Anyone rethinking how they pack for a cruise?

[hylasgirl]

Does anyone know, roughly, how much they charge to do your laundry on the ship?

 

This will definitely determine how I pack this time around

 

 

For NCL, I have no idea. I heard they had laundry facilities on some ships? This would be a great help. On Celebrity we get a few coupons for laundry specials. We get 2 $20 bag coupons. As much as you can stuff into a this paper sack. We actually fit quite a bit. This time there will be much more. There is no option to do your own on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity.

[cruisemom42]

Do you girls that pack light where the same thing at dinner on different nights?? I am just wondering?? Because I can do this... Or if not, what do you take for a 12 day cruise?

 

 

On Princess there are only 2 formal nights on a 12-day cruise, so I brought a long black silk skirt with 2 different (lightweight) formal tops. 1 pair of shoes and a small purse.

 

For Smart Casual evenings, I brought 2 different pairs of dressy black pants (silk faille trousers and drapey jersey knit). I brought 2 black lightweight dressy shells/tanks and various wraps, blouses, jackets. I did not wear the same thing twice (well aside from the pants and shells) for the 9 Smart Casual evenings (we were not on board ship one evening as we did the Cairo overnight). The shells can easily be washed in the sink and will dry by the next night if necessary. 1 pair of black semi-dressy shoes and small clutch. I also brought along a black silk/wool knit skirt that I wore 1-2 nights as well as during the day in Rome after the cruise.

 

I know some cruise lines have more formal nights, which does make it harder!!

 

And yes, I packed all this (and clothes for November cruise plus 3 days in Rome) in one suitcase plus carry-on.

 

It CAN be done.....;)

[texancruzer]

I also don't know about NCL laundry prices. While we were on Brilliance in Nov 07 I had them wash a BUNCH stuff. Jeans, pullovers, blouses, long sleeve t's - everything (well not undies :rolleyes:) and paid about $ 40.00 for dh's and $ 30.00 for mine. So $ 70.00 - worth every penny. I brought alot home clean.

 

PS: I do not wash stuff in the sink..... I am on vacation ! ;)

[mickeysgal]

I also don't know about NCL laundry prices. While we were on Brilliance in Nov 07 I had them wash a BUNCH stuff. Jeans, pullovers, blouses, long sleeve t's - everything (well not undies :rolleyes:) and paid about $ 40.00 for dh's and $ 30.00 for mine. So $ 70.00 - worth every penny. I brought alot home clean.

 

PS: I do not wash stuff in the sink..... I am on vacation ! ;)

 

So, in other words, only give them things that you know can be washed together and can tolerate a dryer without shrinkage, correct?

[texancruzer]

So, in other words, only give them things that you know can be washed together and can tolerate a dryer without shrinkage, correct?

 

Actually we sent in some sweater type pullovers in with nice collared blouses.....everything came back fine. Nothing shrank or discolored from bleeding etc...... first class job.

[hylasgirl]

So, in other words, only give them things that you know can be washed together and can tolerate a dryer without shrinkage, correct?

 

I don't know about other cruise lines... but RCL and Celebrity does a GREAT job at all laundry. It comes back SO nice! I have sent various types of clothes to be cleaned. I haven't sent dry-clean type stuff... but all colors and types of other clothes.

[hylasgirl]

On Princess there are only 2 formal nights on a 12-day cruise, so I brought a long black silk skirt with 2 different (lightweight) formal tops. 1 pair of shoes and a small purse.

 

For Smart Casual evenings, I brought 2 different pairs of dressy black pants (silk faille trousers and drapey jersey knit). I brought 2 black lightweight dressy shells/tanks and various wraps, blouses, jackets. I did not wear the same thing twice (well aside from the pants and shells) for the 9 Smart Casual evenings (we were not on board ship one evening as we did the Cairo overnight). The shells can easily be washed in the sink and will dry by the next night if necessary. 1 pair of black semi-dressy shoes and small clutch. I also brought along a black silk/wool knit skirt that I wore 1-2 nights as well as during the day in Rome after the cruise.

 

I know some cruise lines have more formal nights, which does make it harder!!

 

And yes, I packed all this (and clothes for November cruise plus 3 days in Rome) in one suitcase plus carry-on.

 

It CAN be done.....;)

 

Ok... I can do this! hee hee:D Mostly I am concerned with these 10 days in Italy before the cruise. Then I can get my lovely cabin steward to take everything away and wash it for me once on the ship.

 

I have already told a few of the special shoes that they can't come this year. OH! You should have heard them! I wouldn't be surprised if they try to sneak in when I am not looking. Shoes have a way of doing this.

 

We only have 2 formal nights as well. Not too bad. And, THANK GOD they got rid of "semi formal"!!! ( I could get tarred and feathered for that comment but it's great for me!)

[tomko2]

My DH wants us to drop the two carry-on cases and just have two checked suitcases for our Med. cruise in August. We have two nights pre-and two nights post cruise plus the 12 nights on the ship.

 

My suitcase on our 12 +6 nights in 2007 weighed 58 lbs.; fortunately we were flying first class so had a 70 lb. limit. Same thing this time so weight not the issue; my DH just wants to have less to lug around.

 

I actually think I can do it because we ended up using the laundry service on the Legend OTS the last time and it was reasonable and fast.

 

We will still do the formal evenings; my DH is definitely taking his tux and I will take two formal outfits and wear one of them twice.

 

I bought some broomstick skirts for daytime touring and plan to mix and match tops. Same for the evenings; have two staples a) black pants and b) long sleeveless black dress; will wear different combos of tops.

 

Biggest challenge for me is to cut back on the extra stuff, e.g. meds, sundries, coffee mugs, sewing kits, etc. etc.; I am the original Girl Guide so my motto is "be prepared". Will look at ways to lighten these items.

 

The heaviest stuff is all the information we gather before the cruise on the sites we will be visiting.

 

Kathy

[Sunflash]

I learned my lesson a couple of years ago when we had 3 or 4 days of travelling in Italy on either end of our cruise. I had one suitcase (big) and a good size carryon. It was dreadful getting on and off trains. Never again.

 

This time I am going with a smaller duffle bag type thing with wheels and just a big purse that will have my meds and electronics and perhaps a book for the plane.

 

Cutting down on the shoes will be tough, but I've already got that figured out - walking sandals, walking shoes, black sandals with heels for dinner and a pair of flip flops. As for formal nights, I found a really great long black skirt with a wide sash and I'll throw in a couple of slinky tops that weigh next to nothing. The best part is the skirt pulls up and turns into a mid-calf strapless black dress with a great bow (sash) at the front. I am pretty proud of that little purchase. We plan to make use of the laundry as well.

 

As for lugging around tour books and info, I plan to streamline that by putting as much info into my iPod Touch as I can.

 

I just wish there was a way around the heavy cosmetics. :confused: I guess I could try to streamline that area as well, but I am really attached to that stuff!

[CathyCruises]

I solved that problem--I left all my cosmetics on the bed in the hotel in Venice before our flight home! I had it all in a plastic bag; then DH opened up his suitcase on the bed to look for something, I guess right on top of my stuff, then closed the suitcase and walked out the door with it. When I got home I searched everywhere--nope, all gone.

 

Went for the minimalist look when I had to replace everything. . .bummer.

 

Cathy

[MERLOTCHAMPAGNE]

I thought I was going to avoid this issue for our 12 night Med cruise in Oct/Nov plus a couple days pre and post cruise since we are flying business class. However I was wrong! :eek: We have a flight from Venice to Rome on Air One, which has a baggage agreement with UA to transfer the luggage, but won’t accept the baggage weight allowance with United. My DH wants to just pay for the overage but just on principle I won’t…. the airlines already charge everyone for every little thing.:mad:

So now I need to really scale down plus utilize the laundry on Princess. Fortunately we have an aft cabin so it’ll be more convenient than usual to do a couple of loads of laundry while relaxing on our aft balcony or in the hot tub plus I’ll use their cleaning services as we normally do for evening wear. But I’ll be bringing one long black skirt with 2 diff tops for formal wear and my husband won’t be bringing a blazer for some smart casual evenings. 2 pairs of black dress slacks – 1 silk/satin and 1 draped knit with a couple of jackets and shells plus dressy blouses and I’ll be set there. Usually I have a different outfit for both day and night on the ship but that won’t be the case this time. I’ve learned to keep the toiletries/makeup to a minimum and jewelry travels in my carry on anyway so I can bring lots of that if I chose.

I like the idea of the formal shoe rental as DH’s formal shoes take up a lot of space and he only wears them twice! 3 pairs of evening sandals for me = 1 pr of formal shoes for him.:D

Fortunately I keep an ongoing spreadsheet from trip to trip so at least I won’t be starting from scratch on where to cut down on the weight. We usually travel in warm climates but we managed with 2 large cases and 2 carryons for a 5-day pre cruise, 7 night Alaska cruise plus a 6 day post cruise at a conference in Vancouver in late September. Now that was a challenge to have parkas, boots, heavy sweaters/turtlenecks, business clothes as well as formal wear! But we managed… you just have to keep paring it down. I find my spreadsheet invaluable for this…. You can find ways to make interchangeable outfits and eliminate extra items and leave room for a few memorable tokens from your trip. Sometimes adding one new top or slacks allows for elimination of a couple heavier items.

I'll have to keep working on it.... unless I can find other way for our bags to travel on their own from Venice to Rome;)

[hylasgirl]

Good stuff guys... keep the ideas flowing. I have got to drop stuff! I don't care about the weight issue. We are allowed 3 bags per person and up to 70lbs each. We aren't that bad.:D

 

I can do better with the cosmetics... there is something I can work on. I am glad there is no more semi formal nights.

 

I take most of my info for walking tours out of Rick Steves books. Don't really care for a lot of his stuff, but he has some good info on locations. The last 3 trips, I have just taken an exacto knife to his books and taken what pages are relevant. He has new books that come out every year anyway... It works great. I can fold them up and stick them in my pocket.

 

I do like the long skirt that can also be pulled up for a strapless dress. Has anyone been getting the catalog "Body Central"? There are some great outfits in there for very good prices. They have that long skirt/strapless dress type dress in there. Very cute.

 

You know... we are just sitting with friends at dinner. Maybe I will just wear my formal dress twice and call it good? Is that bad?

[CaroleLee]

In the past, packing for a cruise usually meant packing quite a bit. I tried to keep to a color scheme, wear something for dinner one night and then wear a portion of it another time during the day. With the exception of formal wear, most things were worn more than once. Still this lead to a bit of luggage for a 10 or 14 day cruise.

 

On a 30 day land tour to China where we were limited to 44 lbs of luggage, packing was easy. There was no other choice. Things were washed in the sink and hung to dry frequently.

 

I'm now thinking of how to pack for a 12 night Med cruise that includes 2 nights pre cruise and 5 nights post cruise. Factor in starting at Rome (train travel to the port is the cheapest, or get roll call folks to form a group for a transfer), ending in Venice (dealing with luggage on the water bus or paying extra for a water taxi) and then taking a train to Florence for a few days. Also have to factor in the weather as this will be late October and November and need to plan for sun, rain and cold.

 

There is also the whole business of paying extra for luggage. And what about finding room for souvenir purchases. I suppose renting a tux for my husband would cut down on his luggage, but it's hard to rationalize paying for rented clothes that look so-so when he owns a fabulous tux.

 

Anyone else having this dilemma? Or should I just not concern myself with what friends think and keep wearing the same 2 slacks and 3 tops for the entire 3 weeks?

 

I'm interested in hearing what you are planning to do.

 

Hi,

DH & I & friend doing E. Med. in Jun plus time in Rome so we are right there with you. I traveled a great deal by myself and learned that if I can't lift it/stow it it doesn't come. I designed a packing /activity list that I use for every trip. I take digital photos of my clothes & then use the photo as a packing -mix & match tool( don't laugh it really works)

I use Space Bags. All of my clothes (formal & day wear) fit into a 21" Travelpro plus a tote (Ann Taylor)that serves as my handbag/computer bag.

Carole

[taxatty]

If you're doing a train, keep it to one rolling bag per person--trying to handle two rollers in a train at a time is not fun. Anything over 25" also doesn't fit well in the aisle. I have had good luck with a roller that big and the Rick Steves Back Door Bag as a backpack/carry-on (keeps your hands free)--it has a ton of pockets for a laptop, books, etc. and is very durable. It isn't pretty, but it's very functional.

 

We don't take anything (except formal wear) that you can't launder (Princess makes that easy) or better yet, wash out in a sink. Lots of Cool-Max clothes and other things that dry overnight--very little cotton, no denim at all, and lots of Ex Officio, Columbia, Travelsmith and other clothes designed for travel. This saves a lot of space, especially if you're not petite sized.

 

Les

[mjmalino]

I'm actually trying to think of the best way to pack for our July med cruise as well. We will be arriving in Venice the day before embarkment (we actually leave CA the day before we arrive) and then will be doing one night in Barcelona before returning to the states. In our case, it's not just the two of us, but the 4 of us--2 DS who will be 10 and 11 at the time of the cruise. They are good about helping with suitcases, BUT if we need to carry them through Venice at all, I am not sure how they will manage.

[cruisemom42]

Hi,

All of my clothes (formal & day wear) fit into a 21" Travelpro plus a tote (Ann Taylor)that serves as my handbag/computer bag.

Carole

 

I aspire to pack that light -- I'm getting there, but still like my clothes a little too much to get everything in a 21" suitcase. Maybe 5-6 trips from now.......!!

[CaroleLee]

I aspire to pack that light -- I'm getting there, but still like my clothes a little too much to get everything in a 21" suitcase. Maybe 5-6 trips from now.......!!

 

OK - I'm only 4'11" so my clothes are small but it can be done. Make a list of ports and activities, lay out all your clothes on the largest surface (floor or bed) and see what goes with what. No one will yell @ you if you wear a blouse 2-3 times on a cruise. Polo/tee shirts wash out in the sink and dry overnight. Buy inflatable hangers. One pair of good quality black pants (mine are Eileen Fisher silk crepe) for evening plus several tops are all you need. Practice a prepack( did it on a snowy day) and see what you actually need. Easy on the shoes I take 1 pr evening sandal, 1 pr slip ons-for plane and city walking and 1 pair grasshoppers for sightseeing/pool.

Good luck

Carole

[mauimary]

The lighter the better. Mix and match is the name of the game. We also carry a Portable scale so we know exactly where we are in lbs. It gets to be a real hassle to have to hand carry what does not go in the bag. You learn more each time you do it!!:)

[Bowie MeMe]

I have NO problem with dumping our laundry the minute we get on board. But... what is the best way around the 10 days before hand? We have to be prepared for both cool and warm weather in Italy in May. SO?? Suggestions?

 

 

We walk A LOT on this type of vacation and there is no way we can wear the same shirt again... so, it appears I am stuck with 10 different shirts before we board. And socks and underwear... My DH jokes that you can turn them inside out:eek:

I have often just walked around the area of the hotel (especially if we are there 2+weekdays) and found a laundry drycleaner just like at home. Even if they don't speak English you pile dirty clothes in front of them they know what to do! Conceriges can usually give you an idea of where to go. Ask your room maid at hotel. In lots of countries (Zanzibar, Cost Rica, Ireland) the maid took my clothes to her family and I had clean clothes before the day was gone. Laundry stories are some of the best we have -- seems to be an adventure. I will do laundry over carrying so much but to be honest I tend to have closet seperation anxiety. A 33 pound weight limit on a 3 week safari was the ultimate!

[RetiredFL]

Having done laundry in local laudromats my one recommendation is to always do the wash in cold water. We found on many commerical machines that even warm was very hot and hot was almost boiling. We also brought a couple of sample boxes of american detergent with us (You can get them at drug stores, etc where travel sizes are sold). Not that their detergent is not good we just preferred the familiar brand and how it washed. Also we tend to undersoap as we are not sure of the cycles etc.

We tend to travel with a couple of polo shirts for daytime use and if you get polyester/cotton blends they tend to dry overnight if washed in the room and rolled in a towel. The blow up hangars also help as it seperates the two sides.

[cruisemom42]

I have often just walked around the area of the hotel (especially if we are there 2+weekdays) and found a laundry drycleaner just like at home. Even if they don't speak English you pile dirty clothes in front of them they know what to do! Conceriges can usually give you an idea of where to go. Ask your room maid at hotel. In lots of countries (Zanzibar, Cost Rica, Ireland) the maid took my clothes to her family and I had clean clothes before the day was gone. Laundry stories are some of the best we have -- seems to be an adventure. I will do laundry over carrying so much but to be honest I tend to have closet seperation anxiety. A 33 pound weight limit on a 3 week safari was the ultimate!

 

It's funny how things like this, that seem like such a hassle when you are planning them (and sometimes even when doing them), turn out to be the things you remember and give you the best stories to tell.....:)

[Cymro1953]

Well, I’m not a woman so I can’t get into the matching clothes and reduction of shoes stuff. But, I am married to a wonderful woman and thus have to deal with her and her packing and 44 lbs baggage limits:rolleyes: (lol).

 

We both have agreed this trip (6 days pre-Barcelona, 12 night Med cruise) we are not doing the formal dining, which will help cut down baggage weight. We also decided to pack 6 days/night’s worth of clothes. When we board the ship after 6 days in Barcelona all our dirty clothes will immediately be sent to the laundry services of the ship. Then half way through the cruise we will again send everything to the ships laundry mat.

 

Though we will have maybe $50 or so in laundry bills, it’s still a lot better than paying a lot more than that to the airlines for extra baggage. It will also be less for us to drag between the airport, hotel, cruise ship, and back home.

 

But, I still haven’t figured a way around her shoes issue:o…. (lol).

 

Have a great cruise,

John

You have given us the most sensible answer to the packing and dressing question I've seen on there forums John. Our last cruise was informal so no problem, but this next one is RCI Legend O.S. for 12 nights And when the wife heard about the 2 formal nights in MDR she went into panic mode. I was taking a suit but now I am only taking a navy jacket and matching tie. That will leave more room for "proper" holiday clothes. We can eat in the buffet on formal nights if necessary

Good luck with Mrs. John and her shoes :D

 

Berwyn and Delyth

[Cymro1953]

 

Why is 2 suitcases alot ? Not big ones. And they both roll. I take care of my two and dh takes care of his. And not only does his full black tux go but he also has a white dinner jacket for the second night formal that goes too. I put our initials on them with gold paint pen and stencil. Also took a picture of them and put with our plane tickets and passports just in case they went missing !

2 suitcases, you are really lucky, we're restricted by our airline to 1 suitcase of 44lbs each plus 1 carry on weighing 10lbs. So we have to pack accordingly. I bet you both look great.

 

Can I just say thank you to you all for your helpful tips for us novice cruisers

[5waldos]

Anyone else having this dilemma? Or should I just not concern myself with what friends think and keep wearing the same 2 slacks and 3 tops for the entire 3 weeks?

 

Maybe they will think you smart, and attend to the things that are important on a trip- which shouldn't include gossiping about what others are wearing. Heavens- is there nothing more boring? And I am a woman. And have traveled a lot. It did take me years to figure out that I could probably travel forever with one 20 inch carryon and a very large pocketbook.

[texancruzer]

You know my Mom always said " it takes all kinds to make the world go round". There will be those who can wear the same things over and over again and there are those who can't.

 

I enjoy dressing special for dinner in the main dining room on a cruise. We (dh too :)) enjoy formal nights and dressing up for those. It is IMPORTANT to me. Some people don't. But anyone who gossips about those that don't, just must not have much of a life.

 

But I do not dress for others - I dress for me :D

 

so....do whatever you feel comfortable doing as long as it doesnt BLATANTLY go against the guidelines of the cruiseline.