Can 5 +luggage fit in a Dodge Caravan?

Need to rent a pre-cruise vehicle for 2 days. Four adults & one child with all our luggage. At least five full size 'check-in' size suitcases and smaller hand held carry ons. (We tend to be overpackers)

Will a full size mini-van rental (listed as a Dodge Caravan, Crysler Town & Country or similar) hold all of us and our junk?

Hopefully you will get an answer.

You could also call the rental company.

Keith

Hopefully you will get an answer. You could also call the rental company. Keith

Yeah, tried that. Rental company reps are like robots just reading what the specs say on their screen.

7 passengers + 4 bags <or> 7 passengers + 3 large bags & 2 small bags

I was hoping for a real world answer from people who own, drive and go on vacations in mini-vans.

I know that some MV have a folding rear third row seat. So can I fit more bags if I get rid of the last row?

Makes sense.

Hopefully someone will know.

keith

We have a Honda Odyssey mini van. Four adults + 1 child will fit easily if you get a bench seat in the rear. The luggage will fit, but you will have to stack it to the ceiling. You may also have to have small hand carry items at your feet. We have gone on several cruises with 4 adults and 8 suitcases with no problems. It's tight, but possible. Hope you don't have to drive across country to the port.

Margee

Hi. We have a Honda mini van. We have taken several cruises with 4 adults and 8 pieces of luggage, plus small hand totes. You should fit easily if the back seat has the third person fold down type feature. The luggage should fit if you stack it to the ceiling. You may have to put the hand luggage at your feet.

Good luck.

Margee

We have a Town & Country and have had Dodge Caravans. Yes, it is doable. You can fold down 1/3 of the rear seat to have extra storage for the suitcases and one person sitting next to them. Then you would have 2 people in the front seat, 2 in the middle and 1 in the rear.

Alternatively, you can fold down the center 2 seats (they go flush into the floor, at least on the newer models), and have 2 people in the front seats and 3 in the rear seat with most of the luggage in the center. There will still be some space behind the rear seat for luggage also.

Wow! What fast replies!

Going to reserve one.

Thanks so much.

I suggest you go to a dealership and actually look at the vehicle. EM

I suggest you go to a dealership and actually look at the vehicle. EM

Uuuhh, yeaaaaah, Thanks.

....but thats not going to happen.

But I did find a nice YouTube vid that shows me the inside of a Caravan.

Thats kinda like going to the dealer, right?

I used to have a 7 passenger caravan XLT ( extra space behind 3rd seat) and there was quite a bit of room. With 5 people you can have one in the 3rd seat with more luggage packed there. Seating was 2, 2 and 3. One child...will this child require a safety seat or safety booster. That will be equal to the space of a full sized person.

We did it with 6 adults and multiple large suitcases. Very squished and one suitcase had to lay across two adults laps. Everyone had to hold their own carryon on their lap also. It was packed to the max but it turned out to be one of the funniest moments of heading out to the cruise port!

I have a ton of experience at car and van packing.

The breaking point may come if you have soft-sided and/or semi soft-sided bags that do not lay flat and stack evenly which can happen if such bags are really stuffed.

Also most bags are not perfectly square so as you are loading you may need to alternate that stacking so that the bottom end of one bag is lined up with the top end of another bag. Gee, I hope that makes sense!

If you really want to see this sort of job done properly, go to a hotel and watch how the bellmen load vehicles!

Yes it will work ..

You should be fine. I have driven a Dodge Caravan since 1998, and currently have a 2007 model. We fit 5 adults, each with a checked bag and a carry on bag into it for a 7 hour drive from home in mid-MO to O'Hare airport in Chicago. We had 2-24 inch hard suitcases and 3 -24 inch soft ones, plus 2 of the 20 inch TravelPro, 2 large backpacks, and a tote bag. We also had a couple of smaller bags we left in the van, plus a pair of crutches.

We did not put any of the seats down although we did have a couple of backpacks on the back bench seat.

I've also fit 3 adults and 2 children, a tent, cooler, 5 sleeping bags, clothing and food for a cross country trip where we camped out along the way. Just be careful packing and unpacking, and plan to use the side mirrors to assist when driving.

Have fun!

Did that with four adults and one pre-teen.

2/3 of the back seat was folded down so only a single was available (pre-teen).

Two center seats up (the ladies)

Two guys (one 6'1' and one 6'4") in the front

All the bags were in the very back and stacked alongside the third seat.

We were PACKED! Not a lot of "wiggle-room".

Only did it for about 5 miles (picked up the second couple at the FLL airport and drove directly to the ship). Would not recommend for a longer drive.

We only need MV from ship to hotel and then hotel to airport. Prob one hour at most. Rest of the time bags wont be in vehicle.

My wife & I, plus grandma & grampa in front & mid rows.

DD will be in booster in third row. I guess all minivans have the folding 60/40 rear seats??

I hope to drop the 60% down and use the space next to last row seat, as well as the trunk area, for bags.

From the replies received so far it looks that we will be in good shape.

Aleady reserved $100/day from Enterprise.

We only need MV from ship to hotel and then hotel to airport. Prob one hour at most for longest trip. Rest of the time bags wont be in vehicle.

 

My wife & I, plus grandma & grampa in front & mid rows.

 

DD will be in booster in third row. I guess all minivans have the folding 60/40 rear seats??

 

I hope to drop the 60% down and use the space next to last row seat, as well as the trunk area, for bags.

 

From the replies received so far it looks that we will be in good shape.

 

Aleady reserved $100/day from Enterprise.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Forums mobile app

There are no more shorter versions of the Chrysler family of minivans.

Geek note, the Caravan is going away, and will be called the Town and Country from 2015 forward. Impressed, aren't ya...

.

I suggest you go to a dealership and actually look at the vehicle. EM

I was just going to say this lol

I have a dodge caravan. 2007. we take half of the rear bench out. done it with 4 adults and two kids. one adult shares the half bench with a child seat. tons of room for luggage. it gets pretty full. the grands are larger with the fold down seats.

With clever packing you can. Once on the way home from a cruise. Get to airport and one van wouldn't start, had to have it towed home. Caravan with fold and go seats and some smart packing we did it. 4 adults,wheelchair, scooter, a walker, 9 full size suitcases, 3 carry ones. We placed a suitcase in between the center middle seats with a carryon on top. Then with a few restacking we were good to go.

With clever packing you can. Once on the way home from a cruise. Get to airport and one van wouldn't start, had to have it towed home. Caravan with fold and go seats and some smart packing we did it. 4 adults,wheelchair, scooter, a walker, 9 full size suitcases, 3 carry ones. We placed a suitcase in between the center middle seats with a carryon on top. Then with a few restacking we were good to go.

You're my hero! And I thought we did good when we stopped on the way home to pick up our little dog and the St. Bernard jumped in, she didn't want to wait for us to return with the van. We were in the Prius, had 4 suitcases and the 2 dogs. Amazing how much you can pack in!