Luggage Shipping and Storage

[Jamietravelstheworld]

This might not be the right forum to post this question but I couldn't find a better one. 

 

I'm going to be traveling for 14 months, some by cruise ship and some by land. When traveling by land I am going to have as little luggage as possible, but when on ship, I need extra clothes for dinners. I know I can ship luggage to and from my home, but I'm trying to figure out if there's a way I can ship luggage between cruises and have it stored there. For example, I end a cruise in Lisbon on March 25, 2023 and my next cruise starts in Southampton on June 25, 2023. Rather than shipping a suitcase back to Seattle and then on to Southampton, do you know of a way I can ship it to London or Southampton and have it put in storage and then delivered to the ship in Southampton? I don't know anyone who lives in either port city who could help with this. I've looked online at the luggage shipping companies and none mention anything about storage. I will also have the same issue from Australia in December 2023 to Chile in February 2024. Thanks for any advice you have.

[BVILady]

Even if they do not mention any storage possibilities, get the list of luggage shipping companies and call them up and find out. Not so sure about shipping Australia to Chile, you might need to find an Aussie company.

[SargassoPirate]

I often combine land travel with cruises on one end of the cruise or the other, but I've never tried a schedule like yours.  

 

One a couple of trips I have flown to another continent for land travel followed by a cruise and I've had Luggage Forward ship the cruise-only bag to the ship.  The only rub there is that they won't pick it up and store it until it needs to be shipped, so I enlist friends and neighbors to hold it until shipping day and then the company picks it up from them.

 

On a trip to Australia where I planned to cruise back to the US from Sydney, I found a luggage storage company in Sydney.  Once there, I rolled my cruise-only back to their facility and checked it in for the six weeks I would be traveling within Australia.  When I got back to Sydney, I picked up my cruise-only bag and I was ready to go.

 

Your itinerary is a challenge because of the storage issue.

 

What comes to mind for me, and it may be difficult to do would be to have two cruise-only bags.  One to ship home when you disembark in Lisbon and the other to be shipped to you in Southhampton.

 

The other is to pare down your expectations for cruise-only wear to things that will also work on the land travel.  Nobody on the cruise is going to care that you've been wearing those same quick-dry slacks and shirt for six weeks.

 

I'm curious, so let us know what you work out.

[Jamietravelstheworld]

7 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

 

What comes to mind for me, and it may be difficult to do would be to have two cruise-only bags.  One to ship home when you disembark in Lisbon and the other to be shipped to you in Southhampton.

 

The other is to pare down your expectations for cruise-only wear to things that will also work on the land travel.  Nobody on the cruise is going to care that you've been wearing those same quick-dry slacks and shirt for six weeks.

 

I'm curious, so let us know what you work out.

@SargassoPirate Your idea of the two cruise-only bags is a good one - thanks. I'm also leaning toward your 2nd idea of paring down the expectations of cruise only wear. I've learned that the evening dress code on the first cruise - Azamara - is fairly casual - but I know the 2nd cruise - Princess - is dressier and I'm not into dressing up much anyways. 

 

Thanks.

[SargassoPirate]

2 hours ago, Jamietravelstheworld said:

@SargassoPirate Your idea of the two cruise-only bags is a good one - thanks. I'm also leaning toward your 2nd idea of paring down the expectations of cruise only wear. I've learned that the evening dress code on the first cruise - Azamara - is fairly casual - but I know the 2nd cruise - Princess - is dressier and I'm not into dressing up much anyways. 

 

Thanks.

You're welcome.

 

As a side note, l once combined a cruise with a long motorcycle trip since I planned to ride right by a port city   My space on the bike was limited, so I pared down my usual riding clothes and added an extra pair of shoes, one pair of black jeans, and a black sport coat.  The black jeans and my jacket were cruise only but when I mixed in a couple of colored T shirts with a matching pocket square I was all set.  

 

She Who Must Be Obeyed makes her travel clothes do double and triple duty by mixing and matching and then throwing on a colorful pashima for the evening.

 

The old saying is to take half of the stuff you think you'll need and twice the money.

 

Good luck and have fun on your adventure.