Jump to content

Port of Seattle launches free airport luggage service


MVPinBoynton
 Share

Recommended Posts

Someone above posted that their luggage was lost and it was near impossible to find due so much handling. Hmmmmmm. I am moving onto a Convention after this cruise going via LA. I think I will go back to the idea of using a Porter, which I am happy to pay for. Then at least I know my bags are with me at the airport for check in, only one step need to trace back if things go pearshaped. Is there a big time wait if the bags get taken off the ship and you collect them on the dock? I have an 11.30 flight out of SEATAC. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been following this thread with interest and have several observations:

 

If it is true that the motivation of the valet program is to facilitate guests with later flights to linger in Seattle and spend some money than there are several obstacles not addressed:

= It does not address the issue of hand luggage. It still is a pain going around town lugging your hand luggage. Airplane bag charges and having hand over checked bags in the previous night are two obstacles. A "customer friendly" system would allow depositing hand luggage at point of disembarkation and pick up before going through security.

= Not sure what the cruise line's incentive would be to cooperate as they offer a rival pre-paid transport service to the airport as well as half day tours.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been following this thread with interest and have several observations:

 

If it is true that the motivation of the valet program is to facilitate guests with later flights to linger in Seattle and spend some money than there are several obstacles not addressed:

= It does not address the issue of hand luggage. It still is a pain going around town lugging your hand luggage. Airplane bag charges and having hand over checked bags in the previous night are two obstacles. A "customer friendly" system would allow depositing hand luggage at point of disembarkation and pick up before going through security.

= Not sure what the cruise line's incentive would be to cooperate as they offer a rival pre-paid transport service to the airport as well as half day tours.

 

Yes, those are valid points However, here are a couple of things that also might be points of consideration.

 

 

Hand luggage. Not all have hand luggage. I've been surprised at the number of people who get on buses or taxis with only a small backpack that can easily be carried by one of the travelers or even only a small, ligjht, bag. A lot fewer than I would have thought I'd see. Offering storage space at the airport has the disadvantage of requiring what might turn out to be a fairly large amount of storage space. I say might because it might not be large enough to really be a problem, that is just speculation on my part.

 

 

As to the already-present pre-paid service offered by some or all of the cruise lines Another valid point however, I suspect that since the Port Valet program is probably only going to exist till the a/p construction is complete, the lines might be thinking "l\Let's let the passengers/customers try the free service and maybe get used to us so that they'll maybe use our program once the temporary program offered by the port is gone!" That would be sort of a short-term-loss, vs long-term-gain program. Again, I don't know, it's just speculation on my part.

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the already-present pre-paid service - from above. Is this the port supplied service or do the actual Cruise Lines also offer a service you can book that takes you straight to the Airport? I was going to do the regular luggage out the night before but collect on dock then get a Porter to take me to the taxi stand. I need a swift disembarkation and airport transfer. Will be in a Sky Suite.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the already-present pre-paid service - from above. Is this the port supplied service or do the actual Cruise Lines also offer a service you can book that takes you straight to the Airport? I was going to do the regular luggage out the night before but collect on dock then get a Porter to take me to the taxi stand. I need a swift disembarkation and airport transfer. Will be in a Sky Suite.

 

The Port Valet program gets only your luggage directly to the airport and onto your scheduled flight. It does not get you yourself anywhere. Getting you yourself to the airport is on your nickle!

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Tom

 

Lozzie, I will say this about the Port Valet program and that is that I have never heard any complaint abuot the program in the year and a half it's been around. Now, realize that it would be odd if I had heard anything like that since a relatively very few travelers who sail out of Seattle to Alaska are probably members of Cruise Critic so it would be odd if I had heard anything either good or bad here. I have, however, heard probably a half dozen or so comments here from people who have used the Port Valet system of the Seattle Port Authority and they have all been very positive. I do remember seeing one where bags did not arrive at the destination airport at the same time as the owners, but they did report that they arrived the very next day. Since that is going to happen occasionally in any case, I'd consider that o be a very good record over a roughly year and a half time frame.

 

In any event, I hope that your Alaska cruise is a very enjoyable one and that your flights to/from Seattle are smooth and enjoyable!

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

When people have used this service for airline luggage fees if applicable are the fees charged directly by the airline or by teh cruise line and added to your online account.?

Will be cruising with Celebrity, but I imagine all cruise lines are the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When people have used this service for airline luggage fees if applicable are the fees charged directly by the airline or by teh cruise line and added to your online account.?

Will be cruising with Celebrity, but I imagine all cruise lines are the same.

 

The lines that participate in the Port Valet program pay the airline fees and charge it to the online account, I believe. You won't have to be concerned about that, though, as the last I heard Carnival does not participate in that program. That info was provided to me by a cruiser at the end of June and I have posted the following info on every Carnival Legend cruise to Alaska Roll Call out of Pier 91 since then and have not heard any report back of a chance since. I'm guessing, therefore, that the situation has not changed.

 

"A cruiser who was on the Legend the end of June reported the following:'I couldn’t get a definitive answer on Carnival participating before we left and wanted to let others know that at least as of last week (late June) they are NOT. I asked numerous people at guest services and was repeatedly told that Carnival is not associated with the port and they do not use that service.'"

 

 

Additionally, a cruiser on the 24 July sailing of the Legend posted the following on their Roll Call today (12 August 2018): "Since the survey is so important on Carnival, the only thing I gave them negative marks on was disembarkation and not using the Port of Seattle luggage valet. It was really a pain to store our bags and then come back for them after a day in Seattle." Thus, I am guessing that it does not participate for whatever reason.

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When people have used this service for airline luggage fees if applicable are the fees charged directly by the airline or by teh cruise line and added to your online account.?

Will be cruising with Celebrity, but I imagine all cruise lines are the same.

 

 

We cruise on Celebrity in July and participated in the luggage valet service. The airline fee for the baggage was charged to the Celebrity on board account.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We cruise on Celebrity in July and participated in the luggage valet service. The airline fee for the baggage was charged to the Celebrity on board account.

 

Darn! I read Celebrity, but was thinking Carnival. That'll teach me to slow down and read more closely! Sorry about my off-subject info. :(

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We cruise on Celebrity in July and participated in the luggage valet service. The airline fee for the baggage was charged to the Celebrity on board account.

 

I have an American Airlines credit card which provides me with no baggage fees for one bag. I am flying home on American. Has anyone experienced this situation and if so, are you still charged by the cruise line? I will be travelling on Royal Caribbean.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Other posters said that you can write comments on the form telling them that one of your pieces of luggage is free. We are in First Class, so I plan on noting that on the form. I suspect that our bags will not get priority tags from American.

I have an American Airlines credit card which provides me with no baggage fees for one bag. I am flying home on American. Has anyone experienced this situation and if so, are you still charged by the cruise line? I will be travelling on Royal Caribbean.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Other posters said that you can write comments on the form telling them that one of your pieces of luggage is free. We are in First Class, so I plan on noting that on the form. I suspect that our bags will not get priority tags from American.

 

 

Just completed a cruise to Alaska on Emerald Princess, Seattle round trip.

 

We were given the Cruise Valet forms in our cabins at the daily turn down service on Monday night. We did not get back to the cabin until 10:00 pm that night. The directions said the forms had to be returned by 12 noon the following day. One immediate problem was we were planning to be off the ship at 6:45 am for our private tour in Ketchikan. No matter, I did finish the forms and was at the cruise service desk early. There I encountered an "issue". They insisted I show a copy of my itinerary. It made no sense to me as that was already spelled out by me on the form. Fortunately I had it on my iphone. They double checked every line (name, airline, flight number, time, booking number) The form BTW also asked for reason that a baggage fee was not due. I put down, in my case, that tickets were booked through American Express Delta card which has that perk.

In any case, I was mildly annoyed at what I perceived to be a bureaucratic clerical step of double checking. It was only later on that I realized why the need to double check. What had not been clear is that the Cruiseline checks you in 24 hrs ahead of flight, prints out boarding passes and issues baggage tags. Which meant all that did not show up in our cabin until 6:00 pm on the last sailing day (our flights being for 5:30 pm the following day). Put the bags out by 11:00 pm and saw them next in Austin, Texas. It worked!!! The customs officer asked why we, a group of 6, had no baggage with us. !!

 

My impressions: Excellent, smooth reliable service . However, very short window for filling out forms.

Incidentally, the form states that all excess baggage fees are waived. Worked for us. Allowed us to go around seattle and help the local economy.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can anyone confirm....We are sailing on Royal Caribbean & we have a 1:30pm flight from SEA-TAC... the paperwork I have seen says the Luggage Valet Service is for flights AFTER 2:00pm..... I SURE HOPE we will still be able to use the service!

 

TIA!

Edited by SRV FAN
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can anyone confirm....We are sailing on Royal Caribbean & we have a 1:30pm flight from SEC-TAC... the paperwork I have seen says the Luggage Valet Service is for flights AFTER 2:00pm..... I SURE HOPE we will still be able to use the service!

 

TIA!

 

 

 

Must be different by cruise line. Princess said flight had to be after 11:30!

Interesting note: we came back yesterday, with three bags, traveling in first. No priority baggage tags. And Port Valet showed SEA as destination. Apparently, once it gets to the airport, the airlines take over. Our bags all came to our destination (CMH) fine, but two had priority tags and came off early. One was not marked priority, so it came towards the end. I didn’t expect any priority, but it was a great experience for us to see Seattle before a late flight!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Must be different by cruise line. Princess said flight had to be after 11:30!

Interesting note: we came back yesterday, with three bags, traveling in first. No priority baggage tags. And Port Valet showed SEA as destination. Apparently, once it gets to the airport, the airlines take over. Our bags all came to our destination (CMH) fine, but two had priority tags and came off early. One was not marked priority, so it came towards the end. I didn’t expect any priority, but it was a great experience for us to see Seattle before a late flight!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yea.. it must be different for each cruise line...whatever they can manage, I guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can anyone confirm....We are sailing on Royal Caribbean & we have a 1:30pm flight from SEA-TAC... the paperwork I have seen says the Luggage Valet Service is for flights AFTER 2:00pm..... I SURE HOPE we will still be able to use the service!

 

TIA!

After 11:30 am. At least on the Emerald Princess which was already docked before 7:00 am

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can anyone confirm....We are sailing on Royal Caribbean & we have a 1:30pm flight from SEA-TAC... the paperwork I have seen says the Luggage Valet Service is for flights AFTER 2:00pm..... I SURE HOPE we will still be able to use the service!

 

TIA!

 

After 11:30 am. At least on the Emerald Princess which was already docked before 7:00 am

 

The times that are applicable for one cruise line are not necessarily valid for any of the other lines. I would not count on the Princess times to be valid for Royal Caribbean or vice versa!

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The times that are applicable for one cruise line are not necessarily valid for any of the other lines. I would not count on the Princess times to be valid for Royal Caribbean or vice versa!

 

Tom

 

 

 

Yes, I know. Thanks. To be clear.... I am looking for those that have sailed on ROYAL CARIBBEAN that have had a similar issue as to mine....

 

Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On my Celebrity cruise for Southwest, it said flights had to be before 4:00 PM. I had a 4:55 PM flight and filled out the form and the luggage tags and boarding passes were in my room the last night of the cruise. There was a card given to me earlier in the cruise that thanked me for using the luggage valet program and I would be given my boarding passes by 6:00 PM the last night of the cruise. We left on an excursion around 6 pm and when we returned we finished packing and placed the bags outside our room around 10:30 PM. The bags arrived in San Diego on our flight near the end of the luggage

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On my Celebrity cruise for Southwest, it said flights had to be before 4:00 PM. I had a 4:55 PM flight and filled out the form and the luggage tags and boarding passes were in my room the last night of the cruise. There was a card given to me earlier in the cruise that thanked me for using the luggage valet program and I would be given my boarding passes by 6:00 PM the last night of the cruise. We left on an excursion around 6 pm and when we returned we finished packing and placed the bags outside our room around 10:30 PM. The bags arrived in San Diego on our flight near the end of the luggage

Since you were on Southwest, did you have Early Bird check in for your flight? If not, what kind of boarding number did you get? We're going to try using the program next summer (assuming it's still available by then) and will have a Southwest flight home. I'm having difficulty seeing how it would work without Early Bird. Oh and by the way, we're just next door in Vista.

 

 

Thanks, Pat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have A list so I was automatically checked in early by Southwest so I had A27 and my wife had B37. The flight coming home from Seattle was only about 3/4 full with many middle seats open. We took the one nonstop Southwest had. I think the cruise line checked us in at exactly 24 hours to get the boarding passes and luggage tags to us as soon as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...