Baggage Tags on from home or later?

[bigreckster]

We're going on the Millie next week (I hope...if the propeller is fixed!) and the instructions say to affix cruise baggage tags before leaving home. I've always waited until I claim my bags at the destination airport to be sure they don't interfere with the airline barcodes and that they're still on the bags. Anyone have experience with this? Thanks in advance.

[xtopher_66]

We wait until we make the last leg of the journey to the pier which usually is in the hotel we stayed at the night prior to the cruise.

 

Chris

[larronry]

I've never thought about that since I've always driven to the port. (So far I've driven to 3 ports). Airlines always cut off all tags other then the one for that flight so I definetly wouldn't put it on.

 

BTW it does appear as though the propeller was fixed according to another thread.

[mumsyo]

I wait until I get to my destination, which is usually a hotel one night pre-cruise. It is just easier for me that way and I know that the luggage tags won't get lost or taken off before I go to the ship.

 

Marilyn

[GaryfmCol]

I wait until I get to my destination, which is usually a hotel one night pre-cruise. It is just easier for me that way and I know that the luggage tags won't get lost or taken off before I go to the ship.

 

Marilyn

 

Yep..

I always wondered that too.

Now, I never put them on, until I get to the hotel BEFORE

we embark.

 

Not sure WHY they tell you to do that :rolleyes:

[BurBunny]

I think they still tell you to do that because, in the event your luggage doesn't make it, it's easier for them to find and deal with if it has the cruise line tags on it.

 

However, I've had airline officials tell me it's MUCH more likely to get lost with extra tags on there (they confuse the baggage scanners and take more time for them to process), and are prone to getting pulled off.

 

I'd rather do all I can to ensure the bags actually make it to the destination with me - so I don't put the tags on until the last leg between the airport and the ship.

[Lsimon]

We always put them on only when we're on our way to the port. Usually a day or two after our flight.

 

However, I do make luggage tags for each cruise with our name & contact info which also include our pre-cruise itinerary and our cruise ship embarkation information - just to increase the chances of the baggage making it to our hotel or the ship if they were to be lost. Fortunately, we've never had luggage lost or misrouted on our way to the ship.

[hajekfam]

Celebrity tags look a lot like airline tags and even are bar coded. I'm always afraid that they will help confuse the airport luggage handlers so I put them on after I claim my luggage or just before boarding.

As far as the cruise tag acting as a method of helping direct your bag if it gets lost - I bought an extra set of luggage tags that match my luggage straps and put in a business card that I printed that has our names, ship, and itinerary including pre and post cruise hotels.

[Kathie44]

We used to put them on before leaving home, but now wait till we get to our port city. But we leave the return tags on till we get home. Evidently the machines aren't as confused after the cruise. LOL

[hajekfam]

The disembarkation tags are not like the airline tags - they are more like a luggage tag that comes with your luggage or that you can buy in a store - they are a cardboard tag with a string (like the airlines used to use years and years ago).

The embarkation tags are self adhesive strips that look very similar to and attach the same way as the computer printed ones from the airlines.

[dbh62ark]

Speaking from the perspective of someone who had delayed luggage for two and a half days after arriving in Italy in May AND delayed luggage after returning home in June from the trip, I wouldn't do anything to confuse the airlines. :) So I would suggest that you leave the tags off your luggage for your flights.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[GaryfmCol]

One other thing I might add..

Has anyone else ever done this?

 

We just did a cruise out of Amsterdam Holland.

We live in Denver, and, the flight was from DEN - ATL- AMS.

We were flying over on DELTA Airlines.

(Don't Expect Luggage To Arrive ='s D.E.L.T.A.) :rolleyes:

 

I could not chance it..on the luggage tag, I put our address at the Amsterdam HILTON Hotel. If our luggage did not arrive until a day or, two later, I wondered if the luggage would be sent back to DEN??????..

or, sit at the airport in a foreign country. Lucky for us, our bags

did arrive this time.. At the hotel later, I tore off the typed, taped temporary address of the hotel that I put over the bag tags..

 

We had an entertainer not long ago on the GALAXY that spent the entire cruise without his bags for this reason, on a trans-Atlantic cruise.

By the time his bags caught up with him, the cruise was almost over with.:eek:

[dbh62ark]

Yeah, and to add to the post above, we had 60 passengers on our May 25th Millennium sailing that didn't have luggage until Athens, which is day 6 of the trip. Wave bye bye to your luggage at your home airport and then be pleasantly surprised if you see it again on schedule. ;)

 

Donna