Baggage allowance

[secret-agent]

Hello,

 

My fiance and I are booked on a celebrity cruise from Barcelona to Venice in July for our honeymoon. Originally, we were under the impression that we would be able to travel from the UK with two bags each weighing 23kg, giving a total of 46kg per person. However..... we have been looking again at the celebrity website and it says that even though we booked our flights through them, we would have to check the air carrier - Air France. We are shocked to find out from their website that in fact, we can only have one bag each weighing 20kg!!! We are not sure how we can then be expected to carry all the necessary clothes we will require. We had planned to bring a case each and also a suit carrier for my coctail dresses and my finace's kilt outfit.

 

Has anybody flown from the UK using Air France on thier way to a celebrity cruise? We feel we shouldn't have to pay the ridiculous excess baggage charges, but we might just have to!!!!

 

Many thanks

[Eightydays]

I have not flown from the UK on Air France, and do not want to hijack your thread, but wanted to point out that Delta Airlines (which now includes Northwest) also just changed their baggage allowance to only one free checked luggage weighing up to 50 lbs for travel between the US and Europe, and the second checked luggage will cost $50!!

 

So unfortunately, this restriction is becoming more widespread.

 

Good luck!

[seattle_transplant]

space bags!

 

Using space bags, I've made it through 2 weeks in Europe using a carry-on size backpack ( this one - http://travelstore.ricksteves.com/catalog/index.cfm?fuseaction=product&theParentId=8&id=139 )

[hylasgirl]

I really figure with as much as one of these Med trips costs, if I have to pay extra to get an extra suitcase there... so be it. Don't stress. Pay the extra fee and take what you want. We fly AirFrance last year to Barcelona and had 5, yes five suitcases for the two of us, and they never said a word at check in. We were getting ready to give them a credit card for the extra and the girl never asked.

[Aramis]

All flights out of Australia excluding to the USA are only 20kgs so we are used to it. As a result we spent a lot of time purchasing extra light weight baggage and using our onboard 7kgs to the max. We have both travelled extensively and will also be doing the Barcelona to Venice 14 night cruise (our 2nd Med Cruise) later in the year (plus 2 weeks additional land trips). We take a lot of older, unused, won't be missed clothes and leave them behind if we get carried away shopping. Hire a tux or buy really cheap and leave in a charity bin in Venice if you plan to shop a lot. I take one formal dress a few shawls to dress it up and one pair of dressy black pants and 2 dressy tops, one pair of good shoes and one pair for the day. And ladies utilise your handbag, you are allowed it on top of the 7 kgs, so make it count - but not too obvious. I use it for cameras, my lap top (7") and book.

[MisterBill99]

I have not flown from the UK on Air France, and do not want to hijack your thread, but wanted to point out that Delta Airlines (which now includes Northwest) also just changed their baggage allowance to only one free checked luggage weighing up to 50 lbs for travel between the US and Europe, and the second checked luggage will cost $50!!

Yes, I just saw that tonight! Fortunately I purchased my Delta tickets for my Med cruise 2 weeks ago, so I am grandfathered in on the 2 free bags policy. Good thing I did not procrastinate and wait for a cheaper airfare!

[tom_uk]

Hello,

 

My fiance and I are booked on a celebrity cruise from Barcelona to Venice in July for our honeymoon. Originally, we were under the impression that we would be able to travel from the UK with two bags each weighing 23kg, giving a total of 46kg per person. However..... we have been looking again at the celebrity website and it says that even though we booked our flights through them, we would have to check the air carrier - Air France. We are shocked to find out from their website that in fact, we can only have one bag each weighing 20kg!!!

 

Has anybody flown from the UK using Air France on thier way to a celebrity cruise? We feel we shouldn't have to pay the ridiculous excess baggage charges, but we might just have to!!!!

 

Many thanks

 

I understand your problem, as we also are flying within Europe to join a cruise. However I'm afraid 'one bag' is the standard for flights within Europe - all the airlines have a similar limit. There is a bit of difference in the maximum weight allowed - BA allows 23 kgs, for example, while some of the no-frills lines allow 15kgs or less, and charge for all luggage except hand luggage. But one bag to check-in is it, generally.

 

Have you checked Air France's hand luggage limits? I know that BA have become quite generous, both in terms of size of bag (I think they now allow maximum dimensions of 55cm x 45cm x 25cm) and weight (23 kgs max). Their only real stipulation is that you've got to be able to lift it into an overhead bin on your own. (There are still restrictions on content, i.e. liquids.) It would be worthwhile examining Air France's limits in this area.

 

The only other thing to say is that if you're going to go over, then arrange the excess in advance - that seems to reduce the charge somewhat.

[Elaine0138]

You can buy tubes for putting your kilt in and take that as a carry on. It has been one case per person for a long time in Europe, it is amazing how much you can pack in as long as your dresses are not all beaded.

[secret-agent]

We are allowed up to 12Kg in hand luggage! So We will prob be ok... but we will do a bit of a weighing excercise at the weekend. And like you say if I take a largish hand bag too... they never seem to bother about that being additional to a carry on bag! A bit of the problem is we are both into photography and have quite hefty SLR Camera kits... so there is at least 10Kg in my fiancee's hand luggage already and that's just his stuff... mines is prob only about 5 in camera kit in total... it is not so much the weight as the fact you are only allowed 1 bag... 40kg between the two of us would prob be ok... if we could take 3 bags. 1 being a suit carrier. My fiancee suggested just taking a suit carrier as one bag and then him taking another... I'm just paranoid if we do that and one bag goes missing then all I might have to wear is ball gowns... I'm sure we will sort something out... but any suggestions on how to cut down weight would be good.

[tom_uk]

We reduce the risk from losing a bag by cross-packing, of course.

 

As regards saving weight, be prepared to use the cleaning service during the cruise. In the first half of the cruise you'll find that they'll charge per item, but on previous Celebrity cruises there was an 'everything you can shove into a bag' offer at a cheaper rate: that's a good to provide clothes for the last part of the cruise plus clothes for the journey home.

 

Do you know how many formal evenings you have? I believe we have just two on our Solstice 11-nighter later this year so I shall take just one formal shirt & get it cleaned before the second night.

[secret-agent]

We have 3 formal nights!

 

toiletries are heavy... can good quality ones be bought on the ship? Is it expensive to buy such items?

[CathyCruises]

It IS expensive and there is no guarantee they will have what you want. If possible, bring just enough of each item to get you through the cruise. Use their shampoo and conditioner and hand lotion. Use plastic travel size bottles for things you HAVE to have. Many things come in sample sizes (I experimented with conditioner since they didn't use to have it--but do now I understand--and realized I needed three travel sized bottles to get me through the trip.) This also helps you bring enough of everything--since you are thinking about each item, and to figure out which things you can live without for 10 days!

 

Cathy

[MisterBill99]

space bags!

 

Using space bags, I've made it through 2 weeks in Europe using a carry-on size backpack

Interesting.. we have a few boxes of Space Bags courtesy of a rebate deal at Walgreens last year. My wife hasn't used them and hasn't had any interest in them. But perhaps convincing her that this would leave room for stuff we buy while on our cruise in Italy could convince her to use them for this trip.

 

We used to travel with a great 30" suitcase, but ever since we went over and had to sit on the floor in the lobby of the EWR terminal a few years ago rearranging luggage after being overweight, we've switched to duffles. The 50 (or less) weight limit has really made huge suitcases dinosaurs, at least when you need to fly.

 

I'm planning to buy and travel with a cheap luggage scale this time. I found tis one for $7.50, this site also has one for $8.25 and another for $9.75.

 

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18014

[MisterBill99]

toiletries are heavy... can good quality ones be bought on the ship? Is it expensive to buy such items?

If you're flying in early, you can always buy some stuff before getting on the ship. Or else go shopping at your first port.

[tom_uk]

toiletries are heavy... can good quality ones be bought on the ship?

 

Toiletries are indeed heavy. My wife has a stash of plastic bottles & tubs into which she decants sufficient quantities of toiletries for the cruise (as Cathy has also suggested). She found out the hard way a few years ago that on holiday is not the time to experiment with unknown cosmetics/toiletries: she bought and used a different conditioner when in NYC a few years ago, and had a strong allergic reaction to it. She spent most of the holiday with a puffed-up and very red neck, and felt very self-conscious. So for her, the effort involved in decanting her regular toiletries into smaller, lighter containers is well worth it.

[uktog]

Just remember space savers are not necessarily weight savers as we found out one time!!