Baggage Delivery Services

This week's Business Week (U.S. version) had an interesting article about baggage forwarding services.

The following were mentioned:

Luggage Concierge (www.luggageconcierge.com)

Luggage Forward (www.luggageforward.com)

Luggage Free (www.luggagefree.com)

SkyCap International (www.skycapinternational.com)

Sports Express (www.sportsexpress.com)

The Luggage Club (www.theluggageclub.com)

Virtual Bellhop (www.virtualbellhop.com)

Has anyone had experience with any of these, particularly internationally?

Any comments on relative costs?

Thanks!

Seabourn has their shipping service, (Seabourn Valet) which I have used and will be using again this week. DHL will pick up my luggage and when I board the Pride it will be in my Suite. I usually ship it home from the ship....it's a wonderful way to fly these days~luggage free, especially going through customs.

To inquire call the Seabourn Office: 1 800 929-9391 and ask for the Valet Service.

Happy Sailing

Martita

It's my understanding that the Seabourn service is significantly more expensive than competitors. Is this a mis-perception?

As I haven't used the other shipping services I can not answer your question, but you may want to use the "search the forum" and type in Valet. The "shipping luggage"subject has been discussed many times on our board.

I prefer to use Seabourn's service as then they are responsible for my luggage. The purpose of the service is my not having to worry with or about my bags. As I mentioned, it's especially convenient

now, when flying is getting to be real work!

Happy Sailing,

MB

I agree, Martha, if I am going overseas, I will use the Seabourn service. I might try DHL in the states, but only if I am going to be in a hotel pre-cruise and not flying in the day of sailing.

Jane

Jane,

I have a friend that just used UPS for a piece of luggage. He sent the bag from Santa Fe to Terre Haute and the cost was $48. But,

he was not boarding a ship! Just visiting a friend.

It seems the Airlines are losing more luggage now than ever before. It's comforting to me to be reasonably assured that I will have my luggage/clothes at sea.....

Last April a couple boarded in Lisbon (after our Crossing) and NO luggage.....the airlines had lost all of their bags. Would you believe the bags never made it on board? And we had about 7 or so ports along the way.....the nice fellow came to my suite and I gave him all of J.B.'s PINK clothes he had left for the crew. They both had a much better attitude about NO clothing, than I would have had.

I will continue to use Seabourn Valet services.

Happy Sunday!

MB

I contacted several of those listed. For illustration, I requested pricing on a 50-pound suitcase, one way from Costa Rica to California. These are estimates only, with the usual caveats.

Luggage Free: $415 + fuel surcharge of about 12%.

The Luggage Club: $214.01 not incl. taxes and duties.

Virtual Bellhop: $285.

Seabourn's Personal Valet: Left two voicemail messages over three days, no answer yet.

Conclusion: there's a big difference. It pays to shop around.

Finally heard from them. It was $400 on a comparable basis. Still one of the most expensive.

Has anyone used one of the others?

Thanks for the research Tex805!

I thought I read somewhere that shipping to and from the Caribbean in an issue. Guess I will wait until I receive my Seabourn docs to see what is what.

Thanks for the research Tex805!

 

I thought I read somewhere that shipping to and from the Caribbean in an issue. Guess I will wait until I receive my Seabourn docs to see what is what.

Ditto, Tex805!

DisneyJen,

Unless things have changed, your preliminary or final documents will not have a "price list" for the Seabourn luggage service. You will have to call the number in the Seabourn brochure and get a customized quote for your particular situation from Seabourn. When I called this last February, I told the agent which cruise I had booked, I wanted RT service and she immediately quoted me prices per bag for, I think, four or five increasing bag weights.

I meant I would wait until I see the docs and then call ...

Appreciate the explanation Paul:)

Blackbird gave me the web site of these guys, cruiseshippers.com; believe it or not, they are half the price of these other ridiculously expensive baggage shipping services. I had all but given up shipping a bag to the Caribbean, but if I find out this is for real, I may use them.

I called Seabourn's valet service earlier this year; oddly enough, they don't ship bags to the Caribbean.

Jane :rolleyes:

Blackbird gave me the web site of these guys, cruiseshippers.com; believe it or not, they are half the price of these other ridiculously expensive baggage shipping services. I had all but given up shipping a bag to the Caribbean, but if I find out this is for real, I may use them.I called Seabourn's valet service earlier this year; oddly enough, they don't ship bags to the Caribbean.

Hmmmm. Seabourn has both the Pride and Legend in the Caribbean for the winter months. We all know Seabourn earns revenue from the Seabourn Valet service; yet they do not ship bags to the Caribbean. What does that tell you?

Methinks one should cast a suspicious eye and look long and hard and investigate (call the Better Buisness Bureau in the state where the company is located, for example) any service that claims door-to-door service to / from the Caribbean. Just some food for thought.

Thanks for the tip! Looking at their web site, they use FedEx, which has a great tracking service. I've asked Cruiseshippers (based in Ft. Lauderdale) for a comparable quote, and will post it when I get a response. Interesting - they say not to ship alcohol-based perfumes, as they are a hazard.

I'm looking into cruiseshippers as well, and was happy to see they use Fed Ex, which is tops in my book. I'm still boggled by the reasonable prices. Let me know what you find out Tex. Paul, good idea about the BBB. I did check them out, there were no reports at all on them.

Jane ;)

They came in at $300 estimate (50 pound roller suitcase, Costa Rica hotel to California, slowest service).

Still haven't heard from anyone who has actually USED one of these shippers!

For our North Cape cruise in June on the Pride, we used Seabourn's valet service. It was expensive, but the service was excellent and reliable. Since we were shipping our formal wear and our winter clothes (for those cold days in northern Norway) the value of what we were shipping was several thousand dollars. We would rather rely on Seabourn to get our luggage to us safely than take our chances on a lower priced, and unknown (to us) shipping company.

It was very nice to have our luggage delivered to our suite on board without having had to lug it across the Atlantic and through our pre-cruise week spent in Paris and London.

I just spoke with Seabourn (Anita) about the valet service, and the pricing is really well within range of the independent shippers:

DOMESTIC:

$250.00 for 1st 100 pounds

1.50 ea additional pound

INTERNATIONAL:

$240--FIRST 30 POUNDS

$360 UP TO 50 POUNDS

$390 UP TO 60 POUNDS

$440 UP TO 70 POUNDS (HUGE!)

If we ship in advance, we have decided to use Seabourn Valet because their pricing is reasonable, and they are responsible for the safe arrival to our suite.

Denyse

Thanks for the info Denyse.

I wonder if they are shipping to the Caribbean or not:confused:

I just spoke with Seabourn (Anita) about the valet service, and the pricing is really well within range of the independent shippers:

 

DOMESTIC:

$250.00 for 1st 100 pounds

1.50 ea additional pound

 

INTERNATIONAL:

$240--FIRST 30 POUNDS

$360 UP TO 50 POUNDS

$390 UP TO 60 POUNDS

$440 UP TO 70 POUNDS (HUGE!)

 

If we ship in advance, we have decided to use Seabourn Valet because their pricing is reasonable, and they are responsible for the safe arrival to our suite.

Denyse,

These rates are much better than what Seabourn quoted me last February when I requested the round trip rates for the Nov. Legend crossing from LAX to AGP (Malaga, Spain) and FLL to LAX. Maybe Seabourn IS reading this thread! ;) The per bag costs were so high that I threw away my notes and ditched the idea.

Many thanks Denyse for posting this information! I may just call Seabourn again and get another quote. If I ship in advance, I will definitely consider Seabourn's Personal Valet Service. As you say, Seabourn is responsible to get our luggage to our suite or face the consequences of improperly dressed passengers. :D

Paul, these rates were quoted from SFO-AGP, for the same cruise that you are on, and for the return from FLL. It was surprisingly reasonable, and I know that there has recently been an increase in usage of the valet service by Seabourn pax.

See you in Malaga!

Denyse

I just spoke with Seabourn (Anita) about the valet service, and the pricing is really well within range of the independent shippers:

 

DOMESTIC:

$250.00 for 1st 100 pounds

1.50 ea additional pound

INTERNATIONAL:

$240--FIRST 30 POUNDS

$360 UP TO 50 POUNDS

$390 UP TO 60 POUNDS

$440 UP TO 70 POUNDS (HUGE!)

 

If we ship in advance, we have decided to use Seabourn Valet because their pricing is reasonable, and they are responsible for the safe arrival to our suite.

 

Denyse

Just a small comment that its costs considerably more to ship your bags home FROM the Triplets than it does to ship your bags TO the Triplets. We paid $360 to ship our bag over to Europe and $450 to ship it back home from Europe at the end of our cruise. This was for our 25 inch suitcase which came in at just under 50 lbs (it was stuffed!).

At least it did when I used the Valet service in June. You might want to ask Anita if this has changed since June.

Denyse,

Well, thanks to you and your timely post, it is a done deal and I am using the Seabourn valet luggage service to get my bags to the Legend in Malaga on Nov. 5! I talked to Anita today and scheduled my luggage pickup for Monday, Ocotber 23, the last day to have DHL collect my bags to ensure timely arrival. I may also ship my luggage home from the ship in FLL, which can be arranged onboard.

I hope you guys decide to treat yourselves and ship your luggage! As I do NOT want to read a post from you stating that you had a repeat performance of what happened last March. That would be TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!!!

Bgood,

I think we had this discussion in another thread, but with the reduced costs for this service and having Seabourn's assurances that everything is properly handled , swung me over. Hopefully, the increased number of passengers availing themselves of this wonderful service, has resulted in lower costs due to increased volume of business with DHL.

The one thing about shipping luggage in FLL is that you must first claim your bags off the ship and then, after customs, they are left outside the terminal in an assigned spot to be picked up by DHL. This is just their port routine. Still worth the effort!

Jane

I just used Seabourn Valet Service from West Texas to Dublin, Ireland (Ryder Cup) then Gloucester, Mass back to West Texas. Worked perfectly!! In Gloucester I called the Purser Desk......they

sent a Bell Captain to come close my two large pieces of luggage, tag them and then he took them from my suite at 7:30 am, the morning of disembarking. (placing luggage outside your suite the night before is long gone.....) My luggage was delivered 5 days later!!

As to using our Valet Service to the Caribbean (Barbados) in Dec., YES, I indeed plan on having Anita Mann arrange this.......worth every penny~~~~it's sooooo nice to disembark the ship with a carry-on and fly home without luggage!! Makes the Seabourn voyage even more special~~~~THANK YOU Seabourn!

Happy/Safe weekend,

Martita B.