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How does luggage work when you board a cruise?

Whether you’re a minimalist or want to bring everything with you that might possibly need, it helps to understand your options for bringing luggage on your cruise ship. There are some things you can do to make this process much easier!

When you arrive at the cruise terminal to check in for your cruise, you have the option to check bags in with the porters, who will send it through a process that will end with the bag showing up outside the door to your room. A couple of tips if you do this:

• Make sure that you’re only checking sturdy luggage, and don’t put fragile things in your checked bag. This luggage might be tossed around a bit, so it’s important that it be able to withstand those forces. If you would check it on an airplane, it’s ok to check it on a cruise ship.
• Invest in plastic luggage tag holders to make sure your tags stay on your bags. You can buy these specially sized for Celebrity/Royal Caribbean or NCL/Carnival/Princess. (These are affiliate links; this means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.) You can retrieve your bag tags for printing on the cruise line’s website, usually during or after the check-in process.
• In addition to the plastic tag holder, place a business card of some other identifying information inside the suitcases you give to the porters to check in, just in case.

It takes a while to deliver all that luggage, so you want to also bring a carry-on that’ll allow you to board the ship with items that will help you have a great first day on board. A few tips on your carry-on:

• Make sure you keep your travel documents and other important things, like medication, in your carry-on bag, just in the off chance that your luggage gets misplaced.
• If your cruise line allows you to carry on a bottle of wine, it needs to be in your carry-on luggage. The same applies to non-alcoholic beverages you want to carry on board with you.
• Are you the type who wants to hit the pool ASAP? Make sure that your bathing suit and sunscreen are in your carry-on.
• Don’t overdo it with carry-on bags. You can take as many as you want, but you’ll be responsible for carrying them around until the cabins are open to drop them off, usually around 1-1:30 pm.