Flying to your cruise with carry-on bags vs. shipping luggage: Which is better?

Checking your cruise baggage with an airline could be a scary proposition, particularly whenever you think about potential climate delays or missed connections that may separate you out of your baggage. The farther you must fly, the scarier it turns into.

However what are your choices? The apparent alternative 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 quick. However what a few 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 a protracted 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 might be managing our baggage and aiding her, which may very well be overwhelming.

Upon reflection, we determined that delivery baggage to the cruise appeared like a much better alternative for her. She would nonetheless want a carry-on bag for our two nights precruise in Rome, however she might ship a 50-pound bag on to the cruise ship and have all the pieces she wanted ready for her after we arrived.

Now we had the proper alternative to check these two baggage choices head-to-head. Which plan was simpler? Which one price much less? What have 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 contemplate when flying with carry-on baggage is the utmost dimensions and weight of baggage allowed on the aircraft with you. Whereas few home carriers have weight restrictions on carry-on baggage or private gadgets, regional, low-cost and non-U.S. carriers can have weight allowances on each.

The usual carry-on dimension for home flights inside the U.S. is 22 x 14 x 9 inches. Private gadgets (purses, tote baggage, backpacks, briefcases and different small gadgets 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 deliver on board the plane. Anticipate comparable 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 diverse tote baggage I usually use as private gadgets have been all too giant. 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 house was wanted for gadgets extra necessary than digital camera lenses. I might additionally want extra packing cubes, so I might 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 facet pocket, a front-opening major compartment, a padded laptop computer compartment and several other small outdoors pockets. (Beware that the net listings aren’t at all times correct concerning bag dimensions.)

I spent $79 complete for 2 backpacks. The most effective characteristic throughout precise use was a vented bottom-opening zipper compartment meant for sneakers, which was ultimate for stashing our quart baggage containing TSA-approved liquid merchandise. That quick access was invaluable throughout our quick sprint by means of the Warsaw airport safety line on our tight connection.

For a carry-on spinner, I had a robust need to have a entrance fold-out compartment for electronics. I additionally wished an enlargement 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 have been allowed to deliver 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 enlargement zipper meant we might deliver again a number of small souvenirs and one bottle of wine.

You’ll be able to spend so much on carry-on baggage, however I opted for an $89 knockoff on Amazon that had fabulous options that made it much more helpful on the journey than I had anticipated. For instance, the entrance electronics panel offers entry to the within contents of the suitcase, primarily making it a front-opening piece of baggage when there is not any house for the standard open-book format of most hard-shell spinners. That proved to be important 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 house 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 giant 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 giant 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 deliver 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 full I spent on new gadgets wanted to make flying to our cruise with solely carry-on baggage work was $203, however it will be straightforward to spend twice that. I do not really feel like I skimped on high quality, and all gadgets 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 inconceivable to pack 18 days’ price 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 particular person, 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 pressured me to pack layers I would not have wanted on a warm-weather cruise. Issues I missed have been a sweatshirt for cold days at sea, yet another 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 have been full-size with a value of $3.50 per wash or dry. A field of laundry detergent giant sufficient for 2 masses was one other $2. (Subsequent time we’ll deliver 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 a bit of the holiday rest, particularly when the road to make use of the laundry services was lengthy and stuffed with cranky cruisers.

Many ships do not need 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 complete price for laundry was $16 for 2 masses, however on an identical cruise with out self-service services or discounted packages, you could possibly doubtlessly spend tons of in laundry charges.

Airline weight restrictions additionally pressured us to depart behind a number of nonclothing gadgets 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 choice 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 looking 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 in search of necessities like hair spray was a particular inconvenience when cities like Rome and Cartagena had so many wonderful methods to spend our restricted time.

Baggage delivery: 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 price of $74.97. She added $2,000 in insurance coverage for $22.99, making the whole $342.95.

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

A FedEx monitoring quantity was offered, however my aunt opted to put a monitoring gadget within the bag as nicely, including $24 to her price, for a complete of $366.95. Should you’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 will be to a home embarkation port. A fast examine of assorted cross-country costs to U.S. cruise ports confirmed base delivery 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 delivery baggage is planning for the cargo. It’s not a last-minute possibility. It’s important to enable sufficient time to obtain the delivery label and packet out of your most popular 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 enable 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 have been a full two weeks earlier than the cruise. Her quoted worth included choosing 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 might even have opted to drop off the baggage at a certified shipper at no cost.

My aunt stated packing her major 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 prospects with layers and a rain poncho (that she by no means used).

She additionally opted to ship her giant 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 stated she had a tough time deciding which gadgets 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 might 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.

In the end, 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 through the journey. After she packed her bag and handed it off to FedEx at her entrance door, she did not need to raise a finger till it got here time to unpack it on board — which added a contact of luxurious to her mainstream cruise.