How does disembarkation work?

[bonbon663]

I was wondering how disembarkation works. We have the transfer included from the ship to the airport, do they take our bags and take them to the airport for us? Or do we have to haul them off the ship ourselves?

 

 

Thanks

 

 

[Bill S]

bonbon: We have sailed only on Holland America, so our experience may not be what you will encounter on your cruise if it is not HAL. First, on your last night aboard, you will put our checked bags outside your cabin door before you go to bed with color-coded tags provided by the cruise line a day or two before you disembark. Remember to save some clothes to wear in the morning!

The crew takes all the luggage below and offloads the luggage onto the pier and bags with the same color tags are grouped together. When you disembark, you will look for your luggage and retreive it and then take it to the bus designated for your group. If you cannot find all of your bags, start looking in other "color" groups before you panic. This has happened more than once for us.

Hope this helps you! Have a great cruise!

[kitty9]

A couple of nights before your cruise ends, you will receive a packet of information about disembarkation procedures. You will receive color name tags to put on your luggage and the night before, usually before midnight, all your luggage, except your carry ons, are put out in the hall for the ship's personnel to collect and store in the bowels of the ship. Early in the morning of disembarkation, your bags are off loaded in the terminal, they are inspected by US Customs and their dogs and once that is done, they begin calling colors to start leaving the ship. Your color generally reflects the time your flight leaves. If you have an early flight, you will be one of the first off the ship. If you have a later flight, you'll leave later. Once your color is called, you leave the ship, go to the terminal, find a porter and your bags and stand in line to go through Customs. Once you're finished with that, the porter will assist you in taking your bags to your transportation.

[Happy ks]

I see you are cruising Alaska. There are some ships who do take your luggage to the airport for you without your having to claim them after you disembark the ship. It is a service that will be promoted onboard if it is available. It does cost extra, but from what I've read, the ease is worth it. Your bags have to be ready a little sooner than the others, you are literally going through customs before you disembark. You would still have to go through immigration when you leave the ship.

 

Not all lines and ships have this service in place, you may get a more accurate answer on the Alaska board, from people who have sailed your same ship, same itinerary.

 

If this service is not available to you, you will have to place your bags outside your cabin the night before and claim them before meeting your bus to the airport.

 

We don't bother with the porters any longer for disembarkation. We're able bodied and have had some negative experiences with porters. However, we always use them for embarkation.

[bonbon663]

Thank you for the information....very helpful as usual!!