Signature Express Baggage Question

[cp556]

Has anyone had this happen to them?

HAL confirms you for the Signature Express Baggage Service and your account is charged the $15/pp. You receive the appropriate paperwork, including baggage tag numbers and boarding passes for the airlines.

When your color is called to disembark the ship and you exit the terminal after Customs, you are told by a rep that it's "too late" for the program and that you're on your own.

(Please note that disembarkation was immediately upon hearing the correct color being announced on the PA ... although it seemed extremely late to us: 10:15AM.)

The result was a rush to the airport, and confusion with the airline's needing to cancel the checkin and baggage tags from HAL and issue new boarding passes & baggage tags. I can tell you that DH was not happy.

Has this happened to anyone else?? I'm interested in the experiences and opinions of those who have gone before.........

[middle-aged mom]

Has anyone had this happen to them?

HAL confirms you for the Signature Express Baggage Service and your account is charged the $15/pp. You receive the appropriate paperwork, including baggage tag numbers and boarding passes for the airlines.

When your color is called to disembark the ship and you exit the terminal after Customs, you are told by a rep that it's "too late" for the program and that you're on your own.

(Please note that disembarkation was immediately upon hearing the correct color being announced on the PA ... although it seemed extremely late to us: 10:15AM.)

The result was a rush to the airport, and confusion with the airline's needing to cancel the checkin and baggage tags from HAL and issue new boarding passes & baggage tags. I can tell you that DH was not happy.

Has this happened to anyone else?? I'm interested in the experiences and opinions of those who have gone before.........

This happened to us in Fort Lauderdale after our cruise on the Amsterdam back in January. We were told by the baggage service reps that our flight left too early for us to qualify, even though it left at 12:30 pm. Somehow, there was a breakdown in communication between HAL and the baggage service people. We attributed the snafu to the fact that the program was still new at the time. But if it's still happening, that's not good.

We schlepped our stuff to the airport via taxi (an SUV, thank goodness, because we had quite a few bags). I can tell you that I have absolutely no desire to ever fly out of FLL airport again. The fact that it was January 2nd probably didn't help, either.:rolleyes:


Karin

[takemewithyou]

Yes!!!! It just happened to me on our disembarkation from the Volendam on 10/17 in FLL. We were told that everyone who had a flight after 11:30 AM could qualify and we were issued boarding passes and bar coded luggage tags. We, too, were told that we had to claim our bags in the warehouse and take them through customs and then hand them off to the signature express baggage people. Our flight was 12:24 PM and they refused to take them saying our flight was too early. I was shocked!

We had to get on the bus and take our luggage with us and have new luggage tags reissued along with new boarding passes after paying $15 pp on the boat. I had to call our TA to get a refund. I first called Ship Services who passed me off to Guest Relations and then to some Baggage Claims Dept. I finally gave it to the TA to deal with since I was frustrated.

Neither my DH or I were very happy about this, either. I am not sure where the problem lies - with HAL or likely whomever they sub contract to provide this service. At least I am not the only one who has experienced this when I read how everyone else has had a great experience with this service. The people who have disembarked in San Diego recently say they never had to take their luggage through customs. They never saw it again from the time they set it outside their room to their final destination. Apparently, it is handled differently from port to port.

[KAYEF]

Go to the thread, "EXCELLENT LUGGAGE SERVICE" which I started a few days ago after we got home.
It seems it works in SOME ports but isn't very good in FLL.
For us, in San Diego, it was FANTASTIC.;)

[Sundagger]

I used the service in April at FLL. It worked perfectly for me.

What puzzled me was that I had a late afternoon flight out, but was in the first group of passengers to disembark. I actually would have been happy to have stayed on the ship longer, but didn't want to risk problems with the unfamiliar procedure, so I got off with insufficient coffee in my system. Seems that not all of the bugs have been worked out.

[takemewithyou]

Today I received a letter regarding the problems I had with disembarkation from Volendam 10/17 and the signature express luggage service. They apologize for us not receiving the service we paid for and have forwarded comments provided by our TA on to senior management for their review. They will post a credit to out charge card. Hopefully, this will at least bring to their attention the continuing problems in FLL with the baggage service.

[bepsf]

What puzzled me was that I had a late afternoon flight out, but was in the first group of passengers to disembark. I actually would have been happy to have stayed on the ship longer, but didn't want to risk problems with the unfamiliar procedure, so I got off with insufficient coffee in my system. Seems that not all of the bugs have been worked out.

Just because your number is called doesn't mean you have to leave...