Carry On Luggage Question

[Oldgoat61]

Of the 12 cruises we have done, we always used carry on luggage.  Once you get on board, ask one of the crew where you can store you luggage.  Each ship is different, they may tell you to put it in your cabin, or they may have a certain spot where you can leave it until your cabin is ready, or they may tell you to take it with you.....have experienced each of these.  Now, we just take it to our cabin, and go have lunch.  Once your cabin is ready you can change if necessary. 

[jdvmd]

The only way to travel! We only use carry ons.

[BirdTravels]

On 11/16/2018 at 1:11 AM, Oldgoat61 said:

Of the 12 cruises we have done, we always used carry on luggage.  Once you get on board, ask one of the crew where you can store you luggage.  Each ship is different, they may tell you to put it in your cabin, or they may have a certain spot where you can leave it until your cabin is ready, or they may tell you to take it with you.....have experienced each of these.  Now, we just take it to our cabin, and go have lunch.  Once your cabin is ready you can change if necessary. 

The one thing that ALL ships tell you is to NOT go to your cabin until  invited. Those announcements by the Cruise Director start when people start boarding and continue until 1:00-1:30 when cabins are ready. 

 

None of the -away class mega ships have bag drop off. You have to lug your bags around (through the dining rooms, pools, decks) until 1:30. This is NOT recommended. It is hard on you and inconvenient for everyone else. 

[PTC DAWG]

On 11/13/2018 at 12:48 PM, Newleno said:

you just did

LOL, true...I also agree with others, why carry all your luggage around?  Even if it’s one carry on bag. 

Edited November 18, 2018 by PTC DAWG

[mking8288]

One of the strategies we used when cruising, is to cross-pack our essential clothing items, i.e. sleeping & underwears; and, to cross-checked our bags with the porter at the pier (with color-coded packing cubes) with an extra luggage/ship ID "tag" inside the bag, easily visible ... just in case 1 of 2 bags get lost.   

 

The working, effective definition of a "carry-on" bags varied highly & individually, and when cruising, it's seldom enforced strictly at the pier by port security nor at the gangways by ship crew - no "sizer" or bag "police" - here at our NYC homeport, there are plenty of 25" oversized, over-stuffed hauled up those steep gangways on the Plus ships, where they are NO (AFAIK) designated storage hold for bags when the staterooms aren't ready (exception, escorted Haven early boarding, if the ship is early/on-time for an easy turnaround, if ... )   Good luck hauling two or more 50 lbs/22 kg. pieces into the elevators & into the Garden Cafe.  

 

It's not easy to board the ship and walk around without a bag of any kind, and we've been on 2 prior cruises where someone checked even their "personal" shoulder bag and another their CPAP along, and lost it - Guest Services put out all-points wanted bulletin to ask all passengers to help locate, find & return them, no quesitons asked - never recovered.  Some of us bring along and need to have our daily Rx, OTC meds and yes, I pack a PFAK "Go Kit" and those never leave my side in a convertible carry-on, with a set of clothes & other essentials, electronics & gadgets, etc.  It slipped easily under the MDR table wherever they seated us & when the stateroom is ready, we go & start unpacking ... ship's Gift Shop stocking very limited, if any, over-priced toiletry items.  While we can file a claim for insurance reimbursement & buy them at the next port, waiting 3 or 4 days isn't exactly our Plan B (specific to our next sailing's itinerary) - know your options within one's own comfort zones. 

 

Lastly, always take color pictures of your checked bags before dropping them off at the pier for transfer onto the ship ... I took a good look last month at how they're still loading carts of bags at 5 pm for a delayed Escape sailing, despite the safety netting, there is a gap between the edge & the pier itself.  As we all know, accidents "do" occasionally happen and most bags don't float on the river ... never able to confirm a rumor. 

Edited November 18, 2018 by mking8288

[Oldgoat61]

8 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The one thing that ALL ships tell you is to NOT go to your cabin until  invited. Those announcements by the Cruise Director start when people start boarding and continue until 1:00-1:30 when cabins are ready. 

 

None of the -away class mega ships have bag drop off. You have to lug your bags around (through the dining rooms, pools, decks) until 1:30. This is NOT recommended. It is hard on you and inconvenient for everyone else.  

Sorry Bird, but you are incorrect.....the three cases I gave were all true.  We have only been on the Bliss, and we dropped our luggage off at our cabin, and it wasn't inconvenient, nor hard.

[Celebrate3]

The whole point of us traveling this time with carry-on only is to prevent loss of luggage and keep all of our luggage containing medicines, CPAP machine, etc with us at all times. We would obviously not go to our cabin to drop off luggage if this is not permitted and have no problems wheeling the bags around with us until then, and would also be considerate of those around us if we do.