WE ARE LOOKING FOR NAMES OF RELIABLE COMPANIES THAT PICK UP YOUR LUGGAGE AT HOME AND DELIVERS IT TO THE SHIP. WE ARE GOING ON REGENTS FOM MONTE CARLO TO FTL. WE ONLY NEED IT ONE WAY. ANYONE USED THIS SERVICE AND WOULD RECOMMEND SOMEONE.

Hi Kate,

There was a thread a few months ago discussing that subject. It's HERE

Is this the 11/3 Voyager MC to FLL? There is a group of LCTers going ( myself included). If you would like, go to the Roll Call section and check out the threads about CROSS. If this is your cruise , pls let us know. We would love to add your name to the roster.

Good luck with shipping your luggage.

Hi Kate,

Welcome!

I hope you will be joining us on CROSS. Please let us know and your name will be added to the updated roster.

We have used Luggage Free and are using them again for the upcoming Voyager cruise starting Istanbul and continuing through the Med to Ft, Lauderdal. We have used IPs Regent's suggested firm. While both delivered, Luggage Free wraps the bags in plastic to protect them. IPS Delivered bags in Sydney last year to the wrong port agent, even though they are Regent's partner. It was only through the efforts of Mariners crew that they were found in time and delivered before we sailed.

Shipping bags in the only way to go when faced with clothes for a long cruise!

Jan

We too are on the Nov 3 grand CROSSing. We are going to Provence a couple of days early. We are seriously thinking of shipping luggage ahead. I checked IPS, they seemed a little high and a company that was recommended to me called First Luggage and they seem reasonable. In addition the lady I emailed with told me that if you are flying any portion on BA, and book thru the link on ba.com, there is an additional 5% discount,and they will ship the luggage to our pre hotel, so that is what we are considering doing.

Good luck. Hope to meet you onboard.

We are going on the Navigator crossing. This is our 4th crossing but first on Navigator which we love.
Sounds like a great group going on Voyager CROSS

Sorry you won't be joining us on CROSS, Kate. However, your crossing on Navigator will be fantastic. Have a great time.

Kate

We'll be joining you on Navigator from Monte Carlo to FtL. It's our swan song cruise on Regent which we have truly enjoyed. Perhaps you could provide some insight based on previous crossing experiences as this is our first.

Rick

Frankly, I was appalled at the cost of shipping a bag back from Hong Kong using Regent’s recommended carrier, so I checked others posted on LCT, plus one or two I picked up from Google, newspaper and magazine articles, etc. I found a British firm, First Luggage (highlighted below) that we’re going to try.

Other firms on the list below were between the $446 of Luggage Forward and IPS’s $775. Until I found First Luggage, we were going with Luggage Forward. I’m a bit hesitant to post this here on LCT till I have experience, but you may use the information, knowing that it is as yet unveted, at least by us.

First Luggage uses FedEx, but is not yet world-wide – apparently they have to work things out with Customs in each country before they can start service there. Nigel, my contact there, assured me they handle (all of) Europe, but not South America (yet).

===<<+>>===
International Port Services - www.intlportservices.com 1-800-395-8810 - Minimum Charge: $650.00 (Ship up to 100 lbs for the minimum charge); $6.50 per pound over 100 lbs., plus Customs Charge: $125.00 per shipment Total (minimum) $775
Luggage Free Appears expensive sales@luggagefree.com 800.361.6871
Luggage Express http://www.usxpluggageexpress.com/ 866 Ship Bags
Luggage Concierge http://www.luggageconcierge.com/ 800-288-9818
Luggage Forward http://www.luggageforward.com/quote_international.jsp 866-416-7447
1 large bag estimated transit time: 3-5 business days* $446 (USD)
The Luggage Club https://www.theluggageclub.com/ 877-231-5131
For International Rates: Call Toll-Free 877-231-5131
First Luggage British Co. http://www.firstluggage.com/ 800-224-5781
$268. for 1 bag to 66 lbs. (30 kilos) Hong Kong to Florida!
Virtual Bellhop http://www.virtualbellhop.com/services.html#international (877) 235-5467

Do come back and let us know how your experience was with First Luggage. That is the best pricing I've seen.

A word to the wise....

Start the wheels in motion far enough ahead. I just talked to the agency that Ngaire suggested, and they couldn't do it, as we were too close to cruise time. They need at least a few weeks for international shipping to cover time for customs.

Here I was thinking that our luggage would get thrown on a plane and have a somewhat parallel journey. HA! Silly me! :rolleyes: :D

What a nice, albeit expensive, thought....waving goodbye to the heavy bags and breezing through the airports with just carryons!

Yep, those World Cruise and Full Pacific Mariner passengers do have it made with home to cabin luggage handling. :cool:

Spent a long time on the phone with First Luggage and IPO. Think we are going with IPO even though more expensive.
First luggage does not deliver on Sat or Sun. They are trying to contact the port agents in Monte Carlo to see if they could keep it Fri til Sat. However that has been 3 days and still have not heard.
We can not go a day early this time so it could be delivered to the hotel. However would not want the hassel of getting it from the hotel to the ship; and dont't want it going thru another party( port agents). We have to have it picked up 10 business days before delivery so I will have to start thinking about packing soon. At least it will be over and done with way ahead of time.
I feel booking a hotel a day early and port agents charge to store it and deliver to ship would cost a lot of the difference in price of IPO.They were highly recommended by the Regents agent.
Heard today Virtual Bell Hop luggage business went out of business last week.

REPORT ON FIRST LUGGAGE

We are home, and have the bag we shipped from Hong Kong for $268. (vs. $775 for IPS, the shipper recommended by Regent). The bag arrived here in Florida in 8 days, one day faster than promised, in good shape. The only issue (which we really don't understand, it didn't cost us anything, as almost everything needed to be washed or cleaned anyway) was that my wife found some sand - clean sand, like from a beach - in the bag when she opened it. Otherwise, all is well. We would definitely use First Luggage again.

We too have so far had a positive experience with First Luggage. THey picked up our luggage on Tuesday the 23, expected delivery date was Oct 30. I had an email from the hotel yesterday that all three pieces had arrived and were being held in storage. Now, not having seen the bags yet, I don't know if there are any issues, and I won't see them until Thursday. But so far I am impressed. I also had a delivery confirmation email this morning from my contact at First Luggage.

Thank you both for your reports. First Luggage is certainly sounding like a great option for our Discovery Cruise next year.

This does look like an option. Much easier than lugging all that stuff to Athens... huffing and puffing!!!

FYI, would not use I.P.S. again.

Everything International Port Services (I.P.S.) could mess up, they did:

- Did not pick up the luggage on the day scheduled (luggage sat outside for a day). Excuse was "the driver was on vacation".

- Delivered luggage on wrong day to wrong cruise line and wrong ship! Due to the problem with the pick-up, I happened to have called the freight forwarder (Lynden) in Ft. Lauderdale the day before our departure, just to check, and they said the luggage was already on board another ship. They sent drivers out and they combed the dock/ship and finally found our luggage. They got it to our ship the next day around 1pm, just in time. (We had both Regent tags on our bags...).

- Luggage was damaged and absolutely filthy. When I brought that up, IPS said "Oh, shrink wrap is available on request". It would have been nice if they had mentioned that before they picked up the luggage...

- When we disembarked with our luggage, we looked around for the IPS person with a sign that was supposed to be there, but could not find one. I found a Regent rep and she said she was upset also because they could not locate an IPS rep. She had us put our stuff off to the side and said she would look after it. We had a plane to catch so we had to just leave our stuff on the sidewalk and hope Regent sorted it out.

- IPS said they would return our luggage on a Saturday while we were home, but it arrived on a Monday and sat outside (behind our gate, fortunately) for the day (fortunately no rain).

So unless I absolutely had to, I would not ship luggage again. It greatly added to the stress rather than relieving it.

Like Ragnar, our experience with IPS was far from pleasant too. Unlike him, our luggage was pilfered and maybe 30 items stolen from the bags which had been completely unpacked and Clay's shoes tried on and some kept and some rejected. Our IPS shipping was included in the World Cruise, so outbound we used it. We did not use it going home. IPS shipping is included again for the Circle South America cruise and we will still not use them again. It is not that I don't think luggage shipping is a good idea, I do. But, we were very unhappy with our IPS experience and the theft was just the tip of the iceberg as far as things being handled badly.
Sorry, Debbie

We are on Navigator now. Decided to ship luggage ahead with First Luggage because it was about 350 less than IPO and we only had to have it picked up about 7 days ahead. Picked up by fed ex at noon on
Wed in St Louis and notified by them it arrived in MOnte Carlo Friday. 2 days later. The port agent kept it stored 8 days at no charge and all 4 bags were in our room when we got in. Everything was in great shape ,had not been opened as we had ties on. We did not have to pay the security charge either.
They do not provide any insurance but we have our own. They quote you the price in pounds and even with the dollar so low it still was cheaper than IPO. They were a delight to work with and we couldn't be more pleased.
We were over 2 hours late and barely made connections in Brussels and our luggage would never have made it.
There have been a handful of people on this cruise that luggage didn't make it. Some caught up but a couple from UK that got off today just got it last night. She washed and ironed every single day the few things they carried on.
It is expensive but I feel well worth it. We are doing it ourselves going home but it is a nonstop from Miami.

Topping this string to see if anyone has more recent experience with First Luggage? Is it becoming a lot pricier with the exchange rate of the dollar against the pound now?