Shipping bags ahead

They aren't keen on answering the phone generally. I've had luck messaging them on Facebook, and usually get a quick response but that's for more generic info on PIs. I'm not sure that they would be able to help you with something like that dealing with a specific hotel, although you could try. Either that or keep trying the phone. If it were me, I'd try calling around the hours of 9 am to 1 pm British time, as that would be a bit slower than later in the day.

You might want to check and see if you can ship it to a UK Post. I don't know if that's feasible for you or not, but here is a website for them: https://www.royalmail.com/services-near-you/post-office/southampton-so14-7dr

It's going to cost you big to ship luggage ahead of time. I've had luggage problems in the past, and mine never leaves my possession.

We love Premier Inn, but they are a little peculiar. For example, they won't let you into any room, even if it's clean, until 3:00 p.m. They do have a good luggage storage, however.

They’ll let you into the room early, they’re just going to charge you, but it’s not an outrageous charge.

For example, they won't let you into any room, even if it's clean, until 3:00 p.m.

They will let you check in early (if it's available that day) starting at 11 am, but there is a £10 charge. One time I did that, though, and they forgot to charge me. :-)

Yeah, it does cost a bit, but the $$$ it costs is well worth it if it means I don't need to schlep a checked bag on and off trains 5 times in 3 weeks. I'll try the Facebook thing (once I resurrect my account) and calling earlier their time. Worst case scenario, I'll pay a little more and have it delivered straight to the ship and it will be there in the stateroom when we arrive.

Do you really need the luggage for the ship? Over the years we have worked our luggage to one extra carry-on size, rolling bag. For the two of us we will have three rolling carry on and two day bags. The extra carry-on contains the extra items that we need for the cruise.

Do an internet search on "Southampton left luggage" - you will find a number of small businesses offering the service - they should be more responsive than PI. For example:

Southampton Souvenirs & Left Luggage
+44 23 8178 9946

https://g.co/kgs/dj9U65i

I assume you would call them to make arrangements.

I might be wrong, but it doesn't sound like the sort of thing a Premier Inn would be interested in doing. They have minimal service so they can afford to give you somewhere uber-cheap to sleep. I'd guess that's why their policy is not to answer the phone too.

I am thinking along Gerry's lines.

I'll pay a little more and have it delivered straight to the ship

So you are flying in to London..traveling in UK for three weeks...then taking a boat back to US?
Can you hand the bag over to the Cruise line in London?

Thanks to everyone who have given my dilemma some thought. I really appreciate all of your suggestions. To update, yes, we need the checked bag on the ship. When you sail in the suite class, you dress for dinner. And, pool and workout stuff isn't much use in northern England in October, so that goes in the bag too. Yes, we are flying to London and spending several weeks before heading down to Southampton. Unfortunately, the cruise line won't help with the luggage. They didn't come out and say it, but the message was "sounds like a personal problem", which I expected but it never hurts to ask. I checked with all the companies/government offices/left luggage offices everyone suggested to narrow down what was realistic. I've spoken with a few forwarders, too. Send My Bag was not willing to give a quote unless I gave them a ton of info and my first-born son. Nope. Luggage Forward seemed ok, but has no track record with me. At the end of the day, I decided on the path of least resistance -- I'm going with Luggage Free again. They will deliver the bag straight to the stateroom. Yesterday, I booked a couple of upgraded rooms as a fallback to accept the bag a day or two early if necessary. Now that the shipping decision is made, I have to take a look at everything and decide which to keep and which to cancel. Since everyone likes Premier so much, I think we'll probably give it a try now that the bag issue has been resolved. One item to note: If you go this route, the company should tell you that the UK government will not accept unaccompanied bags if they contain AirTags. Fine, let the company worry tracking the bag. I'll get daily texts telling me exactly where it is. Good enough for me. Thanks again everyone.

Thanks for the OP.

A couple of years ago I needed a few days of business casual attire mid-trip in Germany. After multiple attempts at a solution (I had not heard of/found Luggage Free) I simply had to carry a larger bag during my trip. Luggage Free prices seem in-line with what I was looking at with DHL or storing the bag for two weeks and back-tracking twice to pick it up.

Quick update. On Tuesday afternoon, DHL, through Luggage Free, picked up my bag from my sister’s at exactly the time they said they would. It was at Southampton on Friday morning, where Celebrity’s port agent will hold it until we sail on October 23 and deliver it directly to our stateroom (as they have in the past). As for Premier Inn, not so great. First we got an email announcing the closure of their restaurant. Today, it was a notification that their Wi-Fi was down and they aren’t sure when it would return. Lesson learned. You get what you pay for. Too bad several alternatives are fully booked, so I’ll live in hope that they figure it out.

I guess it will be quite a change from Premier Inn to Suite Class.

good that you have a resolution

I have a question - you say that the UK government will not accept any luggage containing air tags.... what does the UK government have to do with where you leave your luggage? Confused?

Nigel

This would be considered cargo, so I’m assuming what the original poster was saying is that the UK doesn’t accept cargo with AirTags? When you ship luggage like that, it goes through the normal customs process that any other cargo goes through

I didn’t research the details of the air tags in cargo, just taking the company’s advice not to tag my suitcase, because the regs say no tags in unaccompanied luggage. Theoretically, you shouldn’t need AirTag tracking for cargo (or unaccompanied baggage) as it travels with a bill of lading. I was more disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to use my shiny new AirTags.