Luggage EZ Check @ Disembarkation - Ruby Princess FLL

[jb008]

Disembarked Ruby Princess in FLL on 12/23 and had the opportunity to use EZ Check (w/Delta Air). The short version is that my experience was mixed though generally positive, and I'd probably do it again.

 

Quick points to consider:

1. EZ Check fee is $20/pp plus any applicable airline baggage fees
   
2. Baggage storage at FLL runs ~$6/back, so EZ Check effectively only cost me $8 more than storage for my 2 bags.
   
3. Printed flight itinerary required along with forms to register on ship
   
4. Baggage fees can be a little opaque, and resolving issues is convoluted
   
5. EZ Check is not confirmed until 12-14 hours before disembarkation, which may add uncertainty to post-cruise planning
   

 

 

 

Additional details follow for those who would like more info:

 

Forms came out early in the week enclosed with our daily patter, and required both the completed form and a printed copy of flight itinerary to passenger services desk by Wednesday @ noon. This deadline appears to have been enforced as I heard a couple complaining later in the week that there forms weren't accepted because they were late.

 

I had to print a copy of my flight itinerary in the internet cafe at the cost of several dollars for the data connection and $0.50 for the print job. I will make sure to travel with a hard copy itinerary from now on and not just my electronic version.

 

The service costs $20/pp plus any baggage fees*

 

The biggest downside imho is that if something goes wrong with your check in, you may not find out until 6-8 pm on the last evening and would then be assigned into a disembarkation group. This makes planning a bit... tentative as you won't know until about 12 hours before disembarkation starts whether you will be dealing with luggage between the ship and the airport.

 

Our boarding passes and bag tags were delivered to our stateroom about 6:15 pm on Saturday evening. If cleared, you leave your tagged bags outside your door Saturday night (they asked that bags be out no later than 11 pm) and you don't see them again** until you reach your final destination airport. Of potential interest, when I finally was reunited with my bags at my home airport, they were sporting a set of Sky Priority tags that had been added by Delta somewhere between being collected at the port and delivered to baggage claim. The SP tags are of debatable value but allegedly result in priority handling <shrug>

 

For $40, DW and I didn't need to wrestle our luggage on disembarkation day**, and it left us free to proceed directly from the port to our sightseeing before heading to the airport. It also enabled us to check our luggage well before the airport would otherwise allow (5:59 PM departing flight, so cutoff is at most 6 hours before departure). In fact, EZ check only cost $8 more pp than bag storage cost at the airport. Supposedly the flights have to leave after a certain point to be eligible (for FLL it was something like 1 pm) and can't leave after a certain time (~5:30 or 6:00 pm).

 

 

*Baggage fees: I am still unfortunately dealing with a SNAFU regarding baggage fees. I have Delta frequent flier status and a Delta credit card which together allows me 2 free bags per person, and I was actually traveling on an upgraded (first-class) ticket that allowed me 3 free bags per person. In reviewing my folio early Sunday morning, I was charged $60/pp for 1st and 2nd bag fee ($25 and $35, respectively). I spoke with Passenger Services on board around 7 AM of disembarkation day, and they told me that EZ Check only levies the fees assigned from the airline and that I need to talk to Delta at check-in at the airport as they would be the ones to issue the refund. However, after I got to the airport and spoke with Delta reps, it appears that this is a Princess issue and NOT a Delta issue. Delta never charged me (since I was allowed 2 free bags per status, and actually entitled to 3 free bags once my upgrades cleared on Friday for my Sunday flights). I spoke with Delta both during my layover at the SkyClub (aka in Airport) and via phone and their records indicate that they never billed me for the bags and Delta didn't receive money from Princess. I then called Princess' corporate office Sunday and they confirmed that the Passenger Services desk appears to be in the wrong here and that I'd need to resolve it with Princess Customer Services mid-week after my folio information was transmitted to the head office. I've since spoken with the Princess CS rep again and a refund request has been submitted to their finance office. This cost me a good 30 minutes over 3 separate calls as well as 2 separate visits to the Delta customer service desks during transit and left me with a frustrated feeling that it seemed like the Passenger Services desk gave me wrong information on board when they should have known better. I'll post an update once this is resolved, but the incorrect baggage fee was the only downside (to the tune of $120 though) to this program. However only having to deal with a laptop bag and a small backpack from t-9 hours before disembarkation to arrival at my home airport was pretty cool.

 

** Apparently a small number of bags are selected from the EZ Check users for additional screening. When we went to disembark, the hand held scanners gave a funny beep when our cruise cards were scanned and we were escorted to the CBP station by a Princess crew member. There we collected our luggage and were interviewed by a CBP officer and our bags were opened and quickly visually screened. The process was quick and painless, and we left our luggage right there at the CBP office (having transported it about 80 feet roundtrip) where it was collected and continued on to the airport.

[fishywood]

Supposedly the flights have to leave after a certain point to be eligible (for FLL it was something like 1 pm) and can't leave after a certain time (~5:30 or 6:00 pm).

 

Specifically, the form states FLL departures between 11:30 and midnight and MIA departures between 2:00 and midnight on the day of ship's arrival are eligible.

 

And on the rear of said form is a box marked Tick if any valid reason for being exempted for baggage fees with spaces to enter the requested membership number and/or first class confirmation number. You don't specify whether or not you submitted this information, but common sense dictates that errors on one's Princess stateroom folio can only have been made, and can only be rectified by, Princess itself and not any third party. There have been several threads in the past relaying the same issue; Princess administers the EZCheck program (in partnership with Bags Inc) and despite all the disclaimers on the sign-up form it is down to them to get it right (with our cooperation, of course).

[Suzanne123]

Quick question -- If we (2 parties) have only one bag (total) to check, are we charged $40 ($20 per person) or only $20 for the one bag?

 

Thanks.

[fishywood]

Quick question -- If we (2 parties) have only one bag (total) to check, are we charged $40 ($20 per person) or only $20 for the one bag?

 

Thanks.

 

You are not required to enroll every member of your party on your flight; if the baggage allowance for one person covers both of you, just sign up one person--you certainly won't be the first to do it that way. However, the other person must print out their own boarding pass (either onboard in the Internet Cafe or at the airport) and arrive at the gate before check-in closes. Also keep in mind that if you do not already have your seat assignments checking in separately could make it difficult to get two seats together.

[CC Help Michell]

 

<snip>

 

 

*Baggage fees: I am still unfortunately dealing with a SNAFU regarding baggage fees. I have Delta frequent flier status and a Delta credit card which together allows me 2 free bags per person, and I was actually traveling on an upgraded (first-class) ticket that allowed me 3 free bags per person. In reviewing my folio early Sunday morning, I was charged $60/pp for 1st and 2nd bag fee ($25 and $35, respectively). I spoke with Passenger Services on board around 7 AM of disembarkation day, and they told me that EZ Check only levies the fees assigned from the airline and that I need to talk to Delta at check-in at the airport as they would be the ones to issue the refund. However, after I got to the airport and spoke with Delta reps, it appears that this is a Princess issue and NOT a Delta issue. Delta never charged me (since I was allowed 2 free bags per status, and actually entitled to 3 free bags once my upgrades cleared on Friday for my Sunday flights). I spoke with Delta both during my layover at the SkyClub (aka in Airport) and via phone and their records indicate that they never billed me for the bags and Delta didn't receive money from Princess. I then called Princess' corporate office Sunday and they confirmed that the Passenger Services desk appears to be in the wrong here and that I'd need to resolve it with Princess Customer Services mid-week after my folio information was transmitted to the head office. I've since spoken with the Princess CS rep again and a refund request has been submitted to their finance office. This cost me a good 30 minutes over 3 separate calls as well as 2 separate visits to the Delta customer service desks during transit and left me with a frustrated feeling that it seemed like the Passenger Services desk gave me wrong information on board when they should have known better. I'll post an update once this is resolved, but the incorrect baggage fee was the only downside (to the tune of $120 though) to this program. However only having to deal with a laptop bag and a small backpack from t-9 hours before disembarkation to arrival at my home airport was pretty cool.

 

<snip>

 

 

Thanks for your report on EZ Check. I can't begin to express how disappointed I am to read your report about the issue you had with the Delta credit card and your included bags -- this is word for word exactly what happened to me last April on the Ruby. My flight itinerary I gave the passenger services desk AND the boarding pass they printed and delivered to my cabin both specified that my luggage was included at no charge. Nevertheless, they charged my folio for airline baggage fees.

 

I had to waste my final morning talking to the PSD about the charge (they gave me the same story you received, about it being a Delta charge), waste my time at the airport with Delta (whose representative said Princess ALWAYS tells people it's a Delta charge, even though it isn't -- and Delta couldn't remove it because it was Princess's charge) -- and finally waste more of my time following up after I returned home.

 

The money was promptly refunded by Princess when their shoreside representative reviewed the paperwork (so clearly it never was a Delta charge). The good news is eventually the money was refunded; the bad news is that apparently the way this was handled for me and for you wasn't a mistake.

 

I loved the convenience of EZ Check but I won't do it again until Princess fixes this issue. It was too much of a hassle, put a damper on the end of a great cruise, and left me with a bad feeling about the Princess employees due to the demonstrably false statements they gave me. To realize this exact thing is still happening makes it clear to me that this is Princess's standard practice, even when the paperwork Princess printed out states there is no charge for luggage for the passenger. I guess it's cheaper for Princess to charge everyone up front and refund later for those passengers who complain (plus Princess profits from the customers who don't notice or complain about the erroneous charges), but this practice doesn't leave me feeling good about Princess's customer service. At a minimum the onboard employees should be empowered to make the correct adjustments once the paperwork is brought to their attention, and they really need to stop telling customers the airline made the charge!

[Pam in CA]

I always bring a copy of my flight confirmation for EZ Check and circle in bold that my ticket is Business or First Class. I also write on the form in big, clear block letters that I have a Business or First Class ticket and no baggage fee. I try to make it as easy as possible for the person(s) processing the form to see that no baggage fee should be applied.

 

While this might seem like overkill, the PSD is extremely busy the last 24 hours processing folios, organizing disembarkation times and tags, and reviewing, processing and printing EZ Check airline check-ins and printing luggage tags. Many are not familiar with US airline reward or credit card programs or who is entitled to a luggage fee waiver so it's best to not leave things to chance. Mistakes can and will be made so I figure that anything I can do to make it clearer and easier means fewer mistakes and subsequent headaches.

[Coral]

I have also had problems with free luggage. I eventually gave up. I tried to appeal to UAL to say that we should not have been charged and they said they never charged us. By the time I heard back from UAL, I had already given up and didn't go back to Princess. I should have.

[jb008]

As far as I remember, I did mark that I had a free baggage allowance with my skymiles #. I also know that whenever I do check-in my skymiles (Delta) number is already part of the booking. I didn't have first class tickets on the printed itinerary, so I wasn't able to mark/circle/highlight that, but by the time they did the check-in my upgrades had processed (~5:30 for the upgrades, check-in was later in the evening on Friday).

 

@Fishywood - the 5:30~6:00 PM came from the PSD as they needed to get my flight approved by a supervisor. <shrug> Regarding the refund part: I actually would disagree a bit though, if my $120 had been passed on to the airline I think it'd be reasonable to expect to get the money back from them, not from Princess... however the money seems to only make it as far as Princess or maybe Bags Inc., definitely didn't get to DL as far as I know.

 

@Host Michell - I didn't spend that much time dealing with the PSD, and the Delta reps were very friendly but pretty clear that they didn't collect any money and that it on first class tickets there's no bag fees so they don't know where the $$$ went. Several DL reps said I should file the dispute with AmEx and not bother to try to fix it with Princess. I didn't let it ruin my trip home and figured that I'd give Princess the opportunity to make it right before I started the AmEx dispute. I agree with you that it's pretty shady... but it still is possible that it's Bags Inc. that's making the errors with this and not PSD.

 

@Suzanne: It's $20/per person PLUS the airline bag fee if applicable. I'd suggest doing what Fishywood suggested and only do one person via EZ check. You should have seat assignments already, if not you should be able to work with the airline to get that squared away before you leave on the cruise. Worst case scenario, you can always get seats reassigned even after the one person's boarding pass is printed. You also don't need to print the boarding pass for the other person until you arrive at the airport. In fact, you can reprint boarding passes for both people at the airport (I did that since we wanted the small 1/3 sheet ones from the DL kiosk to carry in my pocket). Do plan to get to the airport a bit early to do check-in and to clear security. FLL is a bit of a zoo with all the vacation traffic. Even arriving later in the day I needed ~10 minutes to print my boarding pass and get oriented.

[George P Burdell]

** Apparently a small number of bags are selected from the EZ Check users for additional screening. When we went to disembark, the hand held scanners gave a funny beep when our cruise cards were scanned and we were escorted to the CBP station by a Princess crew member. There we collected our luggage and were interviewed by a CBP officer and our bags were opened and quickly visually screened. The process was quick and painless, and we left our luggage right there at the CBP office (having transported it about 80 feet roundtrip) where it was collected and continued on to the airport.

 

We had this happen last week to us as well. It was worrisome, but ended up saving us going through the snail line. We were travelling with DW's parents, and we ended up waiting for them for about 3 minutes. The Custom's folks were like "Oh, you were the random people...OK, let's see your paperwork and get you on your way."

[George P Burdell]

<snip>

 

I loved the convenience of EZ Check but I won't do it again until Princess fixes this issue. It was too much of a hassle, put a damper on the end of a great cruise, and left me with a bad feeling about the Princess employees due to the demonstrably false statements they gave me. To realize this exact thing is still happening makes it clear to me that this is Princess's standard practice, even when the paperwork Princess printed out states there is no charge for luggage for the passenger.<snip>

 

Let me say first that we loved the cruise we just finished. The crew/staff were amazing, and it made such an impact that we decided to book an FCC, when it had been our intention to use up the FCC we had, and then switch to another line.

 

Having said that, both DW's Father and I had issues with passenger services on the boat. They were polite, they were helpful, they were pleasant, and we asked the same question, three times in a row over three days, and got three completely different answers.

 

The question was on disembarkation procedure, and could I do EZ check for our luggage and then have my wife and I help my in-laws with Walk Off. The first time we were told we could walk off with them at 0715, but then after I had paid the money to EZCheck, I received a schedule that said that I had to stay on the boat until 8:30 to wait for the EZCheck slot. When I went to the purser's desk, I was told that my parents had to leave at 0715, and we had to wait until 0830, and that they could not wait with us. When my father returned to ask again, he was told that I could not leave with them, but they could leave with us.

 

The stress of what was going to happen the next day bothered all of us that night. When the day came, we went to my waiting lounge, and a very nice ships officer told us that it was no worries, and that my in-laws could wait and disembark with us... So, my wife and I could help her parents with the luggage... Then we got flagged for the random check, and couldn't help them down the gangway anyway...But that wasn't a big deal as we had done the stairs by then...

 

I'm Platinum on Princess, and it seems like every cruise, I have some sort of contact with the Purser's desk. 99.999% of the time, the people are nice, pleasant, (harried from being yelled at by passengers who didn't understand that tips were being added to their bar-bills) and they are, the majority of the time, inconsistent in the information they give out.

 

Now, having said that, the people who support me at work hate me because if 8 people get the same laptop, with the same load, mine will be the one that doesn't work the same as everyone else's, right out of the box. I'm know as the person who ALWAYS has the strange issues, so I tend not to get upset with this stuff happens to me. I know that 99% of the purser staff's jobs are dealing with billing and customers that couldn't be pacified if you gave them free upgrades for the rest of their lives, but it is a bummer that I just assume that any answer they give me is going to be wrong or inconsistent, and that I have to plan to ask any question multiple times to see if the answer changes.

 

I'm not sure how to fix the issue, but it seems to be a constant thing. Again, everyone I've dealt with has been very nice and seems to try to provide good customer service.

[jb008]

 

The question was on disembarkation procedure, and could I do EZ check for our luggage and then have my wife and I help my in-laws with Walk Off. The first time we were told we could walk off with them at 0715, but then after I had paid the money to EZCheck, I received a schedule that said that I had to stay on the boat until 8:30 to wait for the EZCheck slot. When I went to the purser's desk, I was told that my parents had to leave at 0715, and we had to wait until 0830, and that they could not wait with us. When my father returned to ask again, he was told that I could not leave with them, but they could leave with us.

 

AFAIK timing for EZ Check and Walk Off doesn't really matter. The disembarkation groups are designed to get the passengers reunited with the luggage before CBP with a minimal wait and minimal amount of unclaimed baggage hanging out in the terminal. In both of the above cases, you don't really have to find your luggage in the terminal so when you get off isn't that big of a deal. That's especially true with EZ Check - so if I'd have been in your shoes I would have walked off with the family during the Walk Off groups.

 

I agree that PSD is generally friendly and try to be helpful, but that answers are inconsistent and not always 100% reliable :confused:

 

As an aside: DW and I missed our schedule disembark time and we just headed to deck 5 as soon as we finished breakfast (but after our scheduled slot) and told them sorry we're late, lines were longer than we expected for breakfast. They didn't seem to care and wished us a safe trip home (right up til our cards beeped and we had to get an escort to CBP).

[S.S.Oceanlover]

As far as I remember, I did mark that I had a free baggage allowance with my skymiles #. I also know that whenever I do check-in my skymiles (Delta) number is already part of the booking. I didn't have first class tickets on the printed itinerary, so I wasn't able to mark/circle/highlight that, but by the time they did the check-in my upgrades had processed (~5:30 for the upgrades, check-in was later in the evening on Friday).

 

@Fishywood - the 5:30~6:00 PM came from the PSD as they needed to get my flight approved by a supervisor. <shrug> Regarding the refund part: I actually would disagree a bit though, if my $120 had been passed on to the airline I think it'd be reasonable to expect to get the money back from them, not from Princess... however the money seems to only make it as far as Princess or maybe Bags Inc., definitely didn't get to DL as far as I know.

 

@Host Michell - I didn't spend that much time dealing with the PSD, and the Delta reps were very friendly but pretty clear that they didn't collect any money and that it on first class tickets there's no bag fees so they don't know where the $$$ went. Several DL reps said I should file the dispute with AmEx and not bother to try to fix it with Princess. I didn't let it ruin my trip home and figured that I'd give Princess the opportunity to make it right before I started the AmEx dispute. I agree with you that it's pretty shady... but it still is possible that it's Bags Inc. that's making the errors with this and not PSD.

 

@Suzanne: It's $20/per person PLUS the airline bag fee if applicable. I'd suggest doing what Fishywood suggested and only do one person via EZ check. You should have seat assignments already, if not you should be able to work with the airline to get that squared away before you leave on the cruise. Worst case scenario, you can always get seats reassigned even after the one person's boarding pass is printed. You also don't need to print the boarding pass for the other person until you arrive at the airport. In fact, you can reprint boarding passes for both people at the airport (I did that since we wanted the small 1/3 sheet ones from the DL kiosk to carry in my pocket). Do plan to get to the airport a bit early to do check-in and to clear security. FLL is a bit of a zoo with all the vacation traffic. Even arriving later in the day I needed ~10 minutes to print my boarding pass and get oriented.

 

This is true with most airlines but not Southwest since there are no seat assignments.

 

I didn't know at what point Princess was going to check us in but I didn't want to be in the "C" section and with my wife just needing a boarding pass I checked us in at the internet cafe.

 

When the boarding passes came with the luggage tags the boarding passes matched the ones I got when I checked us in online the day before.

 

Bill

[caribill]

AFAIK timing for EZ Check and Walk Off doesn't really matter. The disembarkation groups are designed to get the passengers reunited with the luggage before CBP with a minimal wait and minimal amount of unclaimed baggage hanging out in the terminal. In both of the above cases, you don't really have to find your luggage in the terminal so when you get off isn't that big of a deal. That's especially true with EZ Check - so if I'd have been in your shoes I would have walked off with the family during the Walk Off groups.

 

 

Except, since the poster was lucky enough to have won the extra customs inspection lottery, the luggage may not have been available on shore at the time the walkoff group left.

 

Otherwise, they could have easily left with the parents at the walkoff time.

[jb008]

Except, since the poster was lucky enough to have won the extra customs inspection lottery, the luggage may not have been available on shore at the time the walkoff group left.

 

Otherwise, they could have easily left with the parents at the walkoff time.

 

Even if the luggage wasn't ready, they could have helped them get down the stairs and into the section where elevators are available. They just wouldn't be able to get past the CBP checkpoint.

 

Update - I received a voicemail from Princess CS asking that I fax or e-mail copies of the documents showing I should have qualified for a bag fee waiver (in this case a copy of my boarding passes showing first class tickets). I also included a link to a copy of the airline baggage fee policy which indicates first three bags are free.

[jb008]

Final Update:

 

I just received a very nice phone call from the Princess CS rep, they went ahead and processed my refund and the bag fees should refund to my credit card within a billing cycle or two.

 

She also advised that carrying a recent printout with the baggage fee rules indicating your waived status would be helpful for PSD and is advisable (though obviously not required). In addition, issues regarding EZ Check fees are to be resolved through Princess and NOT by the airline. This was corrected with the PSD staff a while ago that they should be directing passengers to work through Princess Customer Service once home to resolve this - however as staff turnover occurs that message appears to have been lost (at least on Ruby).

 

To expedite the process if you're in a similar boat :D you can e-mail a copy of whatever documentation is needed showing your waived baggage fee status (I sent copies of my boarding passes and a link to Delta's baggage fee policy) and include your booking number to CustomerRelations(AT)princesscruises(DOT)com for assistance.

 

This has definitely restored my faith in the PSD (mistakes happen and they just need to get the memo from the mothership about who fixes the EZ Check problems) and the work required on my part to resolve the bag fees still beat hauling my ~175 lbs of luggage to the airport myself.

[jb008]

Refund finally posted from Princess on 1/30 for the bag fees.

 

Recap:

-Bring printed copy of flight itin if you think you want to use ez check

-Bring copy of "proof" you should receive bag waiver from the airline website (e.g., frequent flier status, Biz class tkts, airline credit card)

-Billing issues need to be resolved with Passenger Service Desk before disembarkation. Even if they try to refer you to the airline at the airport, that is not correct.

-After Disembarkation, billing issues will need to be addressed with Princess customer service, e-mail is CustomerRelations(AT)princesscruises(DOT)com for assistance, include your booking number in the e-mail.

-EZ Check was well worth the $40 it cost for DW and I to use the service! And even with the baggage fee issues and subsequent refund, I'll use it next time we cruise.