How many Suitcases ? 1 or 2 ?

Wow. This thread really makes me appreciate the free laundry we get from Princess and NCL.

Regarding the post about having to get medicine because of a lost bag, I would never pack something that important into a checked bag.

Wow. This thread really makes me appreciate the free laundry we get from Princess and NCL.

 

Regarding the post about having to get medicine because of a lost bag, I would never pack something that important into a checked bag.

You do, if an Elite member get a load of laundry free, pp., but I still like the variety of changing clothes.

I agree, medication, jewelry, computer, etc., should always been in your carry-on.

If we have to pay to check bags, we have kept it down to one per person. Most of the time, however, I try to book on Southwest so we can pack a third suitcase. It's an extravagance. Last December, it held my kingsize pillow, a Christmas tree, snorkeling gear, and a few clothes.

We have a different mindset than most. We choose luggage first then pack what will fit into that. Usually it's 22" suitcases. If it doesn't fit, it doesn't go. Only if we are planning to snorkel will we bring the larger bags. (We bring our own equipment.)

Hard for me to answer because we mostly do longer cruises. Our last 2 trips of a month each included 14 day cruises on Celebrity in one case and RCCL on the other, both without laundry. We took 2 large suitcases each and a large backpack each.

There appears to be a little more to this story as to why your husband is limiting you to one between you and I am guessing he does not want to pay the airline charge or he is handling all the suitcases.

I've met several people in the laundry room of Princess on a 15 day Hawaii cruise and they both had no airline luggage. Their luggage had been lost and they would never check luggage again. I became good friends with one of the woman who was a world traveler from England. She said they take many trips each year, but since their luggage was lost her husband would not check luggage. So she is careful what she purchases and packs.

Personally, we love to do European cruises and maybe rail to another city, so we agreed that we would take only what we could handle ourselves onto the trains. My DH hates when I do laundry in the room, but I have found a way to do laundry discreetly after the room has been made, and then hang it in the closet if it is not dry by dinner.

Unfortunately, you often need the same variety of clothes for a 7 day cruise as you do for a 14 day cruise. Here are a few suggestions.

We each take large backpacks (one which I inherited from my daughter who had one of those large backbacks where she could put textbooks, notebooks, and all her gear. In my backpack I put a change of clothing, 2 changes of underwear, my entertainment for the plane, meds and some cosmetics and a brush. I can even stuff my small purse in there if necessary, but usually it is for convenience because they have never stopped me for an extra carryon.

Try to be careful with the size of your toiletries. This is a good time to pack a few hotel size shampoos and conditioners. If you need mousse or spray, also go for travel size. I take a lot of medicine cabinet stuff like bandaids, antibiotic cream, aspirin, but I take the smallest containers I can get. This also saves you from needing an over the door hanger for your toiletries. Mine fit in one little cosmetic bag that I just keep in a drawer.

As I've purchased cruise clothes over the years I am conscious of weight. My husband likes the golf style shirts with collars so I buy the light weight wicking shirts that weigh next to nothing and if I have to wash them in the sink they are dry in a few hours. Stay away from cotton. As for me, I take one long black skirt and different tops for formal night (also purchased with weight in mind). If there are 3 formal nights I will rewear one top. I also have purchased a lot of polyester tops that I wear for dinner and then I can wear the next day. If I need to wash a few, they are easy to wash.

The heaviest thing is the shoes. My husband purchased a pair of black sneakers that do not look like sneakers for formal night. This serves as his backup pair of sneakers. On our 25 cruises I doubt if anyone even noticed or if they did, who cares. I also only take a few pairs of shoes. Packing was the reason he stopped taking a tux. He needs one less pair of slacks if he takes a jacket instead of a tux.

I would suggest gathering your clothes and doing the best you can choosing the lightest weight clothes you can. Wear your jeans, sneakers and your sweater/jacket on the plane. Then ask your husband to help you repack and if everything fits, weigh the suitcase. I think you might be able to get away with 1 large suitcase, one 21" suitcase and one backpack, but 1 large suitcase and one small carryon will be difficult without washing clothing .

Remember it is a vacation so try not to be confrontational. Ask for his help packing, rather than announcing it is impossible. He must realize that he took up most of the suitcase, so do your best and try to find out what is really bothering him. You are a team and he will appreciate your trying, more than he will appreciate your telling him that everyone on cruise critics takes 2 suitcases on the plane.

Good luck.

Well looks like my post got a lot of replies :D I woke up this morning and decided to take our 2 large ones plus a small one also on wheels to carry on with ,meds, etc. I will mix in match in both suit cases in case of lost issues which is a smart idea. We learned on our 1st cruise not to let them take our suit cases the night before getting off of ship. Instead we carry our own suit cases off the morning we leave.Makes it a faster process. Thanks everyone, happy cruising :) See you soon.

We take one large suitcase and one carry-on backpack per person.

Take a large suitcase for yourself and a medium-sized one for your husband. Then for storage the medium one will fit inside the large one, thus taking no more space than just one suitcase.

You do, if an Elite member get a load of laundry free, pp., but I still like the variety of changing clothes.

 

I agree, medication, jewelry, computer, etc., should always been in your carry-on.

On Princess, Elites get unlimited free laundry. Or at least we still did last December. On NCL we each get one free bag per 7-day cruise.

I still end up with plenty of different outfits. Enough to suit me. But ... LOL ... I suppose maybe people do get tired of seeing me in the same clothes. If they even notice which I doubt.

We take 1 each & 1 small carry-on

For longer cruises (14+) we take a 26" one each & I pack a foldable carry-on in case I shop :D plus a small carry-on for valuables

short cruises we take 1 21" case each & a small tote bag for valuables

We cross pack in case 1 bag goes on a different vacation than us ;)

We do 2 suitcases and a carry on. We also pack some of hubby's stuff in my suitcase and some of my stuff in his....Just in case one goes missing or is delayed in delivery to our room.

We do the exact same thing. Both suitcases (29" hardsided) and the carry on (22") fit under the bed for storage.

I'm leaving next month for a 22 night cruise to Australia, and 5 nights in Sydney. I'm taking my 26in, just bought a 24in, and my rolling carry on. I would rather have room to bring home souvenirs, than stuffed into one large bag, and not have any room. And I'm traveling solo.

We only book cruises 14 days and longer. We also have hotels pre and post cruise -- 3 or 4 before the cruise and 2 after the cruise.

Thus we take 4 suitcases. One quarter of each person's clothes goes into each suitcase. I developed computer lists a long time ago and know exactly what goes into each suitcase. Once in a while the lists are updated when we get some new clothes.

I also have lists for our carry-ons -- 1 per person -- mainly because of all the medications DH takes and for the couple that I take.

hubby said to only take 1 large one and a small pull one for meds/small items to take on plane. Well suit case is almost full with all hubby's stuff and only a few of my things :eek:

I say the person who is limiting the number of bags gets to pack second :D If he wants to only take 1 suitcase, then he can wear the same thing the whole cruise! I'm glad you decided to take one each to make it easier.

We each take a 25" bag and I bring a backpack.

I say the person who is limiting the number of bags gets to pack second :D If he wants to only take 1 suitcase, then he can wear the same thing the whole cruise! I'm glad you decided to take one each to make it easier.

Lmao some hilarious posts by people. It would appear by my suitcase that his seems like he has more clothes then me :( I guess because he's bringing more pants and shorts and my stuff is shorts/tops and sun dresse's and 1 formal dress. Crazy lol, Oh well, more room for souvenirs :o

Wow, bf and I bring one carry on between the two of us and a backpack each for a 2 week vacay. No checking bags so no chance of it getting lost.

Mom and I each take 1 large suitcase and 1 carryon each. This time, we may bring the garment bag for our dresses. We both like to dress up and like choices so it's worth it to us.

Doing laundry wouldn't make any difference because I hang most of my clothes to dry.

Plus, clothes are a lot of fun for me on vacation so I don't want to cut down :)

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For those who take "carry on", with the latest carry on luggage rules our carry on luggage can no longer be "carry on".

This was on United, I don't know who else has changed their rules but it would be a good idea to check.

For those who take "carry on", with the latest carry on luggage rules our carry on luggage can no longer be "carry on".

 

This was on United, I don't know who else has changed their rules but it would be a good idea to check.

I fly Virgin and Jet Blue and our carry on is well under the 24" or so restriction.

We usually take two large suitcases (I don't remember the size, but they are the largest you can check) and we usually take two hanging bags, then we take two carry ons. I also have a wheeled open carrier for the two cases of ginger ale we usually bring on with us.

For our Last cruise we each brought two large suitcases and only brought one hanging bag and the other one we used a large duffle bag for all our shoes and snorkel gear. This cruise was 30 days so we bought the unlimited laundry package.

One of our biggest problems with traveling is 99% of the clothing I wear must be cotton. A lot of the other fabrics cause me to itch. Anything that gets a bit sweaty goes in the laundry. I can't stand to put on something that has any kind of smell in it so most of the things we take gets worn once and then into the laundry it goes.

On this last cruise Southwest did charge us for the two extra suitcases going to meet the ship. Coming back the check in agent told us to take our hanging bag and the duffle bag to the gate and check it in there so there would be no charge. We did and it worked, but its not something I would recomend doing.

For a 7-day cruise we normally take a medium suitcase each and a small tote/purse/bag as a carry-on, used for valuables, medications and things needed for the flight.

For longer cruises we may take a medium and small suitcase each, or a medium each and one 21" which is mostly shoes, snorkel equipment and other larger items. We usually check all suitcases if flying on our preferred airline as we get two free bags each, except of course for a small bag for valuables, etc., that we carry on.

My 26" bag is usually stuffed and has never weighed more than 50 lbs.--usually about 45.

We have done a week cruise with carry-on only, due to using a different airline and having 7 grandkids along (didn't want to pay for checking 9 bags). It's doable but not what I'd prefer.

We'd have a very tough time packing everything for both of us in just one bag.

If it's storage in the cabin he's worried about, even when we have four suitcases they have always fit under the bed. Others have said they have asked the steward to store the bags elsewhere, if they are truly huge, but I don't have personal experience with that. We have some ridiculously big bags--over 30"--but haven't used them for years; they are just too big.

See you all tomorrow, heading to catch a plane to Orlando :)

For those who take "carry on", with the latest carry on luggage rules our carry on luggage can no longer be "carry on".

 

This was on United, I don't know who else has changed their rules but it would be a good idea to check.

United hasn't changed their carry on dimensions - they are still 22"x14"x9" for the carry on and 9"x10"x17" for the "personal item." What has changed is they have that sizer at each gate and are checking more intensely to be sure that those wheelies are the correct size INCLUDING HANDLES and WHEELS. Many bags say they are "carry on" compliant, but they didn't include those protruding things in the measurements.

Delta and American still also have the 22"x14"9" for the carry on - have had it for quite awhile.

A 20 inch roller/carry on for DW, a 16 inch roller/carry on for me, and DW's big purse (it seems bottomless). Once in a while, depending on land trips, I might also take a small day back pack. Seven days or seven weeks we essentially pack the same way. The bags arrive when we do and don't get lost. Three months of extended travel this winter with a cruise in between and this is what we will take.

We use take the kitchen sink. Now we enjoy taking less and less. We always do add on land trips and we have to fly to the port.

The best thing that helped us cut down was just buying smaller bags. The larger your suitcase....the more you pack!