Luggage Express

[Europebound]

I read in a recent review of the Carnival Spirit Mexican Riviera cruise that Carnival now has something called "Luggage Express" where they will give you your boarding pass the night before disembarking, and then the next morning, check guests in with their airlines and take your luggage. You don't have to deal with your luggage until you reach your final destination. Has anyone experienced this yet? It sounds great and we experienced something like this on a recent Disney cruise. It was great!

 

My questions are as follows:

 

1. For which airlines do they do this? Disney did it for about five of the major airlines.

 

2. Do passengers have to be booked to take the Carnival shuttle to the airport or can passengers do this if they are using other transportation (such as a taxi)?

 

We've used Carnival shuttles before and have no problem doing so again. However, for our next cruise (out of San Diego), we were thinking of just grabbing a cab to the airport as its not that far away. If we need to be booked on a Carnival shuttle to use this checking in service, we may just book the shuttle. It sounds worth it.

 

Any experience anyone has had with this new Carnival program, please share and thanks a million.

[lindnet]

Great questions, I'd like to know the answers as well! Anybody know the answers?

[Willie T]

On the Spirit in Nov. and used Express. We were on United Airlines, and did not use the shuttle. Just walked off the ship and caught a taxi. So worth the extra charge. I think it was $15 pp. I don't know which airlines are involved.

[tracey980]

Just subscribing to the thread. I would love to know the answers as well.

[Europebound]

On the Spirit in Nov. and used Express. We were on United Airlines, and did not use the shuttle. Just walked off the ship and caught a taxi. So worth the extra charge. I think it was $15 pp. I don't know which airlines are involved.

 

Thanks Willie T. What was the $15 for? We were told the shuttle one-way from ship to airport was $16, so did you pay for that (and then took a taxi instead), or was what you paid for directly for the convenience of checking your bags?

 

Also, where/when/how did you sign up for it?

 

Thanks again.

[sheri18]

would like to use the express on our glory cruise in feb....can you sign up ahead of time or is that something you do once on board and with whom? thanks my 3 DS and DIL have a VERY early flite out and that would elminate 1 obastacle.... do you book through carnival or a private company?

 

thanks

[lindnet]

Sheri18, from what I understand, you sign up for it when you're on the ship. But if your flight is really early, it may not be an option for you.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=644350&highlight=luggage+express

 

That thread has a lot of good info about the service. :)