Luggage Tag Question

[cherrytwist]

This might be a silly question, but if you're flying to your cruise embarkation port, do you put your Princess luggage tags on your bags before you fly, or after you arrive at your embarkation city? This is the first cruise where we've had to fly to the port, so not sure what to do!

[Clek]

After you land so you won't lost them with the airline baggage handlers.

[Donwoods123]

We do ours in the destination city.  If you have a Princess transfer from the airport to the ship, the Princess rep will have a stapler you can use to affix the tags to your bag.

[LACruiser88]

We put them on after our flight.  We also use the below tag holders.  They are very easy to put on/off.

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

My plastic holders stay on for every mode of travel.  You just slip your paper tags inside after you claim your luggage from the carousel.

[JamieLogical]

55 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

My plastic holders stay on for every mode of travel.  You just slip your paper tags inside after you claim your luggage from the carousel.

 

I usually have mine tucked in the front pocket of my bag. I don't leave the empty holders attached to my bags for air travel for fear of them catching on something and ripping off or, more likely, damaging my luggage. Once in my destination city, I remove them from the pocket and attach them to the handle.

[cr8tiv1]

21 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I usually have mine tucked in the front pocket of my bag. I don't leave the empty holders attached to my bags for air travel for fear of them catching on something and ripping off or, more likely, damaging my luggage. Once in my destination city, I remove them from the pocket and attach them to the handle.

 

Unfortunately, my arthritic fingers have a hard enough time getting them on/off.  Haven't had any issues in years.  Not to say it won't happen.

[JamieLogical]

31 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Unfortunately, my arthritic fingers have a hard enough time getting them on/off.  Haven't had any issues in years.  Not to say it won't happen.

 

Yeah, I can see where they would be hard to attach and detach with arthritis.

[Thrak]

We use holders similar to these. As they simply loop around there is less of an issue for folks who have arthritic fingers that have difficulties with the little screw connectors on the ones with metal loops. We've been using them for years. I got extra long loops for them so they are easier to get on and off of the suitcase handle. I put the luggage tags into them at home and then stash them in the outer pocket of the suitcases and put them on after the flight. I remove them before flying home.

 

[bagney]

We put our cruise luggage tags on before flying in the event the bags are lost/delayed - then the airline should be able to figure out which ship/cruise we are on to attempt to get them to us. This has never been a problem in all the cruises we have done and in fact we have asked at the airline check-in counters and there have been no issues with having the cruise luggage tags on when we check our bags for a flight. I also have extra cruise luggage tags with me in the event I need to replace them. 

[ChemistBabe]

We put them on after flying.  (We always fly in ahead of time.)

Hotel front desks always have staplers!

[cynbar]

I highly recommend the plastic tag holders. You can buy them from Amazon (just search for Princess luggage tag holders), they are easy to attach and detach, and seem much more secure than just stapling on the paper tags you have printed off. Inexpensive and reusable. However, we still put them on after flying. 

[PR-Texas]

We'll definitely get plastic luggage tag holders especially since we're doing a CruiseTour.  Our luggage will be handled multiple times by bus and airline folks during the land portion of the trip and then by various folks to get to our cabin on the ship.

[Astro Flyer]

I use plastic luggage tag holders that have metal grommets at the strap attachment point. However I have replaced the plastic straps with braided wire straps with a locking nut to hopefully be more secure because after years of usage the plastic straps become brittle & easier to break.

 

I use the holders to put hidden itinerary info in it before flights in case our bags get misplaced & use this PDF for that purpose.

 

I use the holders before boarding the ship to securely attach our ship’s luggage tags after once having stapled & taped tags nearly torn off between the porters & our cabin…the tags also make them more water resistant.

 

Edited June 18 by Astro Flyer

[Thrak]

One caveat if using the plastic holders: If you use a color inkjet printer don't leave the old tags in the holders a long time. I left old tags in the holders for a long time and the suitcases were in the garage where it got extremely hot. (When it's 110° outside it's considerably hotter in the closed up garage.) I now have pretty much permanent stains inside the holders. I tried cleaning them out with alcohol and such but couldn't get the stains out. The holders still work and the luggage tags can be easily read but they look a bit disreputable. I bought replacements on Amazon but didn't like them much and sent them back. I originally bought the tags at a site I don't think exists anymore. If I could find the exact same holders I would buy replacements.

[sandyoftheseas]

Thrak- I bought the same holders on the site that no longer exists (see post #9) We put the luggage tag in the holder before we leave home and keep them with our documents then when we arrive at the hotel the day before the cruise we place them on our luggage.  

[latebloomer56]

Keep them in the holder in the front pocket. Put them on when we retrieve at baggage claim. I have been using my Cruise Critic tag holders for years and haven't lost or broken one yet. Keep an extra with our documents in case the bag is checked and tags are removed in error.

[Astro Flyer]

Here’s a lesson that we learned about why we do not put the ship’s luggage tags on before a flight.

 

We have only flown in once on the day of a cruise because it was B2B 7 day roundtrip Vancouver to Alaska cruise. We decided to attach our ship’s luggage tags in case they were misdirected so they could catch up with us during our 14 day cruise. Our luggage was not on Vancouver’s luggage carousel so we got concerned & found a Princess representative in the baggage claim area to ask her about them. She said since the ship’s luggage tags were on our suitcases they would have already been picked up and transported to the ship. We had not paid for that service because we were using the SkyTrain to get to the ship. However, neither that rep nor guest services on the ship were able to confirm that our bags had actually been transported to the ship. At sailaway they had not been delivered to our cabin so that created some angst for us but fortunately they did arrive shortly thereafter.

 

We learned our lesson and will never attach our ship’s luggage tags to our bags when flying to a cruise. We will use the tag holders to place the form in post #14 just in case our bags get misplaced when flying to any trip.

 

[JF - retired RRT]

On 6/18/2024 at 11:30 AM, cherrytwist said:

This might be a silly question, but if you're flying to your cruise embarkation port, do you put your Princess luggage tags on your bags before you fly, or after you arrive at your embarkation city? This is the first cruise where we've had to fly to the port, so not sure what to do!

As noted...after. It's also a good idea to put your itinerary inside the suitcase in case your luggage goes one way and you go another.

[Muffinz]

Does anyone know what size the folded princess luggage tags are?

 

I think buying some plastic luggage tags as per post #9 Thrak sounds like the way to go, so I'd need to get ones that can fit the princess tags

 

thanks in advance

[JamieLogical]

2 minutes ago, Muffinz said:

Does anyone know what size the folded princess luggage tags are?

 

I think buying some plastic luggage tags as per post #9 Thrak sounds like the way to go, so I'd need to get ones that can fit the princess tags

 

thanks in advance

 

You will want the wide ones like this:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017BVFA00/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

[Muffinz]

1 minute ago, JamieLogical said:

 

You will want the wide ones like this:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017BVFA00/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

thanks for that!

[PR-Texas]

You can search others on Amazon also.  The ones I found state which cruise lines they work for. That lets you choose the style and budget that works best for you. 

[WisCruiser2]

We just use the clear packing tape - a long piece folded over each side, than taped together after putting through the bag handle. Never have had a problem! We always fly a day early, so they go on the next morning before we leave the hotel.

[JamieLogical]

10 hours ago, WisCruiser2 said:

We just use the clear packing tape - a long piece folded over each side, than taped together after putting through the bag handle. Never have had a problem! We always fly a day early, so they go on the next morning before we leave the hotel.

 

So you pack packing tape to do this at the hotel? Reusable holders seem much more practical.