Leaving on cruise-tour 5/20. With packing heavier clothes - not much room for souvenirs. Is anyone familiar with whether the local shops in the port cities will ship purchases back? Thanks!

Hello. Welcome to cruise-chat. Well, I did Alaska cruise last year, and Scotland in March a few years ago. Both trips I used travel space bags. The bags were you squeeze the air out of them, to compress you clothes. I used them for sweaters, and other non-wrinkle stuff, or easy to de-wrinkle stuff. They worked wonders. My huge, thick, furry sweater compressed very thin. I bought them at KMart, I am sure Walmart will have them, or someplace like them. I think the bags cost about $20 for a couple, but it was worth it, to be able to pack more. Be careful of the weight of your bag, cause it does allow you to pack more. I packed my bag with them, then weighed my bag, to check my limit. The airlines have the baggage limits, or pay a hefty fine if they are over. Just thought I would share this tip. Lil' Lori

Some souvenirs are shipped back almost of necessity: Alaskan salmon,for example, and for a time, ulu knives (large semi-circular knife) were too, though you can now carry the latter in your checked luggage on planes. If you buy a lot of things you can probably have them shipped (extra charge of course), and if you have time, you can mail them to yourself - I did that when I was in Hawaii a few months ago. US Postal Service, same as home!

Thanks to you both for your very helpful replies!

Great idea Lil'Lori, maybe those are the answer to my uncoming luggage issue. My wife and 2 girls don't know the meaning of the term "pack light" and we are going to Alaska. Using the space bags for the sweaters and sweat shirts is a great idea.

Jim

Especially important when packing heavier clothes - the airlines are getting really strict about enforcing the 50 pound limit. Even if you pack light when leaving - you can be overweight when you return because of the sweatshirts and souvenirs from the trip....

Was thinking about Lori's space bag packing solution a bit more last night. When a question popped into my head. The bags are great for packing for the trip, but how to you pack AFTER the trip? Don't you need a vacuum cleaner to suck the air out of the bag? So how do you re-pack everything to come home?

Don't want to end up with a bunch of clothing that I can't get into a suitcase.

Jim

Jim, you could do what I have done several times with the same dilemma: buy another suitcase! You can usually find expanding tote bags in the onboard gift shops, or you may be able to buy one onshore somewhere. For example, Ketchikan has a "surplus store" which has all kinds of heavier clothing and also backpacks and other things - at least it did 5 years ago. I even was able to buy a small rolling carryon-size suitcase in a Walmart in Mexico once!

Don't want any additional suitcases. We are renting cars (actually SUVs and minvans) to get from the ship to Anchorage airport. So, we need to keep the luggage to a minimum to conserve space.

That's what makes the bags such good idea... as long as we don't go over the weight limit.

Jim

Sounds like your best bet then is to pack very light on your way there; you can probably buy most anything you really need on the ship or in the ports.

Hi Jim. The bags I bought have a "one way air vent", that allows air to escape out the end when you roll them up. You don't use a vacuum. You put the clothes in, and seal it (there are directions on how to seal it, it has to be done a certain way), then you roll it up, (like you roll up a beach towel), and as you roll it up, it vents the air out the one way air vent. Be sure to leave enough room in them to properly seal them. Try not to overstuff them. I have used each bag several trips, in am still using some of them. Good luck! Enjoy Alaska, I cruised her last year. Lil' Lori