What to carry on?

[magicplace4me]

Never cruised before so need a little input here.

I know you drop off your luggage and they deliver it to your stateroom for you. How late could it arrive? What kinds of things should we keep with us? I know its not like a plane but are you allowed any type of carryon as long as your willing to haul it around until your room is ready? Which brings up one more question, when are rooms generally ready?

Thanks everyone!

 

[mommasita]

Never cruised before so need a little input here.

I know you drop off your luggage and they deliver it to your stateroom for you. How late could it arrive? What kinds of things should we keep with us? I know its not like a plane but are you allowed any type of carryon as long as your willing to haul it around until your room is ready? Which brings up one more question, when are rooms generally ready?

Thanks everyone!

Your luggage arrives until suppertime, and the odd time even later..We wear our swimsuits under our clothing..Your carryon should be standard x-ray machine size..We put our camera, and medications you may need, basically anything you can not live without, in case of any "delay" with your luggage.

You are allowed access to your rooms at 1:30 p.m.

 

[FreeTime]

I carried on our camera, wet wipes for the kids, a small toy for them to play with while waiting to board, our passports, ans swimsuits. Our luggage was in our room by the time we made it there, around 2.

 

[barkley]

we carry on anything i would not leave out in the room in my absence (basicly anything i would not put into the safe): paperwork, meds, cameras, jewlery. for our upcoming trip i am going to use a small (pilot size-little like a child's) rolling suitcase. it's big enough for everything plus swimsuits.

 

[crisi]

Anything you can't live without (medication).

Anything too expensive (I wouldn't check expensive jewelry or a video camera).

Anything you'll need the first few hours (swimsuit, camera).

Any beverages (they aren't supposed to be in your checked luggage, just in case your Merlot explodes and the suitcase is on top of the bag with my white formal).

But remember that carry ons get heavy over that few hours or so from arriving at the terminal and checking your luggage until you get into your room to drop them (especailly true if you are arriving at the terminal before the ears open) You might want to keep them light. I really regretted taking not only the book I was reading, but the other books I brought along. I wasn't reading those first few hours, anyway.

 

[webray]

Rooms ready at 1:30, we have never had luggage delivered later than 3:30 or 4pm. Well in time to dress for dinner.

We don't carry on anything more than we have to.

 

[mrsfuzzmo]

Usually it's just paperwork (cruise docs), passports, purse stuff (money, IDs), and camera. We send everything else onboard with the porters. Why carry it around. We do not swim upon embarkation, as we like to explore the ship with a cocktail in hand until muster drill, then go to the sailaway party, so Docs, IDs, Money and Camera is all we carry with us.

 

[goofyforlife]

and on a side note...

on our last cruise in Dec. there was a couple at guest services on the first night who had done the land/sea and stayed at the Poly.....Well, it seems no one knew where their bags were.... The man was pretty mad...I'd be too because they didn't even have a change of clothes..... All they offered was a voucher for the on-board store..... Now that may be ok for some people but from now on I always carry-on pretty heavily......

 

[4boons]

For the May PC cruise DW carried on 5 12 packs of Diet Dr. Pepper. I was supprised how many Crew asked where we got it. When we arrived in LA we gave the last 12 pack to one of the crew. We could have used it as money.

 

[qofhearts]

It can be a while before you get your suitcases, some don't get them before the muster drill.

We usually bring on all expensive items like jewelry, camera, video, ipods AND
medicine, makeup and LIQUOR(my husband wraps it in a towel). Then just a lot of sunscreen, swimsuits, googles for the DD and a fresh shirt/shorts.

Given we like to get on the boat right away because DD can't wait to swim in the Mickey pool.
Oh also water and snacks for the wait to get on the boat early.

 

[stampinshauna]

Don't forget the sunscreen!

 

[Rence]

On our first cruise, one of our suitcases did show up until after dinner (early seating). We had the rest of our luggage mid-afternoon, but one apparantly had gone astray.

On our next cruise, we found an extra suitcase outside our door. Looking at the luggage tag, they had misread the room number and the suitcase was for a room a ways down the hall. Rather than leave it outside our door and wait for the crew to realize their mistake, I wheeled the suitcase down and put it outside the correct stateroom.

So normally you should have your suitcases by dinner time, but occasionally they get misplaced and can take a few hours to get to the proper destination.

 

[nzdisneymom]

On our first cruise, one of our suitcases did show up until after dinner (early seating). We had the rest of our luggage mid-afternoon, but one apparantly had gone astray.

This makes me think that perhaps it might be good to pack at least one change for each family member into each suitcase, so if someone's suitcase doesn't make it, at least they'll have something to wear to dinner.

 

[crisi]

This makes me think that perhaps it might be good to pack at least one change for each family member into each suitcase, so if someone's suitcase doesn't make it, at least they'll have something to wear to dinner.

Or wear something you'd be comfortable dining in. The change of clothes we had in case our bags didn't show added to the stuff we needed to lug around.

The biggest mistake we made on our cruise was overpacking the carryons.

 

[rookiecruiser]

One thing we learn, if you have kids, make sure to carry extra clothes for any unexpected events ( especially undies). On our recent DCL our DD (4yo) had an unexpected accident (too excited about going on the cruise) during check in at the port. Luckily, we had her swimsuit and cover up in the carry-on so we wore that instead.