Alaska cruise/tour with carryon bag only

[mya603]

Has anyone ever done this? Or would you suggest two bags.  One for land and one for sea.  I've always done one land and one for sea but was wondering if I could do one only or if it would be a hassle.

[Sprocket]

We are doing a cruise tour in June and will each be taking a bag and from the website the backpack can not be more than 17” high.  No carryon luggage from my understanding.

No way we can do 10 days in a bag that size.

[reedprincess]

24 minutes ago, mya603 said:

Has anyone ever done this? Or would you suggest two bags.  One for land and one for sea.  I've always done one land and one for sea but was wondering if I could do one only or if it would be a hassle.

Have done my cruise tour with one suitcase (28 inch), one carry-on (under the bus or with luggage on train and boat) and one backpack (with me physically aboard bus, train, boat).

 

Didn't need a separate bag for land versus sea, it all fit fine in the one case..

 

Absolutely no way I could do a 6 night land tour and 7 night cruise with only a carry-on...

[Paula_MacFan]

Maybe I misunderstood the OPs question but I took it to mean 'can I get by with one suitcase for the cruisetour vs two'.  Maybe the mention of 'carryon' is the term that is confusing people but I took it to mean one suitcase for the land and cruise, not two separate suitcases. 

 

At any rate, we are doing a cruisetour next month as well and plan on only taking one suitcase each for the whole trip, in addition to the 'day bag' as noted above (under 17").  We aren't participating in formal nights onboard so there's no reason to send ahead a separate suitcase for the ship.  We plan to pack carefully and do laundry along the way as needed.

 

Apologies if I misunderstood the question. 

Edited April 11 by Paula_MacFan

[Tapi]

If you can squeeze everything into one bag, I'd say do that. Makes life easier to have less bags to worry about. My philosophy has been that "if it doesn't fit in one carry-on, then I don't need it". That applies whether were doing a 3 night cruise to the Bahamas, or a 2 week land/sea vacation in the Mediterranean. 

[voljeep]

14 minutes ago, Tapi said:

If you can squeeze everything into one bag, I'd say do that. Makes life easier to have less bags to worry about. My philosophy has been that "if it doesn't fit in one carry-on, then I don't need it". That applies whether were doing a 3 night cruise to the Bahamas, or a 2 week land/sea vacation in the Mediterranean. 

driving to our homeport ... If it fits in the car, we can take it ... that's what she says ...

[MacMadame]

16 minutes ago, Tapi said:

My philosophy has been that "if it doesn't fit in one carry-on, then I don't need it".

1 minute ago, voljeep said:

driving to our homeport ... If it fits in the car, we can take it ...

I have a similar philosophy in terms of "if it fits". We have one larger suitcase that we use for all trips (car and airline). If it doesn't fit in there, it doesn't go. Except a lot fits in there so sometimes I am adding things in until it fills up. 🤣

[Sprocket]

1 hour ago, MacMadame said:

I have a similar philosophy in terms of "if it fits". We have one larger suitcase that we use for all trips (car and airline). If it doesn't fit in there, it doesn't go. Except a lot fits in there so sometimes I am adding things in until it fills up. 🤣

One of the best travel items I ever bought is a luggage scale.  I don't go anywhere without it!

[cr8tiv1]

10 minutes ago, Sprocket said:

One of the best travel items I ever bought is a luggage scale.  I don't go anywhere without it!

 

Don't need a luggage scale.  As I age, so has my strength.  If I can lift it, it is less than 50 pounds.  There's something to say about getting "weaker".  My "scale" has been pretty accurate.  Off by a couple of pounds (less).  I can get pretty close to 45 - 49 pounds.

 

On a more serious note.  I understand that with baggage fees going up, that more and more people are trying to squeeze their life into a carry on. 

 

I think the problem lies more with how to transport the carry on (train, bus, shuttle).  Some won't have places to store a larger item and therefore still will need to be "checked" ahead/place out for pick up.  

 

If traveling as two, maybe one suitcase can be shared (half and half) and the other sent to the ship.

 

17 inch maximum is pretty small.

Edited April 11 by cr8tiv1

[Paula_MacFan]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

driving to our homeport ... If it fits in the car, we can take it ... that's what she says ...

Same here -- when we drive to port we take lots of extras. Unfortunately we can't drive to Fairbanks so off to the airport we go 😀 

[MacMadame]

4 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Don't need a luggage scale.  As I age, so has my strength.  If I can lift it, it is less than 50 pounds.  There's something to say about getting "weaker".  My "scale" has been pretty accurate.  Off by a couple of pounds (less).  I can get pretty close to 45 - 49 pounds.

One of my parlor tricks is being able to tell how much things weigh. 🤣 I pick up the suitcase until I think it's just under 50 pounds. I do double-check with the bathroom scale (I get on it with and without the suitcase) even though that method is not as accurate and so far I have never been wrong!

 

4 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

On a more serious note.  I understand that with baggage fees going up, that more and more people are trying to squeeze their life into a carry on. 

I am obsessed with YouTube videos about taking everything in a personal item and a carry-on. I understand why they do it but I just can't see it for myself at least not for an 18-day trip (travel plus cruise). Even if I plan to do laundry during the trip, there are just so many little things I'd need that add up once I pack the 7-8 outfits that they show in the videos.

[cr8tiv1]

I just returned from the islands with 2 medium sized suitcases, 1 carry on, one CPAP, and one under the seat bag.  I don't know how to pack light.  Granted....most of it was food from the islands and other "stuff" to restock my pantry with or give away.  VERY little (one packing cube) was clothes.

 

Total weight of everything?   Probably close to 100 pounds

[DrSea]

It can sunny and a little warm to cold and rainy at the next port. If you can pack efficiently for both extremes, then yeah one carry on. But jackets can get bulky. Ymmv