Shipping Suitcases From Southampton to U.S.

[Paul NH]

Can someone suggest an economical means of shipping a suitcase or two from the U.K. back to the States? Cunard provided pricing ranging from $250 - $400 for one bag 0, to a max of 70 pounds. I would still have to pick up the bags at the pier, clear it through customs, and then walk it over to the DHL counter (I thought Cunard would have taken care of this and relieved me of the baggage the last night on board, but they do not.)

 

I was wondering if the postal service or some other means would be nearby in Southampton where I could take the suitcase(s) and ship them myself via surface means and thereby pay a much lower price. I would like us to be free of all that extra formal wear since we will be spending some additional time in England.

 

I know in the U.S. I can go to any post office and mail just about anything anywhere at somewhat reasonable rates if I do not care how long it takes. Any experience or suggestions on the U.K. options would be greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

Paul

[elaine61]

Not sure that our postal system is as efficient as yours. A large item usually has to go parcel post. Never tried to send a suitcase anywhere, but I can tell you to send parcels from the UK is not cheap. I would have thought you needed a courier service rather than the royal mail!!

 

Check out these websites of couriers that are available in the Southampton area!!

 

http://www.parcelforce.com/portal/pw

 

http://www.interlinkexpress.com/

 

http://www.dhl.co.uk/

 

http://www.psap.co.uk/

 

http://www.tnt.com/country/en_gb.html

 

http://www.rapiddespatch.com/

 

The parcelforce companies address seemed to be in the western docks which would suggest it is in the dock area. Check out these websites though.

 

Elaine

[Peter Jones]

Here's another site:

 

http://www.firstluggage.com/

[transat_jon]

Paul

 

Tell us what the best deal you find is. It will help us all out. Excess luggage charges are a pain....

[Paul NH]

Thanks for the advise above. We decided in the end to just stick with DHL dockside, especially when we learned that we can make reservations onboard during the trip. We will still have to pick up the luggage at pierside and carry it through to a DHL counter somewhere, but it seemed the best way when all was said and done.

 

I will post, after the trip, whether this ended up being a convenient service.

 

Paul

[gracecarmo]

When I talked to the Fedex man the other day, he gave me a form that shows you can ship from overseas. The form lists "textiles" as one form of transportation.

I will also look into using Fedex, plus DHL, and the others.

I think that the textiles status has you putting clothes into a box? I really would like to ship the whole suitcase!

Anyone know about Fedex? Celebrity uses it for suitcases in the US, aboard some of their ships in the Caribbean.

 

Grace

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

> I would still have to pick up the bags at the pier, clear it through customs, and then walk it over to the DHL counter (I thought Cunard would have taken care of this and relieved me of the baggage the last night on board, but they do not.)

 

I was told that it is a Customs requirement. Passengers must take their own bags through Customs, so they can catch you with any drugs or the like.

 

Best wishes, Stephen.

[gracecarmo]

Stephen: are there DHL facilities at Gatwick?

 

Grace

[Paul NH]

Paul

 

Tell us what the best deal you find is. It will help us all out. Excess luggage charges are a pain....

Well, it took three months, but the DHL bill just caught up with us. They mail it out separately, and in our case, sent it to our neighbors house (where we had our suitcase shipped), who were away on vacation most of August.

 

The bill came to $240 to ship a large suitcase from Southampton pierside to our home in the U.S. Considering we spent 10 days in England after we got off the ship, it was worth it in my opinion to get rid of all of our formal wear. We packed the tux, gowns, shoes, suits, ship portraits, programmes and other things into the suitcase.

 

The only downside is that I had to fill out a customs form on the ship the last day at sea, and the form required me to list every single item, line by line, which was a pain.

 

We had to pick up our bag pierside, but it was only a short walking distance away to the DHL counter, and someone immediately grabbed the suitcase, checked the paperwork, and the whole thing took about 15 seconds to drop off. Really, pretty easy.

 

The bag arrived safe and sound at our neighbors. No damage, theft or anything. Although the price is pretty steep, I would recommend it if you are spending time traveling after you get off the ship and are looking for a hassle-free way of unloading heavy luggage that you no longer need.

 

Paul