Luggage Disembarking Question

[54Carol]

I know you can take your own luggage off the ship when you disembark and you're usually the first ones off.  On a different line when we used a transfer to the airport, we had to put our luggage out the night before.  When we disembarked, we got to ground level and then had to search in a sea of luggage for it.  Although it was in the 'color' category, it was a large area and the luggage was spread out.  Trying to collect it while 100's of others were doing the same was just insane to me.   I would rather just carry it off when our time is called.  We purchased the transfer from the dock to the airport.  Will we be able to carry it off ourselves or will we have to set it out the night before? 

 

[zqvol]

You can carry it off yourself. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

21 minutes ago, 54Carol said:

We purchased the transfer from the dock to the airport.  Will we be able to carry it off ourselves or will we have to set it out the night before? 

You can carry it off yourself.  Leaving it out the night before doesn't get it on the transfer bus.  It just gets it into the ocean of luggage that you have to sort through.  I take one large suitcase with wheels.  It is zero effort to just roll it off myself (and I'm old and not in great shape).  That said, I never book early flights (just nervous that way), so I don't have to fight the crowds on elevators who just can't wait to end their vacations. 

[BirdTravels]

44 minutes ago, 54Carol said:

We purchased the transfer from the dock to the airport.  Will we be able to carry it off ourselves or will we have to set it out the night before? 

You can carry your luggage off yourself. There are no transfer "times", as soon as you disembark and clear customs, you can board a bus to the airport. Buses will be loading and as soon as a bus is full, it leaves for the airport.  

[54Carol]

5 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

 There are no transfer "times", as soon as you disembark and clear customs, you can board a bus to the airport. Buses will be loading and as soon as a bus is full, it leaves for the airport.  

So the ship doesn't give you times to disembark based on your flight?  Are you saying it a 'free for all' to leave when you want to?  (I've never cruised on NCL so I'm not familiar with their procedures.)

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, 54Carol said:

I know you can take your own luggage off the ship when you disembark and you're usually the first ones off.  On a different line when we used a transfer to the airport, we had to put our luggage out the night before.  When we disembarked, we got to ground level and then had to search in a sea of luggage for it.  Although it was in the 'color' category, it was a large area and the luggage was spread out.  

Suggest  you get some colored yarn and wrap around the handles. Makes it much easier to find.  You could use colored tape but the yarn is easy to remove.

[quillwercruisers]

23 hours ago, 54Carol said:

So the ship doesn't give you times to disembark based on your flight?  Are you saying it a 'free for all' to leave when you want to?  (I've never cruised on NCL so I'm not familiar with their procedures.)

When we got off the Bliss in November, I know that they had 2 different colored luggage tags.  One was for early aircraft departures and one was for later departures. If I remember correctly there was times associated with those departures but I don't remember what they are.  They will leave a letter in your room that explains the times better than I can try to remember what they said.  So I would think that if you have an early flight you would want to get off with the first walkoff call and if you have a later departure, then just see what time the colored tags for later departures would be called and then get off then.  Hope that makes sense. 

[WexIrl]

We (family of 4) carried our four 20kg suit cases off when the ship docked at 7am, to catch a flight at 11am that was an hour drive away to the airport.

No problem at all, I even had time for 2 pints of local craft beer in the airport 😀

[fredflint]

On our recent cruise since we had a connecting flight out and 3 flights coming back I put Apple Air tags and Tile tags in our suitcases  they were not needed of course but they did work and you could easily use it to find your suitcase in a sea of others!

[trbarton]

Another suggestion if your putting your luggage outside to take a photo in case you have any problems as a back up. 
 

Tom😀

[don't-use-real-name]

OP ?

What port city is this disembarking at ?

A mom and pop small port city may be different than a MAJOR metropolitan port.

 

CC members can give you a good idea of how things are handled at your destination port.

[schmoopie17]

Putting your luggage outside your door never made sense. Security issues aside, the doors open OUT...which makes getting out of your cabin a chore. Heck, even getting INTO your cabin and shutting the door can be a chore with those bags there.

[GUT2407]

3 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

Putting your luggage outside your door never made sense. Security issues aside, the doors open OUT...which makes getting out of your cabin a chore. Heck, even getting INTO your cabin and shutting the door can be a chore with those bags there.

On which ship do doors open out? Never seen it on any ship I’ve been on.

[don't-use-real-name]

Doors OPEN inward - would be a serious escape hazard if opening into the passageway/corridor !

[MagnoliaBlossom]

3 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

On which ship do doors open out? Never seen it on any ship I’ve been on.

 

1 hour ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Doors OPEN inward - would be a serious escape hazard if opening into the passageway/corridor !

Breakaway.  Was on her last week and DH and I commented that in 84 cruises it was the first time we remembered a door opening outward

Edited December 23, 2022 by MagnoliaBlossom

[mking8288]

OP,  it seems, is doing the PC crossing, Miami to Los Angeles on the Bliss next month.  Getting into a booked private limo for the airport transfer trip or ?? 

 

If they are using NCL ground transfer, should be receiving onboard, color coded luggage tags to affix for transferring their bags - place them outside their doorway on the final evening prior to disembarkation.  

 

[schmoopie17]

15 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

On which ship do doors open out? Never seen it on any ship I’ve been on.

 

12 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Doors OPEN inward - would be a serious escape hazard if opening into the passageway/corridor !

We were on the Escape in November (Cabin 11214) and trust me, the door opened OUTWARD. There is a little nook or "vestibule" outside the cabin where the door opens up to, so there is no safety hazard by having the door open into the hallway.

 

The challenge was getting the bags into the vestibule while shutting the door from the inside. Because the door opened OUTWARD, I had to try to maneuver them in place outside the door while opening the door a few inches and reaching through the small opening from the inside before shutting the door. The bags ended up sticking out into the hallway a bit, which I thought would be a safety hazard.

 

We also couldn't easily open the door to get out of the cabin once the bags were there, without pushing hard and moving the bags...since the door opened OUTWARD.

Edited December 23, 2022 by schmoopie17

[BirdTravels]

On 12/20/2022 at 12:09 PM, 54Carol said:

So the ship doesn't give you times to disembark based on your flight?  Are you saying it a 'free for all' to leave when you want to?  (I've never cruised on NCL so I'm not familiar with their procedures.)

There are no set times.

 

If you carry your bags off, you can leave early.

 

There are normally two “times” for bags sent via porter to the baggage hall (20 minutes apart). But you do not have a set time to be on a bus. Works a lot better to dispatch buses as soon as they fill.

 

 

Bus reservations would never work. You would have 50 buses sitting waiting for a missing passenger. 
 

We always have the porters take our bags and show up at a bus when we’re ready. 
 

NCL keeps stuff simple. Unlike Royal who assigns random times that never work for your travel plans, forcing you to hand carry. On our cruise a few weeks ago on the Prima, there were only three times for bag delivery to the baggage hall (if you were not with an organized group). 
 

Edited December 23, 2022 by BirdTravels

[LGinPA]

Thanks to the OP and everyone else who added replies. I'm new to cruising.  Is it pretty much the same for international ports?

 

We'll be disembarking in Civitavecchia/Rome, the Breakaway is scheduled in port at 6 am. We booked a private transfer to the FCO airport at 8:30am, which is 4.5 hours before our 1 pm flight. Will this timing work OK and is there anything else I should know? 

[doccide]

you will have PLENTY of time

[LGinPA]

1 hour ago, doccide said:

you will have PLENTY of time

 

Do you think we can book the transport for 9 am? I'd rather wait on the ship than at the airport. 

[fredflint]

Check and see if you can get a one day lounge pass or if you have any credit cards with Airport lounge access we have found it to be a major lifesaver with how much time you need to leave to get to your gate and travel times to the airport.  Since we always allow plenty of time our flights have been  delayed but we have never had an issue with traffic, or security lines!

[LGinPA]

Digging out this old post because I have a related question. 

 

First, @fredflint, yes we do have Priority Pass giving us lounge access in Terminal 3. So we'll stick with 8:30am. Thanks. 

 

@Happycrafter123 helped a lot by posting pics of the Good-Bye/Disembarking information. This is taken from the Breakaway at Civitavecchia.  

 

We plan on carrying-off our own luggage, and this makes it seem that we must leave between 6-7 am.   😣

 

Since we have a 8:30am private transfer with self-assist, do we even need to use colored luggage tags? Can't we just walk-off at 8:15?  

 

Please advise. 

 

 

 

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, LGinPA said:

Since we have a 8:30am private transfer with self-assist, do we even need to use colored luggage tags? Can't we just walk-off at 8:15?  

 

Yes, if you carry your own luggage you can leave the ship at any time after the port authorities clear the ship for disembarkation.  If you expect to meet your ride at 8:30, though, you probably will need to plan on leaving the ship earlier than 8:15.  There could be a delay in the port terminal which causes the line of passengers trying to exit early to stack up.  The Customs or Immigration officers might take longer than normal to process the exiting passengers.  There probably are other circumstances which could delay you in getting from the ship to the curb.  On a recent cruise on the Sky returning to Miami, it took us from 7:04 AM until 8:31 AM to get from our stateroom to the taxi stand.

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, LGinPA said:

Since we have a 8:30am private transfer with self-assist, do we even need to use colored luggage tags? Can't we just walk-off at 8:15?  

So,,, you post a picture that says Self Assist "NO TAGS REQUIRED" (in all caps). I don't understand your question. 

 

Be aware that several thousand people have the same idea. We disembarked a ship this morning and people were waiting over half an hour to squeeze into an elevator going up or down. Many resorted to carrying their luggage down the stairs from Deck 15 to 7. And, the crew were not allowing some to carry large pieces, forcing them to wait for an elevator.