Luggage Forward

[Kruzkrazy]

I think this has been discussed before, but I'd appreciate some new advice on Luggage Forward. DW and I will be sailing out of Barcelona on Nov. 17, and we'd like to use this service. I'd like to see some comments, both good and bad, if any. Thanks in advance.

KK

[makaha]

We used Luggage Forward, last December.  They shipped our 2 suitcases from Pismo Beach and they were in our stateroom in Barcelona, when we arrived.  The only comment I would make is that we were told our luggage would be picked up from our home between 11:00am and 2:00pm.  I can’t remember if it was Fed X or UPS but they arrived at 7:00AM.  Luckily we are early risers and we were ready for them and this is not Luggage Forwards problem ….. just an FYI.

 

The cost was $750 for the one way trip.

 

With the all of the airline “issues” it was nice to change planes twice with only one carry on, each.  
 

Also, as we were boarding at the pier in Barcelona I asked the luggage department if they had ever had a problem with Luggage Forward and the answer was “never.”

 

We are sailing out of Barcelona on November 15th and will DEFINITELY use them for this trip.  I hope this helps with your decision.

[Jim Avery]

We have used LF twice included in our fares.  In our stateroom when we arrived, no damage at all and allowed us to travel with carryons  Will use them again.

[Kruzkrazy]

1 hour ago, makaha said:

We used Luggage Forward, last December.  They shipped our 2 suitcases from Pismo Beach and they were in our stateroom in Barcelona, when we arrived.  The only comment I would make is that we were told our luggage would be picked up from our home between 11:00am and 2:00pm.  I can’t remember if it was Fed X or UPS but they arrived at 7:00AM.  Luckily we are early risers and we were ready for them and this is not Luggage Forwards problem ….. just an FYI.

 

The cost was $750 for the one way trip.

 

With the all of the airline “issues” it was nice to change planes twice with only one carry on, each.  
 

Also, as we were boarding at the pier in Barcelona I asked the luggage department if they had ever had a problem with Luggage Forward and the answer was “never.”

 

We are sailing out of Barcelona on November 15th and will DEFINITELY use them for this trip.  I hope this helps with your decision.

Thanks so much. You've made our decision for us. We're doing it!

[RMMcC]

The service is great, we used it 3 times with differing results.  There was confusion with the first on the ship and where the passengers should pick up their luggage ... the ship was wrong and the baggage was still on the ship when we disembarked, not in the terminal for pick up by Luggage Forward ..... the Luggage Forward representative at the terminal said we could go on to our flight home and he would take care of it ... he did ... he called the ship, go ahold of the purser who at first said the LF rep was mistaken but finally went and found the luggage and it was taken by LF and shipped back to us.  Second time it was flawless

Third, the bag arrived to the ship right on time, LF rep picked up the luggage from us at the terminal at the end of the cruise .... BUT ..... when UPS delivered the bag to our home it had been treated badly and had split open at the zipper all the way around (no it was not cheap luggage)  ..... luckily I always put one strap around the long and one strap on the wide part of the bags and the straps held the luggage closed so that we didn't lose anything (that we know of) .... the UPS guy just set the bag on the ground and never said a word as he walked away ....... we may still use them but will always double strap the bags shipped.   

[Jim Avery]

First time with LF we thought we were being smart by using a large sturdy cardboard box.  Filled it with consumables and it arrived in cabin perfectly.  We used it as under bed storage while we gradually used all the consumables and had the cabin steward dispose of the cardboard.  But then the smart part.  We had to buy a suitcase for all our souvenirs....  We now ship two suitcases and so far have had no issues at all.

[RMMcC]

Cardboard box with consumables ... good idea Jim,  We will likely still use LF in the future ... we feel the damage was done while UPS had the luggage.  However on our last trip .... Canada, Greenland and Iceland, 15 days ... we decided to go with just 2 carry ons and a soft side briefcase .... very tight but it worked fine for us since we paid for the service laundry on board the Viking Neptune ... laundry total was approx $250 for 15 days vs many hundreds more for the LF service.  I will depend on the quality of the laundry on the ships in the future .... Vikings paid laundry service is fantastic.

[Newdaytrippers]

We used Luggage Forward to send our two suitcases ahead to Bergen for our recent BIE cruise.  We had a three-leg trip (Wilmington, NC to Atlanta to Amsterdam to Bergen) which ended up being four legs due to weather and a missed flight.  Our suitcases were waiting for us when we embarked the ship in Bergen.  We did the two-day pre-excursion in Bergen which was over a weekend so I had enough in our carryon to see us through.  Luggage Forward didn’t deliver on the weekend.  I used Apple Air Tags and tracked our bags and it all worked beautifully.  The suitcases were picked up from our front porch on time on July 31 and were awaiting us upon embarkation August 15.  It was so worth it!  I will do it again.

[millybess]

1 minute ago, Newdaytrippers said:

 I used Apple Air Tags and tracked our bags and it all worked beautifully.  

That's good that you were able to use AirTags.  We called Luggage Forward to organize pickup for our cruise last May.  They said that AirTags would be removed out of our luggage which had to be unlocked because it was going between two countries.  Given that, we decided not to use Luggage Forward because we have read some posts about luggage being lost with no way of personally tracking it or items going missing.  

 

We lucked out because we were in Barcelona in March after a trans Atlantic with Viking and we were again in Barcelona to start our Med cruises in May.  Our Barcelona hotel, GranVia, were happy to keep our luggage for 7 weeks.  During that time, it was fun to see the connections to our AirTags.  

 

I think most people use Luggage Forward with success, but I don't think it's for us.

[CurlerRob]

There have been reports of Air Tags being removed from the luggage. The service publishes the following (Air Tags fall under the “electronics” and “lithium” items if they choose to enforce it):

 

Yes, any hazardous or dangerous commodities are prohibited from all Luggage Forward shipments. For shipments traveling between two countries, there may be additional items that are restricted by customs on a country-specific basis. 

Here are some of the most common items that cannot be shipped in your luggage:

• Medication, OTC, prescription, or vitamins 
• Food & Alcohol
• Perfume (or anything with alcohol content)
• Pressurized Containers (aerosol, CO2 cartridges, etc) 
• Valuables or Currency
• Electronics
• Lithium based, or Alkaline batteries

 

🍺🥌. 

[Gropo]

We used this service twice. 

First was on Alaska Inside Passage cruise. Worked fine, as advertised, bag was in stateroom before we arrived. 

Second was on British Isles Explorer cruise … not quite as good. 

Pickup was fine. Used their ( that is, DHL’s) website to track the bag. It showed arrival in England, and shipping to warehouse in London, then showed that it had been delivered to the ship. It showed delivery to ship even tho the ship had not yet arrived at port!  When we arrived at the ship, bag was not there and nobody knew where it was. Thru good effort by Viking staff who contacted Luggage Forward, as well as my own calls to Luggage Forward, the bag was found in London and sent to ship in time for departure. 
So, did it work? Yes, but with a lot of unnecessary angst from misinformation. 
 

Will I use them again?  
Hmmm…the jury is still out on that one.

Maybe.

Probably.