Which Luggage to Take on First Cruise

[dreamer17555]

But how can 2 people possibly wear enough clothing in one day to take up a whole suitcase? 2 people, 4 nights and 4 full sized suitcases. They would be changing clothing every couple of hours. Do you realize how many outfit you can fit into a full sized suitcase?

Who cares? Maybe they’re participating in fish extenders or multiple fish extenders? Maybe they like changing clothes every few hours or they have sensory issues where they don’t like things being dirty or wet or whatever. Maybe they like to travel with their own blankets or pillows. Maybe they want to bring a ton of different ears and matching loungefly bags. The point is stop judging what other people are doing when it doesn’t hurt you.

 

[NAB]

But how can 2 people possibly wear enough clothing in one day to take up a whole suitcase? 2 people, 4 nights and 4 full sized suitcases. They would be changing clothing every couple of hours. Do you realize how many outfit you can fit into a full sized suitcase?

Shoes take a lot of room. Especially my husbands he has big feet…lol

We also don’t take the biggest suitcase out there , maybe midsize since we fly and have to be a certain size and weight. Plus we fly in a day or 2 early .

We take 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks.

 

[Flcruising]

We've always had our baggage mid afternoon. But in Oct a women didn't get her luggage at all. Her airline had lost it or shipped it somewhere. So she boarded with only her carry on. Some other passengers offered to help and she bought what she needed on board and at ports.
So you can actually get by with bringing very little.
Take as much as you want. We take only what we need. I dont want to pay porters to carry unnecessary extra luggage nor do i want to juggle a bunch of suitcases myself, especially afterwards going through customs and from the terminal to the car. Also I tend to underpack because I always buy clothes along the way as souvenirs.
Keep your carry, -on tote or backpack size and it shouldn't interfere with your activity after boarding.

 

[AquaDame]

Shoes take a lot of room.

Yep, this. We just got back from an 8 night cruise and for the first time I packed whatever I felt like I needed. I ended up bringing six pairs of shoes and used every single one (flip flops as slippers and beach shoes, keens on the rainy days, sneakers for the flights and to run around during the day, my running shoes to run on the promenade and the CC5K, fancy flats for Palo brunch and fancy heels for Palo dinner). It meant taking the big suitcase for sure!

 

[Lilsia]

Who cares? Maybe they’re participating in fish extenders or multiple fish extenders? Maybe they like changing clothes every few hours or they have sensory issues where they don’t like things being dirty or wet or whatever. Maybe they like to travel with their own blankets or pillows. Maybe they want to bring a ton of different ears and matching loungefly bags. The point is stop judging what other people are doing when it doesn’t hurt you.

I travel with my bed sheets, blanket, pillow, toilet paper, all of my toiletries like shampoo/conditioner, hairdryer, etc and all of our. My daughters and I have size 11 shoes, which is big for woman. Even when there are 3 of us traveling, we still fit all of that into 2 full sized suitcases. I can't even imagine how much of your house you would bring with 4 suitcases for only 2 people. What I bring is extreme, I can't imagine doubling that.

 

[dreamer17555]

@OpieDoodle

Here’s the thing the original post was asking if there was a weight limit, how many bags, and if a carry on would hinder their embarkation day. They did not ask if the number of bags they plan to bring was too many.

They never actually came back to say how many suitcases they were taking (just what was allowed), but people immediately jumped on them for taking too many. Based on their user name ( DVC related) I’m sure they travel enough to know what they need, and if they bring too much like all of us, they will deal with it, and if they don’t bring enough that can be difficult as well.

This, if you’re bringing X number of suitcases for two people it’s entirely too much is really arbitrary and it’s honestly no one‘s business. On some cruises, we travel very light, on others we don’t.

In fact, it was mentioned that Disney sends out tags for checked luggage, and that you can get more from the porters, but was was not mentioned as you can actually get more tags mailed out to you in advanced by calling DCL. They don’t care about how much luggage you bring. Technically, they would like it under 50 pounds but they are not weighing it, but like with all things, be considerate of the people who have to move it, don’t give them anything too heavy.

This idea that if I travel with three people and we only use x number of suitcases, and our shoe size is whatever means you possibly couldn’t need more suitcases than us is ridiculous. People are allowed to make their own decisions about what they take or don’t take on vacation with them.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Pack whatever you like in as many suitcases as you have, as long as you are driving. The airlines diverted our checked luggage back to our departed airport (home) instead of sending it to our destination. We were told that they were working on getting our luggage to meet the ship. It never arrived (7-night cruise). So now we only pack our carry-ons and personal bags. The 14-night Panama Canal cruise was no problem with just carry-on.

 

[OpieDoodle]

@OpieDoodle

Here’s the thing the original post was asking if there was a weight limit, how many bags, and if a carry on would hinder their embarkation day. They did not ask if the number of bags they plan to bring was too many.

They never actually came back to say how many suitcases they were taking (just what was allowed), but people immediately jumped on them for taking too many. Based on their user name ( DVC related) I’m sure they travel enough to know what they need, and if they bring too much like all of us, they will deal with it, and if they don’t bring enough that can be difficult as well.

This, if you’re bringing X number of suitcases for two people it’s entirely too much is really arbitrary and it’s honestly no one‘s business. On some cruises, we travel very light, on others we don’t.

In fact, it was mentioned that Disney sends out tags for checked luggage, and that you can get more from the porters, but was was not mentioned as you can actually get more tags mailed out to you in advanced by calling DCL. They don’t care about how much luggage you bring. Technically, they would like it under 50 pounds but they are not weighing it, but like with all things, be considerate of the people who have to move it, don’t give them anything too heavy.

This idea that if I travel with three people and we only use x number of suitcases, and our shoe size is whatever means you possibly couldn’t need more suitcases than us is ridiculous. People are allowed to make their own decisions about what they take or don’t take on vacation with them.

There actually was a lot of implied questions in the OP because they were a first time cruiser looking for luggage advice. Even the title says "which luggage to take on first disney cruise", meaning they're looking for advice and recommendations. As I said, everyone is different. I was an AVID traveler prior to my first DCL cruise and I way over packed. Countless disney trips before didn't help with what to pack for the cruise.

I don't think anyone here had ill intentions but rather trying to say what works for them. Ultimately the OP can read through and determine what is best for THEM.

Regardless, this is a forum. Everyone's answers will be different. Thats the beauty of the platform, but on that same note its such a wealth of knowledge that I wish I found this platform prior to my first disney cruise.

 

[Calantha]

I've been following this thread and decided to throw in my own 2-cents. Full disclosure, I'm an overpacker. This is for a 4 or 7 day cruise:

• We airline check 1 50 lbs suitcase if there are 3 of us (me, DH, DS or me, DS and my mom). This is full of adult clothes, shoes, and toiletries.
• All three of us have LL Bean or similar backpacks for on-board. DS carries his kid stuff, I carry electronics and food, DH carries some extra clothes for all of us.
• Then we have 2 small roll-ons and a duffle bag. 1 roll on is our day bag for at the hotel, so we don't have to open the big suitcase, the second roll-on is the rest of my son's stuff, and the duffle bag has all the accessories (hats, safe, magnets, this time my camera case, etc.).

 

[Clarkson U]

It's really a personal decision. Early on in our cruising experience we packed everything for every night including "dress clothes" for dinner each night. Over time we realized, hey we can do laundry on the ship and it wasn't that disruptive to our sailing so we started packing less essentials (underwear, socks, t-shirts, shorts) and just do a load of laundry or two mid-sailing when going for 7 nights or longer. (I have seen some people get on the ship and do laundry on embarkation day - maybe they were traveling from somewhere else, on a prior vacation, or just didn't have time at home - who cares, my point is people do laundry on the ship at all times during the sailing).

Eventually, we realized we don't need nor do we want to wear dress clothes to dinner each night but prefer to look nice - so more jeans and collared shirt for me and the boys and similar for my wife. We still look nice but no longer dress up with dress slacks, dress shirt, tie, jacket each night. Some sailings we decide not to wear that fancy any night and we found it does save us a fair amount of space and we don't have any lesser cruise experience because of it.

If we are doing a 3-Night since we drive to PC - we really try to get it all in two large suitcases - includes everything and carry almost nothing but wine on the ship with us.

If doing longer, like our upcoming 8 Night we expect at least 5 big bags. Part of that is because we have lots of shoes for each person (at least 4 pairs x 4 people), toiletries, water bottles, hats, sun screen, some card games, books easily take up one suitcase and then we have our clothes including jeans, dress khakis (for Palo) and other clothes. Since it is out of San Juan we need to leave our house 2 full days before sailing and so we need some extra clothes for this sailing and we only want to do laundry on sea day if we can. We don't have huge bags - usually a 24 inch or 25 inch only. We don't own any of the 28 or 29 inch bags as I found it is hard to fill them and not go way over 50 pounds.

We probably won't have much for carry on with 5 larger suitcases except for maybe two DCL sling bags to hold our bathing suits on embarkation day and our documents, etc.

But it is a personal choice - and honestly one can bring as much or as little luggage as they want. It's whatever folks feel comfortable with. We used to bring a lot more bags but have pared down over time. Not everyone will be in our boat.

 

[Flea]

I'm a pooh sized lady - my clothes take up much more room than most. I can easily do a large suitcase just for myself with basics where as my teen is fine with carryon. For me it's more important to have clothes and options with me since I can't easily purchase them on board or in stores in my size.

Although then there is the other teen who wears multiple outfits, has full makeup packed, so she needs a bigger suitcase.

Hubby can pack into a backpack for a week.

Everyone is different.

Luckily it doesn't matter what you bring for the cruises as long as you can deal with it in your room.

 

[auntlynne]

 

[auntlynne]

 

[pindecisive]

Even if there is not a weight limit, don't go too crazy-- actual humans have to lift and move all the bags. (Yes, it is their job, but there's a reason airlines have cracked down on this.)

When I cruise I take my own large suitcase not filled all the way up. Usually my issue with weight is airlines not the cruise ship. The rest of the space in my suitcase is for suvioners and such. I carry on a backpack with essentials like swim suit, any medications, electronics, etc. Anything more than a backpack is a pain to deal with in my experience.

Anyone flying with a carry on should be able to easily lift it to at least above hip height, otherwise it should be checked. The amount of times I've seen people either hit or almost hit someone else's head because they can't lift their own stuff.

 

[Kate_45]

My family have been travelling around the world for almost a year and I think we maybe have the same amount of luggage we took on our first 7 night cruise. We don't have formal dresses or pirate swords but we do have duct tape and maleria tests.

Others have answered your questions about checked bags, so I will just give my experience with carry on. Firstly; just because it looks like carry on, doesn't mean it has to be. You can check a small wheeled suitcase that you took as carry on onto a flight in case your luggage got lost. To minimise it being a pain on board I would combine everyone's valuables into just one bag to keep an eye on. You may even find pockets are enough if you don't want to bring drinks on board. Do you want to swim? They have towels on deck so you can either have costume underneath, then dry in the sun, or you can take underwear to change into pre room time.

 

[Snowwhyt]

I’ve gone with oversized luggage and left with my smallest piece inside the largest on departure. Even fits under the bed.