Luggage Handling - Embarking in Rio with Transfer?

[toolworker]

We will embark in Rio de Janiero and have the included hotel and transfers.

 

Will our checked luggage disappear from the hotel and reappear in our cabin? Or will we have to handle it at the pier?

 

The rules may vary depending on the port. I seem to remember having to take suitcases from the bus and bring them to the porter with the big cart. But I don't remember what port that might have been.

[CJANDH]

I think you are right that it varies by port. I recall having to identify my bags before leaving the hotel on one cruise and at the port on another. I would suggest that you ask the RSS representative at the hotel if you can forget about your bags until you get to your stateroom. Some posters are saying that at some ports (Miami for example) you can have RSS transfer your bags to your cabin while you travel independently from the hotel to the port.

[naplessailor]

On most Regent cruises that I have used the hotel the night prior, they have arranged to pick up the luggage late the night before embarkation and it is delivered directly to your cabin on the ship.  There may be ports where this is not allowed but it is what I have experienced. We are currently sailing on the Mariner and that is how it was handled in Buenos Aires.

 

I hope that is helpful.

[toolworker]

That's the way it was in Rio too.

[seasickphil]

On 3/1/2023 at 2:19 PM, toolworker said:

That's the way it was in Rio too.

Can i ask what hotel did Regent use please. 

[PaulMCO]

The Rio Port terminal has a central bus terminal.  The bus does not stop in front of cruise terminal.  We did the opposite way and they had porters that handled all of the luggage from port to the bus/buses.  Presume it will work the same on the way back.

[toolworker]

20 hours ago, seasickphil said:

Can i ask what hotel did Regent use please. 

J.W. Marriott at Copacabana. Good location. (They must be giving cruise lines a good deal. On a recent Viking cruise to Venice, the included post-cruise was supposed to be on a hotel in Giudecca, but got changed to an inconvenient island out in the lagoon which Mariott calls Isola Delle Rose but I renamed Elba. But I digress.)

 

There were 5 of us, spending two nights there. One couple had one night plus transfers included, and booked the previous night on the hotel website.

 

The rest of us didn't and booked two nights. The AAA and Senior rates were much cheaper than doing it through Regent, and we got better rooms. And somehow some of our bags wound up with luggage tags from the couple with included transfers, and went on the bus. 😉