LuggageLess Cruising

[vmom]

[quote name='nho9504']In our past 8 cruises, we each only took one carry-on, plus a camera equipment bag and an oversize purse. This included our 16day Transatlantic done in April.

We packed lightweight and co-ordinated garments.

My husband packed a suit, 2 shirts, 2 ties, 2 dress pants, and 2 casual pants, plus several knit shirts and 2 to 3 shorts. He also packed one pair of dress shoes, and wore the boatshoes.

I packed 2 full-length gowns, 2 long velvet skirts, 2 silk pants, several silk tops and knit tops. More than enough casual tops, pants and shorts - why I said More than enough? because each cruise I ended up wearing only once or not wearing some at all! I packed 1 pair of heels, 1 pair of flats, 1 pair of sandals and wore the heavy canvas. I also brought evening bags and scarves with me.

We often travel thru different climates - such as from Summer in US to Winter in Australia - we hand-carry the outer jackets instead of packing them.

Whether on a cruise or on a land trip, we hand-washed our undies. We only did laundry on cruises longer than 10 days.

It can be done, with formal wears too, once you know what materials packed well and wear well. Nothing goes into the carry-on if it would only work with one other item. Everything must do double/triple duties in order for me to bring them.

This has nothing to do with fees, but we need to travel light as we always have weeks long land trips tagged on the cruises, either pre or post - we dont want to lug the luggages around, especially travel in Europe and Japan, by train.[/quote]

Wow. How do you get all that in one carry on each?! By my understanding, the largest carry on is about a 22" suitcase. That's alot to get in one 22". My hubby's shoes alone would take up 1/3 of the room.

[prarie cruiser]

Thanks to all for the suggestions! I am not yet to elite status on Princess, but hope to be there someday. So, for the time being, having free laundry is not an option. However, I do have an advantage of being a very frequent airline customer, and therefore do not have to pay the extra luggage fees for the planes, YET! I started this thread to help all with luggage issues, as I have experienced and seen many luggage traumas (my luggage once went for an unscheduled week vacation to Hawaii while I was braving a Midwestern blizzard).

I also first cruised with big suitcases full of items I did not ever use, yet seemed important to me when packing. I don't do anything like that anymore!

My personal tips are:

Wear your jeans on the plane to the ship, they take a lot of space to pack, but you can at some point maybe wear them again.

Limit shoes! I take a glitzy pair of flip-flops and wear these a lot! Cheap to buy and pack and can be left behind if needed.

A fleece vest can go a long way in packing for Alaska. Lightweight and warm to wear on the ship. Don't pack sweatshirts as they can be easily purchased (and probably will be). Always take one lightweight shirt to Alaska for the warm day you will probably have, but otherwise can buy tshirts also.

I always pack black slacks and a few glitzy tops. This is often the dinner clothing, easy to pack, lightweight, and no one notices if you have black slacks on more than once.

And, in addition to my standard carry on luggage, I include a foldup totes bag in my suitcase to go on the trip. Its great to have if I buy one too many souvenirs!

[burm]

[quote name='vmom']Wow. How do you get all that in one carry on each?! By my understanding, the largest carry on is about a 22" suitcase. That's alot to get in one 22". My hubby's shoes alone would take up 1/3 of the room.[/quote]


I too wondered how you get all that in a carry-on.

I would also recommend leaving the jeans at home. Just take slacks that you can wear on casual nights as well as travel in.

[alohaprincess]

[quote name='mousey']I'm certainly going to cut down on what I take on cruises. There are three of us, the DH, DS and myself when we travel. $15 for ea. of our bags (we usually take one each) going and coming adds an extra $90 onto the price of our flight.:eek: I think we'll just check mine and the guys will do rollaborads. :D[/QUOTE]

Hello ! ?? That is $45. for luggage ! What is that compared to the cost of a cruise?

[OCruisers]

[quote name='Ethel5']For me, it isn't the cost of the extra baggage, it's the concern of lost luggage on a European cruise. I have heard that some European airports are notorious for losing luggage.[/QUOTE]

HEAR YOU! My thoughts too!

[nho9504]

[quote name='vmom']Wow. How do you get all that in one carry on each?! By my understanding, the largest carry on is about a 22" suitcase. That's alot to get in one 22". My hubby's shoes alone would take up 1/3 of the room.[/QUOTE]

Yup, mine is 22" and my husband's a 21". He wants to downsize more but I am against it as I sometimes have to use his space for one or two extra things I want to take (but often end up not use. haha.) We travel very often and packing has been down to a science. In fact, we only start packing the night before we fly out. It takes about an hour for hubby to take care of his and mine takes like 2 to 3 hours.

My husband wears size 7 1/2 to 8 shoes. May be your husband wears a size 10? That would be a big difference.

He also put socks and undies into the shoes to fill up the space and keep the shoes in good shape. Each shoe goes into a felt shoebag with string so nothing falls out.

One way to pack your clothes tight and not wrinkle much, is to lay each piece FLAT, with the most easy to wrinkle garment being on the outest layer, and put each clothes on top of one and other. Then fold the sleeves in, and ROLL them up. That way they take up less space, AND they dont wrinkle easily. I have yet to need to iron a silk garment, packing in this way. Silk is also very light and thin material, but it is also cool in warm climate and warm in cold climate when layered with wool and outer coat.

[nho9504]

[quote name='burm']I too wondered how you get all that in a carry-on.

I would also recommend leaving the jeans at home. Just take slacks that you can wear on casual nights as well as travel in.[/QUOTE]

I dont bring jeans. As a matter of fact, I hardly wear jeans. I much prefer slacks. My husband wears jeans when travel, but packs the slacks in the carry-on.

You need to practice it and then you will see it definitely can be done. I can say that I often dress much nicer than many other ladies in dining room because of my long velvet skirts and silk pants. I DONT ever wear capri or casual pants to dining room - I like to dress up like having a night out on land.

[Web]

[quote name='Times Prince']"lastly". Extra clothes can come from a fear of forgetting something. We bring an attitude of "if we forgot something, we can buy it." And it works - the shirts I've bought onboard bring back fond memories everytime I wear them.[/LIST][/QUOTE]

[COLOR="Blue"]Yeah = what he said! Okay it was a little traumatic having to shop for a swisuit on board the Grandeur- I ain't Susan Anton / / / it was fun & I learned to include a suit in the carry on- what's the worst that could happen? You have to buy a blue t-shirt instead of [COLOR="Magenta"]pink?[/[/COLOR]COLOR]

[Web]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR][/FONT]I love making the packing list. It's a wait ti savor the anticipation.
THis year I'm making a binder with all of our cruise information, ports, coupons, ship's layout , etc. More savoring & a useful reference.