Princess Cruises Luggage Rules and Restrictions: What You Need to Know

Packing for a Princess cruise sounds simple, but this is where plenty of people get caught out.

Not because Princess has the strictest luggage policy at sea. It doesn’t. The confusion comes from the fact that there’s no neat airline-style chart covering exactly how many bags you can bring, how much they can weigh, or what size they should be. Instead, the important rules are spread across Princess’s FAQ, drinks policy, and passage contract.

That means it’s easy to miss the details that actually matter, like what happens when you hand over your suitcase at the terminal, what needs to stay in your carry-on, which drinks must be packed a certain way, and which items could be taken off you before you even board.

Here’s what Princess actually says about luggage, what’s allowed, what’s banned, and the rules that matter most before embarkation day.

How Princess Luggage Works at the Terminal

Princess tells guests to print luggage tags from their Manage Booking page before leaving home. That’s your first clue that the process is more organized than some first-time cruisers expect. At the terminal, you hand your tagged checked bags to curbside porters, then board with your carry-on while the larger suitcases are screened, loaded separately, and delivered to your stateroom later that day.

Princess also makes it clear that both checked bags and carry-ons are screened. If something inside breaks the rules, it can be removed and discarded. The same goes for locked bags. Security may remove the lock, or hold the bag until you’re present for inspection, which is not the kind of delay anyone wants on embarkation day.

That’s why your passport, medication, chargers, valuables, and anything else you may need right away should stay in your hand luggage, not in the suitcase you hand over at the terminal.

Recommended read: Everything You Need to Know About Cruise Luggage Tags

How Many Bags Can You Bring on a Princess Cruise?

This is the part that frustrates people most, because Princess doesn’t publish a neat airline-style luggage allowance with a fixed number of bags or clear size and weight limits.

In other words, there isn’t a simple Princess chart telling you each suitcase must stay under a certain number of pounds or fit within a certain set of dimensions the way an airline often does.

Instead, the passage contract says guests may bring a reasonable amount of luggage containing personal effects needed for the cruise. That’s important, because it suggests Princess is deliberately leaving some flexibility rather than setting a strict public limit on the number, size, or weight of your bags.

The same section then shifts to liability rather than allowance. Princess says its liability for lost or damaged baggage is capped at $250 per bag, per guest, up to two bags per guest on sailings of 14 days or less and three bags per guest on sailings of 15 days or longer.

That’s not the same as saying you’re officially entitled to bring that many bags. It reads more like Princess setting a limit on what it would pay if something goes wrong.

So in practical terms, Princess is more flexible than an airline, but that doesn’t mean you should pack without thinking. If you’re flying to your cruise, your airline’s baggage rules still apply before you ever reach the ship, including any limits on suitcase size and weight. And if you’re driving to the port, it’s still worth asking whether you can comfortably manage that much luggage yourself and whether you really want that many suitcases taking up space in your cabin once you’re onboard.

For most people, one checked suitcase and a carry-on per person is the easiest option. You can usually bring more than that, but it doesn’t always mean you should.

What Should Stay in Your Carry-On

Princess is much clearer here.

The line strongly recommends hand-carrying valuables and breakables, including jewelry, electronics, cameras, and medications. Its contract also says guests should keep valuables, irreplaceable items, and medicines in their possession at all times rather than packing them in bags handled by others.

Princess’s cruisetour guidance is also useful for embarkation day. It says your hand-carry bag should hold travel documents, photo ID, important medication, toiletries, and extra clothing layers, and it warns not to put cruise documents or airline tickets in checked luggage.

So your carry-on should be the bag you could survive with for the first part of the day. Think passport, boarding documents, meds, chargers, sunglasses, wallet, and anything you’d hate to lose. If you want a broader refresher before you pack, these cruise luggage rules are worth checking too.

The Drink Rules That Catch Princess Guests Out

This is where plenty of people get tripped up.

Princess says guests cannot bring water, soda, or other nonalcoholic drinks on board if they’re packaged in bottles. The exception is a small quantity of nonalcoholic drinks, including sparkling water, soda, juice, or milk, in cans or cartons, brought on embarkation day only, and only if they’re packed in your carry-on bag (the bag you keep with you), not your checked bag. Princess defines “small quantity” as up to 12 sealed, unopened cans or cartons, 12 ounces each or less, per guest. Open drinks in plastic containers have to be discarded before boarding.

Alcohol works differently. Guests of legal drinking age may bring one 750 ml bottle of wine or champagne per guest, per voyage, but it should be packed in your carry-on bag, not your checked luggage, so it can be presented to security during embarkation. Readers who are curious about how strict cruise lines can be with onboard alcohol may also want to read what cruise ship scanners can really detect.

If you want to drink that bottle in a public area, Princess charges a $20 corkage fee. The same $20 fee applies to each extra 750 ml bottle beyond the one-bottle allowance, and Princess says quantities judged excessive can be refused. 

If you buy alcohol in port or from the ship’s shops, Princess says it will be collected and returned to your stateroom on the last day of the cruise. So no, that duty-free bottle isn’t coming back to your cabin on day one.

There are a couple of helpful exceptions. Princess allows factory-sealed purified or distilled water in checked luggage when it’s packed with medical devices, and sealed distilled or purified water for mixing infant formula in cabins with infant bookings.

Prohibited Items That Can Be Confiscated

Princess is very blunt here: prohibited items will not be allowed or stored on board, and guests are responsible for storing or disposing of them before embarkation.

Some of the biggest problem items include:

• firearms, ammunition, replica weapons, stun guns, and other weapons
• many knives and sharp items, including blades over Princess’s stated size threshold, box cutters, ice picks, meat cleavers, and scissors with blades longer than 4 inches
• drones, unless approved in advance for company-sponsored events
• candles, incense, hookah pipes, and strike-anywhere matches
• items with heating elements brought from home, such as immersion heaters, heating blankets, clothing irons and steamers, water heaters, and coffee machines with hot plates
• tools, power tools, many long hand tools, bicycles, skateboards, pool cues, and similar gear

Coolers are another easy one to get wrong. Princess says only coolers around 12 x 12 x 12 inches are allowed, mainly for a small amount of nonalcoholic drinks. Larger coolers will be sent back to your vehicle, and if you don’t have one, Princess says they’ll be destroyed like other prohibited items. The exception is for things like baby food, formula, kosher or other special dietary food, or medication, which must be hand-carried. Coolers can’t be accepted as checked baggage.

Suggested read: Avoid Packing These Items on Your Cruise. They Could Be Confiscated

Smart Packing Tips for a Princess Cruise

Princess may not post a tidy baggage chart, but the practical play is still pretty simple.

Print your luggage tags before you leave. Keep your valuables, medication, and travel documents in your carry-on. Don’t put drinks in bottles in your suitcase and assume they’ll slip through. And don’t pack anything with a heating element just because it feels harmless at home.

I’d also pack like you may need to be patient before you’re fully settled. Anything you’d want access to early on, like swimwear, sunscreen, chargers, or a change of clothes, belongs in your hand luggage, not buried in a checked case, since your larger suitcase may not reach your cabin until later in the day. And while you’re planning, it’s also smart to avoid the cruise mistakes first-timers always regret.

A Simple Princess Luggage Checklist Before You Leave Home

Before you head to the port, make sure you’ve covered these:

• printed Princess luggage tags from the Manage Booking page on Princess Cruises’ website
• passport, ID, boarding documents, medications, and valuables in your carry-on
• no bottled water, soda, or juice in your luggage unless it falls under the medical or infant exception
• canned or cartoned soft drinks kept to the embarkation-day hand-luggage limit
• wine or champagne packed in your carry-on, kept within Princess’s allowance, and brought with corkage rules in mind
• no drones, candles, flat irons, weapons, tools, or oversized coolers tucked away in the suitcase “just in case”

Bottom Line

The main thing to remember is this: Princess is pretty reasonable, but it expects guests to be reasonable too. Bring what you need, keep the important stuff with you, and don’t try to outsmart port security. That rarely ends well.

Policies can change, and Princess says some allowances are subject to change without notice, so it’s smart to check your booking’s own contract and the latest FAQ before you sail.

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