Issues with Luggage Valet Service- Equinox September 15th Sailing

Just returned from the Equinox sailing September 15 through 25th. Overall I will say we had an excellent time, and will add a review shortly.

One aspect though left a sour taste in my mouth, that being the Luggage Valet service.

Mid cruise a flier showed up in the cabin extolling the virtues of using the service. After I read it, I though hey this is cool. We can pay $25 each and send our luggage ahead. You also are supposed to get boarding passes etc.,but the value for us was the luggage xfer. Our flight to Canada wasn’t until 2 pm, so our thought was to get off early and go to the beach. We’d actually lost out on that at the start due to flight cancellations etc.

Long story short, we got the form in prior to the 5 pm Friday cutoff. Then radio silence. No charge on the account Friday or Saturday. I went down to GS Saturday and they said, “in process don’t worry all good.”

Sunday rolls around, and same story. No info. Without trying to be a pest, I went down and inquired. “Not to worry, in process all good.Check back this afternoon”. Ok, sounds like a plan. Checked back after 3 pm (flight was at 2 so the online check-in was now open). Met with a worried look from the rep. “Hang on, let me check. Hmmm, were not sure what’s happening, but it’s in process so check back after 5. American Airlines takes a bit longer”. Ok,will do

Back again after 5, still the same story. At this point I asked what the backup was. She asked what I meant by a backup plan.

I said I wasn’t assigned a group or given luggage tags, as you’ve got me down as luggage valet.

“Oh, good point, you can go with group 50” ( 9:40am debark).Hoping it won’t come to that, but my hope is diminishing as we speak

Off to dinner. Back in the cabin at 9:30. No updates, so a call is placed. “It’s still in process, don’t worry”. Ok I says, what should I do with the luggage?. “You need to put it out by 10” she says. Ok, so basically you are telling me that the valet is out of the question now, place the tags we gave you on the luggage. "No, we are still working on it, hold tight."

End of the day, we got off with group 50, found our heavy bags on the carousel, took a cab with our luggage to the airport, and hung out there for a few hours waiting for our flight.

I don’t blame Celebrity in any way for the inability to activate the valet with us. It may have been that we were flying international ( Canada) I don’t know. The issue was in their lack of follow up, and direction. I basically tried to buy a service from them, and it became up to me to continually press for them to sell me that service. No once did we receive a message or call saying the valet won’t work.I guess I could have been a jerk and held my luggage waiting for the valet tags,but I’m sure that would have been a royal pain.

If they are going to offer a service like that, that’s important logistically, it seems to me that the onus is on Celebrity to provide information, and that was where they fell down

Just returned from the Equinox sailing September 15 through 25th. Overall I will say we had an excellent time, and will add a review shortly.

One aspect though left a sour taste in my mouth, that being the Luggage Valet service.

Mid cruise a flier showed up in the cabin extolling the virtues of using the service. After I read it, I though hey this is cool. We can pay $25 each and send our luggage ahead. You also are supposed to get boarding passes etc.,but the value for us was the luggage xfer. Our flight to Canada wasn’t until 2 pm, so our thought was to get off early and go to the beach. We’d actually lost out on that at the start due to flight cancellations etc.

 

Long story short, we got the form in prior to the 5 pm Friday cutoff. Then radio silence. No charge on the account Friday or Saturday. I went down to GS Saturday and they said, “in process don’t worry all good.”

Sunday rolls around, and same story. No info. Without trying to be a pest, I went down and inquired. “Not to worry, in process all good.Check back this afternoon”. Ok, sounds like a plan. Checked back after 3 pm (flight was at 2 so the online check-in was now open). Met with a worried look from the rep. “Hang on, let me check. Hmmm, were not sure what’s happening, but it’s in process so check back after 5. American Airlines takes a bit longer”. Ok,will do

Back again after 5, still the same story. At this point I asked what the backup was. She asked what I meant by a backup plan.

I said I wasn’t assigned a group or given luggage tags, as you’ve got me down as luggage valet.

“Oh, good point, you can go with group 50” ( 9:40am debark).Hoping it won’t come to that, but my hope is diminishing as we speak

 

Off to dinner. Back in the cabin at 9:30. No updates, so a call is placed. “It’s still in process, don’t worry”. Ok I says, what should I do with the luggage?. “You need to put it out by 10” she says. Ok, so basically you are telling me that the valet is out of the question now, place the tags we gave you on the luggage. "No, we are still working on it, hold tight."

 

End of the day, we got off with group 50, found our heavy bags on the carousel, took a cab with our luggage to the airport, and hung out there for a few hours waiting for our flight.

I don’t blame Celebrity in any way for the inability to activate the valet with us. It may have been that we were flying international ( Canada) I don’t know. The issue was in their lack of follow up, and direction. I basically tried to buy a service from them, and it became up to me to continually press for them to sell me that service. No once did we receive a message or call saying the valet won’t work.I guess I could have been a jerk and held my luggage waiting for the valet tags,but I’m sure that would have been a royal pain.

If they are going to offer a service like that, that’s important logistically, it seems to me that the onus is on Celebrity to provide information, and that was where they fell down

You are right that obviously someone dropped the ball. We've used luggage valet service many times and really missed it during the time that X stopped offering (about 7 or 8 months). I think that you may be right that since your flight was international you may not have been eligible for the plan, I seem to remember reading that. If that was the case it's unfortunate that no one knew that. As I recall the flights needed to be non-stop within a certain time frame on specific air carriers. I know that American was one of the carriers because that is the airline we usually use. It sounds like your flight times were within the parameters necessary to qualify and since you turned the forms in on a timely basis the only qualifier that might not fit was the international flight. When we used the program we were provided with special luggage valet tags the last evening of the cruise and received the boarding passes with TSA pre-check indicated. TSA pre-check is only available for domestic flights, so again the international issue may be to blame, but certainly guest services should have been aware of it.

In the past the program was not available for international flights and that may still be the case.

Having said that, Celebrity should make it clear what the restrictions are to avoid people having expectations that can't be met.

In any event there really is no excuse for the ship board customer service reps not dealing with the issue.

Seems that since Celebrity has moved so firmly into the mass market mode, anything outside their perameters is managed by avoidance as they don't have a process for exceptions . We can only lower our expectations to meet their standards, or move to another provider.

We've used luggage valet quite successfully on a number of flights. However, there are rules that someone at the guest services desk should have known about. Maybe they are in transition to including more flights but doesn't sound like it.

This service is available from only a few airports in the US. I believe those are Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Seattle. Your flights have to be on a certain airline (Delta, American, United, Southwest ... maybe some others as well).

Your flight has to fit into certain time frames.

Sounds like you are ok so far in fitting in with all the guidelines.

Also, it is only available for domestic flights ... and someone should have known and somebody should have mentioned that to you. Sorry this didn't work out for you as it is a wonderful service when it works.

BTW .. .your flight does not have to be non-stop but I believe your connecting flights all have to be on the same airline. Also, this doesn't automatically give you TSA pre-check status but there is an algorithm that is used to assign pre-check for those that haven't subscribed to the program. On our last flight where we all used luggage valet (except for me as we only had one bag to check), it is was offered to half of us in our group ... and to me.

I was wondering out loud when I filled it out if a cross border flight would apply. Believe me I studied the form carefully, and there was no indication that it wouldn't apply. It was a registered carrier ( American), a participating airport ( MIA) a direct flight, and after the 12pm departure time ( 2pm)

I was just ticked that I spent a bunch of time back and forth, pestering the GS folks. Would have been so much easier, and less of a headache, for someone just to say, sorry you cant use it.

As an aside, when we checked in with AA, my wife, a Canadian citizen was granted TSA pre check. I said to the agent, are you sure? We don't have standing with AA ( we do with British Airways, A One World partner), and we don't have NEXUS which as a Canadian is a prereqisite for TSA Pre). Anyway, off she went to a remarkably short line, while i had a lovely wait in the regular queue...

Anyway, off she went to a remarkably short line, while i had a lovely wait in the regular queue...

Or, what I oftentimes refer to as the 'free massage line' ... they always seem to give my DH a wonderfully extensive full body pat down. :p

Our last dozen flights or so, we've both gotten TSA pre-check. We are always so excited to see that printed on our tickets as we've never signed up for it (or paid for it) so for a while there, it had been hit or miss. I am sure there will come a time when neither of us will get it. So...it's appreciated .... just never expected.

Exists a form posted in other threads,

International and domestic offered, Delta is domestic only.

Hours Mia from 11:30 AM to 11:59 PM, FLL 2 PM to 11:59PM

Exists a form posted in other threads,

International and domestic offered, Delta is domestic only.

Hours Mia from 11:30 AM to 11:59 PM, FLL 2 PM to 11:59PM

Thanks, some validation that I'm not crazy ! :)

Wonder what happened then that we were not granted ?. Even more so, why Celebrity couldn't get information out of what I assume is a subcontracted Logistics company.... ?

Think I might drop them a line to let them know. Don't want to have this seem like sour grapes, but think they should know about issues like this.

Thanks everyone

We just got off of the Equinox and had also hoped to use the Luggage Valet. Unfortunately the form never arrived at our cabin to let us know that it was available. Friends of ours who were two cabins away also didn't receive the form. We asked at Guest Relations but was told it was too late.

You probably will never be able to find out why you weren't approved for it. TSA randomly rejects some applications. All the Luggage Valet contractor can do is submit your name. When it works it is great, but then there are the other times. Just remember that you always would have had to get hour luggage from the carosel and take it to the airport regardless.....

You probably will never be able to find out why you weren't approved for it. TSA randomly rejects some applications. All the Luggage Valet contractor can do is submit your name. When it works it is great, but then there are the other times. Just remember that you always would have had to get hour luggage from the carosel and take it to the airport regardless.....

If the OP had been declined, then the ship would know that. We were rejected for luggage valet in the spring and there was a voicemail in our cabin advising us early in the afternoon (this was on Solstice). I'd say that, if OP was indeed rejected and not simply overlooked somehow, then the ship would know and should have told him.

Thanks for all the replies. I definitely wasn't rejected ( or at least notified of rejection). I'm starting to think now that maybe there wasn't enough demand for the Logistics company to make it worth their while for international luggage.

Anyway moot point now, over and done with. Hopefully next time we will get in early ( Thanks Irma ... grrr) and enjoy South Beach as previously planned.

As an aside, when we checked in with AA, my wife, a Canadian citizen was granted TSA pre check.

Lucky her.

Our last time through MIA I drew the SSSS card. I tried to swap it with my wife's non TAS pre check. No deal.

Could have been worse I suppose, my dignity was at least intact though that was about all that wasn't violated.

On our March Equinox cruise, our LV tags did not arrive until 9:00 PM. I really don't think there is anything Celebrity can do to speed up the process; any information they could have given you would have been something like "we don't have the results yet".

If the luggage valet works correctly, could I have luggage picked up from the Equinox in Miami & have it delivered to FLL? My flight is on Southwest & departs at 3:30 PM.

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If the luggage valet works correctly, could I have luggage picked up from the Equinox in Miami & have it delivered to FLL? My flight is on Southwest & departs at 3:30 PM.

 

 

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Yes the luggage valet system should do that, does cover Southwest and is late enough to qualify. If you haven't received notice about Luggage Valet Program ask for the former at guest services or from the concierge early in the cruise to avoid being told it's too late to apply.

Yes the luggage valet system should do that, does cover Southwest and is late enough to qualify. If you haven't received notice about Luggage Valet Program ask for the former at guest services or from the concierge early in the cruise to avoid being told it's too late to apply.

Normally how many days before the end of the cruise is the deadline to register?

Yes the luggage valet system should do that, does cover Southwest and is late enough to qualify. If you haven't received notice about Luggage Valet Program ask for the former at guest services or from the concierge early in the cruise to avoid being told it's too late to apply.

Thanks!

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Normally how many days before the end of the cruise is the deadline to register?

We always ask about luggage valet form about a day or two into the cruise because some ships seem lax in form distribution. I don't remember the deadline but if memory serves it's earlier than I expect it. Sometimes I see it mentioned in the Daily. It's usually easy to miss. As I recall it's usually about midway through. You have to be approved by the airline so it takes lo her. Also the luggage tags sometimes don't arrive to the storeroom until after dinner.

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We've used luggage valet quite successfully on a number of flights. However, there are rules that someone at the guest services desk should have known about. Maybe they are in transition to including more flights but doesn't sound like it.

 

This service is available from only a few airports in the US. I believe those are Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Seattle. Your flights have to be on a certain airline (Delta, American, United, Southwest ... maybe some others as well).

Your flight has to fit into certain time frames.

Sounds like you are ok so far in fitting in with all the guidelines.

lso, it is only available for domestic flights ... and someone should have known and somebody should have mentioned that to you. Sorry this didn't work out for you as it is a wonderful service when it works.

 

BTW .. .your flight does not have to be non-stop but I believe your connecting flights all have to be on the same airline. Also, this doesn't automatically give you TSA pre-check status but there is an algorithm that is used to assign pre-check for those that haven't subscribed to the program. On our last flight where we all used luggage valet (except for me as we only had one bag to check), it is was offered to half of us in our group ... and to me.

We were told Southwest does not participate in this program. We are now on United but would have prefered Southwest. Glad to know it works, it will be our first try using it.

Exists a form posted in other threads,

International and domestic offered, Delta is domestic only.

Hours Mia from 11:30 AM to 11:59 PM, FLL 2 PM to 11:59PM

I just talked to Captains Club and they said the cutoff for Ft. Lauderdale flights is any reservation after 11:30 am. Where did you see or read the 2pm time?

Thank you,

JoAnne

Thanks for all the replies. I definitely wasn't rejected ( or at least notified of rejection). I'm starting to think now that maybe there wasn't enough demand for the Logistics company to make it worth their while for international luggage.

Anyway moot point now, over and done with. Hopefully next time we will get in early ( Thanks Irma ... grrr) and enjoy South Beach as previously planned.

We've been denied for lack of demand once. We filled out the forms and delivered them on time but were eventually notified it was cancelled for lack of participation. The other oddity is we always get the normal disembarkation tags when we sign up. We know they aren't the right tags so we just wait for the correct tags to be delivered with the boarding passes. More often than not they are delivered between 5 and 8pm the last night.

I just talked to Captains Club and they said the cutoff for Ft. Lauderdale flights is any reservation after 11:30 am. Where did you see or read the 2pm time?

 

 

Thank you,

JoAnne

is established in the form

I just talked to Captains Club and they said the cutoff for Ft. Lauderdale flights is any reservation after 11:30 am. Where did you see or read the 2pm time?

 

 

Thank you,

JoAnne

I think the time is dependent on which port you are coming into. We came into Port Everglades on our last cruise and yes, FLL flights had to be after 11:30. I think that MIA flights had a later time. So if you arrive in Port of Miami, then the airport times would be reversed.

For what it's worth, our flight departed FLL at 11:20. When I inquired at Guest Services, they said "close enough"......and all worked seamlessly.