Can any recent cruisers give the real scoop on Luggage Valet?

I've read about the service, where you pay for Celebrity to handle your luggage at the end of the cruise, and you don't see it til you get back to your home airport. But I wonder if it is still in effect? My travel agent called today, and one person told him it was available. He called again later and was told, no...definitely not available anymore. He is going to try again tomorrow and see if he can get anywhere with it.

We are on the Silhouette in early March.

Does anyone have an answer based on recent experience?

We disembarked from Equinox in Ft. Lauderdale on January 10 and they did offer Luggage Valet. At first Guest Relations did not know if South West would participate but on the last sea day they delivered revised luggage tags and disembarkation instructions. I think it depends on the port, the airline and the time of your flight. The cost is $20 per person plus baggage charges. It is very convenient when disembarking, especially if there are a lot of ships in port.

Mary Lou

It also depends on how many people are interested in the service. If there is not enough interest, they will cancel it.:(

We were able to take advantage of it last April when we cruised on the Equinox. You will get a questionnaire a few days into your cruise, and if there is enough people that are interested (I think we needed only 25!!), and you meet all the requirements (airline, airport, time of flight), then you are good to go! It was wonderful, and I highly recommend it!!

We just got off the Equinox today from a 10 day sailing and used the Luggage Valet service. It was AWESOME!!!!!!! We were given our boarding passes and luggage tags on the ship on Thursday. This AM they had a special disembarkation call for Luggage Valet participants (8:45 AM for us), and our luggage was one of the 1st off the carousel at our final destination! We felt it was worth it!

Does anyone know which airlines participate?

We are on Silhouette. We will be flying out of FLL with Jet Blue.

I rarely find anything while cruising Celebrity that I can say is a "great" deal but we thought the luggage valet services definitely was! I'm actually shocked that it is only $20 per pax as you are really getting a lot for that money. We used it on the Silhouette over the holidays and loved it. There was some confusion with our cabin steward as he was apparently not familiar with it but other than that there were no issues! You place the bags outside your cabin door the night before disembarkation and you don't see them again until you reach your home destination! No customs, no lugging them to/from a cab and no lugging them into the airport. They even check you in and print your boarding passes! Frankly, I'm not even sure how they can do all of that when you consider the security concerns, but somehow they've worked it out.

This is one thing I would pay extra for on every cruise.

it was offered our entire cruise on silhouette in december and then the night before they cancelled it and said it was not going to be available because they could not ensure seamless service between the companies involved. i was NOT a happy camper as i was really looking forward to using it.

The service was available on our Silhouette cruise which disembarked on Jan 12. Worked fine for us. I believe that JetBlue was included, along with Southwest, AirTran, American, United and Delta.

Weird how inconsistent all this is!

The real deal is....

Not all airlines participate

There must be a minimum number of people signed up per cruise

The flights have to be within a specified time frame

Other than to Canada, the flights must be domestic

Even if all of the above criteria are met, TSA can kick you out and give no reason

Some of this is covered on the Celebrity website

When all the stars align its awesome

Luggage Valet: since it was not really a guarantee for our recent voyage, I decided to use Luggage Forward instead. The cost was considerably more but worth it to us. I just added this cost into the total price of the cruise. I will use such a program in the future…..they pick up luggage at your house and also return it to same. The cost depends on variables; size of suitcase, weight, and location.

Weird how inconsistent all this is!

Consistency, IMO, is something that is really slipping with Celebrity. I think they have to be very careful about ensuring minimum standards of customer service. This is the kind of thing that can really put people off.

The service was available on our Silhouette cruise which disembarked on Jan 12. Worked fine for us. I believe that JetBlue was included, along with Southwest, AirTran, American, United and Delta.

This makes me happy. I thought I had heard Southwest did not participate. It would be lovely to not have to worry about dragging bags to the airport and I would pay more for it.

Not to be a downer on all the positive things with Luggage Valet, but I used this service last yr (different cruise line) and upon arrival at my home airport, one of my luggage was damaged beyond repair. Both Luggage Valet (via the cruise line) and the airline (American) pointed the fingers at each other and neither would pay for the damage.

Not atypical. Airlines generally try to put that under "wear and tear" and take no responsibility. Might not have had anything to do with Luggage Valet, although it might. With no proof who damaged it, you can't expect either to pay

Does anyone know which airlines participate?

 

We are on Silhouette. We will be flying out of FLL with Jet Blue.

We flew last April out of Fl. on Jet Blue, best money we spent. Plan on using it again in a few weeks.

I've read about the service, where you pay for Celebrity to handle your luggage at the end of the cruise, and you don't see it til you get back to your home airport. But I wonder if it is still in effect? My travel agent called today, and one person told him it was available. He called again later and was told, no...definitely not available anymore. He is going to try again tomorrow and see if he can get anywhere with it.

 

We are on the Silhouette in early March.

 

Does anyone have an answer based on recent experience?

We always go to guest relations after the first day or so of the cruise and inquire and go ahead and fill out our forms. It is so much more convenient and worth the money for us...

We had luggage valet on Reflection April 2013. On Millennium 2012, it was not offered. I was told it depends on how many people sign up for it. Deadline is Tuesday for a 7 day Sat-Sat cruise. It is not prominently advertised, sadly, which I think keeps participation low. Luggage valet is the best $ I have ever spent on a cruise. Makes debarkation and customs a breeze. Love walking right past everyone lugging their bags on and off carousels while we breeze up to customs counter with nothing but a purse and passport. :)