Flying to your cruise with carry-on baggage vs. transport baggage: Which is best?

Checking your cruise baggage with an airline could be a scary proposition, particularly once you consider attainable climate delays or missed connections that may separate you out of your baggage. The farther it’s a must to fly, the scarier it turns into.

However what are your choices? The plain selection for many cruisers who fly to their embarkation port is flying with solely carry-on baggage. Straightforward sufficient for a brief cruise within the Bahamas or Caribbean the place garments are skimpier and cruises comparatively brief. However what a couple of cooler local weather cruise or an extended crusing?

I not too long ago confronted an ideal storm of potential checked baggage points for flights to a transatlantic cruise on a Carnival Cruise Line ship — unpredictable fall climate, a home connection involving an airline change, adopted by a pair of European flights with a good connection in an unfamiliar airport. That schedule left this firmly entrenched bag checker contemplating carry-on solely on an extended cruise for the primary time.

When my aunt determined to affix my husband and me on the cruise, the problem rose to a brand new degree. We would be managing our baggage and helping her, which could possibly be overwhelming.

Upon reflection, we determined that transport baggage to the cruise appeared like a much better selection for her. She would nonetheless want a carry-on bag for our two nights precruise in Rome, however she may ship a 50-pound bag on to the cruise ship and have every little thing she wanted ready for her after we arrived.

Now we had the right alternative to check these two baggage choices head-to-head. Which plan was simpler? Which one price much less? What had been the pitfalls of every possibility? Learn on for our outcomes as you resolve how gentle to pack and the way finest to get your baggage to your cruise ship with out incident.

Carry-on-only cruising: Prices and inconveniences

The very first thing to think about when flying with carry-on baggage is the utmost dimensions and weight of baggage allowed on the airplane with you. Whereas few home carriers have weight restrictions on carry-on baggage or private objects, regional, low-cost and non-U.S. carriers can have weight allowances on each.

The usual carry-on dimension for home flights throughout the U.S. is 22 x 14 x 9 inches. Private objects (purses, tote baggage, backpacks, briefcases and different small objects stowed beneath the seat in entrance of you) are sometimes capped round 18 x 14 x 8 inches.

Overseas carriers are far pickier about what you carry on board the plane. Anticipate related carry-on baggage dimensions of 21.5 x 15 x 9.5 inches. Most private merchandise sizes could be as small as 15.5 x 11 x 4 inches — which is compact for a backpack. Weight limits differ by air service and even by seating class; our carry-on suitcases wanted to have a most weight of 26 kilos and our backpacks couldn’t weight greater than 4.4 kilos.

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All these restrictions despatched me procuring. My husband had a hard-side spinner that met our particular airline restrictions, however I didn’t. The backpack and various tote baggage I usually use as private objects had been all too massive. The digital camera backpack my husband usually makes use of was too small to be a helpful private merchandise on a visit when each inch of area was wanted for objects extra essential than digital camera lenses. I might additionally want extra packing cubes, so I may compress my belongings and pack essentially the most garments into such small areas.

After three Amazon exchanges, I lastly discovered a backpack that met the airline dimension restrictions and my private necessities: a trolley strap, a water-bottle aspect pocket, a front-opening important compartment, a padded laptop computer compartment and several other small outdoors pockets. (Beware that the web listings aren’t at all times correct concerning bag dimensions.)

I spent $79 whole for 2 backpacks. The very best function throughout precise use was a vented bottom-opening zipper compartment supposed for sneakers, which was supreme for stashing our quart baggage containing TSA-approved liquid merchandise. That easy accessibility was invaluable throughout our quick sprint by way of the Warsaw airport safety line on our tight connection.

For a carry-on spinner, I had a powerful need to have a entrance fold-out compartment for electronics. I additionally wished an growth zipper, which could not be used on our flights to Europe, however would come in useful for squeezing within the two bottles of wine we had been allowed to carry on board our cruise. As soon as again within the U.S., our flights dwelling on Southwest had no weight restrictions and bigger dimension restrictions of 24 x 16 x10 inches, so the growth zipper meant we may carry again a number of small souvenirs and one bottle of wine.

You possibly can spend rather a lot on carry-on baggage, however I opted for an $89 knockoff on Amazon that had fabulous options that made it way more helpful on the journey than I had anticipated. For instance, the entrance electronics panel offers entry to the within contents of the suitcase, basically making it a front-opening piece of baggage when there is not any area for the everyday open-book structure of most hard-shell spinners. That proved to be vital in our tiny lodge room in Rome’s historic metropolis heart.

For compression packing cubes, I opted for a six-piece set from COR Surf that gave us most area financial savings for under $23. I squeezed a raincoat and a jacket into every of the 2 medium baggage, 5 males’s shirts into one massive bag and eight of my shirts into one other.

For years, we have been fortunately cruising with our cosmetics, hair provides and first-aid provides packed in half of an inexpensive hanging shoe bag we connect to the stateroom wall with magnets. It was too massive for our carry-on baggage, so I changed it with two medium-sized journey toiletry baggage with 4 compartments that unfold and dangle from a hook. Once more, Amazon to the rescue for $12 every.

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Touring with carry-ons solely, I additionally couldn’t carry full-size toiletries. Our native drugstore sells a wide range of empty small bottles and jars for carrying liquids like hair merchandise, lotions and gels. I spent $7 on an assortment of these.

The entire I spent on new objects wanted to make flying to our cruise with solely carry-on baggage work was $203, however it could be straightforward to spend twice that. I do not really feel like I skimped on high quality, and all objects I purchased ought to have a helpful life in my cruise packing arsenal going ahead. If you have already got these things, your out-of-pocket price can be far much less.

With the airline weight restrictions, it was unimaginable to pack 18 days’ value of clothes in two carry-on suitcases and two backpacks. We needed to pare down our wardrobe to solely the necessities and plan to do laundry on board.

I am a slightly small individual, put on dimension 8 sneakers and have been touring with a compartment-style wardrobe of coordinating colours since earlier than there was a classy identify for that. Even nonetheless, getting the fundamentals pared down was a problem.

It didn’t assist that climate on a transatlantic cruise could be fairly variable, which compelled me to pack layers I would not have wanted on a warm-weather cruise. Issues I missed had been a sweatshirt for cold days at sea, yet one more pair of informal pants (I took three, two of which transformed to shorts) and a couple of hat.

At the least our Carnival ship had a self-serve launderette. The machines had been full-size with a value of $3.50 per wash or dry. A field of laundry detergent massive sufficient for 2 hundreds was one other $2. (Subsequent time we’ll carry laundry detergent sheets.)

Self-serve laundry as soon as throughout a cruise is not a giant deal, however needing to do laundry twice took away just a little of the holiday rest, particularly when the road to make use of the laundry services was lengthy and filled with cranky cruisers.

Many ships shouldn’t have this self-serve possibility, providing send-out laundry service solely with prices starting from per-piece pricing of $3 to $7 to discounted bulk by-the-bag costs or by-the-day packages. Our whole price for laundry was $16 for 2 hundreds, however on the same cruise with out self-service services or discounted packages, you possibly can probably spend tons of in laundry charges.

Airline weight restrictions additionally compelled us to depart behind a number of nonclothing objects we then had to purchase alongside the best way. These included further hair spray and toothpaste, a room deodorizer and a corkscrew for our cabin. We simply discovered a corkscrew for 4.30 euros ($4.54) and a gel room deodorizer for two.20 euros ($2.35) in a market solely two blocks from our lodge in Rome. The shop additionally had a good collection of wine, so we snagged a few bottles to tackle board, every within the six-euro vary, significantly lower than a cruise ship bottle.

We had sufficient toothpaste and hair spray to final a number of days, so we waited to go purchasing for toiletries till Cartagena, Spain. Discovering a grocery store there required a little bit of a stroll, however we purchased toothpaste and hairspray (5.76 euros and three.49 euros, respectively, or $6.10 and $3.70), together with some Oreo-flavored Coke Zero. As a lot as I take pleasure in port procuring, the necessity to spend time searching for necessities like hair spray was a particular inconvenience when cities like Rome and Cartagena had so many superb methods to spend our restricted time.

Baggage transport: Prices and inconveniences

We used a complimentary voucher from Ship and Play for my aunt’s baggage to check the service for this story. The fee to ship a full-size 50-pound suitcase one-way from her dwelling in Texas to our cruise ship in Civitavecchia, Italy, was quoted as $244.99 for the cargo, plus a payment of $74.97. She added $2,000 in insurance coverage for $22.99, making the whole $342.95.

As a result of transport on to a cruise ship requires the tackle of the ship’s courier within the departure port, the transport order needed to be accomplished with a Ship and Play agent on the telephone. That went easily, with the agent offering all mandatory directions, each verbally and through a follow-up e mail. The transport label, customs varieties and stick-on pocket for the label had been despatched through mail.

A FedEx monitoring quantity was supplied, however my aunt opted to position a monitoring machine within the bag as properly, including $24 to her price, for a complete of $366.95. If you happen to’re a member of Clear, you will get 50% off your first cargo with companion firm Ship and Play.

Transport baggage internationally is pricier than it could be to a home embarkation port. A fast verify of assorted cross-country costs to U.S. cruise ports confirmed base transport charges (earlier than the charges and insurance coverage) of $74.99 on Ship and Play and costs beginning at $99 on competing shipper Baggage Ahead.

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The primary inconvenience in transport baggage is planning for the cargo. It isn’t a last-minute possibility. It’s important to permit sufficient time to obtain the transport label and packet out of your most well-liked shipper, to rearrange for the pickup (or drop-off) and for the baggage to journey to its vacation spot.

When your cruise departure port is worldwide, the baggage ship date should additionally permit sufficient time for the bag to clear customs as soon as it reaches the nation of departure. Ship and Play calculated all these variables after which gave my aunt choices for her pickup date, which had been a full two weeks earlier than the cruise. Her quoted worth included deciding on the day FedEx would decide up the baggage, however not a narrower time-frame on that day. Deciding on a two-hour window was obtainable for an additional cost. She may even have opted to drop off the baggage at a licensed shipper at no cost.

My aunt mentioned packing her important baggage two weeks earlier than her cruise was a bit difficult. That is too far out to foretell the climate, so she needed to put together for all potentialities with layers and a rain poncho (that she by no means used).

She additionally opted to ship her massive bag on to our ship as a substitute of to our precruise lodge. That meant she nonetheless needed to take a carry-on and a tote bag for clothes and issues she wanted for the times we spent in Rome earlier than the cruise. She mentioned she had a tough time deciding which objects to pack in every bag and located herself overthinking the method.

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If she had chosen to ship the bag to our lodge in Rome, she may have skipped the carry-on, however we might have had the inconvenience of coping with the massive bag at our small lodge and on our journey to the ship.

Finally, my aunt’s bag arrived in her cabin on the ship round 4 p.m. with out her having to wrangle it into and out of a number of autos in the course of the journey. After she packed her bag and handed it off to FedEx at her entrance door, she did not should carry a finger till it got here time to unpack it on board — which added a contact of luxurious to her mainstream cruise.

Backside line

Selecting to skip the bag verify line all collectively is turning into a well-liked selection amongst cruisers, and never solely as a result of it can save you on checked-bag charges and tricks to porters. I’ve met fellow passengers with misplaced baggage on each cruise I have been on within the final 4 years. Dropping your baggage on dry land is an issue, however a minor inconvenience when in comparison with being caught on a cruise ship with out your stuff.

The extra difficult your flights are, the better the possibilities for misplaced or delayed baggage. Touring with solely carry-on baggage or transport baggage to your ship are each good alternate options. Which one you select will depend on your journey state of affairs.

We discovered that each choices include prices and minor inconveniences. Carry-on journey prices much less however you will have to depart some desired objects behind and take day trip to do laundry throughout your trip (or pay inflated charges to have another person wash your garments). Transport baggage is the dearer possibility, however you’ll be able to pack full-size baggage, have them picked up at your entrance door and never contact them once more till they arrive at your cruise cabin.

No resolution is ideal, however figuring out the professionals and cons of every possibility will enable you to make the best resolution to your journey occasion in your subsequent cruise.

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