Traveling Light ???

[lamdam]

Jarpar: Love the idea of checking in one bag on way down. This answers our question about having to buying suntan lotion at gift shop. Like you we can pack lotion on way down and bring two carry-on's coming home avoiding the check bag hassle at transfer airport. Amazing even after going to Couples for 28 years we can still learn something new. Thanks for the heads up. Dave and Linda

[jamaican_junkie]

As a person who checks his luggage, I do get irritated by the carry-on only people who each bring two items that are both rather large (e.g. carry-on and an oversized backpack) so they put them both in the overhead rather than try and squeeze one under the seat. The overheads then get overfilled which forces other people boarding later to have to check their single carry-ons. Very selfish and disrespectful.

[Fluffin]

I will never understand why people try to go with carry on only. Makes no sense to me to stress over trying to get everything you need into one bag. But that is just my opinion....and you know what they say about opinions......

Couples DOES have shampoo and conditioner at all of their resorts BUT it has to be some of the worst stuff I have ever used. I am not a fancy type person and am completely happy with products from Suave. However the shampoo/conditioner they provide is worse then a basic Suave product. It left my hair dry, frizzy and a knotted mess. Luckily we had some conditioner left from the previous resort we had stayed at. It was a life saver! Even my hubby commented on how bad his hair was from using it. PLEASE look into upgrading at least the conditioner!

On our last trip home we had to go through Houston. EVERYONE that did carry on only was being pulled into secondary for further processing. IDK if they had a tip something was up or if this was normal procedure for them.

[Fluffin]

completely agree with you Jamaican Junkie! However it should be something that the ticket agent sees and STOPS!

[StarrandBrianinWI]

if you have a layover and buy liqour or coffee you will need to add it to your checked baggage before rechecking your baggage because they will not allow you to have them as carry ons again...for this reason you may want to check a bag

[travandamy]

I suggested this to the wifey, and was turned down instantaneously! She was quick to remind me about all the stuff that we bring home, that we didnt leave with. We have concluded that we dont need near as much clothing, and will certainly be cutting back on those items, except swimsuits. We will be taking at least four of those each. It does make it a little more difficult when you have to pack dress shoes and long pants for the fancier dinners. AND I dont like to iron, especially on vacation, so I dont know that cramming my pants and nice shirt into a carry-on would work all that well. Im not overly sophisticated, but do enjoy not looking like I just stepped out of the laundry basket. The wifey loves souveneirs and we always bring plenty of them home. We have to save room for those! Also, I wouldnt mind packing more of our carry-on stuff into a checked bag, so I dont have to tote it around from airport terminal to airport terminal. Since we are checking a bag anyway, why not? 77 more days!

[Bert]

Scott&Nessa -
One suggestion if you are checking and have a layover: each of you should pack a carry-on that could get you by in a pinch (bathing suit, minimal other clothing). There was a little bit of a grey cloud over the first half of our first Couples trip as our "friends" at the "D" airline (ends with "elta") lost our bag and had ZERO sense of urgency to find it.

Now we fly with anyone not D and are always prepared to live out of the carry-on as necessary.

[Bert]

100% agreement with jamaican_junkie (as well as Fluffin on the agent observing/resolving).

[colts-n-cubs]

Amen.. I'm assuming everyone that will be traveling to Jam. will have flown and have flown recently in the past 10 years. So suck it up and get a miles card from one of the major airlines that allows for free check bags and sit back and enjoy the legroom. As a fun game I sit back and wait in the terminal and see the anxiety build from the people with their rolling bag with the small makeup bag and their laptop bag hoping there that is room for their "two-limit carry on's" all the while knowing that I will be the last one on the plan as I need to do is go to my seat. Enjoy that anxiery level at the start of your 'vacation' and suck up all of that recycled air from your fellow passengers.

I will never understand why people try to go with carry on only. Makes no sense to me to stress over trying to get everything you need into one bag. But that is just my opinion....and you know what they say about opinions......

Couples DOES have shampoo and conditioner at all of their resorts BUT it has to be some of the worst stuff I have ever used. I am not a fancy type person and am completely happy with products from Suave. However the shampoo/conditioner they provide is worse then a basic Suave product. It left my hair dry, frizzy and a knotted mess. Luckily we had some conditioner left from the previous resort we had stayed at. It was a life saver! Even my hubby commented on how bad his hair was from using it. PLEASE look into upgrading at least the conditioner!

On our last trip home we had to go through Houston. EVERYONE that did carry on only was being pulled into secondary for further processing. IDK if they had a tip something was up or if this was normal procedure for them.

[SurfCat]

Each time before we pack, we go to the local Goodwill store and buy a large suitcase for about $5.00. We fill that and check it on the way down carrying anything that we want including school supplies for the local children.

On the way back, we leave the suitcase at the resort and pack everything into two carry ons, one computer bag and one backpack. We have all of our t-shirts laundered at the end of our trip and give them to the our friends who work at Couples. They seem to love them. We also leave most of our toiletries behind.

This way we are able to pack everything that we may need at the resort on the way down, but avoid the cattle call for luggage checkin at the airport on the way home. Works for us.

[jamaican_junkie]

My girlfriend and I do not fly constantly but we do fly at least once per year for our annual Couples trip. We both check luggage and bring enough stuff to be comfortable and not be wanting for anything while we are relaxing on our vacation. We have enough choices of clothing for whatever we choose to do and at least one pair of underwear for every day. We have all the sunscreen, toiletries, medicine, and bandages that we might need. We bring gifts for staff and friends and have enough room to bring gifts back home as well. We actually enjoy the process of packing for Couples. We do not stress about what to bring with us and what not to bring, how tight to roll our clothes to make them fit, what items we need to buy in Jamaica, what items we need to leave in Jamaica, or doing laundry.

At the airport, checking luggage takes about 5-10 minutes. We put them on the scale, they tag them, and then sometimes we need to roll them to the luggage dropoff area about 30 feet away. And when we land going there or coming back, we go through customs, just like everyone else, then we pick up our luggage, which is already off the plane and waiting for us by then. There is no "cattle call" of crowds to sift through. There is plenty of room, even at the renovated MoBay.

So please explain to me the big advantage to carry-on only. Is it the $25 per bag fee? I guess if you are frequent travelers, it can add up, but it is relatively cheap when booking a $4,000 vacation, and plus we then do not have to lug multiple pieces of luggage around the airport when shopping or whatever. Is it to alleviate the fear of losing your luggage? In all our trips, not once has our luggage been lost or put on the wrong plane. Is it to save time? As I pointed out in the previous paragraph, the time to check and claim your luggage is very minimal and not really crowded or inconvenient at all.

It appears that there might be some unfounded or over-exaggerated fears and misconceptions about checking and claiming luggage. Couples is all about relaxation, and, after reading this thread, I get the feeling that carry-on only leads to a more complicated and stressful vacation rather than the other way around.

[Vickyj]

I'm with Jamaican Junkie. Not only do they take up space, they take forever getting all their stuff out of hte overheads. It's no wonder it takes forever to get off the plane. We each take a carry on and checked bag and my carry on is my beach bag that I put under seat in front of me. I am not going to stress about not having what I want or feel I need. I work out and I also use lots of sunscreen and I am particular about which one I use, especially on my face. The one I use is almost $20 at the resort and I go through a lot while at CTI. Our bags are always waiting for us when we get to the baggage carousel. We know the drill and as we don't have much to haul through the airport, we can breeze by everyone walking to immigration. We just disembark and go like~~~

[SurfCat]

The "cattle call" to which I was referring is on the return trip and is very real. You can avoid this if you have preprinted your boarding passes and have no checked luggage on your return. I have waited for close to two hours on the return in the past.