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Who else doesn't check their luggage?


MISTER 67
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1 minute ago, MisterMet said:

I'm taking a solo cruise on the Navigator of the Seas for 4 nights on 9/16 and was wondering if I could get a "tweener" (bigger than a carry on, but smaller than a giant roller) through the xray machine?  Think I'll give it a try since now RCI now let's you drop off your bags in your room after you've boarded.  If it doesn't fit, I'll check it.  Thanks for your help Mister 67!  You're a genius😀

Should not be a problem, our suitcases are 26 inches. I'm pulling for your Mets to beat out the Cubs for the WC.

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5 hours ago, evestrauss said:

I understand the above points about being on vacation and not wanting to shlep, but, after losing my husband's luggage for 12 days of a 14 day trip including a 7 day Baltic Cruise, we are carryon only. There's nothing quite like shopping in a Polish mall for larger men's clothing in June where few employees speak English (not that they should, but our Polish skills weren't up to the task either) trying to procure an entire wardrobe for a trip to cold places while it is 90 degrees outside. Forget about finding EEEE width shoes! It was an adventure and a real cultural experience, but it did add an element of stress to our first few days of vacation

 

All it took was one experience like that long ago and we quickly learned always to pack all necessities and enough clothing for a few days in our carry-on bags.

 

That is how we have been traveling for decades now.  No wasting time scurrying around shopping when our checked luggage doesn't show up as we have everything we really need with us. 

 

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There is no way I would lug our bags around the port and ship that much. Let someone else do the toting.   Check them in at the port, collect them at the end of the cruise. We each have one LARGE bag that gets close to the 70 pound limit, we each have a roller carry-on (maximum size) and we each have a loaded back pack. Rarely are we on a cruise that is less than two weeks and I like to have clean clothes (I will not be doing laundry while on vacation) so we take all that we want.  Is it all absolutely needed, NO !  But I want to have it rather than doing without.  I guess if we did Caribbean cruises we could take less, but we got over the Caribbean years ago.  

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9 hours ago, chemmo said:

I can see the OPs point of view to some degree but places like Oceanview are crowded enough just with hand luggage before rooms are declared open, let alone bigger cases. 

 

Re disembarkation...We invariably book a flight with no rush to disembark or stay an extra overnight. However, we are aware that for many people who still work this just isn’t an option. It does seem a bit selfish to me to fill up the self embark queue if you are not in a genuine rush....

Regarding your last comment - I agree !000% if that's possible.  There are always people who for a good number of reasons absolutely, positively must get off that ship early to catch a flight - perhaps it was the only one available; perhaps their flight time was moved up (happened to us, by an hour!), and so on.  IMHO it is really nothing short of inconsiderate and selfish of people to do first walk-off who do not really need to.  By doing so they literally may be causing people to miss their flights.  It also totally jams up the elevators and hallways making it difficult to even get to breakfast on S class (BLU and Captains Club breakfast being back of ship, past the queue of disembarking passengers).  How can people totally not care how they are impacting others??  It blows my mind.

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I guess I'm too honest of a person because I could never misrepresent myself or my situation to get in front of others.  I think it's very selfish.  Taking our luggage off ourselves on our last cruise helped us get to an early flight, so it was a great option.  I would never want to drag my big bags around the ship if I brought them on myself the first day.  I'd make sure there was a storage spot.  Re:  people who insist on just a carryon, I actually get a really good workout the day I have to creatively maneuver all my luggage around by hand😀, and who doesn't need that?  That being said, on the first cruise we took years and years ago, they lost our luggage; we had nothing for the whole week!  We spent half our time in line ups at Guest Services, and the other half running around the islands looking for clothes, underwear, etc.  Not fun!  I wore electric pink rubber flip flops from the gift shop  to dinner every night.  This was back in the days of much dressier dinners.  I can laugh about it now...

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On 8/24/2019 at 8:17 PM, MISTER 67 said:

For the last 20+ cruises we have carried all our luggage onboard instead of checking. We only take 7 day cruises out of Florida and have learned to pack very efficiently with a medium size suitcase and a shoulder carry on, no lost luggage this way, we also do the early walkoff. Works very well as we usually unpack after lunch in the buffet. Sometimes we get grief from the employees of the line who work the port facility, never any trouble with agents at the x-ray machine, they don't care as long as it fits in the machine. We sailed on the Equinoz in June and was surprised with the number of passengers who did the same thing and with larger suitcases.

 

 

We usually check the bags on but do the early walk-off lugging the bags ourselves.

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How about those inconsiderate  cruisers who lug their big suitcases and then create a line to take the elevator?  On our last cruise, I felt for those handicapped individuals who had to wait for these people to load  and unload their suitcases on/off the elevator.  There were not just a couple of individuals doing that.  Not acceptable in my book!

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We take the stairs throughout our cruise, since the elevators are always super busy and full, and we'd rather walk.   We like the added exercise.  On the last day, we got up and lined up very early to get an elevator and walk our luggage off.  We knew that everything would be very congested later on.  We actually had an elevator to ourselves! 

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I ALWAYS check it with the porters upon embarkation, and usually do a walk off with it on disembarkation.  That may change with the walk off on my upcoming 11 day, depending on how much my Bride decides to pack.  🙂

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Traveling is less of a hassle if you can pack in a carryon and not have to check it. Airlines are getting better at not losing luggage. Having had my luggage lost and cruising without my luggage, I learned that you can travel with  less than you think. I was without my luggage for more than a week. Celebrity was great at calling Delta to locate my bag. Celebrity also gave us logo tee shirts and did our laundry same day free. Medical equipment can be an added problem. Never pack medical equipment in a checked bag.  You can bring extra carryon with medical supplies onto a plane without any problem.  The key to taking less is to start by selecting a basic color scheme. Make a list.  Stick to clothing that can be worn in multiple combinations. Solids are good. No loud colors or patterns. You can get by with 2 of each item.  Some items like a jacket or sweater, take one. Accessories like scarves can create a new look. A light weight big scarf can be used many ways. Use the ship laundry. If you treasure some piece of jewelry or clothing, leave it home. Cross pack with a spouse if possible.  Bring zip lock bags. Use them to compress clothing.  Put all your electrical devices in a zip lock bag. Security in many airports make you take your devices out to be scanned.  Relax and enjoy the trip.  

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2 hours ago, The Mommy said:

Nice idea but I couldn't possibly travel light 😂🤣

long haul across the pond, 12 night cruises, posh frocks, shoes, Tux for DH etc - it just couldn't be done - well done you though if you can pull it off 

Totally agree and would never want to try. Cruises are often my only opportunity to wear all my summer dresses and shoes as we don’t have many hot days in Scotland     

 

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I agree totally with the last two posters.  I enjoy bringing a lot of fun things to wear (casual, dressy, swimwear, etc.) in a new setting.  I don't want to wear the same three items over and over (even with good laundry options on ship).  I would get bored.  Again, I see creatively moving our fairly large amount of luggage around as a fitness challenge😊.  Maybe I'll change my mind when I get older? For now, toting around luggage is a sacrifice I'll make to be happy in my clothes and have everything I need.

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If we are flying to our cruise (almost always), we do carryon on the plane. I can check a bag for free, but I hate waiting at baggage claim (and a couple of times my bags haven’t been there). A 22” suitcase and a knapsack or purse carry everything that I need for my travels. I stick to 16 outer garments, so every top goes with every bottom.  I can pack them into one large packing cube and a medium compression bag. Incidentals and unmentionables fill up the suitcase. The personal item holds my camera, jewelry, a change of underwear/socks in case I have to check the suitcase (weight issues on international carriers) and it gets lost or delayed, vitamins, wallet, etc. I never pack more than I can lift into the overhead bin on my own. My seatmate on a recent flight complimented me on my deadlift technique. 🤭

We usually arrive at the pier around 12:30, timing our arrival for when the rooms open up. We roll straight there, drop our bags and head to lunch. Afterwards we unpack and even get in a short nap before muster drill.

 

We also do self-assist. We don’t book early flights, so absent a delay in disembarkation we wait until close to the end of the process. With immigration getting more efficient, it’s not long before we are curbside looking for our ride to the airport. 

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On 8/25/2019 at 11:30 AM, evestrauss said:

I understand the above points about being on vacation and not wanting to shlep, but, after losing my husband's luggage for 12 days of a 14 day trip including a 7 day Baltic Cruise, we are carryon only. There's nothing quite like shopping in a Polish mall for larger men's clothing in June where few employees speak English (not that they should, but our Polish skills weren't up to the task either) trying to procure an entire wardrobe for a trip to cold places while it is 90 degrees outside. Forget about finding EEEE width shoes! It was an adventure and a real cultural experience, but it did add an element of stress to our first few days of vacation. 

 

As a side note: Celebrity was unbelievably accommodating by offering toiletries, tee shirts and multiple free laundry coupons, and by calling the lost luggage people daily to try to locate the bag even though they had no responsibility for this problem. It was impressive.

 

 

 

Ditto! Except both of our luggage was AWOL for our entire 3 weeks abroad that included 2 weeks on the Silhouette around the British Isles. I agree that trying to purchase enough of a wardrobe to look passably decently attired on the cruise was a challenge. It kinda irked me that I had to buy size 40 slacks but DH fit into 27s! Between our roll call members' and Celebrity's help + shopping in Berlin & Amsterdam we survived quite nicely. 

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We check our luggage both on and off.  Never had any issues on Celebrity or Royal.  We use the luggage valet service if offered and our bags have always been waiting at our home airport. A game changer!  It is just easier.  Even if we had a problem once we would still do it this way.  But that is just our thinking and what we are comfortable in doing.

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