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Packing Cubes -- What brand / type do you all use for your longer trips?


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57 minutes ago, Cruisely said:

I'm so sorry!@JLMoran  ? I know this response is really late, but I just wanted to say that I tried both methods and found the Pack-It Folder more space-efficient.

Hey Cruisely! Thanks for the update. Response isn't late at all, seeing as this particular cruise is still over a year away! ? That was very useful info to learn, and I've added the Folder to my "Cruise Prep" shopping list on Amazon for future purchase, in addition to the Pack-It Tech Compression and non-compression Cubes, plus the Amazon Basics cubes.

Still don't know which cubes I'll settle on, which is why I have them all in the list for now. Part of me feels like I should go with a more rigid / non-compressible cube where I can do like @Lovetocruise2002 said, and tell each family member "This set of cubes fit your suitcase and this set fits your carry-on; whatever you can jam in there is what you can take." Another part wants to say that to them but let them know they they can fix X additional cubes thanks to compression, but use the luggage scale to be sure they don't go over the weight limit.

I guess once I've booked the flight and know what the specific airline's weight limit is, then I can figure out the right set of cubes to invest in.

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I decided to try packing cubes without being 100% on the bandwagon.  I love them.  Hubby thought I was nuts and made fun of me.  He thought I was nuts when I bought my second and third set.  Then he didn't complain when I bought him his own set.  He used them on our last cruise and now has been bugging me for two days to get the out for him to pack for his cruise tomorrow. 

I travel a lot for work and what I love is that I can organize my clothes in the cubes and my unpacking is so simple now.  And my clothes never touch the hotel drawers.  I pack items usually folded rolled on the bottom of a medium or large cube then pack items that need hung up rolled on top of those.  I open my suitcase, lift the cube, put it in the drawer, open it and then hang up the top layer.  My swimsuits and underthings aren't all over the place they are nicely rolled in one cube.  I use the extra space in the suitcase to put lightweight off shaped items like an umbrella or hair curler.  I also sometime more to a smaller suitcase because of the cubes.  It is so easy to pop the cubes in and out of the suitcase.  Rolling clothes prevents wrinkles as long as you flatten out the clothes before you roll them.

I have bought various ones on Amazon but I have two favorites. 

Hubby loves these ones: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B073TH6VJN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I really like these ones: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DCHWK6V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I did buy two cheaper sets on other sites but did not like them as well.  At first I thought the bags that come with some were a waste but I have found uses for them. 

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On 6/2/2019 at 2:43 PM, Lovetocruise2002 said:

- Packing cubes allow us to sort our clothes into "pre-cruise hotel clothes", "embarkation day clothes", "going home clothes".  This ensures that we do not have to open all our luggage at the night before or rummage through things to find an outfit.  We get to the hotel and the "Hotel cube" comes and and we are on our way.  This also ensures that we don't forget to leave an outfit for going home.  When we get to our cabin, the "going home cube" goes into a drawer or closet and we don't touch it until the morning we leave.

 

You are my hero for posting this.  Hubby always wants a separate suitcase for this and it drives me nuts.  Now we will do a pre and post packing cube.

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I like being organized as much as anyone but ... the word is not made into perfectly sized blocks like Lego's.

To me, the hard sided suitcase is cumbersome. If it does not fit in a space, it never will. If a closet is one inch too shallow, hard luggage does not fit. If the space under the bed is one inch too low, hard luggage does not fit.  The 3.5 cubic feet of a standard hard suitcase will forever take up that much space.

On the other hand, a soft sided duffel is somewhat malleable. It self adjusts to fit the curvature of a car trunk. A space that is a tad bit too small in one direction, the soft side duffel will probably squish one way or another to fit. When its unpacked, it can be folded and rolled to fit most anywhere. It absorbs shocks of being tossed, dropped and bumped around carousels with ease. Multiple colors can be had. Want lime green with orange webbing reinforcement, you can find it and its easy to spot among the 400 other black bags  on the carousel.

I guess you could still place packing cubes inside the duffel. I'm usually happy with putting a stack of T shirts at one end, underwear and socks at the other. I do have my 'ditty bag' for  toiletries and medications etc. I like the flexibility of being able to choose what I want to wear that day or time with out trying to pick it out and pack it separately weeks in advance.

On a short one or two night jaunt somewhere, I barely unpack the bag.  If I'm going to be in a room/cabin for several nights, I unpack everything and put it in drawers or on hangers in the closet and so on. It just feels more natural rather than 'here is your dinner wear cube, open it an put it on.'

That is just my opinion.

 

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47 minutes ago, Ditchdoc said:

I like being organized as much as anyone but ... the word is not made into perfectly sized blocks like Lego's.

To me, the hard sided suitcase is cumbersome. If it does not fit in a space, it never will. If a closet is one inch too shallow, hard luggage does not fit. If the space under the bed is one inch too low, hard luggage does not fit.  The 3.5 cubic feet of a standard hard suitcase will forever take up that much space.

On the other hand, a soft sided duffel is somewhat malleable. It self adjusts to fit the curvature of a car trunk. A space that is a tad bit too small in one direction, the soft side duffel will probably squish one way or another to fit. When its unpacked, it can be folded and rolled to fit most anywhere. It absorbs shocks of being tossed, dropped and bumped around carousels with ease. Multiple colors can be had. Want lime green with orange webbing reinforcement, you can find it and its easy to spot among the 400 other black bags  on the carousel.

I guess you could still place packing cubes inside the duffel. I'm usually happy with putting a stack of T shirts at one end, underwear and socks at the other. I do have my 'ditty bag' for  toiletries and medications etc. I like the flexibility of being able to choose what I want to wear that day or time with out trying to pick it out and pack it separately weeks in advance.

On a short one or two night jaunt somewhere, I barely unpack the bag.  If I'm going to be in a room/cabin for several nights, I unpack everything and put it in drawers or on hangers in the closet and so on. It just feels more natural rather than 'here is your dinner wear cube, open it an put it on.'

That is just my opinion.

 

 

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

No duffle for us either.  We are all about being able to stack things while walking and we find the duffle bag cumbersome.

I have one of these and will probably order a second one. I love these because they are rigid enough to stack, but also have have the malleable soft side, too: https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/91240?page=shockwave-rolling-duffle-medium&bc=50-516673&feat=516673-GN1&csp=f. Not cheap, but has lasted many years. Packing cubes combined with this setup will be perfect! Thanks ALL!

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52 minutes ago, NJCruisers said:

Please forgive my ignorance as I don't fly much (it's been almost 10 years).  I've heard that TSA can and does go through your luggage.  How does this work with the cubes?  

My understanding is that they can open them up if they see something suspicious on the X-ray, but at least it will only be one or maybe two cubes with the rest undisturbed. They might not even bother if the cubes have an open mesh top / are not compression type so they can see into them, and / or if whatever they spotted on the X-ray is something they find in between the cubes. But it a point in favor of non-compression cubes -- if they open up a compression cube, you'll be tied up with trying to crunch it back down before you can close up your suitcase again.

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I am back from my pre-cruise summer vacation to the Grand Canyon and got to use my new cruisin' cubes in a trial run! I recommend them, pretty cheap ($36 for this set that also included a laundry bag I used for shoes) and seem well made. 

Gonex Compression Packing Cubes - Amazon

They worked better than anticipated and once all my clothing was packed, left quite a bit of room in the suitcase for other things (on the cruise it's for floats, towels, plastic bottles, beach sheet and tent!) including my big a** hiking boots! 

I found them somewhat tricky to compress at first but once you know perfect finger placement to keep it from zipping up the interior fabric into the zipper, they are so convenient.

This is a standard 22" carryon from Samsonite and as you can see once they were all in the suitcase, I still had plenty of extra room at one end and an extra 2 inches all over for putting things on top like my toiletry bag, cooler purse and stupid brimmed hiking hat. 

The small one I am holding in the last image contains 4 tank tops! Crazy! Overall in these cubes I packed: 2 long sleeves, 5 tank tops, 6 shorts, 1 pair of leggings, 5 dresses/rompers and 8 pairs of hiking and regular socks. Seems like plenty of items comparable to 7 days of cruise wear. The dresses I rolled into the largest of the cubes and I found I didn't have that many wrinkles to iron out upon arrival. 

I will get some more use out of these on a quick trip to Detroit for a wedding before my August Freedom sailing so I will update if they start showing any signs of wear and tear. ?

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_2d0c.jpg

A2Z5Tx9rTgmx2icd6upOjg_thumb_2d0a.jpg

IMG_9108.jpeg

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26 minutes ago, DDaley said:

I am back from my pre-cruise summer vacation to the Grand Canyon and got to use my new cruisin' cubes in a trial run! I recommend them, pretty cheap ($36 for this set that also included a laundry bag I used for shoes) and seem well made. 

Gonex Compression Packing Cubes - Amazon

They worked better than anticipated and once all my clothing was packed, left quite a bit of room in the suitcase for other things (on the cruise it's for floats, towels, plastic bottles, beach sheet and tent!) including my big a** hiking boots! 

I found them somewhat tricky to compress at first but once you know perfect finger placement to keep it from zipping up the interior fabric into the zipper, they are so convenient.

This is a standard 22" carryon from Samsonite and as you can see once they were all in the suitcase, I still had plenty of extra room at one end and an extra 2 inches all over for putting things on top like my toiletry bag, cooler purse and stupid brimmed hiking hat. 

The small one I am holding in the last image contains 4 tank tops! Crazy! Overall in these cubes I packed: 2 long sleeves, 5 tank tops, 6 shorts, 1 pair of leggings, 5 dresses/rompers and 8 pairs of hiking and regular socks. Seems like plenty of items comparable to 7 days of cruise wear. The dresses I rolled into the largest of the cubes and I found I didn't have that many wrinkles to iron out upon arrival. 

I will get some more use out of these on a quick trip to Detroit for a wedding before my August Freedom sailing so I will update if they start showing any signs of wear and tear. ?

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_2d0c.jpg

A2Z5Tx9rTgmx2icd6upOjg_thumb_2d0a.jpg

IMG_9108.jpeg

This is the EXACT set we purchased. Actually, three sets. I have done a "mock" packing just to check weights and the utility of these. WOW! I'm sold!! Glad I purchased them. My advice to others, is that if you're on the fence about these, buy one set. If you're going on a cruise, they're not expensive. Try them. Heck, just do a mock packing and you'll see why folks are recommending these.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 6/4/2019 at 11:00 PM, ThyriC said:

I use the packing cubes from ebags.  I get 2 large, 4 medium and 4 smalls and those fill my 2 suitcases with room for things that dont fit in the cubes.  I love them.  I dont use any compression cubes because I'm horrible at compressing things that much, and I dont have a vacuum for vacuum bags while on the cruise to repack.  

Mine are purple because.... they're PURPLE I have to have them!  

I'm also a purple freak.  There's a store in Seattle near Pike Place market called The Purple Store.  Mr. SpeedNoodles might not ought to have brought me in there. He almost couldn't drag me out.

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We have several sets of packing cubes ( all Amazon ) but have starting using a better system: Jumbo slider seal zip lock bags. These are rated 2 1/2 gallon , and measure 14 1/2 by 16 inches. Inexpensive. Easy to bring spares. Pack by category and all visible. To compress, just sit or lean on them and zip up. If bag breaks, replace!  Can pack by day, various trip segments, weather, clothing type, dirty clothes. Used on multiple trips with weather varying from 90 degrees plus to below freezing, and all in one under 50 pound suitcase. Very easy to partially unpack when traveling pre- or post-cruise. We also take plastic clothes pins for overnight laundry; these go in a quart zip-lock bag. 

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  • 6 months later...

Resurrecting this thread so y'all can see what I ended up getting as my first set: LeanTravel Compression Packing Cubes Luggage Organizers for Travel with Double Zipper - Set of 3 - Color Black

Received as a b-day gift, and I have to say after taking a good look at them that I really like the design and construction; I had these on my "Cruise Prep" list as one of many options, and I think they might be the best of the bunch. Probably going to buy the 6-pack option on these (2 large, 2 medium, and 2 small) so that I have cubes for both the checked and carry-on suitcases. Given some of the stuff I'll be packing for the Iceland & Greenland trip (in just over 6 months now!!) -- fleece-lined chinos, mock turtlenecks and other medium-weight layers, t-shirts, dress shirts, suit... having the compression and being able to stuff more into the carry-on without busting it at the seams will definitely be a good thing! Also leaves room for the dress shoes! ?

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     I tend to only use them for loose items and also for laundry. I prefer the lightweight ones as I am carrying around everything on my own. I have found they are more useful for organization than for actual space saving. 
 

You are going to Iceland? Is that part of your cruise or after cruise segment? If cruise, which itinerary? I didn’t know any ships went there, that would be amazing!

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1 hour ago, Adriana said:

You are going to Iceland? Is that part of your cruise or after cruise segment? If cruise, which itinerary? I didn’t know any ships went there, that would be amazing!

It’s a transatlantic on Celebrity, going to Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and ending in Dublin. Royal does have one or two cruises each year that go to Iceland, typically a transatlantic / repositioning cruise for whichever Radiance class ship they had in Northern Europe. But those are typically in April / May for the ship’s repositioning to Boston for the summer season, where this cruise is in August and lined up better with family availability around school / college.

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1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

It’s a transatlantic on Celebrity, going to Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and ending in Dublin. Royal does have one or two cruises each year that go to Iceland, typically a transatlantic / repositioning cruise for whichever Radiance class ship they had in Northern Europe. But those are typically in April / May for the ship’s repositioning to Boston for the summer season, where this cruise is in August and lined up better with family availability around school / college.

Thank you! ... That is so cool!! You are going to have an amazing time!! 

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