Celebrity's Meet and Greet at Airport

For anyone flying into Ft. Lauderdale for a Celebrity cruise.......
it used to be that a Celebrity representative met you right at your gate. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. We really had to search for someone. The meet and greet personnel are now in the airport after you pass thru security.
Celebrity also used to have their own lounge for passengers waiting to go over to the ship....again, that is not the case any more. I'm assuming it is because of the construction in the airport.

We were told, that once we dropped our luggage off in Seattle, that we would not see it until we got to our cabin on the ship! I am really nervous about Celebrity getting our bags from the airport in Fort Lauderdale. Has anyone had problems with this before? I am used to being more self sufficient! Where do the Celebrity staff meet you at the airport? We will be there on Saturday.

[Nanatravel]

On our very 1st Celebrity cruise we did have to claim our luggage then deposit it at a certain adjacent spot for transfer to the ship, but that was 6 years ago. Ever since when we have booked Air/Sea through the cruise line, they get the luggage behind the scenes and transport it to the ship. Once when I booked our own air but not the transfers from Celebrity, we ticketed the luggage just to see if they would take it in the van. Sure enough our luggage came out on the carousel to hand carry ourselves to the ship. Make sure you have a change of clothing in your carry-on including shoes to go with a casual evening outfit.
Bon Voyage.

We arrived at the airport late last Sunday (Jan. 7) thanks to good ole Delta Airlines doing its usual and being delayed in Atlanta. We couldn't find anyone from Celebrity and finally decided to wander outside the terminal and try to find their bus at the curb. When we got outside the secured area by the metal detectors we ran into Celbrity personnel, all the other cruise lines had people with signs at the gate. Unfortuantely due to some confusion with the bus, it took us just over an hour to get out of the airport to the pier. The baggage situation operated as advertised and was all brought to our stateroom by 8 PM.

[Lew]

Many cruises and considerable experience causes us to recomment that you
have the airline tag your bag to Fort Lauderdale--then claim it at the carousel and
put your cruise line tags on it with the ship and cabin number. This will insure
that your luggage has reached your destination, the cruise tags have not fallen
off in the airport, and you have delivered it to the cruise line representative. You will
be glad you went this route!!!

we are going with the one day early program w/ Celeb handling air & all tranfers. I assume we will take our luggage to the hotel & then it will get taken to the ship with us on the bus????? that's how it worked with RCI when we used the same program Does anyone know from their own experience?

[kathi]

We are trying the same thing in March. When are you going? Let me know how it works.
Thanks, Kathi

When we took Celebrity to the Caribbean a year ago we did the one day early program and were very satisfied. We flew out of San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale. When we checked our luggage in at San Francisco that was the last time we saw it till after we boarded ship. the next day. Don't forget take a carryon tho. You will need to brush your teeth probably!!!!!!!!

[Shadow]

We are also doing this in April. I like the idea of not tagging your luggage till you arrive so that if it gets lost you'll know at what point this happened. Let me know how it goes. Thanks.

We too experienced poor service from the "meet and greet" ground staff of Celebrity in Miami. Although the staff was at the gate, we had to wait almost two hours to get on a bus because they had forgotten to contact one for our flights arrival. We were bussed to a Pre-night hotel stay in Sunrise, Fl. which was not at all convenient. It took over 3 hours after arriving in Miami to arrive at a hotel. Our cruise was leaving from Ft. Lauderdale. Please be aware that although our greeting was poor, our sailing was wonderful. We have never had anything but a wonderful actual cruise experience with Celebrity.

I think you said the magic words: "self-sufficient."

For seasoned travelers who romp around the country and the world pretty much taking care of themselves, it clearly makes sense to plan to take care of yourself at an airport to the degree necessary. To me, this means not putting ship's tags on bags until you've seen them at the destination airport.

Also, at places like FLL, if there's some sort of irregularity with busses, cruise reps, etc., it's a very short cab ride to Port Everglades.

Eventually you figure out that sometimes you just do the quickest, easiest thing. It's really an important part of the traveler's "survivial of the fittest" guide.

AR

[Barb]

Don't worry, We just came back from cruising 3 weeks ago, and
the transfer of the luggage went off without a hitch. We loaded
it in Minneapolis, and it arrived in front of our cabin door that
evening. Just make sure you put those identifying cruise ship tags on your luggage before checking it in.

When are you going on your cruise? We are on Mercury for 3/23 & booked the day prior program. If you are on the same let us know. If not, have a great trip.