Sending / Freighting Excess Baggage Back Home

[Uralba]

G'Day

 

 

Sending /Freighting Excess Baggage Back Home

We will be travelling Arcadia Sydney to Southampton February 2013.

There will be 46 days on board, travelling through a few different climatic regions with a variety of shore excursions which will require different types of clothing, up to 10 formal plus 'smart casual' nights and all the days and various events in between all of which will necessitate a respectable amount of clothing.

Once in England, we will stay for a while, do a few tours, see a few relatives. We expect to be there for at least six weeks but probably won’t use the formal clothes from the cruise and won’t need any unseasonal clothing ie we will be there From late April to about end of May - the Northern Spring.

So we would expect to have at least 1 x standard suitcase (about 20 kilos / 50 pounds if jammed full) which would either be excess baggage on the plane home, or we could freight ahead of ourselves back to Melbourne, Australia

What have you done at the end of a cruise when you have more than your flying luggage allowance? The QANTAS website indicates that an Additional Baggage Allowance of 25 kg freight would cost $875

First internet searches eg www.luggageforward.com would indicate that to send a 50 lb suitcase back from England to Australia by freight services would cost about $500. That’s a lot of money to ship second-hand clothes!

So what have you done? Thrown or given the clothes away (to relatives or to charity), freighted them back home or paid the excess baggage when you have arrived at the airport?

Or simply packed for the return air trip when packing for the cruise ie 1 x case each plus usual carry on hand luggage, laptop, coats etc and then just worn the same clothes over and over on the cruise? We will be on board for over 6 weeks – and want, at the very least, to look clean and smart throughout with a bit of a scrub up as the program requires – so it would be nice to have some variety in the clothes available for different occasions.

On our recent December, 2011 trip to UK we left with Christmas Presents jammed in and returned with more luggage than we started with - not sure how that happened but I want to be able to buy souvenirs if possible as we travel about and not pass up opportunity because I haven't planned ahead fothe freight back home

So what did you do with the excess baggage, or that floor rug you couldn't resist, or that fantastic pottery urn, or even the art work you bought at the onboard auction?

I look forward to hearing some great ideas from you seasoned travellers - a papyrus scroll or a pair of Persian slippers or even a 'We Crossed The Equator' happy snap all takes up space in the suitcase and all has to get home somehow!

Cheers

Kristine

[kitty9]

I've done a few things, but or me, the best choice was shipping. Perhaps you should call the cruise line because some will have a working relationship with shipping companies at a reduced rate, especially for long cruises.

[gerryl12]

I would be inclined to toss clothes rather than ship them home but it all depends on final costs. We tend to wear our clothes over and over with a washing in between so have gone up to eleven weeks with just a carry-on and small pack each. It is amazing how much you can pack if you rely on light wrinkle free clothes. We pack for seven days and do not bring souveniers. If something gets worn out you can toss it and buy a new one.

Just my opinion.

[secondhandrose]

G'Day

 

 

Sending /Freighting Excess Baggage Back Home

We will be travelling Arcadia Sydney to Southampton February 2013.

There will be 46 days on board, travelling through a few different climatic regions with a variety of shore excursions which will require different types of clothing, up to 10 formal plus 'smart casual' nights and all the days and various events in between all of which will necessitate a respectable amount of clothing.

Once in England, we will stay for a while, do a few tours, see a few relatives. We expect to be there for at least six weeks but probably won’t use the formal clothes from the cruise and won’t need any unseasonal clothing ie we will be there From late April to about end of May - the Northern Spring.

So we would expect to have at least 1 x standard suitcase (about 20 kilos / 50 pounds if jammed full) which would either be excess baggage on the plane home, or we could freight ahead of ourselves back to Melbourne, Australia

What have you done at the end of a cruise when you have more than your flying luggage allowance? The QANTAS website indicates that an Additional Baggage Allowance of 25 kg freight would cost $875

First internet searches eg www.luggageforward.com would indicate that to send a 50 lb suitcase back from England to Australia by freight services would cost about $500. That’s a lot of money to ship second-hand clothes!

So what have you done? Thrown or given the clothes away (to relatives or to charity), freighted them back home or paid the excess baggage when you have arrived at the airport?

Or simply packed for the return air trip when packing for the cruise ie 1 x case each plus usual carry on hand luggage, laptop, coats etc and then just worn the same clothes over and over on the cruise? We will be on board for over 6 weeks – and want, at the very least, to look clean and smart throughout with a bit of a scrub up as the program requires – so it would be nice to have some variety in the clothes available for different occasions.

On our recent December, 2011 trip to UK we left with Christmas Presents jammed in and returned with more luggage than we started with - not sure how that happened but I want to be able to buy souvenirs if possible as we travel about and not pass up opportunity because I haven't planned ahead fothe freight back home

So what did you do with the excess baggage, or that floor rug you couldn't resist, or that fantastic pottery urn, or even the art work you bought at the onboard auction?

I look forward to hearing some great ideas from you seasoned travellers - a papyrus scroll or a pair of Persian slippers or even a 'We Crossed The Equator' happy snap all takes up space in the suitcase and all has to get home somehow!

Cheers

Kristine

So very pleased to spot your post as we will be doing similar but the other way round.We had already decided to visit our family. (We live in Uk) in Perth in February 2013 and had hit on the idea of cruising home to the Uk after 5 weeks in Perth. We also wondered about all the formal clothes we would need on the Ship ( QM 2) and had towed with the idea of sending posh clothes by overland freight well before our holiday to our Perth relations in rediness for the cruise.So any info you find would be very welcome , as long as you don't mind . Anything I can find out I will post on here. thank you.

S.H.R.

 

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[DanJ]

For men, formal wear can usually be rented on the ship. Depends on the ship if you need to do this in advance, so look into that. A suit or tux takes up a lot of space on it's own, so many people find this alternative to be very handy.

 

You might also look into Fedex, UPS, and DHL and inquire about their cheapest international options, and even the cargo departments of the airlines (rather than paying for it to go as baggage, it might be cheaper for it to go as cargo if when it gets there is less important).

 

Some people actually do get rid of clothes at the end of a cruise. I would think one of the best places those "clothing for charity" organizations can put a bin is at a cruise ship port where people don't want to take some clothes home, or can't fit it in their bags LOL.

[cb at sea]

I would plan to rewear 1 weeks worth of clothing....do laundry as needed. There's no way I'd bring 10 different "formal" outfits...no one is going to notice what you've worn before! Separates would be the way to go for this....you could make several outfits from a couple of pieces!

 

If you do come across some large item that you wish to purchase, have THAT shipped home!

[Uralba]

Hello

Thanks to all for replying

Kitty, P&O do have a forward luggage link, but it is to and from Southampton and I am wanting to send baggage back home to Melbourne, Australia

Gerry and cb , I hear what you are saying to just wear the same clothes over and over for the six weeks, but we will be in different weather as we go along, plus I actually do want to make the most of the trip ie ‘dressing up’ as I work from home and rarely even leave the house, let alone have an excuse to put on the ‘glad rags’ or go dancing in high heels!

So I am looking forward to the trip and to everything which the cruise has to offer. I wouldn’t want to spend six weeks wearing the same three tee shirts or the same black outfit to dinner. I can do that ‘minimisation’ routine at home!

The P&O website says that they do not offer a dinner suit hire service on board, but we have friends just back from a 32 day Seaborn Legend cruise and she said that four evening dresses was one too few, but he said that he just took a black business suit and a plain white shirt and rang the changes with a few different bow ties and that he was happily in the middle of the dress code for gents.

Secondhandrose – you should be able to freight outbound to Australia but we posted ‘second hand’ clothing to our Son in London and UK Customs would not let it in and we had to pay for the return postage as well!

DanJ’s suggestions regarding Fedex, UPS and DHL were helpful. Fedex was certainly competitive

As per my original post, QANTAS has the option of pre-booking excess baggage as ‘Additional Baggage Allowance’ and 25 kg (50 lbs) freight would cost $875

Luggageforward.com would be about $500

Fedex would be about $375 – they have quite a good ‘quote’ facility on their website

DHL and UPS seemed to be more towards commercial / industrial shipping and urgent courier services

If we were backpacking, 25 kilos of clothes at the end of a trip would be good only for ditching, but for us to replace 25 kilos of ‘dinner’ ware would certainly cost us more than $375.

It’s still early days to be making any decisions, but I do know that I shall be heading for PriMark when I get to London. I was glad that I bought Australian Made before last December’s trip, but was quite shocked at the cheapness of the PriMark clothing at Wood Green. I am sure that we will both be ready for a change of clothes by the time we land so if we can ship back the ‘not wanted on voyage’ clothes we will be happier than getting to Heathrow and suddenly having to pay excess baggage fees.

Rose, there are some lovely clothing stores in Perth – if you are mainly concerned about the more formal clothes why not consider buying what you need fresh in Perth. You can buy a lot of pizzazz for what it may cost you to ship out – unless, of course, you are buying at PriMark!

Cheers

Kristine

[DanJ]

As per my original post, QANTAS has the option of pre-booking excess baggage as ‘Additional Baggage Allowance’ and 25 kg (50 lbs) freight would cost $875

Luggageforward.com would be about $500

Fedex would be about $375 – they have quite a good ‘quote’ facility on their website

DHL and UPS seemed to be more towards commercial / industrial shipping and urgent courier services

 

You should contact British Airways World Cargo at (Please contact British Airways World Cargo Sydney office)

Level 1, Menzies Cargo Terminal

Building 276, Sixth Street

Kingsford Smith Domestic

Mascot NSW 2020

Australia

Reservations: +(61)2 8338 8377

Facsimile: +(61)2 8338 8036

Telex: SYDFLBA

Open: Mon-Fri 0900-1700

 

and see if they can help you out. I'm sure Qantas has a similar service. This isn't excess baggage. You ship it with them as cargo, not baggage. You can't actually ship with them directly, it needs to be with a freight forwarder, but hopefully the people at the above location can give you the info you would need.

 

Also, the prior thing about people getting rid of clothes at the end wasn't throwing away formal wear. Some people bring along older casual clothes to wear just hanging out on the ship, for going to beaches, working out, things like that. Then they toss them at the end of the cruise, usually to make room for things they acquire over the course of the cruise.

 

Also, if P&O doesn't have the formal rental program themselves, then a third party company, Cruise Line Formal, offers it on some ships. Might be worth looking into.