packing tips needed

[janna1]

Hi my dear cruise fellows, many of you have many cruise experience. You must have good packing knowledge too.

I like to travel light. Our previous Hawaii trip is two carry-ons for 4 of us in Hawaii for a week. One of it just filled all the snorkeling gears.

Now I am packing for our next week's trip to half panama transit on Zuiderdam. There are so many to pack. I have a whole room just has the luggage, cloths, shoes, dress….all over the place.

One luggage fills nothing but snorkel gears. Another one for shoes. So many shoes, dress shoes (6 pairs, two for me and my daughter, one for each male), water shoes (everyone got a pair),

Walking shoes (I guess, we wear those), slippers. My DH also want a pair of running shoes to work out on the ship. Do I bring too many or do I miss others?

Another mid size one for all the formal dresses. Should I put DH’s tux and my son’s suit in the luggage or carry on plane?

I guess the weather is between high 70 to mid 80s. Right? Should T-shirts enough for casual wear? Will it be windy on the ship open area? Do we need light jackets?

What else do I need? Oh, I am so lost. Please help!

Thanks,

Jian

[jtl513]

If it's any help, remember that you can get laundry done on the ship. Tees are adequate during the day, but remember that tees aren't allowed in the MDR in the evening.

 

Why do you and DD each need two pair of formal shoes? Bring one pair each and outfits that will go with them. For that matter, you can really bring just one formal outfit and accessorize it differently each night. Few will notice, and no one will care.

[Juanita462]

We really like to pack light so we take 2 pairs of shoes each - dress and runners. 1 pair of slippers and 1 pair of thongs or beach shoes.

formal wear - one suit for Dh plus shirts and accessories, 2 long skirts with 2 or 3 sparkle tops etc. for me.

 

We generally pack only one week's clothes for short cruises and 10 days for long. We use the blue bag for laundry so don't have to take a lot.

 

If you are only going when it is warm it is not so bad - if you have both warm and cold climates on the same cruise it is a lot worse - but the most we have ever taken for a long cruise- 64 days - is 1 large case and 1 medium case each plus one carry on.

 

My SIL rolls all her clothes and puts her husbands tux in the suitcase - she says it comes out without wrinkles.

 

You know the old saying - take half the clothes and twice the money when travelling. I once saw a woman who wore the same shorts and t-shirt every day of our 21 day cruise!

[kazu]

depending on how many days are formal, I only pack one or two outfits (usually a top that I can just add to make the outfit different).

 

Shoes weigh a ton and take up a lot of space. I never take more than 2 pairs (plus the pair on my feet). One is always a pair of sandals and the other dress shoes that go with anything.

 

Try to take matching colours as much as possible and you make many outfits out of just a few things. I don't worry about wearing the same things twice and do use the laundry. It saves a lot of space.

 

I am not a good roller, never used the technique, so we use eagle pack bags with tissue paper in between and there is nary a wrinkle, even with bags packed several days early.

 

Despite all my carefulness, I still end up taking things I never wear and leaning towards 'favourites'. So, take a hard look, make a list and then start to delete.

 

Packing is a dilema, so hard to decide i know. lighter luggage makes travelling easy, and remember you will probably find things you want to buy. Enjoy your cruise :D:D

[cb at sea]

You should 'cross pack'...a bit of everyone's stuff in each suitcase, just in case one goes missing! At least, everyone will have something!

[JJPacer]

As far as snorkeling, we always take our own mask and snorkel. We decided after our last cruise to not take fins anymore. You can get all the necessary snorkel equipment from the tour operater. However, I just can't put my mouth on something that someone(s) else has used. But, if we need fins, we use theirs. The snorkel vests are small, and take up hardly any room, deflated. That's a personal choice if you take them or not. However, the tour operaters offer those too. Saves room in packing, and in the amount of equipment you carry with you in each port. Makes life a lot simpler. If we are on our own, you can snorkel with a mask and snorkel, and get by fine without fins. Unless you are a long distance swimmer, of course.

 

I take 1 pair of capri's and 1 pair of slacks for dinner with a couple of tops. Remember you only wear them for less than 1/2 day, so you can wear them more than once or twice. I take 1 outfit for formal night and wear the same thing for each formal night. We always buy t-shirts, so take less tops than you think you need. 3 pairs of shorts. DH wears 1 dress shirt and tie with 1 nice pair of dress slacks for all formal nights. We take 1 tennis shoes, 1 pair of sandals, 1 pair of dress shoes, and 1 pair of water shoes. I also roll my clothes. It seems you can get more in the suitcase that way. If you take something on the cruise and do not use it, make a note, and do not take it the next time.

[sevenseasnomad]

You don't want my adivce, as I've been packing since Thanksgiving Day, am still not finished and have a total of 7 pieces of luggage for 3 people. Needless to say, we're driving to the cruise.

[tcook052]

You don't want my adivce, as I've been packing since Thanksgiving Day, am still not finished and have a total of 7 pieces of luggage for 3 people. Needless to say, we're driving to the cruise.

 

In what? A U-Haul? :D

 

I've heard of people with lots of baggage but until now hadn't thought it true. ;)

[topspot]

Just try those Space Bags that you see on TV! They acctually work and have ones just meant for travel (no need for a vacuum!). DD was able to pack just one suitcase for her three week trip to Australia. All three of use were able to pack in 3 carry on suitcases for our Alaska cruise, WITH our winter coats inside. :)

[Kittycat2009]

Rolling the clothes really does save space and wrinkles. I was a non believer until I tried it for our 12 day cruise in September. I had read here also about putting the rolled clothes in zip lock baggies. Not sure why it worked, but it did.

 

I agree with only taking one pair of dress shoes. I took one pair of heels, a pair of flats and the tennis shoes that I wore on the trip there.

 

Do use the laundry service it is money well spent. We paid approximately $26 for everything we could stuff into the blue bag. Initially the bag does not look that big, but I stuffed 6 pairs of underwear, 6 t-shirts, a dozen pairs of socks, 3 shorts, 2 jeans, 2 slacks and a few other miscellaneous items in that little bag.

 

Have fun on your cruise!

 

P.S. Be sure and weigh your luggage after packing. Surprises at the airport are not fun, especially since the Continental and United merger.:(

[fisheswithbears]

This is no help to the OP, but I had to tell. On a recent Princess cruise to Alaska, out of SF, I noticed a young woman wearing thigh-high leather boots one evening. Every evening after that I saw her wearing a different pair of high-heels. I also saw her in the day in different casual shoes. It became a game for us and I counted 8 different pairs of footwear. I thought she must have driven to the port but they were on the same bus that took us to the airport.

 

I can't seem to go with less than 4 pair of shoes and sometimes I really miss my hikers.

We always cross-pack a few essentials.

[Steelboat]

Those Space Bags are really amazing. We can put so much stuff in our medium size suitcase that I can barely lift it!!

[kazu]

The space bags work great - only caution, watch the weight.

 

they let you 'squeeze' in so much you don't realize how heavy your suitcase can get. :eek: Magelllans has a great weight checker for like $10 that you can use. very uselful.

 

Have a great cruise and remember it's like Christmas - making a list, checking it twice, going to find out what I can throw out and what' nice.:D:D

[Spinner2]

Re-use your Space Bag on the cruise too, if you have a shore excursion to the beach planned. Get your beach towels ahead and pack in the Space Bag(s). Or, if you get the towel as you leave the ship, stop on the dock and space-bag it. It will then be a small enough package to easily fit in your HAL tote bag (the one everybody gets the night before the first port) and there will still be room in the bag for other little stuff. Once at the beach or on the ship, as you take off the clothes that are over top of your swim suit, put them in the Space Bag so they'll stay dry and not get sandy. On your way back to the ship you can dry off with the towel; now you don't care how damp it gets so use the Space Bag to keep stuff that you want to stay dry. Even if don't roll the air out of it it will fit in your HAL bag; carry the damp towel in your hand and drop it off as you come back onto the ship.

 

Love the Space Bags! We always take several.

[catl331]

This is no help to the OP, but I had to tell. On a recent Princess cruise to Alaska, out of SF, I noticed a young woman wearing thigh-high leather boots one evening. Every evening after that I saw her wearing a different pair of high-heels. I also saw her in the day in different casual shoes. It became a game for us and I counted 8 different pairs of footwear.

On a 14 day cruise one woman wore a different large hat to dinner each night, along with elbow-length gloves and a long dress or gown. She sat in the middle of the room on the lower level of the dining room, and each night many of the waiters would come over to the railing to check out her hat. :)

[janna1]

Thanks all for the good advice. Looks like I need repack some stuff.:D

 

I almost forget the space bag. We are flight out from Seattle. Space bags work very well to pack our down jackets before. One backpack can easily hold all 4 down jackets.

[willersonm]

Thanks all for the good advice. Looks like I need repack some stuff.:D

 

I almost forget the space bag. We are flight out from Seattle. Space bags work very well to pack our down jackets before. One backpack can easily hold all 4 down jackets.

 

We just returned from 11 nights on the Equinox. We had some rainy days and needed umbrellas. On our ship there were two, one huge and small. We had packed our own, learned from Alaska. We had taken two small ones and needed them. You might want to slide them in on the side. It has been raining down there:(. Also, in Panama we hired a driver right off the ship in the secured area. We actually had a shop engineer with us. No problems at all, all we saw were cruise people everywhere. We paid 45.each for all day, locks and all. Honduras, you can do that to, no problems. We did book from ship in Columbia, however, no need that I saw. Another situation of cruise people everywhere. Some on our ship went off the ship and had no problems at all. We always go with a crowd, a larger van. Be sure the air works well, it is hot down there and humid! Costa Rica you can for sure book off the ship. It is a beautiful island. It started rainy and then cleared up. That island you want to see rain or not. Hire a driver for whatever you want, it is great! The ship of course wants you to book from them, much more money. We had some people book off for all day, rain forrest and all 25.00 for all day. It was over a hundred from the ship. We had one day of rough water, the rest it looked like a lake. Have a wonderful trip!

[janna1]

Is any stream iron you can borrow on the ship? Do I need to bring my own? In case, the grown and tux or shirts got wrinkles, what can you do?

 

Thanks,

Jian

[Alcarondas]

Buy the Unlimited Pressing service from the front desk on your first day. It's $5/day or something like that. Then just have your steward pick up the garments to be pressed. If you get them out early in the day, you'll have them back the next day.

 

You're on vacation! You shouldn't be ironing! ;)

[RuthC]

You're on vacation! You shouldn't be ironing! ;)

The fact that you're on vacation isn't the reason that you shouldn't be ironing. That HAL prohibits it due to fire hazard is the reason.

 

Clothes can be sent out for pressing, either paid by the piece, or a package can be purchased.

Or, they can be hung in a steamy bathroom, sprayed with Downey Wrinkle Release, and/or packed in dry cleaner bags.

 

There is a laundry room on the four S- and four R-class ships, as well as on the Prinsendam. There is an allowed iron and ironing board in there.

[canadarocks]

Totally off topic, but I just wanted to say welcome back to RuthC. I've missed reading your very helpful posts! :)

[RuthC]

Totally off topic, but I just wanted to say welcome back to RuthC. I've missed reading your very helpful posts! :)

Thank you.

[sevenseasnomad]

In what? A U-Haul? :D

 

I've heard of people with lots of baggage but until now hadn't thought it true. ;)

 

LOL. We probably should rent a U-Haul, but today I managed to lighten the load a bit. We are three adults; all of whom dress formally. We now have 3 large cases and 2 smaller ones. Both of the smaller ones have all of our shoes. Really not that much luggage when you think about it, is it, guys?

[DrTee]

When I did my 24-day TA a couple of years ago (with an additional week in London), I agonized over the packing issue. I did not want to check two bags. Fortunately a couple of folks on the roll call convinced me it was okay, and I did (We had to be prepared for varied climates--snowing in London, hot as blazes in Morocco). I am glad I did, and now I say relax and pack what you want. You may have to pay more to check it, but that is a small part of your whole travel budget.

[COLLEYBERRY]

Totally off topic, but I just wanted to say welcome back to RuthC. I've missed reading your very helpful posts! :)

 

 

Me too....I am sending you cyber chocolates...no cals tee hee.:)