Suitcase: How big is too big?

[Chupa Cabras]

Is it better to buy a smaller thinner suitcase than to bring the usual 28"X14"? And where do you stow the suitcase in your cabin? I've been told there isn't much room under the beds (Carnival Valor.) Is there room in the closet?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[wrp96]

If you are not flying, size and weight do not matter much. But if you are flying to port, the less weight you have the better. I have a 26" suitcase and was overweight on my flights last week but I got lucky and wasn't charged. I think with a 28" you are really risking being overweight especially if it is anywhere near full. 2 smaller suitcases would work better and have less chance of being overweight.

 

I always just slide my suitcases under the bed.

[Sheffie]

Your weight limit on domestic flights is #50, so keep that in mind. As Wrona said, there is room under the bed for your suitcases; you may need to lift the bed to get them under the lip. We also keep one in the closet into which we put our folded dirty laundry - it makes packing on the last day a lot quicker. If you don't have enough room, your room steward can store them for you for the week.

 

I wouldn't spend money on a new suitcase. Keep the $$$ for drinks and excursions!

[PurpleCow]

Your cabin steward will be happy to remove your large suitcases and store them for you for the duration of the cruise.

[Chupa Cabras]

Thanks guys! I'd much rather spend the money on drinks and stuff. We'll just make sure the suitcase we have doesn't go over 50#. The DH doesn't have that much stuff anyway ;) Now if it was me...:eek:

[mr green]

You can usually store a case open, under the bed. By air a case should not exceed 62 linear inches. john

[albean99]

On our last cruise with RC we brought our large 28" suitcase and the problem with it was that it wouldn't fit under the bed and it took a lot of room in the closet. This time we're paring down and bringing out smaller suitcases.

[Cotton]

If driving to the port, there is no limit to the size or how many pieces of luggage you can take on board. (Except that the carry-on can't be over 11"x17".)

 

You can put a smaller suitcase inside a larger one for storage. They will usually fit under the bed or in one of the closets.

 

Please don't ask the cabin steward to store your luggage. He will do it, smiling, but really won't be happy about it. Storage room is limited, and he has enough to do w/o keeping up with passengers' luggage. You CAN find room in your cabin - most everybody else does.:)

[MrsPete]

Trust me, DON'T buy a huge suitcase. Before we went on our last cruise (4 days), I thought I'd be smart and get a suitcase big enough to hold all our stuff for the whole cruise. I don't remember the exact size, and it's up in the attic where I can't get to it quickly, but it's about up to my waist. We're close enough to drive to the port, so airlines don't figure into our plans.

 

It's nice to put everything for a family of four into one huge suitcase. It's nice that dad can wheel it around while mom manages just the one carry-on bag and the kids each have their little backpack of books and toys.

 

What's wrong with this picture? When the suitcase is full, I can easily wheel it down the hallway and out the door -- getting it down the steps is another story. Getting it into the car trunk is difficult. I wish I could return it and buy two half that size. It's so difficult that the suitcase has only seen one vacation; that's not a good value.

 

We have one set that I like (the set just isn't enough for the whole family): Two matching green suitcases on wheels; the smaller one can turn sideways and stack on top of the larger one so that one person can easily wheel both around. When I buy luggage again, I'll buy more like that.

[albean99]

I bought my boys rolling duffels from either Target or Costco. They work pretty well because there's a part that's like a suitcase and a seperate section that's a duffel. It can be carried or rolled. What I like about them is they have a lot of room and I can put my extras like shoes & hairdryer in them. We have regular 20" rolling luggage for our things. Our big suitcase doesn't get used either, MrsPete.

[michmike]

we've found a recent purchase to be quite handy.. we were always worried about the weight of our luggage ( I always tell folks I get a discount on my home-owners ins as wife takes everything with us when we are away) and possible penalty charges form the airline, so bought a luggage scale at http://www.magellan.com just a handle w/ a dial to show the weight and then a hook that you use to lift your bag. It was less than $20. Came in quite handy and is pretty accurate. Beats trying to stand on a scale at home and holding a bag in your arms.

[Kellie in Texas]

Last October, we just put our biggest suitcase right on our bathroom scale to check it. It came out about 46 pounds, so I didn't put even a slip of paper in it after that! :rolleyes: Kellie in Texas

[Lsimon]

If you're buying suitcases now, I'd look hard at the weight. Our existing suitcases weighed 16 or 17 pounds empty. We just got a couple new ones which weighted 9.4 pounds. That will allow us to take another 12 pounds or so of stuff and still keep under the 50 pound weight limit.

[Happy ks]

The only time we've ever had a problem with the weight of a suitcase is when we packed for Alaska and had to take jeans and jackets. On a warm weather cruise, I'd have no problem with the weight of the suitcase, even a 28 inch one. Of course, we don't take a lot of extra shoes and we pack our toiletry bottles in our carry on, both of those things are heavy. We re-wear clothing, having it clean or laundered if necessary.

 

Pare down your clothing list, pack so your clothes don't shift, but don't pack so much you squish everything. Leave home the electrical items you can live without for the week, just taking the bare essentials, there is no way your bag will be overweight. We can pack for the week (2 ppl) in one 28 inch suitcase, a garment bag for formal wear and a rolling carry on toiletry bag.

[senior lady]

On our last cruise I started packing our larger suitcase. Halfway through i thought maybe I should weigh it. It was 48 lbs 1/2 full:eek: Took everything out and weighed it empty and it was 15 lbs!!!!

 

Went out a bought 2 duffle bags on wheels that only weigh 3 lbs empty, got everything in mine and it only weighed 31 lbs. So the large suitcases are being put away for shorter trips and now all we will use on our up coming 19 day cruise in the 2 duffle bags on wheels, 2 garment bags. We only need to worry about weight one way as we're sailing to our home of Vancouver:D So maybe we'll come off the ship looking like "bag people" but at least we can buy on this cruise and not have to worry about keeping bags to airline weights.