Carnival Cruise Luggage Limits & Restrictions in 2024

Before packing for a Carnival cruise, a curious question hits the brain: What is the luggage limit for a Carnival cruise? 

Cruising is all about fun and enjoying different onboard activities, and you can enjoy the journey only if you have essential items. That’s why cruisers always get confused about luggage limits.

Luckily, the Carnival Cruise Line has chill onboard luggage rules. You can pack the luggage unreservedly. But there are some weight restrictions for each bag you bring onboard. 

Moreover, the luggage restriction may vary for the airport if you plan to get on a Carnival cruise via airline. In that case, you should also search for luggage restrictions at specific airport terminals. 

If you’re getting confused while packing for a carnival cruise, you can check these helpful cruise packing lists. 

What Are The Luggage Limits On Carnival Cruise?

Unlike the other cruise lines, Carnival Cruises doesn’t have strict luggage restrictions. 

According to the Carnival Cruise luggage guidelines, a maximum of one bag is allowed per person if you plan to cruise for 3 – 5 days. And the bag weight should be less than 50 pounds (22 KG). 

Whereas, if traveling on a cruise for six days or more, you can pack a maximum of two bags, and both should weigh less than 50 pounds. 

You can use dedicated hand-carry bags or laptop bags for passports, documents, laptops, etc. 

If you’re reaching the cruise port by plane, you must consider the luggage restrictions of the airport before packing the luggage.  

What Size Luggage Does Carnival Cruise Allow?

Carnival cruises have specific guidelines regarding the luggage size. The luggage bag should be small so It can easily pass through security machines and checkpoints. 

Secondly, small-size luggage bags are also easy to carry and convenient for the crew. 

The Carnival cruise recommends bringing 16×24 luggage bags, which should fit under your bed in a cabin or stateroom.

Even though Carnival Cruise Lines doesn’t weigh your luggage, the bags should be small enough to pass through X-ray security machines. 

For embarkation day, you can separately use handbags to carry important documents. So, during the checking process, it will be easy for you to access the important documents. 

What to Do If Your Luggage Bags Are Exceeding?

Carnival Cruise suggests cruises bring a maximum of one bag for a 3 – 4 night stay and two bags for six or more days. But what if your luggage bags exceed Carnival cruise guidelines? 

As per my personal experience, the Carnival Cruise line don’t have any rigorous regulations for luggage, so if you bring more than one bag, they won’t cancel your cruise. 

Always remember to pack less and only essential items so you can easily handle them later.

If you have a lot of stuff to pack and your luggage bag gets over-packed, and there is no room, consider using packing cubes. With packing cubes, you can efficiently pack the luggage in one bag. 

Does Carnival Cruise Charge For Luggage Bags?

One of the important questions that most cruises ask is about luggage bag fees on Carnival Cruise. 

It is good to know that Carnival Cruises is not strict regarding luggage restrictions. And you will be glad to know that there are no hidden charges on your luggage bags. 

For your convenience, Carnival Cruise recommends using 16×24 size luggage bags that can easily fit under your bed. Also, your luggage bag should not be more than 50 pounds, because it will become difficult to handle such overweight luggage. 

Remember that the airline might charge some fees for extra luggage bags or overweight luggage.

So before packing the luggage for the Carnival cruise, you must ask your airline for luggage limits. 

To avoid the extra charges on luggage, try to pack efficiently. You don’t need to pack extra towels or irons because Carnival Cruise offers onboard laundry services and towels. 

How To Check Carnival Cruise Luggage Size?

After packing the essentials, you must check the size of the luggage bag so it can meet the requirements of the Carnival Cruise line. 

You can measure the luggage size using your iPhone’s “Measure” app to get the width and height or measuring tape to get the accurate size. 

After completing the packing process, measure the height of your luggage bag and ensure that it shouldn’t be more than 16 inches. 

Next, measure the width of the bag. The bag should be in an upright position, and the width of the go bag should be 24 inches or less. 

After checking the width and height, put the bag on the luggage scale to measure the weight. By the way, your sixth sense also tells the weight estimation for luggage bags. 

Remember that Carnival Cruise Luggage size is 50 pounds or 22 Kg per bag. So if the weight exceeds, you can use another small bag as Carnival Cruise allows two bags per person for a six-day cruise voyage. 

The Important Carnival Luggage Policy That You Must Remember

Before onboarding or embarkation day, you should know about Carnival luggage policies. Apart from the weight and size of luggage, there is another important policy that you must consider. 

You shouldn’t lock the luggage bags for security purposes; the unlocked bags will be easy to scan and check. If you hand off locked luggage through security checkpoints, it will cause delivery delays. 

Secondly, the luggage checking time will end before 2 hours of ship sailing. You should take care of your timing and always arrive on time to clear your security checkups and enjoy extra time for lunch.

Can I Carry My Luggage On A Cruise?

Taking care of your luggage bags is one of the labor tasks on a cruise. And on a Carnival cruise, you must take care of your luggage alone. 

You must carry your luggage bags and pack fewer essentials to make it lightweight. Use packing cubes to tightly pack the luggage. 

For your convenience, use the bag with four wheels and multiple compartments. I recommend using this understood luggage bag that you can use to pack toiletries, laptops and other gadgets. 

The luggage bag with four wheels is easy to handle because sometimes elevators are too busy, and you must take the stairs. 

You can also hand off your luggage to any porters and give them a small tip like $1 or $2. 

Does Carnival Check My Luggage Bag?

Like the other cruise lines, the Carnival cruise has some security protocols for your safety. At the carnival, check your luggage before assigning a cabin or stateroom. 

The luggage will go through an x-ray machine to check for prohibited items like weapons, alcohol, drugs, party poppers, or any flammable substance.

There are even sniffer dogs that smell alcohol and drugs. The crew treats the locked luggage suspiciously and unlocks it to check for prohibited items. 

You should unlock the luggage before submitting it for security checkups. 

Carnival Luggage Tags

Just like the other cruise lines, Carnival Cruises offers luggage tags. These luggage tags help porters to deliver your luggage directly to your stateroom. 

Your name, deck and stateroom information will be on the luggage tag. You can access these luggage tags once you have completed the online registration process. 

Print them at home once you have luggage tags, and attach them to your luggage bags. You can use tag holders or tape to attach these luggage tags. 

Always remember to use a luggage tag with your bags before security checkups. 

Should I Give Tip To Cruise Luggage Porters?

It’s customary to give tip to porters because they are not the official employees of Carnival Cruise.

Usually, cruisers give a $1 tip per bag to porters, but you can also give them $2 to $3, depending on your mood. 

It’s good human ethics to give a small tip to a porter, no matter how much you want to pay, so they can purchase a cup of coffee. 

Before assigning your luggage bag to ports, always attach luggage tags with the bags, so the porters can easily deliver your luggage straight to your stateroom. 

What Items Can I Bring On the Carnival Cruise?

Forgetting essentials while cruise packing is a common anomaly that happens to cruisers. At that time, a question hit the brain: “What items should I pack for the carnival cruise?”.

Carnival cruises don’t have strict rules and regulations for bringing necessary items onboard. The cruise only prohibits a few items from being brought onboard that are dangerous or unhealthy for you and the other cruisers.

Can I Bring A Cooler On Carnival Cruise?

Yes, the Carnival Cruise line allows cruises to bring a small cooler. But you can’t bring a large cooler onboard because it will be tough to pass a large cooler through the X-ray machine. 

According to Carnival Cruise guidelines, you can’t bring a cooler larger than 12 inches x 12 inches x 12 inches.

A small cooler is enough to store non-alcoholic drinks, medicine and other beverages. 

Recommended Small Cooler

Can I Bring Alcohol On the Carnival Cruise?

You can only bring one 750 ml bottle of wine or champagne per person above age 21. Also, guests cannot bring extra wine bottles in their luggage. 

There drug dogs on carnival cruises smell your luggage and stumble on the alcoholic drinks and drugs.

If you’re an alcoholic, addicted personality, you don’t need to fret. The Carnival cruise offers dedicated drink packages, including alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. 

Can I Bring a Hair Dryer On Carnival Cruise?

Yes, you can bring a hair dryer on the Carnival cruise. 

It is good to know that Carnival Cruises offers 1250 watt hair dryers in every stateroom and suite, so you don’t need to put an extra load on your luggage.

All personal grooming and self-care items like hairdryers, shavers, and flat irons are allowed on board. So, if you’re fashion-conscious, you can pack them for the voyage. 

Can You Bring Snacks On Carnival Cruise?

Carnival Cruise allows you to bring different snacks on board. However, there are restrictions on the type of snacks you bring. 

For example, you’re not allowed to bring pre-cooked snacks or meals. Similarly, snacks that require refrigerators are not allowed onboard.

It’s good to bring packed snacks like packets of chips, crackers, dry fruits, nuts etc. 

Can You Bring a Vape on the Carnival Cruise?

Carnival Cruise allows the guest to bring a vape. But remember that vaping is treated as a cigarette, and you can’t use it in public places. 

There are specific places on board where you can use vapes and cigarettes. You’re not allowed to use vape in the stateroom, cabins or balconies.

Onboard, you should respect the designated smoking areas. If you are caught smoking in restricted places, disciplinary action can be taken against you. 

Mostly, vapes and other e-cigarettes are permitted outdoors and in casinos. Similarly, smoking is not allowed during the day of embarkation and debarkation due to refueling. 

Check out the designated places for smoking on Carnival Cruise.  

Can I bring distilled water to Carnival Cruise?

It’s legal to bring distilled water on Carnival cruise for medical reasons, like if you’re pregnant or using it for a baby. However, you’re not allowed to bring bottled water on board. 

You can buy the water bottles at bars or pre-purchase water before vacation, which will be delivered to your stateroom. 

On Carnival Cruise, a single water bottle (1.5 liters) will cost you $3.95, which will be delivered to your stateroom with an 18% delivery fee.

You can also purchase 12 bottles of water (500 ml) in a pack, which will cost you $9.95, excluding 18% of the delivery fee. 

Can You Bring Soda On Carnival Cruise?

The Carnival Cruise Line allows soda on board. But there are restrictions on the number of soda cans you can bring. 

The guests are only allowed to bring 12 cans of soda, each 350 ml in size. You can also purchase soda cans or bottles at bars and cafes.

Carnival Cruise offers some of the most splashing drinks packages, including fresh soda beverages. 

Can You Bring Iron On Carnival Cruise?

The irons are prohibited from being brought on the Carnival cruise. However, you can bring curling or flat irons. 

Dedicated laundry rooms and services are available on board a Carnival cruise, where you can wash and iron your clothes.

Even though personal grooming devices are permitted, the cruise line states the devices that cause hazards will be removed. 

Can I Bring A Knife To Carnival Cruise?

Unfortunately, the Carnival Cruise line doesn’t let guests bring knives on board. Apart from knives, you can’t even bring sharp blade items like scissors.

Only the small scuba diving knives are allowed on Carnival Cruise. All of these items will be checked before assigning a stateroom. In case of rules violation, the cruise crew will return such items. 

Can I Bring A Drone On Carnival Cruise?

Yes, guests can bring drones on the Carnival cruise. However, there is a restriction regarding drones. After onboarding, the drones will be held by the chief security officer. 

The Carnival Cruise line passed a new rule in May 2022; according to it, guests can’t fly drones and capture the sea while sailing. Guests can only use the drone when the cruise is parked at a port.

You should also search for the rules and regulations or ports regarding drones because drones are prohibited in a few ports. 

Can I Bring Weed On Carnival Cruise?

No, stuff related to drugs including weed and marijuana, are all banned on the Carnival cruise. The drug dogs can sniff such drugs at long distances, and bringing such drugs on the Carnival Cruise is almost impossible. 

What Items Are Prohibited Onboard? 

Before packing luggage for a carnival cruise, you must know about the prohibited items on board to avoid future issues. 

Here are some of the items that you’re now allowed to bring on board Carnival Cruise; 

Essentials Items That You Can Bring On Carnival Cruise

In my experience, the Carnival Cruise line doesn’t have too strict SOPs regarding luggage, even though some exceptional items are not allowed on board due to your and others’ safety. 

Carnival cruise allows you to bring a lot of essential items, so before packing the luggage, you must consider packing these things; 

Apart from that, you can bring your daily use items like a skincare routine, sunglasses, medicines, outfits, shoes, watches, perfumes, etc.

I have written a dedicated guide on “What to pack for a cruise“.