Do you carry on luggage for a short cruise?

[Eglesbrech]

We have always done 14 day cruises on RCI so this will be our first short break. On other lines where the cruise is only for a few days we just carried on the luggage, it was not collected and put outside the cabin.

 

Does anyone know what happens for RCI leaving Southampton?

 

Same question for disembarking, do you just carry it off or is it to be outside the cabin for a certain time?

[AZAficionado]

I'm not sure about that port specifically, but here is how it's worked on all the RCI cruises I've been on:

 

For embarkation, I don't see any advantage to carrying your luggage onto the ship. Instead, I see a few possible disadvantages. You have to go through airport style security when boarding. Sending lots of bags through the x-ray machine may cause issues - RCI may not allow it. I've never seen anyone actually try it. Then, you'll be stuck with your bags until staterooms are ready, which can be hours after embarking depending on when you board and other factors. Personally, I'd keep a carry-on and let RCI have the rest.

 

For disembarkation, you have two choices: Put your bags out the night before and let RCI take them off the ship. Or, keep your bags in your stateroom and carry them off yourself when you disembark.

 

Keep in mind, I've only sailed from US ports.

[Spurschick]

You can only carry on carry on cases. If the case is a size that if you were flying it would need to be checked in, then it would need to have a luggage tag and checked in at the port and sent to the cabin. Short cruises should be easy enough to get what you need in rolling carry on cases.

 

As for departure, self assist you can carry all cases regardless of size and quantity. You just need to be able to do by yourself.

[Spurschick]

I'm not sure about that port specifically, but here is how it's worked on all the RCI cruises I've been on:

 

For embarkation, I don't see any advantage to carrying your luggage onto the ship. Instead, I see a few possible disadvantages. You have to go through airport style security when boarding. Sending lots of bags through the x-ray machine may cause issues - RCI may not allow it. I've never seen anyone actually try it. Then, you'll be stuck with your bags until staterooms are ready, which can be hours after embarking depending on when you board and other factors. Personally, I'd keep a carry-on and let RCI have the rest.

 

For disembarkation, you have two choices: Put your bags out the night before and let RCI take them off the ship. Or, keep your bags in your stateroom and carry them off yourself when you disembark.

 

Keep in mind, I've only sailed from US ports.

 

Advantage is we can get on, get to cabin and be completely unpacked before muster. We have everything we need, changes of clothes, toiletries etc on hand. One carry on case each plus a rucksack, carry bag or similar. Yes RC do allow. We do it every time we sail.only time we ever take a check in case is if we need to check in case for a flight, and even then if we can use carry on size we will and just check in at port with it.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Spurschick

[scooter90]

When we took a 5 day cruise (US Port), I didn't see that many passengers who carried on their bag. However, on departure day, I saw the majority walk off with their luggage versus having put it out the night before. This is probably due to the length of the cruise and the fact that most people can pack just one piece of luggage per couple for five days.

 

Getting on the ship, I'm sure they just checked their luggage and had it delivered to their cabin in due time. This allowed them to check out the ship without lugging the luggage behind them until the cabins were ready.

[srice]

We usually sail out of Port Canaveral or Port Everglades and have carried our luggage on in both ports. I think the maximum size of bag you can take is 21 inches but I have exceeded that limit a little.

 

The disadvantage on Royal Caribbean is if you board before the cabins are available at 1 PM you are stuck with your luggage and it can be a problem in a crowded Windjammer.

 

On Princess once you board you can go to your cabin so it is great to drop off your luggage in your cabin and go to a dining room for a quiet lunch.

[cruisegirl1]

We carried our smaller rolling luggage ( 22" I think) onto a ship just once. I too thought it would be nice to have everything with us to unpack as soon as we got to the cabin. We found no real advantage, especially as we boarded well before the cabins were ready. It was a pain to drag or roll it around the ship. If my scheduling had me boarding after 1 pm ( or so) I might consider it again, otherwise no. Not sure of the carry on limit size, but I know it has to fit through the security scanner.

 

That said, we ALWAYS try to carry off if we are disembarking from a shorter cruise and just have the one small rolling bag.

 

Seems many other have this philosophy as the walk off lines can be very long.

 

M

Edited April 15, 2015 by cruisegirl1

[Jiffymom]

I check my bags but have a cute canvas bag that I carry my wine on. Also my camera.

I head straight to lunch and don't want to carry my luggage. Why ,you can't get to your cabin before 1 pm and I prefer to start my vacation early. I like to arrive to the ship around 11.

[kernow]

We did a 4 night from Southampton on AOS last year, as we pulled into the car park at the port, the porters were right there and took out cases straight from the boot and into a van to take to the ship. On the last night we put our cases out as normal and collected them in the terminal.

[Spurschick]

I agree it is a personal preference for each individual. I personally have never seen a family that has not had a rolling carry on case getting onboard. That is just my observation.:)

 

I got the impression, the op is only on a short cruise ie a few days. As such I inferred they did not have much luggage and wanted to know if they could carry on. The answer to that is yes if it is a carry on size case.

[Spurschick]

We carried our smaller rolling luggage ( 22" I think) onto a ship just once. I too thought it would be nice to have everything with us to unpack as soon as we got to the cabin. We found no real advantage, especially as we boarded well before the cabins were ready. It was a pain to drag or roll it around the ship. If my scheduling had me boarding after 1 pm ( or so) I might consider it again, otherwise no. Not sure of the carry on limit size, but I know it has to fit through the security scanner.

 

That said, we ALWAYS try to carry off if we are disembarking from a shorter cruise and just have the one small rolling bag.

 

Seems many other have this philosophy as the walk off lines can be very long.

 

M

 

Agree a lot do walk off these days. When we did Southampton it was quite quick as there are no long immigration queues:) it made it a lot quicker getting off for us.

[snorkelman]

I have only once carried on my luggage and it was a mistake and I will never do it again. It was a cruise out of Puerto Rico and somehow the signage was lacking and the porters never stopped me and I ended up wheeling my luggage up a big ramp and on the ship. Then I was stuck with it until I could access my cabin.

 

I can't imagine any reason why a person would want to do this. The first night at dinner is always relaxed, just in case your luggage doesn't arrive.

 

We always bring a smaller back as carry-on with crucial items and let the porters do the heavy lifting.

[kernow]

Just to be clear, at Southampton specifically, yes you can carry your own luggage on and off if you wish but they will also take larger bags onto and off the ship if you want them to even on short cruises:)

 

Julie

[critterchick]

We seldom arrive at the port before the cabins are ready, so if we only have our 22" roller bags, we will carry them on to the ship - it's never been a problem in any port we've sailed from (Harwich being the closest to Southampton that we've been, but we had a large suitcase that we checked that time). The only disadvantage is having to wait for an elevator to take us to our floor. We usually self disembark as well.

[griffy116]

I check my bags but have a cute canvas bag that I carry my wine on. Also my camera.

I head straight to lunch and don't want to carry my luggage. Why ,you can't get to your cabin before 1 pm and I prefer to start my vacation early. I like to arrive to the ship around 11.

 

Pretty much the same here except we do have a very small bag that we can roll with the wine and a few essentials. We arrive about 11:30 and we don't want to have anything other than our small carry on to have to take to lunch with us, since our cabin won't be ready yet.

[alfaeric]

We carry on (and off) all of our luggage on EVERY cruise. 3-10 nights, no matter. We also have carry on only luggage to fly, too- hate having bags get lost. Get off plane, walk out of airport- done.

 

Then again, we also pack really light, and have done 2 weeks in Europe with carry on only luggage.

 

We are never in a massive rush to be the first on board- and shoot to walk on at 1pm- which is close to when the rooms open. Few min of unpacking, and we are done until the last night.

 

Carry off is as easy as getting on.

 

The only time we've used the porters on a recent cruise was to get my inlaws stuff on board.

[squadron]

We carried our smaller rolling luggage ( 22" I think) onto a ship just once. I too thought it would be nice to have everything with us to unpack as soon as we got to the cabin. We found no real advantage, especially as we boarded well before the cabins were ready. It was a pain to drag or roll it around the ship. If my scheduling had me boarding after 1 pm ( or so) I might consider it again, otherwise no. Not sure of the carry on limit size, but I know it has to fit through the security scanner.

 

That said, we ALWAYS try to carry off if we are disembarking from a shorter cruise and just have the one small rolling bag.

 

Seems many other have this philosophy as the walk off lines can be very long.

 

M

 

Last cruise I had a small rolling bag - realized that I had a problem because I wanted to eat in the Windjammer - the server told me to put it under the table and he would watch it until I returned with my plate. A really nice gesture on his part.