Suggestions on how to travel with an extra piece of Luggage

[TEACH6868]

We are doing our first river cruise this fall out of Basel. This will be followed by 2 ocean cruises. I have just learned that we are only allowed 1 piece of full-size luggage on our river boat cruise. That would be fine if we weren't doing more cruising afterwards. Since we fly into Zurich before the cruise and out of Nuremberg after the cruise, not sure how to store an extra piece of luggage. When we leave Nuremberg we will be flying to Heathrow. This is where we would like to have the extra piece of lugggage for the 2 ocean cruises that follow. Has anyone had this situation? Thanks for any ideas!

[mapleleaves]

Lots of people travel for 2,3 or 4 weeks at a time using only one suitcase.  Use the ship's laundry service.  It's not cheap but probably a lot cheaper and less hassle than shipping and storing multipe suitcases.

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by mapleleaves

[LGW59]

2 hours ago, TEACH6868 said:

We are doing our first river cruise this fall out of Basel. This will be followed by 2 ocean cruises. I have just learned that we are only allowed 1 piece of full-size luggage on our river boat cruise. That would be fine if we weren't doing more cruising afterwards. Since we fly into Zurich before the cruise and out of Nuremberg after the cruise, not sure how to store an extra piece of luggage. When we leave Nuremberg we will be flying to Heathrow. This is where we would like to have the extra piece of lugggage for the 2 ocean cruises that follow. Has anyone had this situation? Thanks for any ideas!

Less is more.

[GeezerCouple]

2 hours ago, TEACH6868 said:

We are doing our first river cruise this fall out of Basel. This will be followed by 2 ocean cruises. I have just learned that we are only allowed 1 piece of full-size luggage on our river boat cruise. That would be fine if we weren't doing more cruising afterwards. Since we fly into Zurich before the cruise and out of Nuremberg after the cruise, not sure how to store an extra piece of luggage. When we leave Nuremberg we will be flying to Heathrow. This is where we would like to have the extra piece of lugggage for the 2 ocean cruises that follow. Has anyone had this situation? Thanks for any ideas!

 

Are you staying for at least one night in the London area?

If so, perhaps you could use one of the luggage forwarding services (or FedEx/etc.?) to ship the extra luggage to that hotel, where they could hold it for you?

If so, I'd suggest a higher end hotel and arrange with the Concierge in advance to be expecting the item(s), and allow plenty of extra time.

 

GC

[casofilia]

@TEACH6868

 

 I have just learned that we are only allowed 1 piece of full-size luggage on our river boat cruise.    Is that each or between you?

--------------------------------

If you are allowed only 1 between you OR if you are allowed one each and want to take a third then:-

I agree wholly with Geezer couple about using a decent hotel and arrange with them NOW  to store the extra case there.

 

Take the case with you  to Zurich and freight forward it from there to the London hotel.   I assume, you could check, that that would be cheaper than freight forwarding it from the USA.

[kochleffel]

I agree that it's probably possible to travel with just one large case and one small case apiece, unless any of the cruises is on a line with a strict dress code, such as Cunard or P&O. With that exception, I don't think you'll need a substantially different wardrobe for river and ocean. If you want to try it, find out what the maximum sizes for a checked bag and for a cabin bag are on your airline and on the river cruise.

 

Otherwise, I agree with the preceding posts: if you're staying a night or longer in England, have another bag (or two, if need be) shipped to your hotel there.

[Travelling2Some]

5 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

Lots of people travel for 2,3 or 4 weeks at a time using only one suitcase.  Use the ship's laundry service.  It's not cheap but probably a lot cheaper and less hassle than shipping and storing multipe suitcases.

 

This.  DH and I have traveled all over the world for over a month at a time with just 1 carry on and 1 backpack/personal item each.  I rinse things out that are easy to rinse out and send things to the ship's laundry when we get on board.  I also book Air B&B's with a washer/dryer instead of hotels and look in advance to find out where the laundromats are in cities we are going to.  All my travel clothes are non-bulky and mix and match and I use a 3 layer system for outerwear - a light zip up fleece, a compressible down "puffer" jacket and a waterproof outer shell/windbreaker. If you put all three on it is the equivalent of a winter coat. I know it is not everyone's style but it works really well if you are fairly low maintenance.  Rolling stuff tightly into packing cubes helps too.  I've actually come home with a shirt or two I never wore!

Edited June 20, 2022 by Travelling2Some

[LGW59]

30 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

This.  DH and I have traveled all over the world for over a month at a time with just 1 carry on and 1 backpack/personal item each.  I rinse things out that are easy to rinse out and send things to the ship's laundry when we get on board.  I also book Air B&B's with a washer/dryer instead of hotels and look in advance to find out where the laundromats are in cities we are going to.  All my travel clothes are non-bulky and mix and match and I use a 3 layer system for outerwear - a light zip up fleece, a compressible down "puffer" jacket and a waterproof outer shell/windbreaker. If you put all three on it is the equivalent of a winter coat. I know it is not everyone's style but it works really well if you are fairly low maintenance.  Rolling stuff tightly into packing cubes helps too.  I've actually come home with a shirt or two I never wore!

I’m the exact same, I can travel for two+ weeks with a overhead carry-on, a back pack and I’m good to go.  I take a very good mix of clothes, wear the same trousers several times, shirts, jacket etc.  I’m a great roller of my clothes packing, years of business travel taught me well 

[lissie]

We are doing 2 cruises on Cunard ie formal clothes plus 6 weeks in Europe independently - one piece of luggage between which we will stash in Barcelona between cruises plus carry on. I don't feel like I'm travelling particularly light either 

[mapleleaves]

Out of curiousity I checked the fees on  www.luggageforward.com.  About $225 to ship a case (up to 50lbs) from Zurich to London.  And the web site indicates that they ship to cruise terminal.

 

Then add  any airline fees for the extra luggage, and the hassle of getting it to,from and thru various airports.    Cheaper and easier to do laundry on the ship !

[Lois R]

Everyone travels differently.......but I have a question, what company tells you that you can only bring 1 piece of luggage with you?😲 I have been on 2 river cruises and neither company had luggage restrictions. And I have been on over 60 ocean cruises and definitely was never told how much luggage I was allowed to bring.

[cruisemom42]

55 minutes ago, Lois R said:

I have a question, what company tells you that you can only bring 1 piece of luggage with you?😲

 

The same question occurred to me. Unless it is some kind of expedition cruise on a very small boat I've never heard of such a spartan requirement for luggage.

[LHT28]

58 minutes ago, Lois R said:

Everyone travels differently.......but I have a question, what company tells you that you can only bring 1 piece of luggage with you?😲 I

When we did Scenic river cruise   they had restriction of 1 suitcase & one carryon PP

it was in the fine print

 

You had to be able to store them in your cabin  that is probably why they have restriction  ..river boats do not usually have extra space for storing suitcases like ocean ships

Even then I think most cruise lines limit the luggage to 200lbs

I manage with 1  26" bag each & 1 carry on 

YMMV

[Mum2Mercury]

18 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

Lots of people travel for 2,3 or 4 weeks at a time using only one suitcase.  Use the ship's laundry service.  It's not cheap but probably a lot cheaper and less hassle than shipping and storing multipe suitcases.

I was going to say the same thing.  

 

Pack light ... watch some You Tube videos about rolling your clothes ... downsize the shoes, and you'll be able to avoid that second suitcase.  A medium suitcase is very do-able.  

Edited June 20, 2022 by Mum2Mercury

[iancal]

Hire a porter or cut back on the bags.  Or….can you stash a bag a one of your hotels for future pickup.

 

it is hard…especially  if you have not travelled much in the past.

 

We made the choice, post retirement,to each travel with a carry on roller only.  One week or eight weeks.  Best decision we made.  It has greatly enhanced our travel enjoyment.  There are trade offs of course.  Ours was mandated by our respective physical ability to handle our bags independently.  It started with a luggage limitation on an African safari…part of a seven month trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by iancal

[TEACH6868]

Thanks for all your different suggestions. We have decided to have an extra suitcase shipped to our London hotel, using Shipgo. This will give me a chance to take some of the additional items  I would like to have on our ocean cruises. We have taken 30 plus ocean cruises, and I enjoy having a variety of clothes. I have always taken 2 suitcases for myself when we travel abroad. We use porters and normally haven't had problems dealing with the luggage. 

 

With our Avalon River Cruise restricting us to one large suitcase each, I knew I had to find a way to take my second suitcase, so shipping it is what I will do. 

 

Thanks again for all the great ideas!

[CPT Trips]

On 6/20/2022 at 10:08 PM, TEACH6868 said:

Thanks for all your different suggestions. We have decided to have an extra suitcase shipped to our London hotel, using Shipgo. This will give me a chance to take some of the additional items  I would like to have on our ocean cruises. We have taken 30 plus ocean cruises, and I enjoy having a variety of clothes. I have always taken 2 suitcases for myself when we travel abroad. We use porters and normally haven't had problems dealing with the luggage. 

 

With our Avalon River Cruise restricting us to one large suitcase each, I knew I had to find a way to take my second suitcase, so shipping it is what I will do. 

 

Thanks again for all the great ideas!

Head over to the river cruise board and ask your question there. You’ll get answers from folks that have traveled with Avalon. 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/115-river-cruising/

 

I don’t think you will have a problem with two bags. We have not experienced a river cruise where we experienced any pushback because we had “too many bags.” And those trips also said one bag only. We traveled with two bags each plus “carry ons” a few times (not with Avalon) as we sometimes take things for people that live in Europe we plan to meet there. 

 

[ldubs]

On 6/20/2022 at 7:08 PM, TEACH6868 said:

Thanks for all your different suggestions. We have decided to have an extra suitcase shipped to our London hotel, using Shipgo. This will give me a chance to take some of the additional items  I would like to have on our ocean cruises. We have taken 30 plus ocean cruises, and I enjoy having a variety of clothes. I have always taken 2 suitcases for myself when we travel abroad. We use porters and normally haven't had problems dealing with the luggage. 

 

With our Avalon River Cruise restricting us to one large suitcase each, I knew I had to find a way to take my second suitcase, so shipping it is what I will do. 

 

Thanks again for all the great ideas!

 

Glad you came up with an alternative.  If not too late, I would definitely reach out to the river cruise line and explain you need to bring an extra case.  Betting they will allow you to bring it.