Luggage Tag Warning: Yellow vs Orange

[Starry Eyes]

Hi. I am just off Breakaway with a warning for other frequent cruisers. As Platinum latitudes members we got Yellow disembarkation luggage tags. We placed two tags on each of our two bags and placed them in the hall as usual.

 

this am, we were off bright and early, but neither bag was in the yellow luggage area:eek: We looked and looked. We got careless shrugs from porters. then finally we were directed to the untagged section, though it would be amazing if all four tags torn off. the bags were not there either.

 

finally a helpful porter said "I think I see another yellow section at the other end of the building". that turned out to be orange...a rather pale orange as it happens. .

 

In the orange tag section were our yellow tagged bags and multiple other yellow tagged bags, all interspersed with the orange bags. All are tags were there...all four tags are indeed yellow

 

evidently one of the sorter has a bit of a color vision deficient (or a care deficit).

 

Since many here are gold or platinum latitudes members (or will be in the future) who get yellow tags, I wanted to post to tell you to check orange if your bag is not in the yellow section.

[LOVEMYMO]

Thanks for the heads up on this!!!

[Novastar]

That happened to me as well last year in New York coming off the Gem. I was given black tags. Off the ship, no luggage in the black section. Like you, I found most of the folks working in that area couldn't have cared less. Finally someone told me that I should look through all the bags - there were thousands! I eventually did find them parked with all the blue tagged bags.

 

So it does happen and probably fairly regularly. It just added stress when I was trying to make a post-cruise excursion.

[Starry Eyes]

That happened to me as well last year in New York coming off the Gem. I was given black tags. Off the ship, no luggage in the black section. Like you, I found most of the folks working in that area couldn't have cared less. Finally someone told me that I should look through all the bags - there were thousands! I eventually did find them parked with all the blue tagged bags.

 

So it does happen and probably fairly regularly. It just added stress when I was trying to make a post-cruise excursion.

 

Novastar, that sounds worse. With an pending excursion, you had some time pressure as well as things you paid to see. fortunately, we were off early and our flight is at about 1 pm. even with the luggage tag drama, we still have hours to kill at LGA.

 

For others, knowing black has previous been mixed with blue, and yellow has been mixed with orange at least gives somebody an idea where to look for missing bags.

[roger001]

I made a bad mistake a couple of years ago, right after the yellow tag program had just begun. The instructions with the tag only said , with the yellow tag you are free to leave the ship when ever you wish after debarkation begins. So we did. We got in "easy walk off" line and walked off with just our hand carried items. As we finished checking out through customs and walked onto the street, we then found out that our luggage was still in the terminal in a restricted area. And...we were no longer permitted to enter that area, having already exited the security area. Unfortunately, we were not alone. Numerous others had also read the instructions as we had done and they too were locked out and not permitted access to their luggage. I finally found a dock security supervisor, showed her the Latitudes yellow tag instructions, and she concurred that it did indeed imply what we all assumed it to say. All of us were told to wait across the street out of the security area until the luggage barn was available. She then escorted one from each group back through security and we were finally able to retrieve our luggage. Since then, I noticed that the instructions have been modified to emphasize that with the yellow tag, you are free to exit with "any color tag called". Don't make that mistake.

[jdvmd]

Thanks for the head's up!

[gerryl12]

Some people are color blind, some just like to mess with the system. I guess that is part of the reason I never have checked baggage on either the ship or airline.

[Single Cruiser]

I had a similar problem in NY when I got off Breakaway..

 

I really hate how they stack/pack the cases in.

 

Barcelona is miles better as they have airport style luggage belts and carousels

[Starry Eyes]

I did not mind the way they lined up the colors in sections. But getting the right colors tags under the right banner is important, obviously. I just hope I can save somebody else worry, panic, and/or time.

[bobg529]

I did the easy walk off on the Breakaway and carried all stuff off myself. Had my breakfast first thing in the AM at Savor with my bags sitting next to me. Got off the ship as soon as we were called, breezed thru customs, lugged my stuff across the street, grabbed a cab, and was home in time to go to Mass. :D. Easy walk off is the way to go!

[Starry Eyes]

I did the easy walk off on the Breakaway and carried all stuff off myself. Had my breakfast first thing in the AM at Savor with my bags sitting next to me. Got off the ship as soon as we were called, breezed thru customs, lugged my stuff across the street, grabbed a cab, and was home in time to go to Mass. :D. Easy walk off is the way to go!

 

We have often done easy walk off in the past. They started letting the walk offs go nice and early, so it looked as if it went fairly smoothly. The walk offs were still going strong when our yellow tags were called. I have seen later starts on other ships with long slow-moving lines of walk-offs (some of whom have more than they can handle).

 

As DH has gotten older, he has appreciated the help with the luggage more and more. Since we had plenty of time before our flight, we used the luggage tags. If the worst had happened, we'd have lost some dirty clothes, partially used toiletries and cheap suitcases. All our valuables were, of course, in carry-ons. If the bags had been lost, rather than placed in wrong area, DH might have been convinced to go back to walk-off.