Who takes just a Carry On for luggage? Tips for that?

[nini]

We are challenging ourselves to just take one carry on each and personal

bags for our upcoming cruise. I have watched videos of packing with

"cubes" and with different methods.

 

Have any of my CC family done this?

I will also take my purse style camera bag which will fit my ID, camera,

Kindle, etc.

DH will have an "under the seat" style rolling bag for his personal items.

 

Is this too ambitious? It is a warm weather cruise, clothing takes less space

and we are not shoe addicts. I will do laundry once.

 

TIA:D

[cruzinhokie]

We are challenging ourselves to just take one carry on each and personal

bags for our upcoming cruise. I have watched videos of packing with

"cubes" and with different methods.

 

Have any of my CC family done this?

I will also take my purse style camera bag which will fit my ID, camera,

Kindle, etc.

DH will have an "under the seat" style rolling bag for his personal items.

 

Is this too ambitious? It is a warm weather cruise, clothing takes less space

and we are not shoe addicts. I will do laundry once.

 

TIA:D

Hi Nini! I'm following this as I have the same question! I would really like to do this as we will have land tours before/after our next cruise in Europe so don't want to be schlepping heavy bags!

[2pbears]

I once did three weeks in Italy with just a carry on bag. But, that said, it was a land trip which is quite different than a cruise. On a cruise you have the added challenge of dressing for dinner every evening. I'm not sure I would want to try just a carry on for a cruise but that's just a personal choice. If you are OK with wearing the same clothes several times during the course of the cruise and limiting shoes to one or two pair, then I think it could be done. How long is the cruise?

[nini]

We do not want to be hauling bags in Italy either.

However, we leave this week for a 15 day PC cruise and at least there

is are laundry rooms which I will use. I am good at "mixing and matching"

tops and bottoms.

 

I will let you know what we end up doing by tomorrow! :')

[RocketMan275]

We are challenging ourselves to just take one carry on each and personal

bags for our upcoming cruise. I have watched videos of packing with

"cubes" and with different methods.

 

Have any of my CC family done this?

I will also take my purse style camera bag which will fit my ID, camera,

Kindle, etc.

DH will have an "under the seat" style rolling bag for his personal items.

 

Is this too ambitious? It is a warm weather cruise, clothing takes less space

and we are not shoe addicts. I will do laundry once.

 

TIA:D

 

We've done our last two cruises and will do our next cruise (all seven day caribbean) as you described. We even managed to bring six bottles of wine too. You'll have to make firm decisions about what to wear when.

[geocruiser]

We are doing this on our cruise this Sunday. I can't believe what I can fit into a 21 inch carry on. I did use packing cubes and a folder. I did things like white pants and two tops for the pants. What I plan to do is wear the white pants on Monday, then Tuesday AM send them to the laundry. Then I can wear the clean pants with another top on another day. I am doing things like that. I do get free laundry, so I am not worried about the cost. We drive to the port and do carry on and off.

 

I also bring clothes made of light weight fabric that fold flat.

[Essiesmom]

You have to make firm decisions about shoes in particular. We have been doing this for four years, 9 cruises. The longest was 21 days. We wear things multiple times, mix & match, send out or do laundry. We use one roll aboard bag each, and one backpack each. Max three pair shoes, one being worn. Black sandals go with everything. EM

[JF - retired RRT]

We've done this several times. Warm weather cruises are the easiest.

It helps if you're Elite, but the last couple of cruises had so many Elites it took 3-4 days to get our laundry back.

As noted above, we plan to wear each piece multiple times.

I pack 1 pair of sandals and wear my "tennis" shoes. 4 or 5 shirts all in the same color family and 2-3 pairs of shorts. All color coordinated to mix n' match. 4-5 undies & 1 extra bra. I wear long pants onto the ship and a sweater. For formal nights I have 2 long dresses that squish to almost nothing in the suitcase and don't wrinkle (I usually bring 1). I wear very little jewelry, sometimes it doesn't make it out of the safe for the whole cruise.

DH packs 3-4 Hawaiian type shirts, 2 t-shirts, a turtle neck sweater & suit pants (formal night), Dress shoes, sandals and wears his "tennis" shoes. Socks & undies (4-5 each).

We don't pack night gowns (sleep in the buff:cool:). A small case with appropriate toothbrush, hair brush, etc. Swim suits for each of us.

That's pretty much it. I use cubes, vacuum bags and roll, depending on how much space is needed.

BTW: if you use the laundry room, it will cost a small fortune by the end of the cruise, if you don't have enough clothes to last long enough to get a full load. We wear clothes multiple times before washing (it's not like we're working and need to impress anyone with our wardrobe). Hand wash your undies and just keep recycling the "outer" clothes.

[nini]

Thank you all! You are quite the inspiration and I will tackle this in

earnest tomorrow.

 

I know the TSA rules about liquids, but will try to take my body butter

which is a thick cream of about 2.5 ounces weight. We have an aerosol

of Deet that is 2.5 ounces weight. We have the wipes too.

[cruiser113]

We usually shower before dinner so clothing for dinner is fresh when worn ( blouses , shirts ) so we recycle those articles to wear again on another night. I wear skirts and they are easily recycled as well as husband dress pants. We send out daily undies as sometimes turn around is more than 1 day. wear shorts 2 days unless very warm excursion. Wash out swim suits daily and twist between pool towel to remove excess water. We do wear night clothes and they are sent out every couple of days ( bring two sets) Husband only brings 3 pair of shoes. Sneakers to wear on and dress shoes and water shoes. I stuff shoes with socks or other small things. I wear sneakers on ship and to travel. One pair dress black shoes and flippy type sandals. All dress clothes usually go well with black.

[nojoke]

You can do it!! We do it all the time, using many of the already written ideas. My DH only takes 2pair of shoes, 4 shirts, 3 pants, plus washable underwear. I take 4 shirts (rolled) for every day plus 4 really thin tops that also roll up for evening, 3pants, plus easily washable undies, 1sandals,1gold colored sandals for evening, 1 walking shoes. I roll most things and put in see-through plastic bags and leave them like that on the ship. We take a21” roller bag plus a backpack each. We do use the ship laundry, but wash our own undies.

[Times Prince]

Thank you all! You are quite the inspiration and I will tackle this in

earnest tomorrow.

 

I know the TSA rules about liquids, but will try to take my body butter

which is a thick cream of about 2.5 ounces weight. We have an aerosol

of Deet that is 2.5 ounces weight. We have the wipes too.

I do hope you mean a pump bottle of mosquito repellent - aerosol cans are not TSA approved.

[GUT2407]

We are challenging ourselves to just take one carry on each and personal

bags for our upcoming cruise. I have watched videos of packing with

"cubes" and with different methods.

 

Have any of my CC family done this?

I will also take my purse style camera bag which will fit my ID, camera,

Kindle, etc.

DH will have an "under the seat" style rolling bag for his personal items.

 

Is this too ambitious? It is a warm weather cruise, clothing takes less space

and we are not shoe addicts. I will do laundry once.

 

TIA:D

 

I guess it may depend on how long your cruise is????

[princess09]

I’ve done it. 2 pair black pants for evening with multiple tops is easy for 2 weeks or longer! Sometimes I add a taupe pair also. I take fabrics that don’t wrinkle, wash undies in cabin every 2 days, 3 casual bottoms for day with mix and match tops. I wear heaviest shoes on travel days and take 3 more pair.

I’ve found that packing cubes and rolling really help.

[nini]

Times Prince_

Thank you for the tip on the aerosol!!!

We have Deet wipes that we can bring and they

take up less space anyway.

 

I LOVE all of the tips and encouragement!

 

P.S. This is a 15 night PC full transit

[daydreamer16]

We did this for the first time in April on Celebrity 8 day cruise and we spent 3 days in San Juan before the cruise. We planned all of the stuff we needed and each had a free bag of laundry during the cruise so we did okay. We sail Princess in 3 weeks and I will use the laundry room once during the cruise. It's so nice not having to wait at the luggage carousel when you fly home!

[daydreamer16]

Nini enjoy your cruise--we did the 15 day full transit 3years ago and are doing it again in 2019! Our favorite cruise!

[pa247]

So... What are packing cubes?? And why would you want to pack them?

 

 

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[riclop]

Lots of people do that.

[geocruiser]

So... What are packing cubes?? And why would you want to pack them?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

The cubes come indifferent sizes. I pack in them because it keep things in order. I will pack underclothes in them because when I unpack on the ship I just take the cube out, unzip it and put the whole cube in the drawer. They are very light weight too

https://shop.eaglecreek.com/packit-original-cube-set-xssm/d/1322C2547?CategoryId=212

Folders

https://shop.eaglecreek.com/packing-folders/l/211.

[tanyaewa]

My family and I do it all the time. All four of us.

I don’t even compromise on what I wear. I am a bit of a fashionista too. Lol

I often come home and haven’t worn everything on a 10day.

We are in Vancouver Canada so flying across to Cruise ports it makes sense to keep luggage to a minimum.

I roll tightly when I pack, be sensible about choices, and buy sunscreen and hair product the day/night before we cruise so I don’t have to check it.

 

My biggest advice is to lay it all out first and make sure everything makes sense to bring. Also I always steal space in my hubbys suitcase for one extra pair of shoes :)

[Steelers36]

We regularly travel with only carry-on - not just for cruises. This works well for warm/hot weather travel such as Caribbean zone. Similar to what others have written, we do minimal shoes which are all fairly compact and I wear the bulkiest ones (dressier) on the plane. We don't take cold weather coats - just a sweater to run in and out of limo we take to airport. If I take a jacket, I wear that to airport and on plane and then pack in a carry-on once arrive at pre-cruise hotel. We are pretty careful about number of clothing articles as you just don't need a new outfit twice a day. What we dress in for dinner can be re-used as it isn't worn for long and doesn't get dirty/used, etc that fast.

 

The ace in the hole is that my wife is an amazing packer and can get more in the same space than most people.

 

We have done up to 12-night cruises with only carry-ons, plus one backpack for computer and gear. I'd have NP for two weeks. And I'd want to try and make it work anytime possible if flying. (Confession: In the older days of cruising with suits and such, this was impossible, but we are taking much in the way of "formal" wear for a long time now). A modern unstructured jacket and tie don't take up much space. Dressier shoes don't have to be packed if they are worn to/from the ship. Wife is tall, so her shoes are mostly flat and casual ones are quite compact. Warm weather clothes are light-weight.

 

Good luck with it. Don't sweat it if it doesn't work for you, but try it once and see.

 

In case you are wondering... no, we are not doing two carry-ons for our 60-nighter coming soon.

[culvercitycruiser]

This lady does a fairly nice job with her cruise videos.

The link below is one for light packing.

[ExploringTheGlobe]

I travel a lot and my #1 rule is to never, ever check luggage! I just got off an 8 day cruise, wore a different dress every night, had a few different pairs of shoes and had no problem with carry on. I also went straight to the ship from the airport so I had to pack my toiletries too. And many aerosols are actually allowed in your carryon bag (I brought hairspray and sunscreen with me this last trip).

 

This is what TSA website states: You are allowed to bring a quart-sized bag of liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes in your carry-on bag and through the checkpoint. These are limited to travel-sized containers that are 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) or less per item. Placing these items in the small bag and separating from your carry-on baggage facilitates the screening process. Pack items that are in containers larger than 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters in checked baggage.

[ExploringTheGlobe]

I should add, I roll all my clothes. I find they fit better and wrinkle less that way.