Suitcase size

[Ceegeefl]

Which size suitcase do you usually bring on a 12 day cruise? Ours will be to the Mediterranean  in May.

[MSEm]

We usually take 2 carry-ons and 1 26" checked bag.  We also each a have a small backpack for jackets, umbrella, etc. I also have a small purse in my backpack.  There are free self serve laundries on most passenger decks.  Also send out laundry is reasonable. For a Med trip we would be packing light weight fast drying hiking pants (found at Land's End, LL Bean, REI,etc.) We wear 1 pr pants and pack 2 pair. I wear 1 long sleeve top and pack 4 LS or 3/4 sleeve tops. My DH wears 1 shirt and packs 4 mostly LS Shirts. Pack 1 pair of shoes (nothing worst than having to wear wet shoes all day)

Make sure you have a a good rain/wind jacket and a  vest or sweaters for your cruise.  The open  Med waters are cold even summer. We lived in an Athens suburb for 12 months. Also you will need sturdy walking shoes for all of the tours.

Have a great cruise.

[The Other Tom]

We usually take a large roll around duffle bag, one for me and one for my wife.  We check our bags so we won't have to fool with it one the plane.  Luggage fees can add up, going and coming, but are free if you have the airlines credit card.  Yes, there's a fee for the card but usually you come out ahead if you have the card.  

[broker1217]

We have done two 14-15 day transatlantics, going from Caribbean warm weather to cool Spain spring weather, with additional days in Spain both times.

We each take one 24” suitcase. I also take a small carry-on and my husband takes a backpack on the plane. I don’t take handbags when we travel, we use the backpack as a day bag when off the ship.

 

[Mich3554]

For 2 weeks or less, we take a 22” carry on and a backpack each.  Our last cruise was 54 days and we both took a 25” suitcase each plus backpack.

[SteelCity Cruiser]

Neither my husband nor I are light packers, for widely disparate reasons (I lug my full compliment of camera gear for starters). 

 

For a long weekend, just our 21" roll ons and a back pack for each of us.  For a week with varying temperatures or longer trips: two 21" roll ons plus back packs and two 25" checked bags (stuff was bulky); for a week in the Carribean: 1-25" checked bags, 1 roll on and 2 back packs (mine given over to camera equipment and our electronics).

 

[millybess]

Wow!  I need packing advice from all of you. Where does all the stuff besides clothes get packed like hair appliances, razors, shaving cream, Advil, bandaids, blister pads, devices, chargers, vitamins, Voltaren, aspirin, not to mention big bags of Lesser Evil Popcorn?

[rizello]

1 hour ago, millybess said:

Wow!  I need packing advice from all of you. Where does all the stuff besides clothes get packed like hair appliances, razors, shaving cream, Advil, bandaids, blister pads, devices, chargers, vitamins, Voltaren, aspirin, not to mention big bags of Lesser Evil Popcorn?

 

I take travel sizes and I don't take hair appliances.  I have small containers to hold supply of vitamins, makeup,  Advil, etc.  I'm a bit on the extreme side, though, as I weigh everything before I put it in my bag.  Each piece of clothing, etc is weighed, as I try to stay under 20 pounds total even with the suitcase.  

[Twitchly]

1 hour ago, millybess said:

Wow!  I need packing advice from all of you. Where does all the stuff besides clothes get packed like hair appliances, razors, shaving cream, Advil, bandaids, blister pads, devices, chargers, vitamins, Voltaren, aspirin, not to mention big bags of Lesser Evil Popcorn?

Packing cubes are a bulk packer’s best friend. 

[angela miller]

We have done 40 plus cruises and find we take less and less.On our November 2021  cruise 11 day Athens to Athens we  took one 28 inch checked  and my small cloth carry on for meds, travel documents  and overnights needs, we never take rolling carry on.Our room was a DV 4 right across from laundry which we have had before and enjoyed. ? We will be traveling in April on a 14 day Barcelona to Venice and plan on taking basically the same bags.

[JeriGail]

15 hours ago, millybess said:

Wow!  I need packing advice from all of you. Where does all the stuff besides clothes get packed like hair appliances, razors, shaving cream, Advil, bandaids, blister pads, devices, chargers, vitamins, Voltaren, aspirin, not to mention big bags of Lesser Evil Popcorn?

I also don't take hair appliances (Viking has a nice hair dryer) and put pills, bandaids, devices, chargers, and prescription meds in a carryon or backpack.  I also had 3 days of clothes in one of the carryons.  We each had one 22" checked bag (some clothes for each of us in each bag) plus a carryon each for a 17-day trip.  I really like Viking's shampoo, conditioner, and lotion, so I didn't pack any of those.

[millybess]

14 hours ago, Twitchly said:

Packing cubes are a bulk packer’s best friend. 

Yes we use them too ever since I saw a video of a couple going away for a month and they fit everything in 2 backpacks with packing cubes.

 

53 minutes ago, JeriGail said:

I also don't take hair appliances (Viking has a nice hair dryer) and put pills, bandaids, devices, chargers, and prescription meds in a carryon or backpack.  I also had 3 days of clothes in one of the carryons.  We each had one 22" checked bag (some clothes for each of us in each bag) plus a carryon each for a 17-day trip.  I really like Viking's shampoo, conditioner, and lotion, so I didn't pack any of those.

I have hair with a mind of it's own.  One time we sailed with Viking and I took a "universal" diffuser that didn't fit Viking's dryer.  So now I take my own, plus a few other things.🙂

[Clay Clayton]

No matter how long we are traveling we travel in 2 Viking red Rollaboards and an underseat bag apiece. (Used to be a backpack but now that Mike has made us custom bags we use those). We can fit 12 days worth of clothes in these so we just plan on doing wash either aboard ship, at an airbnb, or at a drop off wash and fold place.  
 

This served us well during our almost two years of nomadic living.  We broke our rule when traveling on Celebrity to Japan followed by land time there and in China before a Viking cruise from Beijing to Hong Kong. For that trip we had one rollaboard, a 28” or 30” rolling suitcase and a backpack.  After dealing with the big bag, we said never again. 

 

We have our pills in little zippered bags so they take no room, only take toiletries if we are not going to be in a hotel or cruise ship, have two pairs of packed shoes, and the only electronics we have that aren’t in our pockets (phones) are two iPad minis and their charging cords. The biggest lesson I’ve learned to packing small is to make sure everything you take will go with everything else and changing your mindset from having to impress your fellow guests to realizing that in most cases folks won’t notice that you’re wearing the same shirt you were last week.  Hell, I wear almost the same clothes every two weeks at home!

 

Pictured below is us leaving for our 2020 half transatlantic and below it is us leaving for Iceland in July 2021 with our new bags. (Note that we have been converted DMIL to our packing scheme!)

[millybess]

Thanks for this Clay. The bags that Mike made look fabulous!!

[Ceegeefl]

Thank you everyone for taking time to post these great suggestions.  I'm really learning many new tips

[suspaul]

Somehow we’ve become just the opposite of light packers, don’t know what’s happened.  We used to be really good but now…not so much.  We’ll be heading to Norway in several weeks, I shudder to even think of that -between layers and coats, boots, etc I’m overwhelmed just thinking if it.  We’ve traveled quite a bit with Viking and I know all about the self service laundry rooms, dry cleaning but…..  

[millybess]

18 minutes ago, suspaul said:

Somehow we’ve become just the opposite of light packers, don’t know what’s happened.  We used to be really good but now…not so much.  We’ll be heading to Norway in several weeks, I shudder to even think of that -between layers and coats, boots, etc I’m overwhelmed just thinking if it.  We’ve traveled quite a bit with Viking and I know all about the self service laundry rooms, dry cleaning but…..  

I have never been a light packer. I take everything I think I might possibly need. But for our trip to Norway in May I am determined to be a more thoughtful packer. We are getting older and it pains me to see DH lugging around my big suitcase 😉. My problem this time (hopefully it won’t be an excuse) is that we have to pack for 2 climates as we are headed to Santorini after Norway. Clay has provided me with a pictorial example of what we should look like at the airport 👍

[millybess]

11 minutes ago, millybess said:

Clay has provided me with a pictorial example of what we should look like at the airport 👍

But hopefully sans masks. Lol. 

[Clay Clayton]

15 hours ago, millybess said:

I have never been a light packer. I take everything I think I might possibly need. But for our trip to Norway in May I am determined to be a more thoughtful packer. We are getting older and it pains me to see DH lugging around my big suitcase 😉. My problem this time (hopefully it won’t be an excuse) is that we have to pack for 2 climates as we are headed to Santorini after Norway. Clay has provided me with a pictorial example of what we should look like at the airport 👍

For what it’s worth, when we spent 4 days in Santorini for my 60th in “that pool” (I had spotted it on my 50th birthday cruise when we were there for a port stop and said I want to be in “that pool” for my 60th) we left our rollaboards at the airport hotel in Milan and went to Greece with just our backpacks. They had underwear, bathing suit, one pair of shorts and three shirts. You don’t need “real clothes” for Santorini. 

[millybess]

Beautiful photos!  We spent our 25th anniversary in Santorini several years ago and left most of our stuff in Rome.  This time we are flying home from Athens.

[cruiselvr04]

I can travel for a week in a carry on IF I’m not seeing the same people everyday or dressing for dinner.
 

 On a cruise it’s at least one 25 inch checked bag and if we need coats, boots or snorkel gear it’s two.  (We actually use a bag called cruiser where all our hang ups go, on hangers in dry cleaning bags.  It makes unpacking and packing a breeze. ) After 40 cruises we know what to take and include some items to help organize our space.  Everything also goes in packing cubes.  I do not want to waste my vacation time doing laundry.  ( Of course a grand voyage or world cruise would be an exception to that.)
 

We can walk at least a block or two with 2 checked bags, 2 roller carry ones plus a personal item each.  As long as we can do that we can take what we want.  When we get too old to drag it around ourselves we’ll think about condensing. Viking Air or Southwest covers the cost of our bags.  

[Twitchly]

1 hour ago, cruiselvr04 said:

I can travel for a week in a carry on IF I’m not seeing the same people everyday or dressing for dinner.
 

 On a cruise it’s at least one 25 inch checked bag and if we need coats, boots or snorkel gear it’s two.  (We actually use a bag called cruiser where all our hang ups go, on hangers in dry cleaning bags.  It makes unpacking and packing a breeze. ) After 40 cruises we know what to take and include some items to help organize our space.  Everything also goes in packing cubes.  I do not want to waste my vacation time doing laundry.  ( Of course a grand voyage or world cruise would be an exception to that.)
 

We can walk at least a block or two with 2 checked bags, 2 roller carry ones plus a personal item each.  As long as we can do that we can take what we want.  When we get too old to drag it around ourselves we’ll think about condensing. Viking Air or Southwest covers the cost of our bags.  

I hear you. DH kind of enjoys doing laundry, and he was determined to pack light. So he just brought a carryon and did laundry several times during our (2-week) cruise. Then he washed things by hand during our extra days at either end of the cruise. 
 

I’m not a fan of laundry myself, so I brought a full-size suitcase and a carryon. I did no laundry whatsoever. We were both happy.

 

I pack differently when we’re on the sort of trip that requires frequent repackings and changes of rooms, or when we have to schlep our stuff long distances. In those situations, small is good.

Edited February 17, 2022 by Twitchly

[MSEm]

Major factor is weight of "full" suitcase.  Can you easily handle the packed bag: if not you packed too much.

My travel clothes are mainly black,; black pants, black shoes & socks, black jacket.  Colorful mostly print tops and  3 or 4 scarves. Of course I have a sweater and wind/rain jacket and sun/rain hat.

Good Cruising.

[Maximillian45]

Do the Viking ships have a place that you can weigh your luggage before disembarkation so there are no surprises at the airport? I plan to be underweight flying out but am worried about what I might purchase. 

[MSEm]

We purchased a small pack-able luggage scale; available through many web sites. We weight bags before leaving home.  Last trip big bag was 32 lbs, 18 lbs under airline limit; carry-ons about 12 lbs each. We always pack a small folding bag in big suitcase; also zip lock freezer bags and very large seal-able heavy plastic bags.

Our carry-on bags can be expanded.  We usually check 1 of the carry-on bags for our return trip home.  Having a suitcase delayed for 2-3 days  when at home is usually not a problem.

When leaving home for our destination we each carry 1 pair of shoes and clothing for 2 days in carryon bags. (1 pr shoes with socks, 1 pr pants, 2 tops, undies for 2 days, rain/wind jackets and umbrella.)

Neither of us can just drop in the nearest store to buy shoes that fit.