How did you pack re: luggage policy on cruisetour?

[OPSnorkeler]

We just returned from a 10-day partial transit Panama Canal trip on the Island Princess. We liked the ship and are looking forward to being on her in Alaska.

 

In preparation for our Northbound cruisetour, I was reading the info regarding luggage and don't really understand how to pack for both the cruise and the land portion.

 

It looks like not all of our luggage will go with us on the land portion. If I understand this correctly, some luggague goes from the ship to be seen again only once we arrive at the Anchorage hotel.

 

We usually have 1 checked bag and one roller-board carry-on per person when we travel. For the land portion, it looks as though the roller-board carry-ons will not fit on the train and/or bus and only one bag per person (that we will not see until we arrive at the lodges each day), plus a small personal bag for carry-on will be allowed.

 

We would greatly appreciate any tips on how to pack our bags (not what to take), from someone who has done this before.

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

[zqvol]

We were on only the land portion of Princess Cruise tour last summer. (we were on Regent for the ship portion). All of our luggage went with us the whole time. We just took it to the train, they tagged it and it was off loaded at each stop.

 

I will suggest that while along the coast it was cold and we needed a lot of layers, in the middle of the state it was warm enough for short sleeve shirts, so be prepared for a wide variety of temperatures.

[Pittypatbr]

On another thread someone said the "big bags" were loaded in the bus luggage compartment, but left there unless you absolutely needed something out of one. The smaller carryon size roller bags were unloaded from the luggage compartment at each stop, and then you had your small bag that was on the train or bus with you for cameras and valuables. If this is true, we will pack one maximum size bag that will carry all our dress up clothes for the two of us, and that will be the one that is "checked" until the end. Then we can hopefully fit everything else we need into two small or one small and one medium bag for daily use. I will be interested to hear more from others who have done this.

[mlmalone3]

We've done a Northbound cruise tour with RC and a Southbound cruise tour with Princess. We packed our formal things, dressy stuff in one bag (hanging bag) that never got unloaded while on land. We each took a backpack (and my purse) for our carry-on on the train/motorcoach and each had one large suitcase with our clothes, etc...I believe if the size is considered a carry-on for an airline, it will work on the land tour motorcoach or train. Good Luck!