Smaller than the average hotel room, the typical cruise ship cabin is ultra compact, offering limited space to store anything passengers bring on board.
For overpackers, cruise ship cabins are a real conundrum. Fitting everything you think you need for your cruise into your tiny cabin is complicated, even for passengers who pack light.
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Packing your cruise essentials in large suitcases and bulky bags only makes the problem worse. Passengers need to be smart and strategic about packing so they don’t end up with a cabin full of clutter and no room to move around.
Clever cruisers travel with collapsible luggage or compact suitcases that are small enough to fit under cruise ship cabin beds or store in the cabin closet. If you aren’t smart in the way you pack, there’s really nothing the cruise line can do to help you free up valuable space in your cabin.
Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald addressed this issue in a recent Facebook post where he shared a message from a frustrated passenger. Despite being a seasoned cruiser with high status in the cruise line’s loyalty club, the passenger struggles to cope with the limited space available for suitcase storage.
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Carnival cruise ship cabins have limited storage space, so most cruisers store luggage under their beds.
Image source: Carnival Cruise Line
Loyal Carnival cruiser shares suitcase snafu
“No, Heald that is not true! Not every and all suitcases fit under the bed. Your response is misleading at best,” the unidentified passenger wrote. “Why is there no suitcase storage for Diamond [passengers]?”
The loyal passenger explained the difficulty they have with storing the suitcases they take on longer Carnival Journeys cruises.
“DH and I mostly take journey cruises now. We always take three 26″ hard sided suitcases and they do not fit under the bed,” the passenger explained. “We have some larger and medium cases, the carry-on fits into the medium which fits into the larger… like Russian stacking dolls. None of this would be stressful if you offered storage for your most frequent cruisers.”
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As he shared the passenger’s message on his Facebook page, Heald explained that Carnival cruise ships don’t have space to store luggage for passengers, no matter their status in the cruise line’s loyalty program.
“Thank you and I do apologise, I thought all normal sized suitcases fit under our cabin beds and if I am wrong I am really sorry,” Heald wrote. “We do not have storage areas for suitcases, regardless of how many times you may have cruised (thank you for being diamond guests) and so we do ask guests to store their own luggage.”
Carnival brand ambassador gathers feedback on suitcase situation
Heald asked his followers to weigh in on the luggage storage dilemma in the comments on the post.
“How do you do this, everyone? Under the bed? In the closet? Live out of the suitcase and don’t really ever unpack? Thoughts please.”
The witty brand ambassador also took the opportunity add some fun to the post by ending with one of his signature silly anecdotes.
“Oh and by the way, recently I watched a street entertainer contort his whole body into a small suitcase and asked him if he could teach me how to do it. He’s busy, but he’ll try and squeeze me in on Friday,” Heald joked.
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For most passengers who commented on the post, squeezing their luggage under the bed in their cabin isn’t a problem.
“I have never had a problem with putting it under the bed and if so the closet works just fine,” Luann Mirabelli noted. “Did 2 Journeys cruises most recently without issue.”
One passenger offered a helpful tip for making a large suitcase fit.
“Last time we opened ours and slid it under the end and used it drawer style when we needed things,” Brittany Hall shared.
Other passengers pointed out the impracticality of the loyal cruiser’s request.
“Always put suitcases under the bed. If they are Diamond, as am I, they should plan accordingly,” Dianne Campbell wrote. “And once again – logistics, the amount of space needed to store luggage would be enormous and the manpower needed to move suitcases several times would be ridiculous.”
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