Luggage Tags

[jtntx34]

I am getting ready for my first DCL Cruise next month, and I received my luggage tags yesterday.

Am I the only one who is worried about losing them? It’s not an unfounded worry since last year, I was on another cruise line, and I printed my tags out beforehand and put them into some fancy plastic holders I’d bought online. Got everything perfectly ready.

We were going to Alaska and were spending the first five days doing some sightseeing on land. When I got ready to attach our cruise tags to our bags the night before, I could not find them anywhere.

Luckily, I could pop down to the lobby and print new ones, and I got some packing tape and got them attached.

When we finally got home, I found the ones I printed before leaving sitting on my bed. Taunting me. “Ha ha! You missed us. We were right here in plain sight.”

It does not matter how organized I try to be, how many lists I make...something like this seems to always happen. My first trip to WDW, I had printed out confirmations for hotel, car, dining reservations, menus for restaurants, and all sorts of useful info. I put the pages in lovely plastic sheet protectors and put a binder ring in the top hole. It was perfect.

We got to the airport, and I decided to take them out and look up some info since we had an unusually long delay. Enjoyed looking at my handiwork a few minutes and decided to go to restroom. Left info with my Mom and sis while I went down the hall.

When I got back, gone. My beautiful plastic sheathed papers gone. Nowhere to be found. Mom and sis said they did not see them.

I freaked out. Looked everywhere. Not in trash cans. Nothing in trashcans. Seems like the cleaning crew had come by while I was away, and that’s my best guess of where they went. When we got to WDW, I had to call and get all my reservation info again. (This was 11 years ago, and I did not have a smart phone then).

So, here I am about to take an adventure, and I’ve got these perfectly shiny luggage tags. What happens if they “jump ship” and disappear before I board?

 

[jdb in AZ]

I am getting ready for my first DCL Cruise next month, and I received my luggage tags yesterday.

Am I the only one who is worried about losing them? It’s not an unfounded worry since last year, I was on another cruise line, and I printed my tags out beforehand and put them into some fancy plastic holders I’d bought online. Got everything perfectly ready.

We were going to Alaska and were spending the first five days doing some sightseeing on land. When I got ready to attach our cruise tags to our bags the night before, I could not find them anywhere.

Luckily, I could pop down to the lobby and print new ones, and I got some packing tape and got them attached.

When we finally got home, I found the ones I printed before leaving sitting on my bed. Taunting me. “Ha ha! You missed us. We were right here in plain sight.”

It does not matter how organized I try to be, how many lists I make...something like this seems to always happen. My first trip to WDW, I had printed out confirmations for hotel, car, dining reservations, menus for restaurants, and all sorts of useful info. I put the pages in lovely plastic sheet protectors and put a binder ring in the top hole. It was perfect.

We got to the airport, and I decided to take them out and look up some info since we had an unusually long delay. Enjoyed looking at my handiwork a few minutes and decided to go to restroom. Left info with my Mom and sis while I went down the hall.

When I got back, gone. My beautiful plastic sheathed papers gone. Nowhere to be found. Mom and sis said they did not see them.

I freaked out. Looked everywhere. Not in trash cans. Nothing in trashcans. Seems like the cleaning crew had come by while I was away, and that’s my best guess of where they went. When we got to WDW, I had to call and get all my reservation info again. (This was 11 years ago, and I did not have a smart phone then).

So, here I am about to take an adventure, and I’ve got these perfectly shiny luggage tags. What happens if they “jump ship” and disappear before I board?

You can just get new tags from a porter when you get to the dock. You'll need the number of your stateroom to fill out the tags. Not a problem.

 

[clten]

Porters will have tags for you at the port if you don't have yours. If you are using DCL transportation, the DCL rep will have tags. No need to stress.

 

[jtntx34]

Thanks!

 

[Rob1872]

Don't believe the previous posters. Put the luggage tags in a bag and then duck-tape the bag to your waist until you arrive at the port. (If you have several weeks to go, try not to take a shower for those weeks to avoid water leaking into the bag and damaging the luggage tags.) DO NOT LOSE THE TAGS!!!

If you arrive at the port without luggage tags, the first thing that will happen is that the luggage porters will beat you with a rubber hose. Typically the beating lasts about 15 seconds for each bag that needs a tag, but if you get an employee who is working an overtime shift they are prone to increase it to about 20 seconds per bag.

After the beating, you are taken up to the terminal and paraded in front of the other guests for a 'public shaming' session. People with previous DCL experience will know to bring along some spoiled fruits and vegetables to throw at you as you do the walk of shame. (If you are booked in a concierge cabin, you don't need to bring your own rotten produce to throw; shore-side concierge guest services will have arranged for a suitable collection of spoiled fruit to be provided to you.)

Finally, you are brought back down to the baggage area where you will be put to work hauling bags over to the ship until all of the bags are on board or 15 minutes until the sail-away time, whichever comes first. Once you get on the ship, you will find out that your tastings/meet & greets/Palo and Remy reservations have all been cancelled, and your dining time has been shifted to the opposite of what you had been reserved for. (One thing to note: this is the one extreme way to ensure that if you are assigned second seating and you HAVE to get early dining to get the switch. However, you are also guaranteed to be paired for dinner with at least one guest with continuous nasal discharge and extreme flatulence, so decide if that dining switch is really that important to you.)

Having said that, there is also the possibility that the porters will break out a huge stack of new luggage tags and cheerfully write you up new ones. But do you really want to take the chance?

On a serious note, don't let Mom and sis hold the luggage tags!

 

[mmouse37]

Do the porters hand you the DCL luggage tags like you get in the mail or just a generic luggage tag? I never had the problem of losing them in 44 cruises but always wondered if they kept a stack of "green striped" ones at the port like I got in the mail for the Magic. I know the ships have different colored luggage tags for embarkation. We sailed out NY this time and would the NY porters have the DCL luggage tags to hand out?


MJ

 

[jtntx34]

Don't believe the previous posters. Put the luggage tags in a bag and then duck-tape the bag to your waist until you arrive at the port. (If you have several weeks to go, try not to take a shower for those weeks to avoid water leaking into the bag and damaging the luggage tags.) DO NOT LOSE THE TAGS!!!

If you arrive at the port without luggage tags, the first thing that will happen is that the luggage porters will beat you with a rubber hose. Typically the beating lasts about 15 seconds for each bag that needs a tag, but if you get an employee who is working an overtime shift they are prone to increase it to about 20 seconds per bag.

After the beating, you are taken up to the terminal and paraded in front of the other guests for a 'public shaming' session. People with previous DCL experience will know to bring along some spoiled fruits and vegetables to throw at you as you do the walk of shame. (If you are booked in a concierge cabin, you don't need to bring your own rotten produce to throw; shore-side concierge guest services will have arranged for a suitable collection of spoiled fruit to be provided to you.)

Finally, you are brought back down to the baggage area where you will be put to work hauling bags over to the ship until all of the bags are on board or 15 minutes until the sail-away time, whichever comes first. Once you get on the ship, you will find out that your tastings/meet & greets/Palo and Remy reservations have all been cancelled, and your dining time has been shifted to the opposite of what you had been reserved for. (One thing to note: this is the one extreme way to ensure that if you are assigned second seating and you HAVE to get early dining to get the switch. However, you are also guaranteed to be paired for dinner with at least one guest with continuous nasal discharge and extreme flatulence, so decide if that dining switch is really that important to you.)

Having said that, there is also the possibility that the porters will break out a huge stack of new luggage tags and cheerfully write you up new ones. But do you really want to take the chance?

On a serious note, don't let Mom and sis hold the luggage tags!

Since I’m solo on this trip, I’m contemplating the duct tape method you mentioned as there will be no distracted family members to blame for mishaps this time, and I’ve already forced my friend to hold onto my door magnets. I do not wish to overburden her since she is already wrangling her husband, grown daughter, son-in-law AND my door magnets on this cruise.

So, I must bear the burden of the fancy luggage tags all alone. I am glad to know I will get prize if I forget them (though I am hoping for rotten vegetable instead of fruit as I am not a huge fruit eater).

 

[clten]

Do the porters hand you the DCL luggage tags like you get in the mail or just a generic luggage tag? I never had the problem of losing them in 44 cruises but always wondered if they kept a stack of "green striped" ones at the port like I got in the mail for the Magic. I know the ships have different colored luggage tags for embarkation. We sailed out NY this time and would the NY porters have the DCL luggage tags to hand out?

No, the tags that the porters have are not similar to the ones you get in the mail (DCL branded). When we have needed them (once in PC, once in LA and once somewhere else, Vancouver maybe?) they were generic paper stock tags. The porters just wrote your cabin number on them in marker.

 

[mmouse37]

No, the tags that the porters have are not similar to the ones you get in the mail (DCL branded). When we have needed them (once in PC, once in LA and once somewhere else, Vancouver maybe?) they were generic paper stock tags. The porters just wrote your cabin number on them in marker.

Thanks, that what I thought!

MJ

 

[msmama]

Do the porters hand you the DCL luggage tags like you get in the mail or just a generic luggage tag? I never had the problem of losing them in 44 cruises but always wondered if they kept a stack of "green striped" ones at the port like I got in the mail for the Magic. I know the ships have different colored luggage tags for embarkation. We sailed out NY this time and would the NY porters have the DCL luggage tags to hand out?


MJ

Yes, the porters in NY have them to hand out. I know this from personal experience.

In my experience they were like the luggage tags you can get at the airport that are paper and string. Maybe a little thicker though...it was a few years ago. I've remembered my luggage tags ever since.