Shipping luggage ahead to pre-cruise hotel?

[JLind]

Wondering if anyone has sent their luggage ahead to a pre-cruise hotel?

We are sailing out of San Juan in just over 2 weeks, and staying two nights before the cruise at the Caribe Hilton (Priceline).

In light of the fact that USAir will charge us $20 per checked suitcase, we are considering the idea of shipping it ahead to the hotel, and just traveling with carry-ons. But we don't want to spend a fortune - love the idea if it's maybe $50 per bag...

Does anyone have experience with doing this? Which carrier should we use? UPS? Fedex? USPS?

 

Experienced travelers out there with thoughts about this??

 

thanks in advance for your ideas,

Jill

[Mary El]

I just did a cursory check for you to have a 50lb bag shipped to Puerto Rico via FedEx. Very expensive -- $261. I heard that FedEx is cheaper if you wanted to ship it via ground but they consider Puerto Rico as international

 

Good luck in trying to find a cheap way to ship the luggage ahead of time but you are probably stuck with using the airlines.

 

I think that JetBlue and Southwest don't charge luggage. Too late to switch with them? Can you you use them instead of Delta?

[kitty9]

It's not cheap, and you'll be ahead by just taking your bags with you and paying the airline fee. No way on earth would it be anywhere near to $50 a bag to ship to San Juan. For me, I shipped two bags to NYC from Wisconsin, not that long of a trip, and it was over $300. You can expect yours to cost around $500 or more to San Juan.

[esther e]

We're planning to use Luggage Forward in August. We will ship from our home in Florida to Connecticut at a hotel where we'll be for a few days before we cruise out of Bayonne.

[bananavan]

Sorry to hi jack this for a moment. Esther I hope that you remember who I am. We were on the Constellation Canada NE cruise with you in 2005.

I would love to get in touch with you again.

Please send me an email at my handle at aol.com

Thanks

Evana

All my best to Peter and you.

[dzcruisers]

We're planning to use Luggage Forward in August. We will ship from our home in Florida to Connecticut at a hotel where we'll be for a few days before we cruise out of Bayonne.

 

What is luggage forward?

[cruisinjudy]

We used Luggage Forward (Google it) to ship our luggage to Rome when we were doing a prestay in Venice and then training to Rome. It was expensive but worth it to us as I had broken my arm and no way I would have been able to lug stuff around Venice and the train without the use of my arm. In Rome things were taken care of with a taxi and a bus.

[Loop]

http://www.luggageforward.com

[esther e]

Sorry to hi jack this for a moment. Esther I hope that you remember who I am. We were on the Constellation Canada NE cruise with you in 2005.

I would love to get in touch with you again.

Please send me an email at my handle at aol.com

Thanks

Evana

All my best to Peter and you.

 

I sent you an email, but just in case something gets lost in cyberspace, I'm at pest1167@msn.com and then I'll give you my "real" address. Can't wait to hear from you!

[Pennypocket]

For shipping baggage within the states.

1. call hotel prior to shipping to learn if they will accept the delivery.

2. Pack the suitcase inside a cardboard box, take to UPS and ship to the hotel. I usually put the date I will be arriving at the hotel on the outside of the box so the hotel knows what it is all about and does not refuse the delivery.

3. Track package and when it arrives at the hotel - call hotel to verify they have it in safe keeping.

 

I have done this several times and if you plan the timing right and use ground UPS it will cost around $25 - $40 per bag fully insured. No restrictions on what goes in the bags and no weight limits other than the UPS 100 lbs I believe.