HAL Alaska land/sea cruise question

[svl]

Is it recommended to have a separate "join me on board" bag as opposed to having only one main piece of luggage that will be a "join me in Fairbanks/Anchorage" that has all our items for land and sea? Is there any other benefit to having them separate besides space/weight?

 

Thank you

[PROCRUISE]

Is it recommended to have a separate "join me on board" bag as opposed to having only one main piece of luggage that will be a "join me in Fairbanks/Anchorage" that has all our items for land and sea? Is there any other benefit to having them separate besides space/weight?

 

Thank you

 

It sounds a little confusing, but isn't, and yes, space/weight is the main concern. Just took HAL land/sea tour 6/9-22. Each of us packed one large suitcase to be checked in with the airline, and one smaller carry on or plane side check-in suitcase. This way we made sure that are large suitcases did not weight more than 50 lbs for the airline. Once we got to Fairbanks and checked into our room, we simply repacked, placing formal wear and clothing that we knew we could do without during the land tour in the smaller suitcases and sent them on to the ship. The larger suitcases we took with us on the land tour and had everything we needed. Sure enough, our smaller suitcases were waiting in our room when we boarded the Oosterdam a week later. Enjoy your trip.

[KroozFoolz]

Is there any other benefit to having them separate besides space/weight?

 

Thank you

 

I felt having less stuff helped with the packing and unpacking as you moved from hotel to hotel during the land tour.

[Shmoo here]

Is it recommended to have a separate "join me on board" bag as opposed to having only one main piece of luggage that will be a "join me in Fairbanks/Anchorage" that has all our items for land and sea? Is there any other benefit to having them separate besides space/weight?

 

Thank you

 

We didn't do the separate bags for our cruise/tour. Hubby and I each had a large suitcase (well, not REAL large - about 26") and a backpack for our day bag. This was for the 19 night cruise/tour.

 

There were, however many others in our group who had massive amounts of luggage. I know there was at least one couple that had 4 large suitcases, a "regular" wheeled carry-on bag, and each of them had a large day bag that they carried onboard the bus.

 

Let me tell you there were a lot of "deer in headlight" faces when the tour director handed out the "meet me onboard"/"meet me tonight" tags. I even heard one lady ask "You mean I'm only allowed one bag on the train (for the Denali leg) before arriving at the ship?"

 

No one is really going to remember that you repeated some outfits. We did laundry a couple of times during the land portion and once onboard. No need to bring 2 or 3 separate outfits for each day. The only clothes that we wore exclusively on the cruise were our formal clothes, and that wouldn't fill a whole suitcase (even a little one). There's nothing we wore during the land portion of the trip that we didn't wear onboard the ship.

Edited July 6, 2014 by Shmoo here

[Riverton Quilter]

Husband and I are doing land/cruise going to Denali then boarding the Statenman in Anchorage. Have found any info on splitting our luggage or limits on train. Has anyone done this cruise and have info. We are first time cruisers.

[aqua]

You are only allowed luggage that will fit under your seat on the train. There are no overhead bins like an airplane. We did 3 days on land, so we sent out larger suitcases to the ship. We used a small roll aboard suitcase that was sent ahead to our hotel each day. On the last day, it was sent to the Oosterdam. I was impressed at how well the system worked. Our luggage was always in our hotel or cabin when we arrived at each destination.

[svl]

Thank you for all the responses!

Here is where I found the info:

http://www.hollandamerica.com/assets/cruise-destinations/Tour_Tips.pdf

[pezhead]

I'm 5 weeks out from doing Denali then a week on the Statendam. Depending on how my packing goes I will either do evening clothes sent to ship in my 20 inch carry-on then use my 25 inch hard side during the week for my day clothes. Ideally I would be thrilled to get everything into one 30 inch duffel bag. In reality as a member of Overpackers Anonymous I will probably end up with the 30 inch duffel and the 25 inch suitcase--no matter how many packing light books, blogs, magazine articles I read.

 

For the day pack I have a basic backpack that'll fit under any seat with no problem whatsoever.

 

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