 

 

Thanks for any input you may have!

[rjack22]

Yes EZCheck is alive and well in Ft. Lauderdale.   Your flight needs to be on one of the listed airlines and the flight must depart after 11:30 am.   Cost is $25 each.    We used this service that last time we cruised (pre-Covid) and it was wonderful.   Our bags were waiting in Detroit for us.

[PacnGoNow]

11 minutes ago, Fa-Li said:

Any reports on the option to check luggage all the way home from the ship before disembarkation? Not the whole EZAir thing - we booked air travel on our own.  I may be calling the service the wrong name, but I mean the thing where Princess takes your checked luggage the last night and gets it to the airline. 

 

I've never used it, and not sure they are still offering it since the restart.  We will disembark in Port Everglades and would love to not deal with our bags since we have a later flight out that day.  Have you used this option with Princess recently?  If so, did your bags indeed arrive at your final airport?

 

And, if anyone has done this in Fort Lauderdale, did it make your experience at that small, overrun airport any better?  

 

 

Thanks for any input you may have!

Very easy and convenient. Not all airlines participate and it can change. Go to guest services a few days before your disembark and ask for the form.  It had to be in to GS about 3-4 days before cruise end. You’ll need a copy of your ticket information, names,

flight information, date, etc from the airline.  
I printed off a copy of my eticket information for them. It’s $25 a bag, unless it’s gone up.  We used it in FLL in March.

 

 

[Sprocket]

Used it last year in FLL and Seattle’s port valet also last year.  So nice not to have to deal with my luggage until I get to my home airport.

[bagney]

We just disembarked from the Sky Princess in Fort Lauderdale this past Saturday and used EZ Check service. It worked great! Yes, flights have to be after 11:30 a.m. from Fort Lauderdale. We received the form in our cabin about 4 days prior to disembarkation and it had to be turned in by the following day. Yes, only the major airlines participate (Delta, American, United and South West if I recall correctly-we were with Delta). You don't find out if you have been accepted until the day prior to disembarkation. It is still $25 per person charged to your on board folio/account (but the charge did not come through until the day of disembarkation).

 

You did need a printed copy of the airline confirmation/itinerary - I went to the Internet cafe, logged into Delta and printed the itinerary with Booking Confirmation on it. There is a space on the EZ Check form to indicate if you should not be charged any bag fees (e.g. we were flying first class so I put that and I also indicated we have a credit card (AMEX) through Delta with first checked bag free). The day prior to disembarkation our room steward delivered the boarding passes and airline luggage tags to be used with instructions to NOT put on any of the regular/standard disembarkation luggage tags (the color coded ones) and where to meet on disembarkation morning.

 

Luggage with airline tags were to be put outside your stateroom prior to retiring the last evening. We had a disembarkation time of 7:10 a.m. and we actually were off the ship by 7:15 or so, went straight through to Customs (facial recognition used so no passport or forms to fill out - just stop, have the camera scan your face and if the light turns green, you are done and on your way). We got on our pre-purchased transfer to airport and were at the airport, through security at our gate by 8:10 a.m. for our 12:00 noon flight. I use the Delta app on my phone and was able to track where my bags were and when they were loaded/unloaded from the plane. Our bags were on the baggage carousel when we arrived at our home airport without any issues!

[Fa-Li]

Thank you so much for this detailed info!  This is so helpful! 

[Sea Hag]

This is all good information. We're on the same Sky Princess sailing as rjack22 on February 25. 

 

We're flying Southwest (I know, I know. But I was able to get the most acceptable flights on Southwest and I booked us before the meltdown.)  We have Early Bird for check in, not that this gets you much.  The Early Bird will check us in and get our boarding group automatically. 

 

Does anybody have experience with EZ Check when flying Southwest? I'm wondering if there're any pitfalls to watch out for.

[G&T Cruisers]

WE wanted to use EZ Check on our last cruise on the Island Princess but was told the ship did not have the man power to do EZ Check we have used this service several times on other Princess ships  

[lx200gps]

54 minutes ago, G&T Cruisers said:

WE wanted to use EZ Check on our last cruise on the Island Princess but was told the ship did not have the man power to do EZ Check we have used this service several times on other Princess ships  

I wasn't aware that EZ Check was available for us Canadians, I assumed it was only for US airlines. If you used it off a Princess ship to send your bags back to Canada, was it Air Canada, and exactly which flights did you use it on? We would LOVE to be able to use it to send our bags back here to Montreal post cruise.  Thanks...

[PacnGoNow]

5 hours ago, lx200gps said:

I wasn't aware that EZ Check was available for us Canadians, I assumed it was only for US airlines. If you used it off a Princess ship to send your bags back to Canada, was it Air Canada, and exactly which flights did you use it on? We would LOVE to be able to use it to send our bags back here to Montreal post cruise.  Thanks...

I have seen Air Canada on the list. However, this can change at any time.

Ask for the form at GS and fill it out, they will advise you if it is approved.

 

 

[Les_Bill]

We disembarked the Regal on 12/18/22 and used EZ check with Southwest.

All worked well and our bags were on the carousel in Pittsburgh when we arrived.

Also, the fee for overweight bags are waived when using this program.

[G&T Cruisers]

Yes it does work for Canadians when were on the Sky Princess we used EZ Check as we flew with Air Canada it was a great feature you put out your bags the night before and you don't see them again until you collect them in your home airport.

[worldtraveller]

Just be aware that you may get your regular tags for your bags before the ones for EZ-Check.  Don't assume that you weren't "accepted" just because you got the regular tags.  That is what happened to us; the EZ Air tags came about three hours after our regular tags.  Luckily we hadn't put out our bags yet.

[Rick&Jeannie]

OK...I think we need a clarification.  A couple of people have said it was $25 per person...others say $25 per bag.  Which is it?  (Are those saying $25/person assuming that there is only one bag in play?)

[PacnGoNow]

14 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

OK...I think we need a clarification.  A couple of people have said it was $25 per person...others say $25 per bag.  Which is it?  (Are those saying $25/person assuming that there is only one bag in play?)

Yes.  Ours was $25 per person fee, as we only had 1 bag each. However, we get our first bag free with Delta and United.

So, we only had to pay the service fee to Princess to do this.

 

If your airline charges for bags, then you also have to pay any related baggage fees.

 

Here’s a copy of an older form, but you get the idea.  Last March they had added Air Canada.  Which can change at any time.
 

https://www.google.com/search?q=ez+check.form+princess&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#imgrc=

[lx200gps]

On 1/18/2023 at 9:58 PM, G&T Cruisers said:

Yes it does work for Canadians when were on the Sky Princess we used EZ Check as we flew with Air Canada it was a great feature you put out your bags the night before and you don't see them again until you collect them in your home airport.

Great news, thanks for confirming. Hopefully it will be available for our flight back to Montreal, and not just for flights to Pearson.

 

General question re EZ Check: We have free bags and priority baggage handling with AC, so orange tags are attached to our bags at check-in to expedite our claiming the bags at the airport on arrival. Does Princess and the EZ Check system on the ship have the ability to attach the priority tags? Also, for those who get free bags with their airline, how do Princess know that so as not to charge us the airline baggage fees on top of the $25/pp EZ Check charge.  Thanks in advance

[PacnGoNow]

7 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

Great news, thanks for confirming. Hopefully it will be available for our flight back to Montreal, and not just for flights to Pearson.

 

General question re EZ Check: We have free bags and priority baggage handling with AC, so orange tags are attached to our bags at check-in to expedite our claiming the bags at the airport on arrival. Does Princess and the EZ Check system on the ship have the ability to attach the priority tags? Also, for those who get free bags with their airline, how do Princess know that so as not to charge us the airline baggage fees on top of the $25/pp EZ Check charge.  Thanks in advance

PCL goes through the airline for approval. We have priority with DL and UA and they do not charge us baggage fees.  We only Pay the $25 service fee per person.  We only check 1 bag each.

You will make a note of that on your form that you return to GS.  Priority , no fee for baggage check. They will verify with the carrier.  
 

GS will also print your BP and luggage tags, according to airline approval.  You get those the day before disembarking, with instructions.

 

Not sure about the orange tags though.

 

 

Edited January 22, 2023 by PacnGoNow

[lx200gps]

1 minute ago, PacnGoNow said:

PCL goes through the airline for approval. We have priority with DL and UA and they do not charge us baggage fees.  
You will make a note of that on your form that you return to GS.  They will verify with the carrier.  
 

GS will also print your BP and luggage tags, according to airline approval.  You get those the day before disembarking, with instructions.

 

Not sure about the orange tags though.

 

 

Excellent, thanks, good to know Princess is working so closely with the airlines. We do have spare orange Star Alliance priority tags so we can always apply them ourselves when we tag the bags.

[Fa-Li]

This is all such good information! Thank you to all who have taken the time to comment!

[bagney]

1 hour ago, lx200gps said:

Great news, thanks for confirming. Hopefully it will be available for our flight back to Montreal, and not just for flights to Pearson.

 

General question re EZ Check: We have free bags and priority baggage handling with AC, so orange tags are attached to our bags at check-in to expedite our claiming the bags at the airport on arrival. Does Princess and the EZ Check system on the ship have the ability to attach the priority tags? Also, for those who get free bags with their airline, how do Princess know that so as not to charge us the airline baggage fees on top of the $25/pp EZ Check charge.  Thanks in advance

On our recent EZ Check use one week ago from the Sky Princess, the day before disembarkation we were delivered our boarding pass and small airline luggage tags (not like the regular ones you get at the airport) - we put them on our bags and put our bags out that night before retiring. When we arrived at our home airport, our bags were there with regular airline tags put over the smaller ones we got on the ship - I can only assume that once our bags made it to the airport that airline staff attached the regular/standard airline tags. 

[patmom]

Do they have EZ check from San Pedro port to LAX?

[Happy2cruise]

50 minutes ago, patmom said:

Do they have EZ check from San Pedro port to LAX?

The last time we sailed, San Pedro did not have EZ and that was right before Covid.

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, patmom said:

Do they have EZ check from San Pedro port to LAX?

Don’t believe so.  Only used it at Ft Lauderdale.  Seattle port has a similar service, Port Valet and it’s free.

 

 

 

[DiRonT]

From Seattle they utilize Port Valet and there is no service fee, only the normal baggage fee by the airline.

[cr8tiv1]

Any exception to cut off time?  Delta changed my flight time (no surprise).  Leaves at 11:18 instead of after 11:30.  

 

I took the above suggestion and printed out a copy for EZ Check (that's how I found out about the time change).  I was really looking forward to this service.

 

Guess I have an extra $25 (non-refundable OBC) to use elsewhere (crew appreciation).

Edited October 9, 2023 by cr8tiv1