Anyone who has spent hours standing in lengthy airport check-in lines --
after schlepping their suitcases across parking lots, up escalators,
around the milling throngs and who knows where else -- can appreciate the boom in cruise line luggage valet services. For those on international itineraries, these
services are particularly helpful, eliminating most of the stress of
just getting to a cruise vacation.
What is luggage valet? It's a service that picks up your luggage at your
home and delivers it to your cruise ship at your boarding destination,
and reverses the process if needed once the voyage ends. It allows a
cruise guest to breeze through an airport with nothing but a carry-on.
All of the services require a minimum of 30 days prior to the cruise's
departure to process the program.
It's a pricey alternative, to be sure, and was once the purview of only
the most elite of the luxury lines. But with Europe and Asia at the
forefront of cruising itineraries these days, and with air travel being
the most frustrating part of any vacation, larger lines are getting into
the game and offering this service to its passengers as well.
The cruise lines utilize several companies to offer the service and,
frankly, pricing is all over the place. You'd expect the luxury lines to
charge the most, and indeed a couple of them do. But oddly, one luxury
line (Seabourn) and one large-ship line (Princess) offer the most
trouble-free service with competitive and reasonable pricing; they do
all the work from their offices, leaving you free to dream of
cruising.
If the tariff is daunting, Cruise Critic member Kitty9 offers a solution
for the high prices charged by some of the lines: Do it yourself. "I now
use DHL and ship the bags myself to the cruise line's local port agent
in the city where I embark the cruise." Sage advice, especially since
many of the lines that "offer" the service don't do any of the booking
or follow-up. If you're going to do it all yourself anyway, why not make
it cost-effective? (One caveat: Find out first if you can get the name
and address of the port agent in the city of embarkation; one line,
Seabourn, refuses to give the information for "security reasons.")
We decided to use Europe as our price-point selector since at this time
that seems to be where the service would be most effective, and we chose
one average (50- to 60-pound) suitcase, one way, from the United States.
These aren't definitive prices, but rather an overview of the services
offered and a range of costs for comparison purposes.
Surprisingly, a few of the cruise lines that we expected to offer the
service don't: Royal Caribbean, for example, is dedicating eight ships
to Europe for summer 2007, and does not offer luggage valet service;
Holland America Line and Oceania are two others, also deploying several
ships in Europe during 2007. We expect that more cruise lines will
be adding the service in the near future and will keep you apprised as
they do.
Price: Approximately $786 for a 50-pound suitcase one way, with a 20 percent discount for Crystal Society members and 10 percent discount for new Crystal Cruises guests. Includes up to $2,000 insurance.
Price: Prices vary depending on weight and destination. For example, one 50-pound bag costs $100 shipped "economy" or $150 shipped "full service" (domestically, one-way). Bags are automatically insured up to $1,000. The service is available to and from over 120 countries worldwide.
Who Handles It: A Luggage Free representative handles everything from start to finish.
Price: $350 for a suitcase weighing 31 to 50 pounds, $390 for 51 to
60 pounds; includes $2,500 insurance.
Who Handles It: Seabourn handles everything once the paperwork is
complete. Alternately, guests can make arrangements online through the "Already Booked" section of Seabourn's website, order a kit with luggage tags and waybill, and call DHL to arrange a pickup.
Price: In order to get accurate pricing you have to call the
company (Luggage Express) and give the weight and country of
embarkation. We again used a single 60-pound bag one way to Europe.
England and Spain were $435 and Italy was $455.
Who Handles It: The guest, either via the Internet or by
calling.
Silversea Cruises
Program Name: Airport Ease (an exclusive service through DHL)
Price: $400 for a bag up to 60 pounds.
Who Handles It: Silversea handles everything, including all paperwork.
There is no link on Silversea's Web site, nor any information about the
program; you have to call and they will personally take charge.
Windstar Cruises
Program Name:Monogram Valet (an exclusive service for Windstar guests powered by Virtual Bellhop)
Price: Prices vary depending on weight and destination. For example, one 50-pound bag to France might cost around $389 shipped economy or $469 shipped priority one way. Bags are automatically insured up to $500.
Who Handles It: A Monogram Valet representative handles the arrangements with guests.
Have you
used cruise line valet programs to ship your luggage? Tell us about it.
Write to us at feedback@cruisecritic.com; please put "Luggage
Valet" in the subject line.
--by San Diego-based Jana Jones, the creator and editor of lodging Web site Sleeping-Around.com, as well as one of Cruise Critic's stalwart ship reviewers.
Anyone who has spent hours standing in lengthy airport check-in lines --
after schlepping their suitcases across parking lots, up escalators,
around the milling throngs and who knows where else -- can appreciate the boom in cruise line luggage valet services. For those on international itineraries, these
services are particularly helpful, eliminating most of the stress of
just getting to a cruise vacation.
Have you
used cruise line valet programs to ship your luggage? Tell us about it.
Write to us at 
