Sending a box to the ship or a hotel before a cruise?

[sunshineocean13]

Has anyone had luck with sending a box of toiletries (or anything!) ahead to either the ship or your pre-cruise hotel? The amount of liquid and lotions needed for two people for five months adds up, and I'm concerned about the added weight in our suitcases. Any advice for me?

[jagsfan]

7 minutes ago, sunshineocean13 said:

Has anyone had luck with sending a box of toiletries (or anything!) ahead to either the ship or your pre-cruise hotel? The amount of liquid and lotions needed for two people for five months adds up, and I'm concerned about the added weight in our suitcases. Any advice for me?

Where are you meeting the ship?

If in the US, take a taxi from the airport and stop at a Walmart. 

If out of the US, I wouldn’t chance mailing it even to a hotel. Definitely not the ship. 

We were lucky several years ago when we crossed the Mississippi and realized we didn’t have a navigation disc for the western half of the US. Could have done without but didn’t want to.

I went eBay on my phone, ordered one and had it sent to our Vegas hotel. 

Checked in and asked for it, and they hadn’t a clue. 

Asked again the next day, and the third day  they called our room and said they found it in the kitchen. 

Might be even more difficult outside the US. 

[sunshineocean13]

1 hour ago, jagsfan said:

Where are you meeting the ship?

If in the US, take a taxi from the airport and stop at a Walmart. 

If out of the US, I wouldn’t chance mailing it even to a hotel. Definitely not the ship. 

We were lucky several years ago when we crossed the Mississippi and realized we didn’t have a navigation disc for the western half of the US. Could have done without but didn’t want to.

I went eBay on my phone, ordered one and had it sent to our Vegas hotel. 

Checked in and asked for it, and they hadn’t a clue. 

Asked again the next day, and the third day  they called our room and said they found it in the kitchen. 

Might be even more difficult outside the US. 

We're  meeting the ship in Miami, flying in from Seattle, with two nights in a hotel before we board. I would do the Walmart route, but they don't carry  many of the items we need. It would definitely not be nice to arrive at the hotel and not have the package. Hmmmm.

[ArtsyCraftsy]

4 hours ago, sunshineocean13 said:

Has anyone had luck with sending a box of toiletries (or anything!) ahead to either the ship or your pre-cruise hotel? The amount of liquid and lotions needed for two people for five months adds up, and I'm concerned about the added weight in our suitcases. Any advice for me?

 

Luggage Forward will do this.  I've been using them for luggage transport for my cruises when I have to fly somewhere to the embarkation port, but they'll also ship boxes.  They'll pick up the box (and any luggage you want to ship) at your home, and the next time you see it is in your cabin on the ship.  The website doesn't list "boxes," but I called and spoke to one of their agents, and they said boxes are fine.  Price would be set like it is for luggage: add up the dimensions (l+w+h) and and factor in the weight.  I'll be shipping all "consumables" in boxes so I don't have to deal with extra luggage at the end of the cruise.

 

If your World Cruise cruise line offers luggage transport as part of your cruise fare, check with whichever company they're using.  I'll be on Regent Seven Seas, and they use Luggage Forward.  Another popular luggage shipping service is Luggage Free -- same idea.  

 

Lana in Bellingham, WA

[Keith1010]

I see you are starting in Miami.

 

You can easily send what you want yourself via UPS to the hotel or to the ship.  For the ship get the port agent information from the cruise line.  For the hotel just call them so you know how to address the box(es) you ship accordingly.

 

In our case we dedicate pretty much an entire suitcase for cosmetics/toiletries.  We've done this for each of nine world cruises.  There are some liquid we can't take with us on the flight either because they are disallowed or we don't want to take a chance of leakage.  We pick this up during our pre-cruise stay.  If there are items we can't pick up we most definitely purchase them ahead of time.

 

In Miami we go to the CVS and to Publix Grocery and get the items we don't take with us.  

We find Miami easy to get what we need.

 

Keith

[Floridiana]

For some items, we bought replacements in Australia (Listerine) and Singapore. If your cruise goes via NZ, I am sure you can find mouthwash and similar products of the same brands respectively quality as well. I stock up on mouthwash, suntan lotion and mosquito spray down under. Luggage forward did not accepts liquids, therefore I packed them in our check-in suitcase which worked well for the 82 days of our cruise. Double zip lock bags! 180 days would be a different story.

[Heidi13]

For our previous WC, which was Sydney to Sydney, we stocked up in Sydney and purchased replacements in UK, at about the mid-point of the cruise.

[rkacruiser]

For my world cruise, I was able to ship a box of items toiletries and over-the-counter stuff that I felt would be difficult to find elsewhere in a port.  I don't recall the name of the company that HAL used.  (And, it was replaced by another company as when I shipped items home.)  I did ship it direct to the ship using the address information HAL provided.  Worked well!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

21 hours ago, sunshineocean13 said:

We're  meeting the ship in Miami, flying in from Seattle, with two nights in a hotel before we board. I would do the Walmart route, but they don't carry  many of the items we need. It would definitely not be nice to arrive at the hotel and not have the package. Hmmmm.

 

If there are specialty items that you can't get in a regular drugstore or Walmart, then maybe you could get them delivered from Amazon to your hotel?  Or check them in a bag if you can only get them at home?  And everything else you will have plenty of time to stock up at Walgreens for the regular stuff like mouthwash.

 

(I have been told that the luggage-forwarding companies don't want any liquids.)

Edited August 24, 2019 by Wendy The Wanderer

[sunshineocean13]

4 hours ago, Floridiana said:

Luggage forward did not accepts liquids, therefore I packed them in our check-in suitcase which worked well for the 82 days of our cruise.

That's interesting. I just looked at Luggage Forwards website, and it says you can pack anything that could be a checked bag on the airplane. I think I'll call them to check. That's the company Seabourn uses, so we'll have suitcases going with them anyway.

[Floridiana]

Better check again. To tell you the truth, I don't remember which company HAL used. They did not permit liquids. I thought it was Luggage Forward.

[wishIweretravelling]

I keep confusing Luggage Forward and Luggage Free. One of them will not take liquids and the other will. Luggage Concierge will take anything allowed by TSA.

 

When we stayed at a hotel in Miami before a world cruise, we stocked up on toiletries like contact lens solution and mouthwash at the CVS down the street from the hotel. 

[Heidi13]

Based on a recent report Luggage Forward also don't accept aerosols in shipped baggage.

[sunshineocean13]

I called Luggage Forward this afternoon. They said "no food, no alcohol, no aerosols, no shaving cream in cans, no lithium batteries, and no medications (even over the counter medicines). Liquids are okay, as long as they don't have "high alcohol content." The CVS in Miami will be convenient for some of those bigger things, like mouthwash.

 

Thanks to everyone for your great ideas. They helped me think through how we will handle it!

[Keith1010]

13 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

If there are specialty items that you can't get in a regular drugstore or Walmart, then maybe you could get them delivered from Amazon to your hotel?  Or check them in a bag if you can only get them at home?  And everything else you will have plenty of time to stock up at Walgreens for the regular stuff like mouthwash.

 

(I have been told that the luggage-forwarding companies don't want any liquids.)

The luggage companies that we have used do not want liquids.  They are:  Luggage Concierge and Luggage Free.  That is why I was surprised about the post about Luggage Forward but the poster said she could send them.  I went to their website and they don't say what can't be sent.  The other two companies note what can and can't be sent.

 

I see that sunshineocean13 clarified it for Luggage Forward but for sure the other two want no liquids.  

 

Keith

[wishIweretravelling]

Interesting. I was told Luggage Concierge's only limitations are the ones imposed by TSA. Perhaps I received wrong information? Keith, I know you sail Crystal a lot, and LC is their suggested service, so I assume you speak from direct experience.

[sunshineocean13]

The woman I talked to at Luggage Forward said their restrictions are slightly different than TSA, because they use cargo planes that aren't pressurized the way regular airplanes are. Also, she said they have concerns because they might be dealing with customs, getting to your cruise or at the end of the cruise.

[SargassoPirate]

So far my record for a single cruise was an Around The Horn cruise from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco.  Forty-nine days.  To prepare my packing list, well in advance I started keeping track of how long my toiletries would last by using a Sharpie to mark the date on the can/container when I first started using the product.  Then I knew how much to pack for the cruise. It turned out that I didn't need as much as I would've guessed.

 

I am looking at a world cruise in a couple of years, and if I can't find my notes from the forty-niner, I'll just replicate the process.  After more than 40 cruises, my packing list is pretty much standardized because I've weeded out most of the things I used to pack but never use.

 

[Keith1010]

On 8/25/2019 at 5:20 PM, wishIweretravelling said:

Interesting. I was told Luggage Concierge's only limitations are the ones imposed by TSA. Perhaps I received wrong information? Keith, I know you sail Crystal a lot, and LC is their suggested service, so I assume you speak from direct experience.

You are right.  There are some liquids that could be shipped.  Their website will show what should not be shipped.

 

In our case we avoid all liquids as we just prefer to take them on a flight with us in a dedicated piece of luggage.  We don't want to mix liquids with clothing because if there is leakage that would be a problem.

 

Keith

[celoplyr]

What about Amazon locker or a UPS store delivery? If they sell on Amazon, that might be the best option- to have it shipped to a locker near your hotel.  It'll hold for a couple days.

[Keith1010]

I mentioned getting things to the port (if it is from USA home to USA port or hotel) by carriers on your own such as UPS or Fedex and know people who do this.  You just have to verify the port agent and the address to use if sending to the ship or contact the hotel to double check what to put on the outside of the box.

 

Keith