Baggage Question

[baxman]

We have not cruised since pre-covid and even longer since we sailed NCL. My question is does NCL pick up your luggage the night before arrival back in port and transfer it to the airport and check it for you?

[UKstages]

transfer it to the airport for you?

 

no.

 

if you are not walking off the ship with your own luggage (highly recommended), you can place your bags in the hallway outside your door on the last night of the cruise. they will be collected and, in most cases, delivered to the terminal awaiting your collection upon disembarkation. if you have an NCL transfer to the airport, well, yes, i guess it can be said that NCL will take your bags to the airport, but you'll need to get them from the terminal to the bus. porters are usually available.

 

Edited March 13 by UKstages

[www3traveler]

2 hours ago, baxman said:

We have not cruised since pre-covid and even longer since we sailed NCL. My question is does NCL pick up your luggage the night before arrival back in port and transfer it to the airport and check it for you?

As far as I know only Seattle, Washington has a Port Valet Program.  In Seattle it is a program from the Port of Seattle not NCL.

[zqvol]

2 hours ago, baxman said:

We have not cruised since pre-covid and even longer since we sailed NCL. My question is does NCL pick up your luggage the night before arrival back in port and transfer it to the airport and check it for you?

Short answer is no. In Seattle you can make arrangements through a third party, but at all other NCL ports you are on your own. 
 

BTW there is no need to haul your own luggage ashore, please ignore that bad advice posted above.

[hallux]

7 minutes ago, zqvol said:

BTW there is no need to haul your own luggage ashore, please ignore that bad advice posted above.

No need, but if you are capable of it you certainly can do it.  I've never put my bag out the night before.

[UKstages]

nor have i since the inception of the self-assist concept.

 

the only bad advice i have see around here is from people that think that their advice - what works for them - will also work for everybody else.

[MyTMo777]

We've walked off with our bags and we've had them out the night before disembarkation for the ship to handle. It totally depends on what's important to you. When we knew we weren't in a hurry to get our bags and grab transportation because we were staying in port for another night and arranging our own transportation to the hotel, having the ship handle our baggage was very nice. But when we had to wait WAY too long to get our luggage from the terminal while freaking out that we were going to miss our prepaid (not through NCL) shuttle to the airport, we really wished we had walked off with our bags. After that experience, we generally walk off with our bags - unless we know we have time to spare. So there's no right or wrong answer.

[julig22]

Then there is the hybrid model - where you have NCL transportation to the airport but it's early so you have to self-carry your luggage to the bus. That one caught me by surprise on a recent cruise.

[Rick&Jeannie]

I think we have set our luggage out in the hallway only one time. (Very early in our "cruise career" when we didn't know better.) Ever since then, we have *always* done self-assist debarkation. I realize that everybody may not be able to do so but we are still able and we *generally* are able to get off earlier than other groups. 

[cruiseny4life]

19 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I think we have set our luggage out in the hallway only one time. (Very early in our "cruise career" when we didn't know better.) Ever since then, we have *always* done self-assist debarkation. I realize that everybody may not be able to do so but we are still able and we *generally* are able to get off earlier than other groups. 

On our first cruise on NCL, we went the set the luggage in the hallway route. Never, ever again! We were ready to go. Concierge didn't let us leave for another hour. Then, I had to search for the bags while my husband got the car. We take the luggage with us every single time now. Granted, we have, at most, two school bags and a duffel bag. But, we learned our lesson, thankfully early on, like you!

[complawyer]

hey cruisey,oddly enough, when you say youre in a haven suite (whenever we book one) the luggage is placed in a specially designated area just for haven/suite guests, and our concierge makes us wait no more than 15-20 minutes, before he walks us personally  off the ship to the baggage area.  if ive talked to him a day or 2 before, he has arranged a taxi for us as we usually stay after cruise for  a few days. the cab takes us straight to our hotel.

 

i guess everyone's cruise experiences are different, as the only thing (i think) ive ever complained about are the hamburger buns  lol

[cruiseny4life]

Wondering if you're summoned (get it....I know, I'm a hoot)! @complawyer, I should give NCL a bit of grace. This was the cruise where some folks waited 8 hours to board the ship due to Bermuda's travel authorization and NCL/MCT changing up how embarkation would go by utilizing both piers for us travelers. But, that was on the front end! 

 

The concierge would have taken us down an hour earlier, if we had told them we had all our bags. Since he knew we were waiting on bags, we got to wait. And, we didn't know any better! We do now. 

All the priority luggage was in the terminal, but I had to find it. There were no signs directing me to it. It was at the very front of the terminal, just before security. This makes sense. With hindsight. Of course it's at the front, so us Havener's don't have to walk with the bags so far. 

We were cruising out of NYC, so no taxi needed. We parked a couple blocks away. Manhattan is such an easy place to get to the terminal! We walk to it on embarkation day after parking the car in a garage the night before (unless we use a NJ hotel that shuttles us to/from). 

 

I've started requesting the pretzel buns on my burgers. They hold up well and are more tasty than the average burger bun! No complaints since I've started doing that...but I have complained about more than buns. Just a wee bit...but I'm a whiny person.

[BirdTravels]

Far too many people "think" that they can do self assist and carry their own luggage off the ship. They struggle through the lines, and die moving the bags through the long halls of the terminal and Customs.

 

Then there is always mom with her morning Starbucks in one hand and a kid in the other hand, while dad tries to move 4 suitcases by himself... with mom yelling "Earl, watch what you are doing". 

[UKstages]

i have honestly never seen this.

 

almost every bag is on wheels. almost every carryon fits on top of the main bag or attaches to the handles via a strap or a flap through which the handles fit. most people know their own limitations and know not to do self assist if they think they can't handle their own bags. i have never seen anyone struggling nor have i seen one member of a party carrying more than his or her fair share. the only consistent problem i have seen with self assist is that they often reprogram the elevators NOT to stop on the deck from which passengers are disembarking, typically deck 7 on many ships. so, many people have to carry their bags down steps in order to reach the deck from which they're disembarking.

 

i have never seen anybody die getting off the ship, although i've seen a few that i would have like to have murdered for cutting in line. then again, i lead a rather sheltered life; i have never met anybody named earl, either. 

 

Edited March 13 by UKstages

[NW Pacific]

complawyer:  Wow you got beyond Haven treatment, never heard of or knew a concierge would take you all the way through to the luggage area of the terminal!!  We get taken by the "special elevator" to the designated deck to disembark.  then on our own

[PTC DAWG]

11 hours ago, hallux said:

No need, but if you are capable of it you certainly can do it.  I've never put my bag out the night before.

I do, unless I’m in big hurry

Edited March 14 by PTC DAWG

[PTC DAWG]

6 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Far too many people "think" that they can do self assist and carry their own luggage off the ship. They struggle through the lines, and die moving the bags through the long halls of the terminal and Customs.

 

Then there is always mom with her morning Starbucks in one hand and a kid in the other hand, while dad tries to move 4 suitcases by himself... with mom yelling "Earl, watch what you are doing". 

Exactly

[RocketMan275]

15 hours ago, UKstages said:

i have honestly never seen this.

 

almost every bag is on wheels. almost every carryon fits on top of the main bag or attaches to the handles via a strap or a flap through which the handles fit. most people know their own limitations and know not to do self assist if they think they can't handle their own bags. i have never seen anyone struggling nor have i seen one member of a party carrying more than his or her fair share.

 

 

'Most people" are not all people.  There are still those who will attempt to move more luggage than they are capable of.    Not all have learned to strap their carry on to the handles of their large bag.  Not all have learned to bring straps.  One can still be overloaded even if they're only carrying their fair share.  

 

It only takes a few to screw things.

[UKstages]

thanks for edumicating me on the meaning of the word "most."

 

by definition, it means that this is not something folks have to worry about. it simply doesn't happen with great regularity. and while it's true that it only takes a few to screw things up (same thing is true of an online forum, sadly), by definition, since "most" people don't do these things, the likelihood of others encountering this behavior is quite slim.

 

it only takes one ship to run aground to spoil things for everybody onboard. and, yet, on balance, it rarely happens. you shouldn't live your life in fear of what might happen, because it probably won't.

[klfrodo]

I always leave my bags out the night before. Then, we are up early, grab a bite, grab some coffee and watch the show as everyone and their brothers and sisters fight, scratch, yell at dads and kids, struggle with luggage to be the first off the ship.

Then we leisurely disembark, grab our luggage, jump in an Uber to our hotel to relax the rest of the day before our return flight home the day after departing the ship.

[cruiseny4life]

28 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

I always leave my bags out the night before. Then, we are up early, grab a bite, grab some coffee and watch the show as everyone and their brothers and sisters fight, scratch, yell at dads and kids, struggle with luggage to be the first off the ship.

Then we leisurely disembark, grab our luggage, jump in an Uber to our hotel to relax the rest of the day before our return flight home the day after departing the ship.

Do you take a tour of the city/go see any sites, or just enjoy the sweet silence of being in a hotel?

[klfrodo]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

Do you take a tour of the city/go see any sites, or just enjoy the sweet silence of being in a hotel?

Depends on a few factors. Have we been to the city before and been there done that? Is there something special we want to do?

Or? Will we have to be up at 4AM to catch an early flight back home so we get back at a decent hour?

[cruiseny4life]

7 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

Depends on a few factors. Have we been to the city before and been there done that? Is there something special we want to do?

Or? Will we have to be up at 4AM to catch an early flight back home so we get back at a decent hour?

Thanks so much! 

[complawyer]

nwpacific, i have posted this many times over, a vegs hand shake does the trick every time. whenever we are a cabin that offers the concierge service, they have always walked me off the ship in 15-20 minutes, which i have also always said, to me, if nothing else being, able to get off the ship before 3-4000 of my closest friend is worth the price of admission, even if i dont use the concierge for anything else on our cruise. also, if i ask him/her a few days in advance, he will arrange a cab to be waiting for us to take us to our hotel, as we usually  spend a few days in both embarkation and disembarkation cities

[graphicguy]

It's a source of entertainment watching people who had to pack everything they owned into their cruise luggage.  Giant stuffed animals?  yep!  12 pair of shoes?  sure, why not.

 

You see it over and over....struggling to get their 5 pieces of luggage for one person on the ship...and even more so, off the ship.

 

Leave the luggage out the night before if you have that much.  You'll be out of everyone's way while disembarking, and you'll make things easier on yourself.