Can I carry off my luggage if using the coach transfer?

[Napagirl]

First time Cunard cruisers here. We are using the coach transfer from QM2 Southampton to Heathrow. On cruises, we usually carry off our own luggage upon disembarkation and not leave it outside of our cabin the night before. But with this option, are we able to carry them off or must we use the luggage service?

[Pushpit]

Yes, you can do this. Even those who leave out luggage usually have at least an overnight bag with them and so it's not a big difference between the two groups of passengers. If you ask for Fast Track they will let you off first, and way too early for the coach service, but you can just go at a sensible / advertised time for the coach service if you don't want to be hanging around outside for long. 

[WantedOnVoyage]

You may if you wish.  I take this transfer on every Cunard voyage and gotta say Intercruise, Cunard's agents who really organise this, are one of the most efficient components of the whole enterprise.

 

Not sure why you would wish to do this, but you surely may.  The coach leaves about 9:00 am-9:15 am.  And if you have booked the transfer, your disembarkation time is determined by that, too.  Fast track self disembarkation will have you outside the terminal way before that. 

[Napagirl]

On 7/24/2024 at 3:38 PM, WantedOnVoyage said:

Not sure why you would wish to do this, but you surely may.  The coach leaves about 9:00 am-9:15 am.  And if you have booked the transfer, your disembarkation time is determined by that, too.  Fast track self disembarkation will have you outside the terminal way before that. 

We like handling our own luggage and not worrying about what to leave outside and what to keep overnight. We also like the freedom of getting off the ship when we feel like it, so to speak. But it sounds like on Cunard we must depart rather early if we are carrying our own luggage?

[WantedOnVoyage]

Possibly. Not sure if there is a "window" for self disembark where the object is to get off as early as possible.  You could do just do the set disembarkation for the transfer and... yes... just wheel your luggage off with you. I don't think anyone will notice or care.

[Pushpit]

Fast Track is a specific option that you have to ask for. If you don't ask for it, then you default to the baggage tag colour / group number that gets distributed to your cabin around 36 hours before arrival. Fast Track can only be used if you carry your own luggage off, but that's as far as it goes. If you are OK with your tag / group number allocation then you can still go off at that time, even though there is no baggage waiting for you.

 

In reality the process here is about loosely controlling numbers going through in stages, and in line with baggage delivery in the terminal. They don't actually check or send back people who go early or late, there isn't an actual control at this point. However it would be utterly pointless to get off if your baggage had not been delivered and reconciled down the the relevant colour group, so most people will wait for their group to be announced.

[Napagirl]

On 7/27/2024 at 4:12 PM, Pushpit said:

Fast Track is a specific option that you have to ask for. 

Thank you - we will look for that!

[Patria21]

16 hours ago, Napagirl said:

Thank you - we will look for that!

Napagirl - just to make sure you're clear because these threads can become confusing: you do not need to do Fast Track to carry off your own luggage. You're required to carry your luggage off on Fast Track, but you're allowed to carry your luggage off at any time. We just did it yesterday on the QM2 because we didn't want to get off the ship at 7 am. We waited until our assigned time (8:30) and carried our luggage off then. So if you want to carry your luggage to your bus at 9, you absolutely can. That's what I would do.

[david63]

46 minutes ago, Patria21 said:

We waited until our assigned time (8:30) and carried our luggage off then.

That is OK if it is just one or two passengers but if everyone did it then it would be chaos, and a safety issue, and I suspect if too many tried it then you would be asked to step aside and wait until all other passengers had disembarked.

[D&N]

1 hour ago, david63 said:

That is OK if it is just one or two passengers but if everyone did it then it would be chaos, and a safety issue, and I suspect if too many tried it then you would be asked to step aside and wait until all other passengers had disembarked.

That's an odd response.

My problem while carrying baggage off would be the slow moving people in front of me.

But I'm quite polite so I just toddle along at their speed until I come to a point where it is wide enough to pass.

[exlondoner]

8 minutes ago, D&N said:

That's an odd response.

My problem while carrying baggage off would be the slow moving people in front of me.

But I'm quite polite so I just toddle along at their speed until I come to a point where it is wide enough to pass.

I can’t see why it should be a problem either. And, quite honestly, looking at the average load of Cunard passengers, how many of them are going to be keen to hump large suitcases about if they don’t have to?

[Napagirl]

On 8/24/2024 at 10:16 AM, Patria21 said:

Napagirl - just to make sure you're clear because these threads can become confusing: you do not need to do Fast Track to carry off your own luggage. You're required to carry your luggage off on Fast Track, but you're allowed to carry your luggage off at any time. We just did it yesterday on the QM2 because we didn't want to get off the ship at 7 am. We waited until our assigned time (8:30) and carried our luggage off then. So if you want to carry your luggage to your bus at 9, you absolutely can. That's what I would do.

Thank you for clarifying!! We're planning on two carry ons and one smaller bag we can check whenever we're flying. We can easily handle those ourselves and would much rather do it that way.