How does it work when you transfer directly from one ship to another?

[GmaPajama]

I'm just wondering if anyone knows the logistics of disembarking one ship, and embarking a different ship on the same day. Both would be HAL and both would be the same port. Do you get transported to the second pier and just wait ... like from 9am till 11:30am?

Do you get anything special with your luggage, or do you claim it - go through customs - and drag it to the next pier? I don't know why this sounds so confusing to me, but it does.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Donna, I do not think HAL can do anything because you still have to go thru customs. I think you would just take one of the late slots of disembarkation then claim your luggage and then go over to the pier where the other ship is at and wait for embarkation.:)

[rafinmd]

Donna, I can't say anything from a HAL perspective but I have done this once (Crystal Serenity to Wind Surf in Rome) and Lisa's advice rings true with me. This will depend a lot on the specific port where you are doing it. The most useful thing I did was post a query to the Italy Ports forum where I got a lot of help from people who knew the port. Since this is HAL to HAL I'd also suggest checking with the concierge/front desk a couple of days before the transfer.

I was lucky that the 2 ships were close together and doing exactly as Lisa suggested worked well but the concierge would probably have better advise for your situation.

Roy

[bradpole]

I'm just wondering if anyone knows the logistics of disembarking one ship, and embarking a different ship on the same day. Both would be HAL and both would be the same port. Do you get transported to the second pier and just wait ... like from 9am till 11:30am?

Do you get anything special with your luggage, or do you claim it - go through customs - and drag it to the next pier? I don't know why this sounds so confusing to me, but it does.

Hello,

I thought I would offer my experience on this subject. We did something similar, twice this year, at Port Everglades. In February we had back to back cruises on the Crown Princess to Eurodam and in October we had Carnival Freedom and Eurodam. The February transfer was a little more tricky than the October one was.

In February when we claimed our luggage we explained to the porter what we wanted to do (get over to the Eurodam on the other side of the port), and he recommended taking a cab to the new terminal. When he was pushing the luggage towards the cab dispatcher we noticed there was a parking shuttle running go to the Midport Garage, which was directly across the street from the terminal that was servicing Eurodam. When the shuttle arrived at the parking garage (they drop you off at the curb) we waited for the crowd to disperse and grabbed a porter that was exiting the garage and asked him if he would take our luggage across the street to the Eurodam. At first he was a little hesitant but I ensured him we'd tip him for helping us.

In October Carnival Freedom was docked across the street from the Euordam, we waited until nearly everyone was off of the ship, had a porter take our luggage through customs and when he asked what our mode of transportation was I asked him if he could take our luggage across the street to the terminal for Eurodam, which he did once we assured him we'd tip him.

Both porters weren't to thrilled about having to 'go the extra mile' so to speak, but having some extra in my hand when I asked helped in getting them to move our luggage around. Hopefully when you switch ships both will be docked in adjoining terminals, if that is case you should be able to have a porter push your luggage over the other terminal.

If you know what terminals the ship will be docked at (usually provided in your pre-cruise docs) this link will show you their locations:
http://www.porteverglades.org/directions-port-everglades.htm


Enjoy your cruises!

[Krazy Kruizers]

I have met a couple of people who have done this.

HAL will do nothing for you. Try and disembark as late as possible. The people I met with had to haul their own luggage over to the other pier -- they didn't do formal nights so had only 1 suitcase each and 1 carry-on. Then they stood in line until the doors opened. One couple I met had to be off the ship by 9:30 and they had a hard time getting their luggage to the other pier as taxi drivers won't do a short haul.

[cruise-a-holic]

Many years ago we did this with Sun Lines in Greece. We did a crossing then transfered to a sister ship in Athens. It was great several room stewards carried our luggage from our cabin over to the other ship then some stewards from that ship brought them to our new cabin. It was nice but those days are probably over do to security.

[GmaPajama]

Many years ago we did this with Sun Lines in Greece. We did a crossing then transfered to a sister ship in Athens. It was great several room stewards carried our luggage from our cabin over to the other ship then some stewards from that ship brought them to our new cabin. It was nice but those days are probably over do to security.
That's what I was hoping to hear, but I agree - today's security would probably prohibit it..

[VioletHorse]

We did a HAL to HAL a couple of years ago in FLL. We stayed onboard the Eurodam until the very last moment (around 10 AM, although we had vacated our room much earlier), collected our bags and went through customs. We then got a porter to help us with our luggage to go across the street and up a little way to the Noordam.

The only problem that we had is that the porters are assigned to specific piers/ships and cannot "interlope" on another area (union rules I suppose), so our porter kind of scrunched down behind the luggage cart and got us as close to the other terminal as he could without being discovered. We had to drag our bags about 100 feet from that point to hand them off to the porters serving the Noordam. It wasn't a big deal for us, although we worked up a sweat as it was very,very warm that day.

The Noordam was coming from a TA, and they were delayed in getting the ship zeroed down so we had a bit of wait for embarkation. We were fortunate to have some shade, but the folks behind us who were standing in the sun were sweltering.

You'll have to wait regardless. We actually contemplated just leaving the line and hopping in a cab to do a bit of shopping in FLL, so depending on your port, that might be an option. Drop your bags with the porters and check in later when the crowds are gone.

[bepsf]

Rather than sit at the pier to sit & wait for a couple hours...

...why not taxi to one of the resort hotels on the beach, such as the Atlantic - check bags w/ the bell-staff and enjoy a leisurely two-martini lunch poolside, then collect the luggage and taxi back to the piers sometime in the afternoon?
:)

[krusin']

We had to go from a Costa ship to a Celebrity ship at Port Everglades. The taxis are really not interested in the small fare. We gave the porter $ 10 and he stopped the parking lot shuttle and we were dropped of at the second ship:D

[FoxyTerrier]

Rather than sit at the pier to sit & wait for a couple hours...

...why not taxi to one of the resort hotels on the beach, such as the Atlantic - check bags w/ the bell-staff and enjoy a leisurely two-martini lunch poolside, then collect the luggage and taxi back to the piers sometime in the afternoon?
:)

Oh Brian - I like you think. Seems like the best suggestion so far.

[Hawaiidan]

My wife an I can do 3 weeks , with full formals stuff tux, suits etc, in one suitcase and one carryon..... per person:D

We use the new sampsonite sillouet 4 wheel roller that totaly removes the need for a porter, rolls across cobble stone, grass, carpet, even gravel.... you dont pull it , you could you just push it with a few fingers. or attach a leash... one person can easily roll 2 together with the carryons on top...... totaly forget the porter thing..... these cases make the big difference.... and they hold 25% more than the older ones of the same demention.... You cant beleive how much easier.. we pushed them 3 blocks in Ft Lauferdale and Orlando..... Smooth as silk... like a liggage cart on steriods....
As for airline... our bags do go over the basic 50# but United dosent charge for either the bags or the overweight if your a premier flyer with them... ( well worth it)

But look into these new bags..... they are the way to solve these problems of transfer