Cunard luggage service/TA of firsts

[NE John]

Steve4031 and several other TA posters  inspired me to sign up for another Crossing, Westbound 6/23/23! Just signed up an hour ago. 
 

We’re going to be in France on a busy land tour and figured that seven nights on the QM2 would be a relaxing end to this trip. Luckily I have a great associate at work to cover!

So…My only concern is lugging an extra garment bag around the land portion to hold our TA attire. Any ideas about transporting the extra luggage? Has anyone used the Cunard luggage service?

 

This also is a Crossing for us of firsts: First Westbound TA and first time in PG (any Grills for that matter). 
It seems like the PG is the sweet spot on the QM2, per several comments on CC. 
Plus, it looks like I snagged one of the last Grills cabins because tomorrow is pay up day. I can’t believe any were available. 

 

We enjoy the formality of Cunard and believe the TA has a one-of-a-kind vibe on Gala nights. We look forward to being back on QM2 after far too long. 

[TouchstoneFeste]

10 hours ago, NE John said:

So…My only concern is lugging an extra garment bag around the land portion to hold our TA attire. Any ideas about transporting the extra luggage? Has anyone used the Cunard luggage service?

 

We used the service (outbound and return) last spring and will use it again for an upcoming voyage. When you click through the Cunard White Star service, it will take you to a special Cunard page at Luggage Forward. I booked our luggage shipment directly with LF. I don't think there was a penalty in price or service options for doing so, but (at the time, at least) Cunard specified that only clothing items could be shipped; Luggage Forward will actually ship anything that's TSA/airline compliant. This might have contributed to the only problem we encountered with the service (see below).

 

We had to specify what bags we would ship at the time of booking ("large red suitcase", etc.). You mention a garment bag (and LF will ship sports equipment and bicycles, so this wouldn't be a problem), but I'd recommended a normal suitcase, since your piece may be sitting at a depot for a while.

 

You'll want to contact Luggage Forward (either way) about 3-4 weeks in advance. For standard 5-business-day service (one week of real time) we booked a morning pickup 7 days before embarkation; we left the bags in a secure outdoor location and they disappeared when we weren't looking :) You can also arrange a drop-off at a LF location, I believe.

 

The standard insurance appeared to be pretty good, but we opted to boost it (for a modest cost) to cover some expensive items.

 

They notified us of pickups and deliveries, and the online tracking system indicated that the bags in both directions were delivered well ahead of schedule.

 

Our one problem: LF specified that ONLY their tag be applied, not the Cunard tags. Well, both of our bags arrived on board just fine, but one was delivered to the wrong room ("Hello, neighbor") and the other arrived only after we sicced our room steward on it. I suspect this was due to the bags not having the standard Cunard tags on them, so this is something I'll wrangle with LF about, next time.

 

Since you'll be travelling before your transatlantic, you'll need to arrange the timing carefully, and you may want to take measures to ensure the bags waiting in Southampton are actually moved onto the ship. Luggage tracking tags?

[TheOldBear]

A couple of other options to consider would include:

 - Renting for malware on board

 - Purchasing for malware in Southampton

 

You may find that the prices for the three options are similar - shipping luggage would be more flexible. If I was going to the expense of shipping luggage, I would include more than tux, tie, one shirt & shoes.

[TouchstoneFeste]

8 minutes ago, TheOldBear said:

- Renting for malware on board

 - Purchasing for malware in Southampton

Certainly paying for malware would be worse that picking up the free kind! :)

 

Seriously (allowing for autocorrect issues) your options make sense as well.

[3rdGenCunarder]

At one point, maybe 5 years ago, they said they were not accepting garment bags because they'd had problems with them getting damaged or catching on things. Even one that zips tight and stands up like a suitcase. I don't know if that's still true. 

 

Call Luggage Forward and ask a lot of questions about timing, restrictions, etc. In the past, when I've shipped a bag from the US to Sotuhampton, I had to give an exact inventory of what was in there, for Customs. When I shipped a bag from London to Southampton, I didn't need all that documentation.

[ExArkie]

Last December, we needed about three weeks in the UK before the TA, which included a couple of location changes. Rather than tote the formal wear around, we used Luggage Forward (and included other clothing for the TA).  Had no problems with their service and would recommend them to anyone asking. 
 

The usual earliest pickup schedule for luggage is a maximum of twelve days prior to sailing. Based on discussion with them before booking, I called back after making the arrangements on their Web site for their earliest allowed pick-up time. They extended it far enough back to accommodate our schedule, setting the pick-up time several days before we were scheduled to leave home. There was an extra (nominal) charge for storing the bag. Using their online tracker, it appears the suitcase went to Southampton immediately and was stored there. The forwarded suitcase was delivered to our cabin at the same time as the ones we checked at the port.

 

Since we were spending several days elsewhere on our way home, we also booked Luggage Forward for the return. There wasn’t any sign or posting as to where one drops off the luggage when passing through the Brooklyn terminal. Turns out that there were a couple of people just outside the building (to the right, just before crossing the street to the taxi queue) with a small LF sign, who took the suitcase. It actually arrived at our house about two days earlier than expected and before we got home. (They did give the date as “no later than”, so we knew this could happen) Our neighbor was kind enough to move it from the front porch to a less conspicuous location invisible from the street.

 

I did a posting as to our costs last October when we booked the service:

 

 

 

[NE John]

1 hour ago, TheOldBear said:

A couple of other options to consider would include:

 - Renting for malware on board

 - Purchasing for malware in Southampton

 

You may find that the prices for the three options are similar - shipping luggage would be more flexible. If I was going to the expense of shipping luggage, I would include more than tux, tie, one shirt & shoes.

Not sure what you mean by malware? For digital luggage tags? 
Can someone hack into my tux…?

Everyone’s feedback is well appreciated. 

[Host Hattie]

I suspect an autocorrect gremlin has changed formal wear !

[TheOldBear]

I loathe autocorupt 

 

Jackie Chan's movie "The Tuxedo" [IMDB link https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290095/ ]did show the possibility of hacking formal ware.

[NE John]

Thank you all again to all with great information. This board provides both useful and entertaining commentary on many different topics.