Cruise tags: Before or after your flight?

[Chitown12562]

What works for you and why? Placing the cruise tags on your luggage when you leave home or putting them on before leaving your hotel?

 

We are flying in and staying over night in a hotel. I figured I'll put the cruise tags before we leave the hotel.

[Nancyquilts]

Definitely after. They could be torn off in the airports.

[ariawoman]

Put them on at the hotel before departing for the ship. They can rip, esp the way airlines handle the luggage.

 

Bon voyage!

[Ken1359]

I use heavy plastic luggage tag holders and put them on my bags before the flight. If a bag is "misplaced" by the airline, they will know my destination beyond the airport and work with the cruise line to send it on.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the cruiselines suggest "before flight" for that very reason.

[uktog]

I have heard the bar coding can get confused with airline systems

We put a separate label showing our destination on for the flights and always have a printed A4 sheet font 48 plus on top of our items inside the case as a second back up.

I keep the cruise tags in my handbag and slip them on either at the airport or in the hotel just before going to the port

[ariawoman]

I use heavy plastic luggage tag holders and put them on my bags before the flight. If a bag is "misplaced" by the airline, they will know my destination beyond the airport and work with the cruise line to send it on.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the cruiselines suggest "before flight" for that very reason.

 

Using what you are using, I'd say that's fine. If you are solely relying on the one provided by X, not altered at ALL, i'd not trust it to stay put. Of course if you have extra, you can always tag it both times.

[bighairtexan]

If you put them on b/4 you fly, please have an extra set as there's a good chance they'll get lost in transit. I did that ONCE. Only once b/c when I picked up my luggage at the baggage carousel… no cruise tags.

[Karynanne]

Attach them after you fly. They can be ripped away, due to baggage handlers at the airport.

[Flipper133]

I always take a small stapler so that I can use it to attach the cruise labels after I have collected our luggage from the flight carousel.

 

Many times I have made it available to others who wondered how they would attache their tags.

 

Perhaps things are different in the states

 

cheers

[drarill]

Our bags have luggage tags with our basic info. When cruising I make home made tags with the pre-cruise hotel info and cruise info. I keep our luggage tags in my carry on and put them on the hotel, before departing for the ship. BTW, we use plastic cruise tags holders. :)

[gw2fll]

I put them on before we leave the hotel room for the ship. Given the abuse the luggage goes thru at the hands of the airlines, one less thing to worry about.

 

I also recall reading an article in Conde Nast where a travel editor recommended removing all excess tags from the bags (especially old tags and those little stickers) as they can confuse the automatic readers in the bag sorting area possibly resulting in a delay of your baggage making the flight. The article featured a diagram of the baggage sorting process with all of these conveyor belts and things.

 

Actually found the article online (link HERE). Also, be sure to read the article in the sidebar "Simple Steps to Suitcase Security" (link HERE). I think the suggestion about taking a picture of you suitcase contents with your cellphone before you close it is a great idea.

 

So we spend about 5 minutes when we get to the hotel removing all the airline tags and stickers (they stick those little white stickers in the strangest places). We then attach the cruise luggage tags so we are ready to go.

 

I realize this question is about the cruise ship luggage tags, but I figure why add another item that can interfere with the process - so we simply wait until after the flight to attach the tags to the bags.

 

Doug

[Chitown12562]

I did purchase the plastic cruise tags. They hold the tags you would print yourself (no barcode) pretty well. However with the tags you get from Celebrity ( which have barcodes) not so much. Decided to fold them so that the information was still available.

 

I will attach my normal laminated tag for the flight, which have my name and cell phone number, before the flight and the cruise tags before we leave the hotel.

 

Thanks everyone, all comments where appreciated!

[CathyCruises]

I read something interesting here; since they give you so many tags (8, and we use only two) why not attach them at the beginning of your trip, and then again at the hotel if needed? The logic was that if you should become separated from your bags, the airline will know what ship you are headed for and it could help in getting the bags to you. That made sense to me. And if mine ever arrive, after ordering them twice, that's what I'll do!

[Purplsmurf]

I read something interesting here; since they give you so many tags (8, and we use only two) why not attach them at the beginning of your trip, and then again at the hotel if needed? The logic was that if you should become separated from your bags, the airline will know what ship you are headed for and it could help in getting the bags to you. That made sense to me. And if mine ever arrive, after ordering them twice, that's what I'll do!

 

 

We have always waited until before we got the cruise port to put on our tags, but I have heard this same thing. If for some reason the luggage gets lost they can get it to the ship. Not sure what we will do this time!

 

 

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[ORV]

For those worried about their bags getting lost by the airlines and the tags allowing them to catch up to the ship I would recommend what I've done the past few years, which is to make an itinerary sheet with a day by day description of where we will be, with contact numbers, email, travel agent info, hotel info, cruise line info, etc. If it doesn't catch up with us with that information then we just aren't going to get it.

 

Fortunately we haven't had to test how well this works, but I feel I've done the best I can to provide information in case the luggage is lost.

 

I'm a put the cruise tags on type AFTER the flight. In the grand scheme of things though it comes down to personal preference. To each their own.

[Karynanne]

We have always waited until before we got the cruise port to put on our tags, but I have heard this same thing. If for some reason the luggage gets lost they can get it to the ship. Not sure what we will do this time!

 

 

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Why not just type out your cruise itinerary and put a copy in your luggage, and one in an outside pocket of your luggage. We use this method...just in case.

[boscobeans]

The only information I put inside or out of our bags is one of the Insurance carrier's luggage tracking tabs. One in each bag and one in each of the little tags on the outside.

No names, addresses or other personal information.

 

If luggage gets accidently lost in transit the Insurance carrier will be notified.

 

Nothing but airline tags from check in to the ship. Cruise tags just prior to boarding the ship.

 

Very easy for airlines to destroy the cruise tags.

 

Same for return. Cruise tags are removed before checking bags at the airline.

 

OMO

 

bosco

[waterbug123]

I use heavy plastic luggage tag holders and put them on my bags before the flight. If a bag is "misplaced" by the airline, they will know my destination beyond the airport and work with the cruise line to send it on.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the cruiselines suggest "before flight" for that very reason.

 

I doubt that. The bag is checked through to a particular airport. If the bag is misplaced, do you really think that the airline is going to think, "hmm, there's a cruise tag, let's call the cruise line and see where we should deliver it." That really makes no sense for several reasons:

1. The logical contact is you, the bag's owner. Not the cruise line.

2. If your bag has been misplaced, you're going to realize it as soon as you land and the bag doesn't appear on the baggage carousel. At that point YOU will be talking to the airline yourself anyway. Furthermore....

3. Many people fly in the day (or several days) before the cruise and want their luggage with them at the hotel in the meantime, not sent on to the port.

3. The tag could be from a cruise the pax just disembarked from and they forgot to remove the cruise tags, in which case the bag needs to be sent to your house, not the port. Oh wait, what if you aren't going straight home? Maybe you're staying on for a few days post-cruise. Again, YOU need to be who the airline contacts, NOT the cruise line, and you'd already be in touch with them anyway...See #2

Edited March 22, 2014 by waterbug123

[gw2fll]

We have always waited until before we got the cruise port to put on our tags, but I have heard this same thing. If for some reason the luggage gets lost they can get it to the ship. Not sure what we will do this time!

 

 

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We do the same thing - the last thing that goes into each suitcase is a big piece of paper with our contact information where we can be reached on vacation. I have another piece of paper with the information for home that I use when the vacation is over. That way if the the airline opens the bag, they will know how to get in contact with you.

 

We have had bags misdirected for land based vacations before. Once, heading to Las Vegas one of our bags decided to take a detour during a change of planes in PHX and went to Hawaii instead (always wanted to go there, at least the clothes have been).

 

3 days later the bags show-up. All of our identification tags had been removed somehow, so I would not rely on external identification tags alone. You need to do something inside the bag that you can help prove the bag is yours. In our situation the itinerary helped, plus I remembered sliding a pair of bedroom slippers in the front pocket.

 

Just something to consider.

[wallie5446]

Hotel.

[Happy2cruise]

Definitely when leaving the hotel for cruiseport;)

[wf083145]

Generally, I've seen the baggage guys at Dulles cut off all of the old tags before they attach the new ones. For name age I laminated business cards so there's a name, address, phone # and e-mail but not my home information. We attach the cruise tags when we pick up our bags at the carousel.

 

We'll be doing that next Saturday.