How light can you pack?

[K32682]

11 hours ago, calliopecruiser said:

Who does that?  LOL!  I don't think there's a cruise line out there like that, except perhaps the Cunard Grills. 

It's a "mentality" as much as a practice and thankfully one that is steadily receding.  A generation ago cruises were attempting to create a "high society" atmosphere. On my first cruise in the late 80's it would have been unthinkable for men not wear a dark suit or tux or for women to wear the same outfight on formal nights.  Now that the silly pretentiousness has been consigned to the past traveling light is much easier to achieve. 

Edited November 14, 2018 by K32682

[calliopecruiser]

9 minutes ago, K32682 said:

A generation ago cruises were attempting to create a "high society" atmosphere.

Yeah, but that's 25 or 30 years ago.......a lot of today's cruisers weren't even alive then!   Yes, it used to be like that; cruises also used to be more expensive then so those "attempts" weren't necessarily unexpected.

[MicCanberra]

7 hours ago, calliopecruiser said:

Yeah, but that's 25 or 30 years ago.......a lot of today's cruisers weren't even alive then!   Yes, it used to be like that; cruises also used to be more expensive then so those "attempts" weren't necessarily unexpected.

Agreed, paying roughly the same amounts for a cruise now as 10 and even 20 years ago.

[ldubs]

On 11/13/2018 at 1:31 PM, crystalspin said:

 I always think, what does a TALL person *do*, if unbeknownst they get a seat like that?

 

 

I am 6'-4".  I can tell you what I do.  With the exception of short flights, I will not book a flight unless I can make a specific seat assignment that has the legroom I want.  If I can't confirm the specific seat/class at the time of booking, then booking doesn't happen.  Always have to pay extra. Kind of a bummer but price I have to pay for being tall.  

[Hlitner]

Whenever I see a post about "light packing" it makes me smile.  Ok, I get it and respect the "light packers."  DW and I travel all over the world with a different attitude.  We want to take as much as possible, given the airline rules and our ability to handle luggage.  It is nice to be on a long cruise or trip and have a large assortment of clothes (and everything else).  We never waste our time washing stuff out in our sink, or wearing the same stuff multiple days.  When we are on long trips (2 months is normal for us) we take advantage of laundry options...be it on a cruise ship or in hotels.  

 

Are we jealous of light packers?  Absolutely!  Especially when we have to haul our luggage on and off European trains.  But somehow we manage and have no desire to play the "light packing" game.  On cruise ship formal nights I am comfy putting on my Tux....and on smart casual nights I am comfy not having to wear the same shirt more then once a week!  One major problem we encounter is when flying Business Class.  This means we can take 280 pound of checked luggage plus another 50 or so pounds in carry-on.  But I am a senior and do not want to haul that much around...so we do try to cut-back and keep it all to no more then 150 pounds :).

Hank

[Hflors]

I have a sister who I guess she would be considered a "light packer"  She did a 10 day cruise in a carry-on!  Me I came with two large suit cases and a carry-on computer bag.  On our last long cruise between dh and I we had 4 large suit cases and two hang up bags along with two carry-ons.  One of our reasons is we can't stand to put clothing back on once it has been worn.  And about 95% of our clothing is cotton.  Every day on our cruises we send out at least one bag of laundry.  If we have done a lot of different activities the day before it could be two.  Luckily for us we also live in Florida so there are lots of choices  for cruising.  And we are fortunate that we are a 4* so on our HAL cruises we get free laundry!   I hope everyone who can pack light will keep posting.  I enjoy reading about it even though light packing will never be me.

[calliopecruiser]

One of the cruisers I chatted with on my last cruise brought 17 pairs of shoes!

 

[KroozNut]

1 hour ago, calliopecruiser said:

One of the cruisers I chatted with on my last cruise brought 17 pairs of shoes!

 

 

Yikes!!

[cruising cockroach]

4 hours ago, calliopecruiser said:

One of the cruisers I chatted with on my last cruise brought 17 pairs of shoes!

 

 

My wife thinks that her friend would bring a suitcase just for shoes on a week's cruise.  The friend and husband do go on ballroom group cruises so they need their garb, but she also likes formal nights.  She'd hate cruising especially on the ships we'd like to travel on, and the way that we do.

[calliopecruiser]

5 hours ago, calliopecruiser said:

One of the cruisers I chatted with on my last cruise brought 17 pairs of shoes!

 

To be fair to him, I should have added that it was a 3 week long cruise, and not a single pair was left unworn in that time.  And, yes, most of them were very cool shoes. 

[iancal]

For us it was not a question of how light can we pack. It is a question of how many bags, how much weight, we can each physically handle independently on our travels.  This is where we actually started.  Once we each arrived at the answer we then started with the size of luggage that we handle given how and where we traveled.

 

In our instance it was a 20 or 21 inch roller each.  That was the parameter that we worked with. If it fit in the bag, it went.  Forced us to make choices.  After the first foray we started buying clothes that complemented this.   IF we were going from home to airport to pre cruise hotel to cruise and back home I suspect that DW would move to the checked 26" that she previously used.

Alas, this is simply what we do any more and cruises tend to be spontaneous decisions whilst on longer trips.

 

[pacruise804]

On 11/15/2018 at 12:51 PM, calliopecruiser said:

To be fair to him, I should have added that it was a 3 week long cruise, and not a single pair was left unworn in that time.  And, yes, most of them were very cool shoes. 

I don't think I own 17 pairs of shoes, but if it made that person's cruise more enjoyable and didn't violate luggage restrictions - more power to him 🙂 

 

I think we are medium packers and striving for being lighter.  We also have only taken 7 day or less cruises so it's easier to pack light.  I have started doing some hand washing, but I'm picky about my clothes and don't want to use the high heat water or driers of the cruise ship.  We workout several times and those clothes definitely need at least rinsed out 😮

[Sue Do-Over]

14 days - had 2 cruises on different lines - in a rolling carry-on.  We did laundry once, the first night of the second cruise.  Ended up with a few extra tops, and felt like I'd worn a couple pair of shorts way too many times.

 

DH limits formal wear to a long-sleeved dress shirt in a dark color, with 2 ties, and dark leather moccasins (which pack almost flat).  I pair an indestructible black skirt with paired with light-weight tops in neutral colors.  Dressed up for dinner with big jewelry and a scarf, the tops get worn the next day with shorts for touring.

 

I also pack microfiber underwear (dries fast if sink-laundered) and bras that aren't heavily padded to save a little more room.   If we REALLY wanted to tighten it down, I'd sleep in DH's t-shirts that he would wear the next day to the beach or pool, where wrinkles aren't important.

 

And a million times... cut back on shoes.  :-)

[Blondilu]

I took my motto straight from the Post Office: "If it fits, it ships". 

 

21 inch or 25 inch suitcase, whatever fits for that particular trip.  And a carry-on.  Start with essentials and add as much as you want as long as it fits.  Easy peasy.

 

 

 

[iancal]

deleted

Edited December 20, 2018 by iancal

[crystalspin]

Hi all! Finishing day 13 of 14-day cruise, after six days in Barcelona. With exactly 22 pounds (10kg) apiece, total including daypacks and electronics.

 

I can say we did it. 

 

However, we spent close to twice as much on laundry as we saved by not checking a bag! When we do it again (and that will be in April), I will take the same things as carryon, PLUS one checked hard side 20" suitcase, with all the socks and underwear we will need, another pair of shoes each, and an outfit or two extra.

 

We will still be able to handle all of the luggage ourselves, thanks to wheels. And short distances carried, as all will still be hyper lightweight. 

 

ETA: Norwegian Air did NOT weigh our daypacks, but their published limits say the 10kg is total, so they could have. I would have had NO problem with rollaboards at 22lbs and daypacks unweighed - we did 26-day cruise (plus travel days) with that system. But more carriers are putting weight restrictions on both carryon and checked, and lowering them. 

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by crystalspin

[Sue Do-Over]

I have cruised a few times with a kneeling scooter (broken foot in a plastic walking 'cast').  I needed both hands to steer, so had to forego suitcases entirely.

Instead, I packed my biggest backpack carefully, with weight at the bottom, and hung it over the handlebars, and wore a second (lighter, but still crammed) one on my back.  Every item packed was carefully considered, for sure!

[crystalspin]

Ignore, duplicate.

Edited December 26, 2018 by crystalspin

[crystalspin]

On 11/9/2018 at 6:01 PM, cruising cockroach said:

Our status for booking 2 cruises gives us complimentary laundry on the ship.  My wife is hoping to pack into a rolling carry-on.   I'm sure I could too.

A lot of people/websites will tell you to pack for a week and do laundry. But they tend to forget to tell you what packing for a week looks like!

 

If allowed weight is 22lbs for your rollaboard, you should have room for four bottoms (trousers and/or skirts) and 6 to 8 tops, plus 1 to 2 toppers (jackets or cardigans). Including what you wear on the plane. If you wear the bottoms twice and each top once, that's still about a week; if your fabrics, weather, and sensibilities allow you to wear bottoms 3-4 times and tops twice each, so much the better.

 

Some websites instruct that "all tops must match all bottoms"; I've found that too restrictive! So I make sure that each bottom has two tops, and each "topper" needs to go with a couple bottoms and their tops, at least.

 

The above works for us, and we are people of size. If you are average to small, you will have room for more options (or the ability to travel even lighter). My medium-sized sister said about our size 6 half-sister: "She brought an outfit for each of 14 days -- and she packed them in a Band-Aid box!"

 

(P.S. you have to be old enough to remember Band-Aids in metal flip-top boxes to get that one.)

Edited December 26, 2018 by crystalspin

[Bizmark'sMom]

The primary reason I pack lightly and do laundry along the way is that I travel independently before and after the cruise. And that I am usually doing this solo.  Everything I pack, I have to carry onto and off of trains, trams, buses...  Plus potentially having to carry it up and down stairs if the elevators in the train station aren't working, or I am staying in an apartment instead of a hotel.

 

Laundry costs and extra checked baggage fees don't enter into my thinking at all. 

 

It isn't a competition. And it isn't being cheap.  I've adapted my packing style to accommodate the way I normally travel.  My first time traveling via train with a 40# suitcase was my last.  Hauling that thing around was both miserable and painful.  It was a spinner - and those are miserable on anything other than the smoothest surfaces.  I'll deal with limited clothing choices and frequent laundry in order to avoid that.

[iancal]

For us it is not 'can' but rather ' mus't based on what we can each physically handle independently with some degree of ease and mobility.  There a times when we wish we could take more but that is seldom possible.

Edited December 26, 2018 by iancal