Walking off with luggage instead of not...

[Snowwhyt]

I seem to remember years ago that people whom would walk off with luggage would leave those who gave up their bags the night before upset.

We wanted to skip breakfast and head to a WDW park. Is this still a problem? I just want to keep other people happy. But at the same time, move on with my day to ease the pain of leaving the ship.

 

[Dug720]

The only thing I could see making people upset are those who ignore the "must be able to handle your own luggage" clause and end up clogging things up while Mom and/or Dad is trying to wrangle the large suitcases for everyone, including kids who could in no way handle their own luggage which sometimes was as large as them. And then using porters which my reading of the clause indicates they are not supposed to do...that could do it too.

If everyone in your party can honestly handle their own luggage, you should be good to go.

 

[cvjw]

Our last cruise, we left our bags out the night before, and then had breakfast in the dining room at 8:00 the next morning. After breakfast, we leisurely walked off the ship, got a porter who got our luggage and took it to our car. It took no time at all.

We then drove to Disney and were there around 10:30. Very relaxing morning.

 

[bbn1122]

We have done it both ways. When it’s DH and me, on a short cruise we just keep our bags and walk off with them. But when the boys were younger and it was a longer cruise, we gave up the luggage at night. Either way getting off the ship was easy.

Good luck.

 

[mmmears]

We've done it both ways, but we travel with carry-ons so we don't have much luggage in the first place. I think if you're clogging the hallways with tons of luggage or struggling to get through the elevators and the atrium because your bags are more than you can handle it will most likely bother others on the ship. Otherwise I don't see why they should care one way or the other.

 

[mmouse37]

The only thing I could see making people upset are those who ignore the "must be able to handle your own luggage" clause and end up clogging things up while Mom and/or Dad is trying to wrangle the large suitcases for everyone, including kids who could in no way handle their own luggage which sometimes was as large as them. And then using porters which my reading of the clause indicates they are not supposed to do...that could do it too.

If everyone in your party can honestly handle their own luggage, you should be good to go.

Does it say you are not supposed to use a Porter or that a Porter may not be available (because it is early)? Can't see why DCL would care if you use a Porter once you are in the terminal if you walked off with your luggage.

MJ

 

[Dug720]

Does it say you are not supposed to use a Porter or that a Porter may not be available (because it is early)? Can't see why DCL would care if you use a Porter once you are in the terminal if you walked off with your luggage.

MJ

I honestly have never paid that close attention because I do not want to wrangle my luggage until I have to - not to mention dealing with it in the already crowded areas for eating or leaving it unattended. But I'm pretty sure the phrasing indicates that you need to be able to handle your own luggage through the entire disembarkation process, which includes customs.

Now, if there are porters around, will they jump to help you? As sure as people selling umbrellas pop out of NYC shops to hawk them the moment it starts raining. They want to do anything they can for a tip. (Just like they'll happily slap a tag on that case of water they are not supposed to accept so that they'll get that tip.)

 

[tlprice]

We've done both ways twice. It depends on if we really want to get somewhere in the morning or not. We have made it to Animal Kingdom and Universal Studios right before they opened, which was really nice since we were sad to have to get off the ship and we got to do something else fun instead. The other times we weren't in a hurry to get anywhere so we just went to breakfast and took our time getting of the ship. In fact, in Puerto Rico we were some of the last ones off the ship. I don't know why people would get annoyed with people walking off themselves. It's just less people you probably have to deal with later when you get off.

 

[Dug720]

We've done both ways twice. It depends on if we really want to get somewhere in the morning or not. We have made it to Animal Kingdom and Universal Studios right before they opened, which was really nice since we were sad to have to get off the ship and we got to do something else fun instead. The other times we weren't in a hurry to get anywhere so we just went to breakfast and took our time getting of the ship. In fact, in Puerto Rico we were some of the last ones off the ship. I don't know why people would get annoyed with people walking off themselves. It's just less people you probably have to deal with later when you get off.

As I said, the annoyance likely stems from people who really cannot handle all of their own luggage and are clogging the walkways/elevators/stairs/etc. while trying to do so.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

We did it last time. We had carry-ons, my children are older and can handle their own bags and we had breakfast up at cabanas and parked them outside out of the way (we ate outside). All good. I can understand why folks get irked. Having breakfast with someone's massive suitcase parked next to you so you can't move around is not the way to end your vacation.

 

[mmmears]

We did it last time. We had carry-ons, my children are older and can handle their own bags and we had breakfast up at cabanas and parked them outside out of the way (we ate outside). All good. I can understand why folks get irked. Having breakfast with someone's massive suitcase parked next to you so you can't move around is not the way to end your vacation.

Yep. The 2nd time we did this we just left our luggage in our cabin, had a very early quick bite at Cabanas, and then went back to grab the bags. It made it much easier for us during breakfast.

 

[tlprice]

We did it last time. We had carry-ons, my children are older and can handle their own bags and we had breakfast up at cabanas and parked them outside out of the way (we ate outside). All good. I can understand why folks get irked. Having breakfast with someone's massive suitcase parked next to you so you can't move around is not the way to end your vacation.

We didn't bother to eat breakfast on the ship. We were to the parks early enough, we just grabbed something to eat there. So, we just took our luggage straight from our room to the atrium and got off the ship.

 

[Snowwhyt]

We didn't bother to eat breakfast on the ship. We were to the parks early enough, we just grabbed something to eat there. So, we just took our luggage straight from our room to the atrium and got off the ship.

Why was I thinking we get off on deck two to get our luggage and meet port authority there? Is there more than one place to leave?

 

[Minnie368]

How early can you walk off?

 

[FigmentSpark]

Just our experience, we had early breakfast, got off, got a porter to find our bags (and they know where each room's luggage ends up). Porter brought our stuff to our car, which was parked (I think key to making it early) and we were in Datona Beach mall over an hour away by 9:20 (too early to shop!!!). So, even if you have them take your luggage off for you, you could still be early.

 

[bumbershoot]

Having breakfast with someone's massive suitcase parked next to you so you can't move around is not the way to end your vacation.

I haven’t eaten at cabanas that morning, but at the dining rooms they make you leave anything but tote bags and backpacks outside the restaurant (the host is out there).

 

[mmouse37]

Why was I thinking we get off on deck two to get our luggage and meet port authority there? Is there more than one place to leave?

In PC you leave the ship on Deck 3, walk through part of the terminal and then head down an elevator or escalator to the luggage hall where you would claim your luggage (if you put it out the night before) and then go through customs/immigration.

MJ

 

[tlprice]

Why was I thinking we get off on deck two to get our luggage and meet port authority there? Is there more than one place to leave?

On the Dream and Fantasy, walk offs have to be in the atrium with all of their luggage I think by 7:00 AM. When they were ready, they let us start walking off and we went down to customs. Since we already had our luggage, we didn't have to search for anything and just walked straight to customs. It was super fast. We had a car parked at the port, hopped in and headed straight to the parks. We were at the parks just before 9:00 AM.

 

[Pooh2]

We do carry-on only. There were several families in the elevator area waiting to go down with huge suitcases having a difficult time handling the bags. It never occurred to me to get upset with them! Just wait patiently on the next elevator..

We went to breakfast, left our bags outside the restaurant with tons of other bags. After we ate, we grabbed our bags and walked off. No line at customs and on our way!

 

[ladyofthetramp]

I haven’t eaten at cabanas that morning, but at the dining rooms they make you leave anything but tote bags and backpacks outside the restaurant (the host is out there).

Agreed. Not in recently, but we have experienced very large suitcases in the dinning rooms/Cabanas. Just uncomfortable. And too crowded. As another poster mentioned, what are you going to do? Not worth getting upset over. But it does make you wonder...