I only take hand luggage on a cruise – and these are my packing secrets

In the days when my husband, daughter and I cruised as a family, we took checked-in luggage – but even then, it was only a single, modest suitcase, which we shared. It was always far less than the other passengers brought onboard, but we still found that we each only wore half the clothes we’d brought.

It was for this reason that I eventually opted to (excuse the pun) pack that in, and started cruising (in fact, travelling entirely) with only hand luggage. There were protests from husband and daughter (“But cruising bag allowances are so generous! What about the formal nights?”), but not for long: they soon saw the benefits.

Our bags are never lost, we can be flexible (a lifesaver many times, including after a delayed flight from Miami, when other passengers were stranded overnight but I was able to switch to another flight as I had no checked bag), and we are out of the airport – or up the gangway – as fast as queues allow.

I thoroughly recommend it – but you have to know what you’re doing. The pitfalls of travelling with inexpertly packed hand luggage are many – and on a cruise, where you’re often restricted to onboard shops or those at tourist-heavy (and accordingly priced) ports of call, purchasing forgotten staples can be an especially expensive and fraught business.

Plan wisely, however, and it can be the most gloriously liberating experience: no more lugging heavy suitcases across cruise terminals; no more time-wasting outfit deliberations. Tempted? Here’s how to do it.

How to do it

Over dinner on cruise ships, I’ve sat through hours of conversations about the best way to pack. Yes, it is as dull as it sounds – and that is coming from someone who is evangelical when it comes to packing – but everyone has their own way of doing it.

Some swear by rolling, others vacuum-pack items and then fill a large suitcase and moan they brought too much. I’m a folder.

Shoes can be a problem for carry-on devotees, especially if you’re embarking on a cruise that requires bulky hiking boots. The solution, of course, is to wear them to embark at your departure port (and disembark at the end of your trip), and pack your (far less space-consuming) sandals and trainers in your carry-on.

What to take

Pick something different for three or four evenings of the cruise. I go for tops that match a pair of smart trousers and sandals, and include one that passes muster for a formal evening if there is one (these are pretty relaxed on most ships these days).

By day four or five, unless your name is Kate Middleton, no one remembers what you wore on day one, so start to recycle. Keeping a necklace or two in hand baggage is an easy way to make outfits look different.

Add the minimal daytime gear (shorts and T-shirts, a light dress and swimming costume if it’s somewhere warm, a second pair of trousers and a jumper or sweatshirt if cold). If the case is bulging once packed, you’ve got too much. Take some stuff out.

What to avoid

Remember that the liquids rule still applies at many airports, meaning that all shampoos, make-up, lotions, shaving foam and so on must be in quantities of 100ml or less, contained within a plastic bag and taken out at airport security. Luckily, shampoo and conditioner, often the bulkiest toiletry items, are often provided in cruise cabin bathrooms. This also goes for products such as towels, shower gel and hairdryers, for example.

Don’t forget

This is a big one: remember that most cruise ships offer a laundry service (at an extra cost), and a few even have self-service washing machines. You can also wash and dry things in your bathroom, many of which have heated floors, which come in especially useful for drying clothes overnight.

How it works in the real world

My driver looked at my suitcase. “Very sensible,” he nodded approvingly as we watched other passengers struggling with cases they could barely carry. I’d just landed in Vancouver en route to join an HX expedition cruise through the Northwest Passage and was travelling, as always, with only hand luggage.

It’s one thing to go somewhere warm and sunny with few clothes, but I was heading into the Arctic, where temperatures were close to zero. I was also going to be away for just over three weeks, as we steamed from Nome in Alaska to Greenland, and then south to Halifax in Canada.

But I was going on an expedition ship: onboard, casual was the order of the day, and when it came to going ashore, boots and a waterproof coat were helpfully both supplied by HX. Nobody cared what was underneath the set of waterproof trousers, woolly hat, gloves and scarf I’d brought to complete the excursion outfit.

Besides, trips like this are an adventure of spectacular proportions. Who cares what anyone is wearing?

Spectacular, it turned out, was even more apt a description than I’d anticipated. We were doing in weeks what it took Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen – our ship’s namesake and the first man to transit the passage – three years to do between 1903 and 1906. Along the way we spotted polar bears (my personal tally was 11), explored remote islands, and got a cultural fix visiting Inuit settlements. Not once did I spare a moment to wish I’d brought more outfit options.

We were at sea four sea days until our first landing – the time was filled with lectures by the 22-strong expedition team of marine biologists, geologists, ornithologists and other “ists” who run the show onboard, and a fabulous display of splashing flukes by a pod of whales. There was then another sea day before we entered the Passage, marking the start of a chain of beach landings via inflatable Zodiacs – to Holman Island (Ulukhaktok), Murray Island, Cambridge Bay, Borge Island and Gjøa Haven. Each time, we stepped ashore in the freezing water – and each time, I was more grateful for my boots and waterproof trousers.

Jane Archer was a guest of HX (020 3131 5254; travelhx.com), which has a 26-day Northwest Passage – across the top of the world cruise from Nome in Alaska to Nuuk in Greenland from £19,319pp, including flights from Seattle to Nome and Nuuk to Copenhagen, hotel overnights in Seattle and Copenhagen, tips, selected drinks with meals and a wind/waterproof expedition jacket. International flights extra. Departs August 8 2025.