Category Archives: Tips

Don’t Pack This If You’re Flying To Your Next Cruise…

don't pack this for your cruise

We strive to make the most up to date and comprehensive cruise packing list available on the Internet. Along those lines we’re continually researching, testing and reviewing.

We recommend a good number of rechargeable items in our list – night lights, battery banks on and more.

I stumbled across this being recommended for cruise travel. It looks like a great fan. It’s rechargeable so you don’t need to occupy a precious outlet and it has a beefy looking clip for easy placement.

But… if you’re flying to your embarkation port. There’s a problem. The fan is rechargeable and features lithium batteries. Since you cannot put lithium batteries in checked baggage, you’ll need to put this in your carry on bag. Looking at the fan it’s pretty chunky. I don’t know that I’d want to lug this around in my backpack.

Make sure and look at the battery types being used in your cruise gear. Good old alkaline are a great option for checked items. We picked out this trimmer for exactly that reason. It uses regular, easy to find alkaline batteries.

On the other side of the coin. I’m a big… water flosser user and my travel flosser does have Lithium batteries. For me, it’s worth it to carry that in my backpack.

Update…. Not so fast…

As of this update in October of 2023 the TSA says…

“Spare (uninstalled) lithium ion and lithium metal batteries, including power banks and cell phone battery charging cases, must be carried in carry-on baggage only. Lithium metal (non-rechargeable) batteries are limited to 2 grams of lithium per battery. Lithium ion (rechargeable) batteries are limited to a rating of 100 watt hours (Wh) per battery. These limits allow for nearly all types of lithium batteries used by the average person in their electronic devices.”

The way I read this is that this means many devices with installed lithium batteries can be checked.

Check the TSA for current information and clarification… What Can I Bring from the TSA

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This post may contain affiliate links. We may make a commission when you use our links. This will never cost you extra. Thank you for supporting Cruise Packing List!

Cruise Ship Power Solutions – Making Use of the 220 Volt Cabin Outlet On Your Next Cruise

All About Night Lights for Your Next Cruise!

The Most Powerful Tool for Finding Cruise Deals…

find cruise deals

Once upon a time we were looking for a suite on Royal Caribbean. We were close to moving up a level in Royal’s Crown and Anchor Society and we were considering a suite to, among other things, make the jump more quickly. The problem was that in order to get suite pricing I had to drill into every search result to get actual costs. I started looking for a tool to more easily find suites pricing.

I found that and so much more when I stumbled across cuiseplum!

cruiseplum allows you to search by almost every aspect of your cruise… cruise line, cabin type, length, ports visited, ports NOT visited, price per day, embarkation month, embarkation DAY,  debarkation day, embark part, depark port and lots more.

cruiseplum also shows you an historical pricing chart for your sailing. We’re booked on Celebrity Ascent after it starts sailing. The chart above is from that sailing.

After entering your criteria you’re presented with a list of results. You can sort that list by total cabin price, and cabin price per day and more. When you find a sailing you’re interested in you can look at the historical pricing for that cruise.

The other thing you can do is create a bookmark to a specific cruise. Most cruise line websites don’t allow you to easily bookmark a specific sailing, You have to go through the search process to get back to it.  I have a field in my reservation tracking spreadsheet were I put the cruiseplum link so I can easily click on it to see current pricing.

Cruise plum also maintains a hot deals list, a last minute deals list, a list showing today’s price drops, suite search and a search to help solo cruisers find deals.

cruiseplum is a game changer that helps you more easily find the cruise you’re looking for and find deals.

cruiseplum.com

Also: Problem Solved… MagSafe Wallet for Your Ship Card!

This post may contain affiliate links. We may make a commission when you use our links. This will never cost you extra. Thank you for supporting Cruise Packing List!

This article may contain affiliate links. We may make a small percentage if you use our links to make a purchase. You won’t pay more and you’ll be supporting Cruise Packing List and more content like this. Thank you for your support!

Price, promotions and availability can change quickly. Check the product page for current price, description and availability. top:cruiseplum tag:tpr

What size luggage should I take on my cruise?

Travelpro Maxlite 5 Softside Expandable Luggage with 4 Spinner Wheels, Lightweight Suitcase, Men and Women, Black, Checked-Medium 25-InchPictured: Travelpro Maxlite 5 Softside 25-Inch

Disclaimer: Bag size is largely a personal preference type of thing and if you have something that works for you… go ahead and check out our complete list for some more recommendations and tips.

Bag Sizes

The general bag sizes are 29″, 25″ and 21″. That measurement refers to the bag height and can range a little bit. For the medium size bag you’ll see bags from around 24″ to 26″.  Bags in the 29″ and 25″ ranges definitely need to be checked when flying. Bags in the 21″ range can usually be carried on depending on the airline, aircraft and the bag.

Luggage Features and Construction

Beyond size, bags are made from different materials and have different features.

  • Soft side bags – are made from fabric like woven nylon.
  • Hard side bags – are made from hard plastic.

Hard side have the general advantage of being more robust and they can be wiped down for cleaning. Soft wide bags are more expandable and can have zipped outside pockets.

Bag features can include rolling wheels (yes!), telescoping handles, extra pockets and compartments and more.

What size luggage should I take on my cruise?

My recommendation is… as small as possible. Figure out what you need – our complete packing list – along the items that will make things a lot easier and get a right-sized bag. Too big equals extra cost and weight and stuff sloshing around as you make your way to your cruise. Too small equal… too small.

Downsides of Bigger Bags

Sure the larger 29″ size checked bags are appealing because you can get so much stuff in them. But, when you get so much stuff in them… you have that much stuff to lug around.

Weight = work. If you use and need all of the stuff, that’s one thing, but what if you can have just as good of a time without the extra stuff?  Why spend part of your vacation lugging around extra stuff you don’t need?

The other thing about huge bags is that it’s tough to actually fill these up without surpassing airline weight limits. If they’re half empty your stuff gets to bounce it’s way around to the next cruise.

When 4″ = 2,481 sq inches

25″ to 29″ sounds like, uh.. 4″. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is. Using Travelpro’s Maxlite 5 as an example the 25″ bag has about 4,950 cubic inches of interior space while the 29″ bag has about… 7,431 cubic inches of interior space. That’s just over 50% usable space. That’s a lot.

For Us, Medium Works Best

Personally we prefer medium sized checked bags in the 25″ range. We both each have one of these or direct from Travelpro.

The fact is people are going on cruises everyday using carry on size bags in the 21″ range. We’re not willing to go that far, but for us, the medium size 25″ bag is a reasonable size for most cruise vacations.

For lots more about what you should pack for your next cruise check out our complete packing list.

Related: Amazon Best Sellers in Luggage

This article may contain affiliate links. We may make a small percentage if you use our links to make a purchase. You won’t pay more and you’ll be supporting Cruise Packing List and more content like this. Thank you for your support!

This post may contain affiliate links. We may make a commission when you use our links. This will never cost you extra. Thank you for supporting Cruise Packing List!

All information provided is deemed accurate at time of publishing, but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. tag:watchsizeluggage tag:tpr