Luggage Tag Question

[cmyers]

We are flying into Vancouver for our Zaandam Alaska Cruise ( not booked by Hal) flight booked on our own) and wondered if you but the luggage tags on at home before we depart or should we wait until we arrive in Vancouver and put them on before arriving to the port?

[dakrewser]

We are flying into Vancouver for our Zaandam Alaska Cruise ( not booked by Hal) flight booked on our own) and wondered if you but the luggage tags on at home before we depart or should we wait until we arrive in Vancouver and put them on before arriving to the port?
WE always wait until the last time we see them before handing over to cruise personnel...

[serendipity1499]

Place ships tags on your luggage after you arrive in Vancouver...In addition place a complete itinerary including, hotels, dates & stops the ship makes, both inside your luggage & in your luggage tag on the handle...It should include your name, address and contacts while enroute with a note "itinerary enclosed"... If any bag is lost they will try to deliver it to you at your next stop...Happy Cruising

[Krazy Kruizers]

We always wait until we are ready to hand our luggage over to the ship's porters before we put on the tags.

They can get easily get torn off while in flight.

[Randyk47]

I think Serendipity makes an excellent suggestion. Years and years ago HAL used to pull luggage at Ft Lauderdale and if you wanted them to get your bags you'd have to have put the cruise tags on when you left home. I know HAL doesn't do that anymore at Ft Lauderdale, and I can't speak about other lines, so there's really no reason, especially if you follow Serendipity's suggestion, to put your tags on before you leave home. The problem, as mentioned once or twice before in this thread, is that the airlines often separate the cruise tag from the bag just in their normal handling. Even in the days when HAL pulled bags I still claimed my own and turned them over to the cruise line. I wanted to know that my bags had made it. Of course, we also started coming in the day before so the tags were of little use in that situation.

[sail7seas]

We always put our HAL tags on the bags when we are ready to leave the hotel and head to the pier. We always do a pre-cruise hotel stay and do not want the tags on until we are going to the ship.

[elmorejj]

That is exactly what we do. I don`t even care to put my luggage outside the hotel room door, I take it down myself or call for a bell hop and go down with it. I want to make sure its with me as long as possible.....jean :cool:

[Randyk47]

I'm with you Jean. Even on the ship it makes me a little nervous to leave our bags out in the hallway. Last spring on the Oosterdam I actually didn't go to bed until I knew the luggage had been picked up. I think I drove my wife nuts checking every time I heard any noise. As for the pre-cruise hotel it just happened that we stayed at the Westin where my wife has a "frequent stayer" card. They upgraded us to a suite and I arranged with the bellboy for him to pick our bags up directly from our room rather than leaving them in the hallway. The few extra tip dollars were worth my peace of mind.

[gliles]

Put them on before you fly that way if your luggage gets misdirected, at least they will know where it belongs. And if the tags get torn off, you can always put new ones on at the pier. And always put ID inside the bag, I can't stress that enough!

[RevNeal]

Here's a related question.

This is my first time to have HAL arrange the air for me. Do we put the luggage tags on BEFORE checking out bags at DFW? Will HAL pull our bags in Vancouver? OR ... should we wait and pull our bags at Vancouver and put our tags on there?

[dakrewser]

Here's a related question.

This is my first time to have HAL arrange the air for me. Do we put the luggage tags on BEFORE checking out bags at DFW? Will HAL pull our bags in Vancouver? OR ... should we wait and pull our bags at Vancouver and put our tags on there?
AFAIK the cruise lines no longer pull your bags anywhere. You retrieve them and turn them over. So that's when I'd put the tags on.

-dave

[RevNeal]

AFAIK the cruise lines no longer pull your bags anywhere. You retrieve them and turn them over. So that's when I'd put the tags on.

Then HAL needs to change the Arrival Advice section in the travel documentation which they send out. It still makes reference to the line pulling bags.

[Cruiseoften]

Ship tags confuse the airlines! Ignore the cruise line's instructions:p

We tag our bags with a business card giving our overnight hotel address and phone number and personally claim them from the carousel. Ships tags don't go on until we on our way to the ship. Like so many others, I like to know just where my bag is until I'm on board.

The last thing that goes in each of our bags before closing is a ziplock baggie with ship name, the itinerary, our name and home phone number together with the phone number of the friends/neighbors who have our house keys. We always give them an itinerary and instructions on how to contact us if necessary. It's right on top of your bag if it has to be opened, and the information required is very handy.

[gliles]

Ship tags confuse the airlines! Ignore the cruise line's instructions:p

We tag our bags with a business card giving our overnight hotel address and phone number and personally claim them from the carousel. Ships tags don't go on until we on our way to the ship. Like so many others, I like to know just where my bag is until I'm on board.

The last thing that goes in each of our bags before closing is a ziplock baggie with ship name, the itinerary, our name and home phone number together with the phone number of the friends/neighbors who have our house keys. We always give them an itinerary and instructions on how to contact us if necessary. It's right on top of your bag if it has to be opened, and the information required is very handy.
Excellent, we always put business cards inside but your plan is much more thorough.

[dakrewser]

Then HAL needs to change the Arrival Advice section in the travel documentation which they send out. It still makes reference to the line pulling bags.
But then they'd tack on an "updated documentation fee" to your shipboard account! :rolleyes:

-dave

[RevNeal]

What I don't understand is that these documents say they were last updated August 1, 2004. And, yet, they still talk about HAL pulling baggage with ship tags on them in Vancouver for direct transport to the ship.

Oh, well ... I think what I've determined to do is pull the bags myself at Vancouver, put the ship tags on them, and hand them over to the HAL people there. It's a little more annoying than being able to just go get on the bus for transfer to the ship, but at least I'll KNOW for sure that the bags are there -- of course, given that it's a non-stop flight the chances that my bags might be lost in-transit are LESS than they would be with connecting flights.

[RevNeal]

Ship tags confuse the airlines! Ignore the cruise line's instructions

How do ship tags confuse the airlines? Don't they just pay attention to the tape strips that they attach to the handle that have those codes and the barcode on them?

[RuthC]

--- of course, given that it's a non-stop flight the chances that my bags might be lost in-transit are LESS than they would be with connecting flights."Less" is the operative word. Once I took a non-stop from Puerto Rico to Boston at the end of the cruise. Luggage didn't make it.
Seems that was a weekly problem with that flight, too!

[RevNeal]

Ah, Ruth ... I was wondering who was going to chime in on that and lecture me as to why bags can get lost on ANY flight; I'm glad it was you, and not some hot-head. I was waiting for someone to berate me for being so ignorant as to assume that direct flights ensure the luggage will arrive ... never mind the fact that I said "LESS" not "no." Some people are quick to post attacks without reading what is written. Thank goodness, you're not.

Indeed, you're right: it IS STILL POSSIBLE for the airlines to misdirect or even lose your luggage on a non-stop flight. Nevertheless, it is still statistically and experientially true that if one has a non-stop or direct flight the chances of the airline misdirecting your luggage (or losing it) are less than if you, and your luggage, have to change planes in-transit. If anybody is prone to want to argue this, just THINK ABOUT IT. Changing planes means there's at least ONE extra opportunity for some dumb-dumb to put your luggage on the wrong cart, and onto the wrong place. It's also another opportunity for that dumb dumb to break everything in your bag.

In short, direct flights are always better. You're still not 100% assured of getting your luggage there with you, but the odds are better because the opportunities for humans to do stupid things are fewer.

[Randyk47]

I once had a bag get lost on a non-stop from San Francisco to Washington, DC. I finally filed and in a couple of weeks got a check for $600. Six weeks later the doorbell rang and there was a cab driver with my bag. OK....I figured now I've got to arrange to return the $600....not big deal. So I call the airline and ask how I go about doing that. They said they were awfully sorry but my bag was still missing and after two months it would probably never be found. I explained it had shown up and, indeed, I was on the phone with it sitting right in front of me. "That's impossible sir but thanks for calling".....click. Fine....I kept the bag and the $600 and never heard another thing from the airline. I'm totally convinced that anything can and will happen. By the way, according to all the tags and stickers on my bag it had seen a great deal of Asia....too bad it didn't take any pictures.....I've never been to Asia. :)

[grandma bev]

What a hoot, Randy!!! I'll believe anything when it comes to traveling - you had better have a sense of humor, or else stay home!

Just in case, each time we visit the family in Alabama, we go to the "Unclaimed and Lost Luggage Store" in Scottsboro. Amazing what you see in that place.
LOL

Bev