Final Night - Why put out your luggage?

[NFLDERS]

Exactly!!!

On a 7-night cruise we have one suitcase and carryon each, so four cases and 4 bags. If you don't wait until the last minute to pack, it's really not bad. I pack up all the dirty clothes in the hamper on morning 4. That's usually one bag. Afternoon 6 I pack up everything except two dinner outfits, PJs, swim suit & cover ups for CC, a short outfit, and a travel outfit for each person. That night I pack up our dinner outfits that were worn to dinner. Our suitcases are packed before we disembark for Castaway Cay that way. After getting ready for dinner, I pack up our swimsuits in large zip lock bags after wringing them out and put them in one of the front pockets of a suitcase. The suitcases and a carry on go out in the hall before we leave for early dinner. After the show I pack our dinner outfits and we change into our travel clothes for the rest of the night. The rest of the bags go out in the hall then. When we get off the ship we have the camera bag, backpack with laptop & other valuables, carryon with toiletries, and whatever souvenirs we need to carry off with us.

If you leave your bags outside your door, you ...
* don't have to worry about where to put your bags while you eat breakfast,
* don't have to worry about dragging your bags down the stairs or wait in the long lines for the elevators to go anywhere,
* don't have to deal with your bags passing others in the narrow hallways onboard or handling them along the gangway
* don't have to wait for the small elevator at the end of the gangway to go down to customs [this elevator is really intended to help those with strollers and wheelchairs, but they general don't let you take the escalator if you have your bags].

Exactly!

 

[KelseyLaPerle]

If we are not flying after the cruise, where do we pick up our bags? We'll be in Vancouver, from where we will take a bus to Seattle. I don't want to lug bags around all morning, but am wondering what they do with bags of passengers who are not going to the airport? Also. What time must we be out of our room?

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[PrincessShmoo]

If we are not flying after the cruise, where do we pick up our bags? We'll be in Vancouver, from where we will take a bus to Seattle. I don't want to lug bags around all morning, but am wondering what they do with bags of passengers who are not going to the airport? Also. What time must we be out of our room?

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Bags left outside the room the last night will be in the terminal baggage claim area once you disembark from the ship. You have to be out of your room by 8:00.

AFAIK, the onboard airline checkin (where you won't see your bags again until you are at your home airport) is only available at Port Canaveral (MCO), on domestic flights. Everyone must claim their bags after disembarking in other ports.

 

[lbgraves]

If we are not flying after the cruise, where do we pick up our bags? We'll be in Vancouver, from where we will take a bus to Seattle. I don't want to lug bags around all morning, but am wondering what they do with bags of passengers who are not going to the airport? Also. What time must we be out of our room?

CDS Baggage provides storage services at Canada Place only and can be reached at 604-303-4500.

This is the contact page on their website. They don't have a lot of info on their page. Be sure to specify Canada Place.

http://www.prioritybaggage.ca/contact.html

You need to be out of your room by 8 a.m. You will pick up your bags in the terminal's customs location. They will call the character tags and guests can disembark in those groups. This is done because there isn't enough room in the customs area to set all of the luggage out at once.

 

[mmouse37]

Look at the big picture....thousands of people wheeling/carrying thousands of bags on the last morning. Bags blocking hallways, taking much longer for elevators if everyone has their big bags with them in the elevator (less people will fit), bags in the way of the servers, bags in the way at the buffet line...bags, bags, everywhere. I am sure their is a safety element as well....don't want people tripping over bags and could you imagine a fire and people trying to evacuate with bags everywhere and crew trying to navigate through thousands of bags.

We leave them outside in the hall and have DCL deal with them. Much less hassle to us. The only time we carried our own bags off was when we had a very early flight and we wanted to make sure we were ready to go as soon as they opened the big doors.

There must be a reason cruise lines ask people to put their bags out!!! If it was no hassle to anyone they then wouldn't ask people to do it.

MJ

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Look at the big picture....thousands of people wheeling/carrying thousands of bags on the last morning. Bags blocking hallways, taking much longer for elevators if everyone has their big bags with them in the elevator (less people will fit), bags in the way of the servers, bags in the way at the buffet line...bags, bags, everywhere. I am sure their is a safety element as well....don't want people tripping over bags and could you imagine a fire and people trying to evacuate with bags everywhere and crew trying to navigate through thousands of bags.

We leave them outside in the hall and have DCL deal with them. Much less hassle to us. The only time we carried our own bags off was when we had a very early flight and we wanted to make sure we were ready to go as soon as they opened the big doors.

There must be a reason cruise lines ask people to put their bags out!!! If it was no hassle to anyone they then wouldn't ask people to do it.

MJ

So true!

 

[Asnell]

This discussion has been very interesting to me. Never having cruised before, I don't have a real idea of the size of the hallways, gangways, etc. on board. I am probably making a lot of assumptions based on how people deal with luggage in airports, on trains, cars, hotels, etc., since I have no cruise experience to compare with. It seems like the ship may be smaller and more difficult to navigate than a lot of those other places.

I am also getting the feeling that a lot of folks perhaps pack more heavily for cruises. I suppose that's to be expected when you have formal and dress-up nights, in addition to the climate challenges Alaska brings. I am just having a hard time remembering a time when the four of us didn't fit all of our things into our two suitcases -- even on multi-week European trips. I guess we will see when we actually pack for this trip!

 

[Momma2Jax]

We did, and will because we have lots of bags and a stroller, so it's just easier when waiting for our debark time, or walking around the ship and port before getting our bags back.

 

[slowly]

When you disembark, you're doing it with everyone. It's just short of controlled chaos. I can only imagine what it would be like if everyone was disembarking with their luggage. Trust me, this is the one time you want to set your bags out the night before.

You took the words right out of my mouth. The passageways are already tight without luggage and can you imagine if people had to do it themselves? In addition, I don't want to do it any earlier in the morning. This is also scheduling for the staff. The elevators are crazy with carry ons already and strollers. Just thinking about it gives me stress!!!

 

[lovetotraveltx]

I must admit i am still waiting to see this ' chaos' everyone talks about We have never had a problem

We were just on the magic. Went to our early breakfast. It was awful outside of parrots cay. People trying to get in, people trying to head off the ship. Doors hadn't opened yet so just huge, unorganized lines! It was a pain just having our carry ons!

Just my opinion!

 

[Toria]

The last cruise we carried or luggage off and it was so much easier. From now that is what we will be doing. No long lines at customs, basically walked straight through.

 

[lbgraves]

This discussion has been very interesting to me. Never having cruised before, I don't have a real idea of the size of the hallways, gangways, etc. on board. I am probably making a lot of assumptions based on how people deal with luggage in airports, on trains, cars, hotels, etc., since I have no cruise experience to compare with. It seems like the ship may be smaller and more difficult to navigate than a lot of those other places.

In airports if you have large pieces of luggage you check them at the counter soon after you enter the building or even at the curb with the agent there. This allows you to move through the airport more easily. I'm guessing they can accommodate more people without them carting all of their own luggage around as well. You pick up your bags before you exit the terminal.

For the gangway, think of the walkway from the airport gate to the plane. That is probably close to the amount of room you will have to navigate. The hallways with the staterooms are a bit narrower. Two people can pass side by side, but not more than that. Also the last morning the hosts are out already working. Their cart is half the width of the hallway. The halls on deck 3 that go from the atrium [where you exit the ship in PC] to AP which is aft are not quite twice as wide as that airport walkway.

The last cruise we carried or luggage off and it was so much easier. From now that is what we will be doing. No long lines at customs, basically walked straight through.

This had more to do with you using express checkout and disembarking so early than the fact that you carried your own luggage off the ship. If someone does this and chooses to leave the ship later, they will encounter the same lines/wait as those guests who put their luggage out the night before.

 

[canadiandisneycruise]

Last cruise, we couldn't exit our stateroom because a family was having a luggage parade in the hallway. The kids struggled to pull the suitcases down one flight where they then decided to take the elevator. Same family had the alarm go off in the elevator because the took too long trying to "fit" into the elevator. I want my vacation to end nicely- not with the mom & dad fighting and kids crying!

 

[peachygreen]

If my kids were older and could control their own luggage it would be one thing. But for now we have 4 of us and on our last cruise the girls were 6 and 2. I had a stroller, carseat bag with 2 carseats, and luggage for the 4 of us. We thought about it as we have mastered the art of the luggage train but with the small elevators and the # of people trying to disembark we decided against it.

In Alaska next year the girls will be older (4 & 8) and we are not planning on having carseats or strollers with us. If we have a late disembark time, we will probably do express walk off and carry our luggage. I'm hoping to have much less luggage and the girls can carry their own bags.

 

[huffjoann]

if I was flying that would be a consideration, plus it is just nicer not to have to jockey the luggage around the ship yourself an run into folks, and the whole elevator issue.
honestly we go to breakfast early enough @ cabanas & don't take our suitecases then run to the room for them and go get off. This last trip we turned in one suitcase night before and rolled off another and 2 carryons.
Luckily our luggage was in orange section right when you got off escalator and it was even on the end! voila.

 

[cyclenut]

We actually travel pretty light, even for cruises. We usually have one garment bag to share, one small roller case and one carry on per person. You can always choose how many bags to put out the night before, especially if you are scrambling to pack by the deadline. That said, we choose to let the cruise line handle our bags.

During embarkation, before the staterooms are ready, the ship is very crowded with bags. People have no place to put everything and are generally crowding to the buffet to get lunch, bags and all. This is before all passengers are on board. Imagine the chaos if EVERYONE choose to carry their own bags off, were all on board and were trying to get breakfast together.

Horrible image.

Unless you really need to for some reason, I recommend setting your bags out the night before. We have never had a problem finding our bags quickly after we left the ship. A little organization goes a long way.

Before you go to dinner, pick out all your clothes for the next day and put them aside. Pack everything else you have and leave your bags in your room then go to dinner. When you return from dinner and whatever else you planned to do, go back to your room and change out of your dinner clothes and pack them up. Then put your luggage out. There is a deadline, so be wary of that. However, if you have late dinner plans, tell your stateroom steward and they will generally accommodate you.

Others prefer to wear the same clothes to dinner they will wear the next day. That can work too. Then you just set your bags out before you go to eat. Super easy and much less hassle in the morning.

 

[gumbypee]

This thread is weird-I always carry my bags off and have never been in the nightmare some of you are describing- it's always been a piece of cake

 

[Zandy595]

This thread is weird-I always carry my bags off and have never been in the nightmare some of you are describing- it's always been a piece of cake

What time do you usually get off the ship? That can make a huge difference.

 

[DisneyNurse19]

This thread is weird-I always carry my bags off and have never been in the nightmare some of you are describing- it's always been a piece of cake

I agree, although i don't carry my bags off and i have never seen any problems

 

[tweis]

I must admit i am still waiting to see this ' chaos' everyone talks about We have never had a problem

I agree. Just off the Dream today and there was none of the "chaos". Of course it could vary from ship to ship and cruise to cruise but we had no problems today.

We chose to do the express walk off because we needed to be off the ship shortly after 7:00. We were told as long as we were not a cash account that this was no problem. We had very little luggage as it was just DH and I on a 3 night. We took what little luggage we had to Cabanas for breakfast (we did not block any walkways) and then straight off the ship by 7:00. Next time when we sail with the kids we will put our bags out the night before since we will have a lot more luggage but the express worked well for us this time.