How do you organise packing for departure?

[Jo and Rob]

I was wondering if you have to leave your suitcase outside your room the night before? And how late can you leave it? I won't want to travel home in what I was wearing on the last night! Advice about a carry on bag etc would be great.

many thanks

[6rugrats]

I was wondering if you have to leave your suitcase outside your room the night before? And how late can you leave it? I won't want to travel home in what I was wearing on the last night! Advice about a carry on bag etc would be great.

many thanks

 

Your cruiseline will give you detailed instructions about the time your bags must be outside.

 

I don't know what you are looking for in a carryon, but there are many webpages devoted to luggage/bags. Try a google search and investigate some of them.

[Cruise Girl Forever]

I use a carry on 14 inches wide, 11 inches high, 6 inches deep. It fits under the seat on the plane and I don't have to bother with the overhead.

The clothes I wore on the last night I roll and place in there as well as anything I do not want in check-in luggage (camera, cell, charger, contact lens, book, make-up, airline tickets, ect).

[grandmato4]

Great question for a first time cruiser:) Do wish I could remember but I think it was about 11 pm on our last cruise that our luggage needed to be outside our door. You will recieve a paper from the cruieline ahead of time telling you what time the luggage needs to be outside. One can also usually do self disembarkment which means you need to carry all your luggage off the ship by yourselves. Key here that you need to be able to carry ALL your luggage yourselves. Lots of people do it but many of them shouldn't as they have a very hard time struggling to carry their own luggage. I normally have everything packed in the afternoon leaving out only what we absolutely need for the evening and next morning. Before the deadline we return to the cabin and add to the suitcases anything we absolutely can live without until we see our suitcases again and put them ouside the door. Often we do at that point change into what we will be wearing the next day and then only need to keep a change of underwear and a few personal care items out. Everyone is in the same position so if you are going back out to enjoy the ship no one cares what you are wearing at that point. We do make sure we have carryon bags that we will be keeping with us with plenty of room for what didn't make it into our suitcases. We use a small travel case that contains as many as possible of our personal care items(toothbrushes, toothpaste, my makeup, ect) that ultimately needs to go into our checked baggage before flying home. I just put that in the top of our carryon and when we retrieve our suitcase before leaving the ship open the case I planned to put it and place the small case in the bag, zip the suitcase back up and we're good to go. If we are going to be needing our coats the next day we sometimes just keep those to carry off with us and other times if space permits I place those in the top of suitcase I will be quickly opening to put our personal care case in and grab the coats out at that time.

 

We attempt to travel to our cruise with one carryon bag but pack a second bag that folds well and can easily fit in one of our checked bags on our way to the cruise but opens to carryon acceptable size to use as a second carryon when returning home after our cruise. We always manage to bring home more than we took;) so find doing this works very well for us and also gives us more space to put those things we kept out the night before without any problems.

 

Its really not as big a problem as one might think before doing it once but you do have to think ahead to what you are absolutely going to need the next morning.

 

And by the way, as helpful as they may think they are being do NOT let another person in your cabin with you "help" put things in that suitcase before it goes out the door. There are quite a few funny stories(not always funny to the people it happened to) about one person in the cabin ending up with no clothes or shoes to use the last morning because the other person in the cabin thought they would be "helpful" by putting those things in the suitcase at the last minute not realizing they were the things designated for use the last morning:eek: My brother had to walk off the ship his last morning of his first cruise with no shoes because his wife didn't realize they were the shoes he planned to wear the last morning. Thank heavens he had a good sense of humor but not everyone does!;)

 

Hope you enjoy your first cruise!:)

[Travelcat2]

Definitely remember shoes. I had to walk off the ship in my slippers. My DH said that no one would notice. . . . within five minutes someone said, "excuse me, do you realize that you are wearing slippers?" We also pack tiny sizes of mouthwash and toothpaste (that can fit in the plastic bag allowed by the airlines).

[Jo and Rob]

Thank you so much for all your fantastic advice. I like the idea of having an extra bag folded inside for an additional carry off, and will definitely bear in mind the shoe situation! I think changing into your travel clothes after dinner is excellent advice and we will definitely do that.

When do you collect your suitcases? On the quay at the port? At the airport at Miami?

We are fly in the afternoon so we have a courtesy room at Miami Intercontinental West. I need to know whether I will have access to my suitcases for sharp objects and other liquids not allowed in hand luggage.

[paul929207]

The ship will tell you when to have your bags out, but it is usually 10pm or so. That means you can come to the cabin after dinner and change into what you will be wearing home.

[grandmato4]

Thank you so much for all your fantastic advice. I like the idea of having an extra bag folded inside for an additional carry off, and will definitely bear in mind the shoe situation! I think changing into your travel clothes after dinner is excellent advice and we will definitely do that.

When do you collect your suitcases? On the quay at the port? At the airport at Miami?

We are fly in the afternoon so we have a courtesy room at Miami Intercontinental West. I need to know whether I will have access to my suitcases for sharp objects and other liquids not allowed in hand luggage.

 

You will normally collect the suitcases you've left outside your door in the terminal at the port just before going through customs. One can easily open their suitcase there to slip anything they need into the suitcase. Since you do have a courtesy room at a hotel and will be taking your luggage with you you could wait and do it at the hotel if you wish.

 

The exception to that would be if your airline has luggage express as an option and you chose that option. Not all ports or airlines have that option. That is where you pay a fee upfront and once you put your luggage outside your cabin door you do not see it again until you arrive home. We've never done this but would consider it if we had a late flight and didn't have a hotel that we were going to spend the day at before flying home.

 

Again, hope you enjoy every minute of your cruise. Just remember that a cruise is an adventure and no matter how well you plan there will still be a few twist and turns you didn't anticipate. If you remember to take your sense of humor and patience with you everything should still be wonderful! :)

[thego6girl]

I was wondering if you have to leave your suitcase outside your room the night before? And how late can you leave it? I won't want to travel home in what I was wearing on the last night! Advice about a carry on bag etc would be great.

many thanks

 

We generally dress "light" then night before we leave and then we have very little to put in our carry-on (you will also need your toiletries...which don't forget to put back into your checked luggage for your flight). However, on one cruise, we had a VERY early flight departure (we had to get back home for a wedding), and we took our own luggage off of the ship with us. It is NOT mandatory for your to put your luggage out the night before. But, if you don't, you have to "schlep" it with you until you disembark.

[trish1c]

I have so many bags out the night before mishaps.

On my 1st cruise I forgot to keep out underwear. I was already in my PJs when I packed so rewearing was not an option. I did have a bathing suit with me for the next day so I wore that & changed in an AP bathroom before going home.

Never put out your bags by yourself. One cruise the door shut behind me I was locked out so down I went to the front desk in my PJs to stand in line with other people in their PJs to get a new card. :o

This time I forgot about the 3 oz liquid rules. So we kept our oversized toiletries & repacked everything in the AP. What a p.i.t.a :mad:

[GlendaleCruiser]

I put all my souvenirs in my carry on, since that is what I would hate to lose the most. My camera and documents are in my purse.

 

I keep out clothes to wear the next morning and my makeup. I leave room in my big bag for the makeup (near the zipper top). When I get up I put on makeup and clothes, pack pajamas and makeup into the carry on and I'm ready to go.

 

Once I claim my big bag I can unzip it on top and stuff my makeup bag and pjs into it. Good to go. As long as you consciously leave room at the end of the bag that will be on top, it's easy peasy.

 

Just did 3 days in Rome and 12 on ship. Everything in my carryon was a souvenir.