Shipping luggage abroad

[LynnTTT]

We're going on a world tour next year on a ship leaving from Venice.  We plan to send one or two large suitcases ahead to be delivered to the ship/port .  Has anyone done this recently?

It's not cheap but it will certainly make the transit much easier.  But I have visions of the luggage being lost or missing the ship.  

Personal experience would be helpful.  Thanks

[Essiesmom]

Have you asked this on the board here for World Cruising?  Some folks there might have experience.  Some cruise lines offer this service for world cruises, although you would probably know already if your cruise line offers this.  Are you on Costa Deliziosa?  EM

Edited May 14, 2019 by Essiesmom

[LynnTTT]

Yes, we are on the Deliziosa.  Costa arranges this for European cruisers, but won't handle from the US.

The World board gets so few viewers and many domestic travelers ship skis, golf clubs etc that I thought I'd post here where more people seem to check in.

[Essiesmom]

Are you staying in Venice before your cruise?  Maybe you could ship them to the hotel... Is it that the ship won't accept the baggage, or that it is up to you to get it there...EM

[1025cruise]

Your problem is going to be customs. You might find this harder than you think.

[CruisingAlong4Now]

I've sent luggage to the ship several times using companies such as Luggage  Forward.  Love traveling with only carry on and arriving at my cabin with the large suitcase already there.  Google Shipping Luggage and you'll get many options. Never had a problem with Customs. Just follow the instructions from the company very carefully. The luggage forwarding company will handle customs. Just consider the shipping cost as part of the cruise, not an add on. Need long lead time so watch the calendar.

 

Sent luggage to Europe but could not send ahead too India. Check with the company. BTW, I also had the bags sent back from the ship and continued with land holiday with just carry on bags.

Edited May 15, 2019 by CruisingAlong4Now

[kgelner]

We just did this with the company Luggage Free, shipping a suitcase about three weeks ahead of time from the US to arrive on a ship leaving from Japan.

 

It ended up working just as advertised, with the shipped bag showing up outside our cabin alongside the bags we had checked in at the port.

 

The way this company worked is they had FedEx actually do the shipping - Luggage Free sent us FedEx documents in the mail to attach to the luggage, alongside a luggage tag from the ship with our cabin number (that we printed out from online and covered with clear packing tape).  A FedEx driver came to our house to collect the luggage.

 

i included a small gps tracker device (gego) for peace of mind, it told me the luggage actually reached Japan several days later, where it was held until the cruise.

 

The one thing I was unsure of is if I’d have to declare any unaccompanied items when going through immigration in Japan.  I did not, and the luggage still reached us just fine (was not told to do so by the company so I assumed that would work).

 

As part of packing the suitcase we also had to produce a detailed list for customs, but the list was also useful for us later remembering what we had packed ahead! Be detailed.

[Hlitner]

Quite a few cruisers have shipped luggage, but it is expensive and comes with some risk.  We had looked into the process and found too much not to like.  It can cost around $300 (for a single 50 pound bag)  to use a very reputable company that will ship from home to your ship.   We realized that for what it would cost us to ship a few pieces of luggage we were better off using some of the cruise-air Business Class fares (which are often heavily discounted).  With Business Class we can take 2 pieces of luggage (up to 70 pounds each) plus get the benefits of Business Class.  Yes, schlepping our luggage is a pain, but a few minutes of hassle is made up by subsidizing our Bus Class fares.  

 

Sometimes one can plan to ease the luggage hassles.  For example, we have a long cruise (next year) that begins in Japan.  We want to fly-over at least a week early which means we need stuff for running around Japan not to mention all kinds of other clothes (the cruise will take us to Northern Japan and Alaska where we need cold weather wear.  Rather than spending hundreds of dollars shipping from the USA, we will carry all of our own luggage.  But once in Japan there are some services we can use (for a very reasonable price) to forward our luggage within the country.   And as one other poster noted, there can be some major Customs hassles when shipping luggage....if they decide to search your luggage (while in transit).  Also consider that a single piece of luggage shipped from our home to our ship in Japan can cost over $400!  That is just nutz!

 

Hank