What to pack - carry on only - 7 night QLD cruise

[~*Lou*~]

Hi everyone 

we are a family of 4 and booked on Coral Princess departing Brisbane on 26th June. We fly out of Melbourne the day before on first day of school holidays, flying  Qantas.

Partly because I’m concerned about busy airports after the debacle at Easter, I am thinking about the 4 of us having no checked-in luggage and only travelling with carry-on luggage. We’ve been on Coral in 2019 so I know there are self-service laundries on board. However after 2 years of covid and 3 years since I was on a cruise ship and that was a cold weather cruise, I’m seriously out of practice. What do we need to pack? Is this do-able? 
 

many thanks in advance 

Lou 🙂

[GUT2407]

Doable is a moveable feast. But for me 7 pairs of undies, pants I’m wearing on the day I board, one or two extra, tops the same, shoes, thongs. Stuff I can layer is always a plus for questionable weather, so T shirt, Shirt and heavier overshirt (denim is my pick) each can be worn by itself of layered. You can cut back if you want to pend time washing. Can each person manage their own carry on?

 

[Cbtours]

54 minutes ago, ~*Lou*~ said:

Hi everyone 

we are a family of 4 and booked on Coral Princess departing Brisbane on 26th June. We fly out of Melbourne the day before on first day of school holidays, flying  Qantas.

Partly because I’m concerned about busy airports after the debacle at Easter, I am thinking about the 4 of us having no checked-in luggage and only travelling with carry-on luggage. We’ve been on Coral in 2019 so I know there are self-service laundries on board. However after 2 years of covid and 3 years since I was on a cruise ship and that was a cold weather cruise, I’m seriously out of practice. What do we need to pack? Is this do-able? 
 

many thanks in advance 

Lou 🙂

Definitely doable. Layers as suggested. But I think warm clothes are less needed being brissy to cairns do we’ll be taking a jacket that will go with anything. There is at least one formal on the 7 days cruise but no need to go if you don’t wNt to include in packing.

[Sparky74]

The rule in our house is, if you pack it then you carry it. 
 

I’d say the following would be plenty. I plan to do a load of washing and Princess have self service washing machines and clothes dryers. 

WEAR:

• a pair of shorts,
• a shirt
• underwear,
• shoes,
• socks,
• hat.

PACK:

• another pair of shorts,
• 3 shirts,
• a pair of long trousers and a nicer shirt for evenings,
• a light coat or jacket,
• 1 set of swimmers,
• 3 pairs of undies,
• 3 pairs of socks,
• a pair of thongs,
• a razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant.

 

You may also want iPad, chargers, and a camera. 

[Ozwoody]

You probably know, but just in case remember depending airline/class your only allowed 7 to 10 kg per carryon.

It would be a bugger to get to the gate, only to find they do a rare bag weight check.😬

[OzKiwiJJ]

14 minutes ago, Sparky74 said:

The rule in our house is, if you pack it then you carry it. 
 

I’d say the following would be plenty. I plan to do a load of washing and Princess have self service washing machines and clothes dryers. 

WEAR:

• a pair of shorts,
• a shirt
• underwear,
• shoes,
• socks,
• hat.

PACK:

• another pair of shorts,
• 3 shirts,
• a pair of long trousers and a nicer shirt for evenings,
• a light coat or jacket,
• 1 set of swimmers,
• 3 pairs of undies,
• 3 pairs of socks,
• a pair of thongs,
• a razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant.

 

You may also want iPad, chargers, and a camera. 

The OP is flying from Melbourne. It could be a tad cool there wearing shorts to start with.

[OzKiwiJJ]

There are three port days in a row on that cruise. Depending on what they are doing on those port days that may limit when they can do laundry.

 

Personally I would not want to have to do laundry on a seven night cruise, especially the first cruise for a long time. 

 

If the concern is congestion at airports, using carry-ons won't solve that completely as a lot of the congestion issues were while going through security screening. 

 

Certainly take a change of clothes and valuables in carry-ons. We always cross-pack our suitcases so if one goes missing we still have a selection of clothing to wear. 

 

There are two formal nights on that cruise.

Edited May 15, 2022 by OzKiwiJJ

[Sparky74]

52 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The OP is flying from Melbourne. It could be a tad cool there wearing shorts to start with.

In that case wear the long pants and the coat/jacket. 
Simples! 😁

[arxcards]

We looked at just doing carry-on to save on the airfare for a night in Brisbane and 3 nights aboard. Clothes wise it would be doable, but by the time DW packs her matching shoes and extras, and I pack my camera and extra charger it looked a bit tricky. 

 

At the other end, we can be super-light for boarding the ship if we pack everything we don't need on the first evening into the case. Still, we know we won't be in school holidays and Newcastle airport is much more relaxed than Sydney or Melbourne. Qantas is a bit more generous with luggage allowance than what we would have got with Virgin.

 

The hold-ups in our airports were largely from the lack of available security screening attendants. That doesn't change if you only have carry-on, and I hope that has settled down now that they know what hits them.

 

Also, will you be packing so light for your flights back home? No shopping on your cruise?

[Aus Traveller]

Why bother restricting yourself to just carry-on? Is it going to make that much difference time-wise if you have to hang around for a while to pick up checked luggage?

[Lewaina]

15/05/22

If the carryon is more than 10 kilo you will need to check it in anyway.

[debmm]

Qantas carry on is total 14kg.  2 pieces with 1 piece no more than 10 kg. 
If packing carefully I think it’s possible to go with carry on only. 

[Hogbay]

I thought the self service laundary was closed when near Great Barrier Reef and on port days .

[Cbtours]

15 hours ago, Sparky74 said:

The rule in our house is, if you pack it then you carry it. 
 

I’d say the following would be plenty. I plan to do a load of washing and Princess have self service washing machines and clothes dryers. 

WEAR:

• a pair of shorts,
• a shirt
• underwear,
• shoes,
• socks,
• hat.

PACK:

• another pair of shorts,
• 3 shirts,
• a pair of long trousers and a nicer shirt for evenings,
• a light coat or jacket,
• 1 set of swimmers,
• 3 pairs of undies,
• 3 pairs of socks,
• a pair of thongs,
• a razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant.

 

You may also want iPad, chargers, and a camera. 

I love the first rule hahahah We have another fav rule in our house that is nothing to do with cruising but hey we derail threads on this group dont we hahahah. Our rue! The last one out of bed makes it!!!! J havent made the bed for years hahahahaha No wonder hubby likes cruising so much!

[Cbtours]

15 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

You probably know, but just in case remember depending airline/class your only allowed 7 to 10 kg per carryon.

It would be a bugger to get to the gate, only to find they do a rare bag weight check.😬

However, aside from the official carry on, you are allowed a handbag, back pack etc so with careful packing that will take some of the essentials???

[Cbtours]

13 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

Why bother restricting yourself to just carry-on? Is it going to make that much difference time-wise if you have to hang around for a while to pick up checked luggage?

That is the one benefit that we would take carry ons for! Love walk on walk off.

[Sparky74]

23 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

I love the first rule hahahah We have another fav rule in our house that is nothing to do with cruising but hey we derail threads on this group dont we hahahah. Our rue! The last one out of bed makes it!!!! J havent made the bed for years hahahahaha No wonder hubby likes cruising so much!

I beat my wife up every morning!

[Cbtours]

Just now, Sparky74 said:

I beat my wife up every morning!

Of course not in the literal sense hahahha maybe a rewording would help heheheh

[arxcards]

5 hours ago, Hogbay said:

I thought the self service laundary was closed when near Great Barrier Reef and on port days .

News to me. My wife always does the laundry when we are docked in Noumea. The grey water from the machines doesn't drain to the ocean.

[Ozwoody]

just in case its of interest, this is my flying packing list.

Maybe a bit over the top spreadsheet. But I found it useful.

But it needs to be checked it still complies to current requirements as it was last update several years ago. It only covers Qantas and Etihad as they were the only ones I've been overseas on.

Instructions are included on the sheet.

 

 

 

John's Packing List for Flights - Etihad-Qantas - (Rev C).xlsx

Edited May 15, 2022 by Ozwoody

[MicCanberra]

Certainly easy enough to only take carry on, but as mentioned the hold up is nor,ally with airport security  and that is partly to do with all the carry on having to be checked.

[Aus Traveller]

8 hours ago, Hogbay said:

I thought the self service laundary was closed when near Great Barrier Reef and on port days .

Yes, the laundry is closed for environmental reasons.

[MMDown Under]

On 5/16/2022 at 7:53 AM, Ozwoody said:

just in case its of interest, this is my flying packing list.

Maybe a bit over the top spreadsheet. But I found it useful.

But it needs to be checked it still complies to current requirements as it was last update several years ago. It only covers Qantas and Etihad as they were the only ones I've been overseas on.

Instructions are included on the sheet.

 

 

 

John's Packing List for Flights - Etihad-Qantas - (Rev C).xlsxUnavailable

Packing list doesn't open.

[Ozwoody]

36 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Packing list doesn't open.

Its an excel spreadsheet, do you have excel?

If not I can send you a (I was going to say word file, but if you don't have excel, most likely wont have word.).

Do you have any spreadsheet, if so what.

If all else fails I can make a jpg file but it won't be auto weight totalling.

If you do have excel and for some reason it not working because it's downloading from cc.

Send me your email address, to email at bottom of my cruise list.

Regards John

[Aus Traveller]

On 5/16/2022 at 7:07 AM, Cbtours said:

However, aside from the official carry on, you are allowed a handbag, back pack etc so with careful packing that will take some of the essentials???

When we have gone to Sydney by air to board a cruise, I have often taken my heavy evening clothes in my hand luggage, then hoped that it wouldn't be weighed. Luckily it wasn't. My rationale was that I had to be ready in case they had a cocktail party on the plane. 😁