Help with packing for 29 day cruise

[2910car]

We are doing a b2b med-holy land and transatlantic cruise in October. My husband wants to keep it at one suitcase and one carryon each.

 

We have never done more then 14 days before and I need suggestions on how to do this, We are on Celebrity which has no laundry rooms. Thanks

[6rugrats]

Yes, but you can send out laundry, can't you? It's not that expensive.

[paul929207]

I wold pack for a week and send out the laundry as needed.

[Padraic]

I generally pack for 12 days and send out to the laundry. The problem I have is I do not know how to pack for a 7 day cruise!

[SuiteTraveler]

For the holy land, you need loose fitting modest clothes that cover you. Think layering for EVERYTHING. It is extremely hot but doesn't feel as hot as it actually is. So you can be in long sleeves and feel more comfortable than someone in short sleeves. Also bring a scarf as you will need to cover your head in some locations. It is best to wear supportive sandals most of the time, however, if you do any horseback riding or camel riding, you will need jeans and closed toe shoes. If you bring a black maxi dress, then you can wear it for formal nights with some flashy accessories. Bring a pair of walking sandals. This would be my packing list:

 

2 maxi dresses (preferably black)

1 sundress (neutral color with length below the knee)

1 long skirt (black or khaki or white)

2 pair black pants

1 pair jeans (for horseback riding or camel riding)

8 tops in shapes and colors that work with both the skirt and pants

3 sweaters in assorted colors that work with everything

1 pair walking sandals

1 pair fancy sandals (for onboard ship only)

1 pair close toe shoes (horseback or camel riding)

sunglasses

swimsuit and coverup

sleepshirt

scarf

accessories

day bag (big enough to carry your sweater and scarf, plus a bottle of water)

 

2-3 bras and 8 pair underwear

1 raincoat

 

Yields:

2 maxi dresses x 3 sweaters +2 = 8 outfits

1 sundress x 3 sweaters +1 = 4 outfits

(1 skirt + 2 pants + 1 jeans) x 8 tops = 32 base outfits

32 skirt, pants and tops combos x 3 sweaters = 96 outfits

 

96+8+4 = 84 outfits.

 

That should do it for 29 days.

 

Tips on making this work:

 

Choose bottoms in neutral colors:

Black

Khaki

Navy

Off white

white

 

Choose tops in any colors you want.

 

Choose Sweaters in colors that are neutral:

Black

Khaki

Navy

Off white

white

red

 

This plan provides you with so many different outfits you won't be able to wear them all on your trip. I typically do a color plan that I call Black & so, the base piece of clothing is black, then the top and sweater can be colors that go with black. Also remember to cross pack with your husband in case a piece of luggage goes missing. Then, you will both at least have some clothes to wear. As to where to get good packable clothes, look at sites such as:

 

Rohan

Chicos Travelers

Travelsmith

Soma

Magellans

Scott E-Vest

J Jill

PackingLight

Tilley

 

Wear closed toe shoes (for horseback riding/camel riding), your coat (if needed) on the plane. Look for underwear in quick dry fabric where you can wash them in the sink and hang them on the clothesline in the shower to dry. (Never wash ALL of your underwear at one time!). Always bring a long sleeved sweater that covers your elbows with you no matter how hot it is as you may not enter some venues unless you are modestly attired. Do not wear anything low-cut or form fitting when touring. No shorts anywhere and I would recommend you avoid capris as well and just stick to longer dresses, skirts and pants. This way you can blend into the crowd. Don't wear anything with an American logo or anything that identifies you as an American. I would avoid carrying a designer purse in favor of a market type bag. (Carry your money elsewhere.) Don't wear any fine jewelry off the ship - in fact, it might be better to leave it all at home on your safety deposit box and just bring inexpensive costume jewelry on the ship.

 

That about covers everything you could possibly need on a holy land trip from swimming in the Dead Sea, to visiting Masada, to riding camels at the Giza or horses at Petra, to going to the wailing wall, or to Golgotha or Church of the Divine Nativity, shopping in Old Jerusalem, visiting Mosques and wading in the river Jordan.

[RuthC]

Pack for a 7-day cruise, and wear the same things many times. Easy. I have cruised for as long as 35 days on one suitcase, and that includes leaving from a warm-weather port and heading places that required jackets and gloves.

 

Take 2 formal and 5 evening casual outfits, 4-5 outfits for daytime, one pair evening shoes that go with everything, one pair of comfortable deck shoes, and one pair of supportive walking shoes. One evening purse that goes with everything. Five sets of undies is more than enough.

Evening clothes won't need to be washed or cleaned; daytime clothes and undies can be sent out.

[NMLady]

We are doing a b2b med-holy land and transatlantic cruise in October. My husband wants to keep it at one suitcase and one carryon each.

 

We have never done more then 14 days before and I need suggestions on how to do this, We are on Celebrity which has no laundry rooms. Thanks

 

Does your ship offer a laundry special? When we did a 33 day b2b2b cruise from cold of Iceland, across Atlantic, to heat of Caribbean I only packed for 10 days, using layers, mix n match tops/bottoms and used the ship's laundry special every week.

We had one 26" suitcase each and an 18" backpack each.

[SadieN]

Does your ship offer a laundry special? When we did a 33 day b2b2b cruise from cold of Iceland, across Atlantic, to heat of Caribbean I only packed for 10 days, using layers, mix n match tops/bottoms and used the ship's laundry special every week.

 

We had one 26" suitcase each and an 18" backpack each.

 

 

That's the key ----you're not packing for a long cruise/trip but repetitions of 4,7 or10 days. You must be prepared to do laundry.

Look on ladylighttravel.com. Even though you're not traveling light she has very good ideas about mixing and matching. Also look on The Vivienne Files.

[RickT]

Celebrity has a laudry service. The service ranges from dry cleaning to a "bag of laundry". On a cruise I typically use the dry cleaning for my tux shirt if there are more than 2 formal nights. The bag of laundry is a great deal. It's a typical laundry bag that you'd find in a hotel. You can stuff it as full as you'd like and it's one price for everything. The items in the bag get washed, dried and folded (not pressed). Sorry, don't know the price but perhaps a search of the Celebrity forum can find that.

 

We also try to bring a lot of dryfit type clothing and will wash it in the sink and hang it up in the bathroom (also works well for socks/underwear). Just remember to bring some laundry detergent with you as I don't believe they sell it on the ship.

 

1 suitcase each should be enough (IMHO). Anything more and you're just going to be lugging around stuff you don't need.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I would pack for 14 days ..

[Sat1]

We are doing a b2b med-holy land and transatlantic cruise in October. My husband wants to keep it at one suitcase

 

Ya need a larger suitcase!

[NMLady]

...

We also try to bring a lot of dryfit type clothing and will wash it in the sink and hang it up in the bathroom (also works well for socks/underwear). Just remember to bring some laundry detergent with you as I don't believe they sell it on the ship ... .

 

When I've washed items in the sink I simply use either the soap from the sink or a little shampoo, both are provided by the cruise line. Saves packing one more thing.

Edited February 13, 2015 by NMLady

[NMLady]

Ya need a larger suitcase!

 

Husband said one suitcase and carryon each. i interpreted that as one suitcase each as well as one carryon each, not just one suitcase total plus carryons. Very doable to have one suitcase each and one carryon each.

Edited February 13, 2015 by NMLady

[agabbymama]

We were gone from home 21 days for our Med cruise the end of October. We had a 25" suitcase and a 21" carry on.

 

I took mostly black pants with a variety of tops. I believe I had 7 pair of pants and planned to wear each pair 3 different days with different tops. I took a mix of old & new underwear and discarded the old after wearing them. Bras and panties don't take up much room.

 

I have tried the "washing them out in the sink" idea and they never seem to dry for me, so don't go that route anymore.

 

We did take formal long skirts with fancy tops (1 with 2 tops) and again it was black so it would go with anything I wanted to choose as a top.

 

I wore my comfortable walking shoes, so only packed the black dress shoes for evening wear.

 

I had purchased a few new tops and a sweat suit, and didn't care for them after wearing them once, so left them in the hotel in Rome, before even boarding the ship, so had some room in the suitcase for souvenirs purchased.

 

Everyone's idea of what works for them can be different. I usually start a list and decide exactly what I want to take. I will say, I wore everything I took and nothing extra that wasn't needed. Be sure to include a rain jacket of some sort with a hood, and a small collapsible umbrella that will fit in your purse, you can get rain in the Med in October.

 

Have a plan "A" and then a plan "B" for when A falls apart. And still be prepared to just go with the flow when both A and B fall apart. It happened a lot to us.

 

Take half the clothes you think you need and twice the money. The Med is very expensive.

 

Have fun planning, then taking your trip!

Edited February 14, 2015 by agabbymama