Walk off with luggage doing the shuttle bus to Anchorage

We have always just kept our luggage and walked off with it. No issues, very fast and no waiting. We are taking the shuttle bus from Seward back to Anchorage this year. Would there be a problem continuing our usual practice? DH has to sleep with CPAP or we are both awake most of the night:mad::mad: He can throw it in the bag and off we go. I did a search but didn't come up with anything on the thread search.

I guess we could let them take the luggage and us pick it up but seems like it would slow things down and I am not sure we would both be around to actually collect baggage:evilsmile:

Thanks in advance.

That would depend on the policy of the cruise line involved (which you don't name), so asking on the board for that cruise line would be good.

But I doubt there would be any changes in Alaska.

Not sure why you wouldn't be around to collect your luggage. Typically you HAVE to collect it and take it to the bus you are boarding.

I am on Celebrity and we have disembarked with our luggage previously with them. We have always kept our luggage with us in the room and just taken it out with us when we disembark from the ship, instead of setting it out the night before disembarking and then reuniting with it at a designated area the next morning at disembarking. I had read before of having to wait for them to get your bags to the pickup spot and also we would have several items then to pack into those bags once we picked them up. I have also read posts of people having baggage missing and not available to pick up which is why we prefer to just do it ourselves.

Since we always walk off with the luggage we don't have to do the HAVE to collect it and take it to whatever we using for transportation at that point.

We've only been on 3 cruises so far, with none of them being on Celebrity, but on all 3 of our cruises, our luggage has been picked up from outside of our cabin after dinner on the night before we disembarked. We have always kept at least one of our carry on bags, as well as our personal items, so everything we need, and our valuables are still with us. The rest of our luggage has always been waiting for us on the dock as we disembarked. We haven't done a really large ship so maybe it's done differently?

We've only been on 3 cruises so far, with none of them being on Celebrity, but on all 3 of our cruises, our luggage has been picked up from outside of our cabin after dinner on the night before we disembarked. We have always kept at least one of our carry on bags, as well as our personal items, so everything we need, and our valuables are still with us. The rest of our luggage has always been waiting for us on the dock as we disembarked. We haven't done a really large ship so maybe it's done differently?

While SWFLAOK may not have cruised with Celebrity their description about how luggage is handled on disembarkation day is consistent with Celebrity procedures.

But I am really confused by the OP's post -- if there is a question in original post I am missing it. And then their second post on this thread didn't provide clarification -- at least for me.

Do they have a question about the cruise terminal in Seward? The Seward cruise terminal is in a enclosed building (somewhat wharehouse in character) and the luggage hall area is staffed. If they choose to self-disembark in Seward they will have to handle their luggage from the ship across the walkway into the cruise terminal and then find their bus transport. It is unclear to me whether they are considering one of the private transport services or are planning to use a Celebrity sponsored motor coach transport.

The question is-- will the luggage be on the dock waiting for us by the time we get off the ship if we do the more traditional put it outside the door the night before and let ship personnel transport it to the pickup place on the dock? Seemed like could be more convenient.

We are doing a private transport on a bus and timing is quite critical so don't want to miss the shuttle waiting for our bags. You can also only take one small carry on onto the shuttle bus per their web site which means we would then have to connect back to our luggage, put some items in it (since can't be but one per person going into the passenger part of bus) get it to the bus.

My hesitation is seeing some posts of people missing flights/shuttles as they had to sit and wait after disembarking for their luggage to arrive to the dock. I was wondering if that is common or the occasional mishap?

I think I understand the question now. Let me say that we have been on so many Celebrity cruises that we actually have Zenith Captain's Club status with Celebrity (we apparently are the only Zeniths who live in Alaska). We don't self-disembark, but always place our luggage outside the stateroom door the evening before disembarkation. We have disembarked in ports in Europe, South America, South Pacific, United States and Caribbean. And we have disembarked in Seward.

We have never encountered the problem which your husband is worrying about. Obviously we keep our toiletries and valuables in our carry-ons. I also take a Celebrity tote bag (i.e. the free ones in your stateroom) and place the items which will be packed in suitcases in it so that when we pick up the suitcases in the cruise terminal we unlock them and quickly pack the items.

The Seward cruise terminal is a large building. They have a large area for baggage. Your luggage will be arranged by the color and number of your disembarkation luggage tags. As long as you arrange for transport after the ship arrival time you should be fine. For example, if the ship is scheduled to arrive at 8 AM just book a 9 AM shuttle to assure your husband that he will be fine. We found that when we disembarked in Seward last summer that a great number of fellow passengers had scheduled the cruise contracted train, and so the cruise terminal was rather quiet.

Thanks. Yes departure time for the shuttle is at least hour after arrival. Good idea with the bag. I always have a small lite backpack and could get everything extra except the CPAP in it I think, so only two items to stuff in a suitcase between picking it up at the baggage claim area and getting it to the shuttle bus.