How does carry on/checked luggage work?

[Makayna]

First time cruiser, and I'm a little confused. People are talking about your "checked" luggage versus "carry-on" luggage. How exactly does that work? Are you talking about from, say, a plane going onto the cruise, or what?

Basically, FH and I will not be flying in from anywhere - we will arrive with all of our luggage in tow. Is ALL of that considered carry-on? Or will larger luggage need to be "checked" somewhere for a certain amount of time? I'm SOOOO confused by reading all of this about "checked" luggage. If you "check" something, how long is it before you can have access to it again? Do you HAVE to check bags over a certain weight/size?

Please help.

 

[jcarwash]

When you arrive at the port terminal, very helpful porters (seriously, they are great) will take your larger bags and they are stored on the ship. These are the "checked" bags. As the afternoon progresses, your bags are delivered to your stateroom door by your host/hostess. Your bags may or may not show up all at the same time.

Carry-on are any bags you want to keep with you as you enter the terminal. You should bring any medications you need, sunscreen, swim wear if you want to change, anything you may want before your checked bags are delivered to your stateroom. You can also pack beer/wine/spirits into your carry-ons if you wish. These bags have to fit through an x-ray machine just like at the airport. And you won't have access to your stateroom until about 1:30pm, so if you board the ship in the earlier groups, you will need to keep these carry-on bags with you.

 

[Makayna]

Do the carry ons need to be a certain size? Or, if we choose, can we keep ALL of our luggage (large, small, skinny or fat) with us... and just understand that we have to haul it everywhere we go. Or do we HAVE to check the larger bags?

 

[mickeyfan1]

You bags all have to fit throught the x ray machine, the same size as what you see at theTSA points i the airports, I don't know how big your big bag is, so it may or may not fit.

However, if you have several pieces of luggage, hauling it around for a couple of hours can be tedious at best. Your room will not be open until 1:30 so you have to haul your bags to the buffet area to reat, to the pool area to sit, etc. It certainly is your choice, but I don't recommend it.

 

[Makayna]

OK. Thank you for your replies. They are most helpful!

One more question... what's the limit on the total number of bags that you can bring?

 

[mickeyfan1]

OK. Thank you for your replies. They are most helpful!

One more question... what's the limit on the total number of bags that you can bring?

You are only limited as to how many you can carry, pull, push etc. There is limited storage in the cabins, but I have seen couples, no kids, with 2 29 inch spinners, 2 21 inch roll aboards, 2 huge duffels, 2 tote bag sized bags, her big purse, and at least 2 other bags, for a 3 night cruise. I could give them the benefit of the dout and maybe they did a B2B, but come on, there are laundry facilities on boards, you can send stuff out to be washed. Maybe they were going to WDW after? Anyway, they were in the "we will take our bags off ourselves" state of mind. Holy pugoli, not an easy thing by the looks. If I had that much, I would let the room people take most of it the last night and collect it in the baggage area with a porter and a cart.

 

[jcarwash]

That last post reminded me...here's what happens when you disembark.

What Disney strongly recommends is that you pack your checked bags and leave them outside your stateroom door by 10:30pm of your last night. You put luggage tags on them with a Disney character and color, like Mickey red.

Your host or hostess will pick up your bags and they are stored. When you disembark in the morning, you go to your character section in the terminal and locate the bags.

This means you need to put aside clothes and whatever you need for the next morning.

DCL says you can certainly handle your own set of luggage but they don't recommend it. I don't either; once again the porters are really helpful handling all your bags (even your carry ons) and leading you through customs.

 

[laughinplace2]

Wait, I am really confused!
For when checking in for the cruise, you have the option of bringing all of your luggage with you if you want, even the bigger ones?

And for disembarking, if you are doing the airline check in, do you still have the option of keeping your checked bags with you? And if not, does that mean you do not see them again until you land at home, OR do they just hold them for you overnight until you head to the airport the next day???

 

[GTO-Girl]

Wait, I am really confused!
For when checking in for the cruise, you have the option of bringing all of your luggage with you if you want, even the bigger ones?

And for disembarking, if you are doing the airline check in, do you still have the option of keeping your checked bags with you? And if not, does that mean you do not see them again until you land at home, OR do they just hold them for you overnight until you head to the airport the next day???

The ONLY bags you can take onboard with you when you arrive are the ones that will fit through the xray machine. If they are larger than that then you MUST check the bigger pieces with the porters at the terminal.

Personally I like to check every piece of luggage I can (big and small) so I'm not dragging luggage all over the ship before the room is ready. Never had a problem getting all my bags delivered to my room.

The crews do this every week, trust me it's no big deal.........

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

The ONLY bags you can take onboard with you when you arrive are the ones that will fit through the xray machine. If they are larger than that then you MUST check the bigger pieces with the porters at the terminal.

Personally I like to check every piece of luggage I can (big and small) so I'm not dragging luggage all over the ship before the room is ready. Never had a problem getting all my bags delivered to my room.

The crews do this every week, trust me it's no big deal.........

cosign this.
Even the carryons we take with us on the plane- we check with Disney. We basically try to carry on as little as possible with us on the ship... generally just our purses, maybe a soft sided cooler with alcohol and one day bag with swimsuits and the like in it- everything else I hand over to DCL and let them bring it to my room. It really is impossible (this to those thinking about doing this) to carry all your luggage with you all around until you're allowed in your rooms. As said above- larger luggage must be checked anyway but even let's say if the 5 of us tried to carry around all 5 carryons and bags we took on the plane with us- it would be a lot to lug around. At lunch there really isn't room for all that luggage and toting it around the ship gets tiresome really quick.

 

[mmouse37]

Wait, I am really confused!
For when checking in for the cruise, you have the option of bringing all of your luggage with you if you want, even the bigger ones?

And for disembarking, if you are doing the airline check in, do you still have the option of keeping your checked bags with you? And if not, does that mean you do not see them again until you land at home, OR do they just hold them for you overnight until you head to the airport the next day???

When you arrive at the ship, the porters will take any bags that you want to check...they could be big or little...but, any bag that you want to carryon with you MUST fit through a typical airport X-ray scanner....you can find the actual dimension at the TSA site.

If you are doing the OAC program you MUST leave your bags out the last night that you want to check onto the plane. They are taken from the hallway, stored, and then transferred via truck the next morning to go to the airport. You would keep your carryons with you and anything you may need the next morning or until you get home. you will not see your checked bags again until your home airport. With the OAC program you leave the ship with just your carryons, go through customs, then head to the DCL bus to the airport....you do not need to claim your checked luggage...it goes straight from the ship to the airport.

MJ

 

[AmandaRG]

I can't begin to imagine carrying on more than necessary! We had a tote and our rolling carryon and it was not fun! There was no way we were going off with more than necessary, either.

 

[John Tag]

Just another simple question to ask for myself. We are driving down also, On last day.. Do we also leave luggage in hallway and if soo what time are bags able to be picked up at port. Our plan is to be off ship by 8-8:30 am and head right to DW.


Thanks.....

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Just another simple question to ask for myself. We are driving down also, On last day.. Do we also leave luggage in hallway and if soo what time are bags able to be picked up at port. Our plan is to be off ship by 8-8:30 am and head right to DW.


Thanks.....

Yes, everybody, whether they are flying or not, needs to have their luggage outside their room the night before your disembark. Once the ship clears customs, you will be able to get off the ship and claim your luggage at customs.

 

[Makayna]

Yes, everybody, whether they are flying or not, needs to have their luggage outside their room the night before your disembark. Once the ship clears customs, you will be able to get off the ship and claim your luggage at customs.

So you can't carry your own bags off the ship?!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

You can, but why would you want to. When you leave your stateroom in the morning of your disembarkment day, DCL asks you not to return so they can start turning it for the next cruise. If you go to your designated restaurant for breakfast in the morning, there is little to no space to bring your luggage. You could get food from the top deck (don't know the name on the Dream) and eat the food in your room and then get off the ship. However, you still have go through customs and you will be lugging your luggage with your the entire time.

Personally, we let DCL take our luggage and then use a porter in the morning to help retrieve it. Even with our carry ons we feel like we are carrying too much off the ship ourselves.

 

[laughinplace2]

Ok, so just to clarify---EVERYONE, regardless of whether they are doing airline check in, HAS to leave their checked bags outside their rooms on the last night.
Then, if you are NOT doing airline check in, you get the bag back the next morning.
If you ARE doing airline check in, you can't get the bags until you arrive home off of your flight. Is there another step you have to take, or do you just make sure the proper tags are on them so that they know you are doing the airline check in?

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

When you arrive at the ship, the porters will take any bags that you want to check...they could be big or little...but, any bag that you want to carryon with you MUST fit through a typical airport X-ray scanner....you can find the actual dimension at the TSA site.

If you are doing the OAC program you MUST leave your bags out the last night that you want to check onto the plane. They are taken from the hallway, stored, and then transferred via truck the next morning to go to the airport. You would keep your carryons with you and anything you may need the next morning or until you get home. you will not see your checked bags again until your home airport. With the OAC program you leave the ship with just your carryons, go through customs, then head to the DCL bus to the airport....you do not need to claim your checked luggage...it goes straight from the ship to the airport.

MJ

I just want to add to this (and to my previous post) that they'll take any bags big or little- but for those who haven't cruised before... keep in mind that the bags they take do get handled quite a bit. They get stacked up high on the palette things (whatever they are called) and piled quite high in the storage rooms near your stateroom before brought to you- same when they take them on the last night. You wouldn't want to give them anything (thinking the small bags primarily ofcourse) that could be crushed and/or torn up with that kind of handling. We've lost a lot of legs, wheels, and this last time even zippers off front pockets off regular/checked sized luggage and regular carryon size thru the years of cruising. Our luggage has taken a beating from the cruises... gonna have to buy more because they are sure hard to lug around in the airport with missing wheels and fall over with missing legs LOL

 

[mmouse37]

Ok, so just to clarify---EVERYONE, regardless of whether they are doing airline check in, HAS to leave their checked bags outside their rooms on the last night.
Then, if you are NOT doing airline check in, you get the bag back the next morning.
If you ARE doing airline check in, you can't get the bags until you arrive home off of your flight. Is there another step you have to take, or do you just make sure the proper tags are on them so that they know you are doing the airline check in?

Not really....if you are doing the OAC you MUST leaver your bags outside your cabin on the last night. You would have already signed up for OAC at check in at the terminal. I like to double check during the cruise as well at guest service desk to make sure.

If you are not doing OAC you don't HAVE to leave your bags out the night before but you are highly encouraged to do so. To drag your full sized bags around the last morning onboard it tough...the ship is crowded with people going to breakfast and there is hardly any room in dining rooms for people's luggage. Sometimes long lines form to wait to disembark and getting around the ship with big bags is difficult. It is much easier to just leave your checked bags outside your cabin door and claim them in the luggage hall.

MJ

 

[oakhill41]

We are doing DCL ground transport to return from port to LAX and have given our flight info, but are not OAC. We will put out our luggage the night before, but will we see our luggage the next morning or will it go straight to our home airport? In case we wanted to put our pj's from the night before inside?
Thanks!