When to start packing

Just wondering when everyone starts to pack prior to their cruise? 1 month, 2 weeks, 2 days (never!)??

Do you have a "process"?

I currently have a list of what I'm taking and what is going in each packing cube.

I'm just getting DH into packing mode today, heading over to Old Navy to get him to check out tank tops, etc. Otherwise, the day before he will be saying "I don't have this or that".

I usually bring up the suitcase about 2-3 weeks prior - use the den couch as 'packing central' and I start 'dropping' stuff off in the room as I think of them (and yes I have several lists). Also haul out the 'cruise box' which has lots of my travel gear stored away e.g. belkin plug, ipod speakers, beach safe, luggage scale, jewellery pouches, etc).

Since most cruises leave on a 'weekend' and I work during the week - I try to do my major packing the 'weekend' before - doing laundry/folding as required. Last minute/final items would go in a day before or night before depending on what I am using (e.g. hair dryer, makeup, brushes, etc).

Since I am a known overpacker I do try to weigh my luggage throughout the process as I usually come very close (too close?) to the 50 lb airline limit!! (which means I may need to shuffle things around and put some of the heavier stuff in my carryon as required).

Depends if the clothes I'm taking are currently being worn! If it's winter, and I'm taking summer clothes, it's easy to get them ready (I don't put them in the suitcase until we're ready to leave!!!) If I'm wearing shorts, then I have to wait to finalize everything, since I'm WEARING the stuff!

I'd say 2 days prior, I have just about everything ready to go.

This sounds silly, but our cats (one in particular) get quite stressed when they see the suitcases getting packed!

So I make lists on the computer (now with Cozi, I can add to them when I think of it, on the smartphone), intensifying that effort a few weeks ahead. I make sure all clothing is clean and do any sundry shopping about a week out. I can make stacks on the bed in the spare room without tipping off Los Gatos because there are always piles in there anyway! I do need to cover the stacks with a sheet lest they get used for a kitty bed and I wind up with a pound of cat hair in my packing.

I don't get out the suitcases until 1.5-2 days before T-minus-zero. Working from detailed lists, it works out OK this way.

I use a spreadsheet to figure out my outfits and from that I make a packing list. I only put the stuff into a suitcase 1-2 days prior.

I usually start about 5-7 days in advance. I have my packing list on my iPad and pack the shoes and clothes first (usually in one day). Then over the next few days all the other "stuff" goes in. I am very bad about taking a lot of stuff I "might" need.:o

I start a packing list weeks before, for both clothing and other items. For the clothing, I start with a lot of possibilities and narrow down and refine over time. I select things that are versatile and easy care, and that I feel great in. A week or so ahead, I start gathering things together on the guest room bed, making final additions, deletions. The day before leaving, I put everything in the suitcase. and pack my carry-on. I use the revised packing list to make sure I have everything.

I pack the night before I leave, and I don't decide what clothes I'm going to take until then (the exception being a dress or two for dressier dress-code nights). After all, I don't know what kind of weather to expect until then.....and I just can't be bothered to worry about my clothing choices before then either.

However, I do start a collection of non-clothing, travel-specific items many weeks (sometimes months) before my trip. As I think of them and locate them, or as I stumble across them, I put them in a specific place (usually a bag or empty box) so that I'll not forget them later. I know I won't forget clothes or toiletries, since I use them all the time, but I might forget the things I don't use regularly: suntan lotion, extra SD cards, international electric plug converters, travel surge protector, etc

In the winter I start a few weeks in advance. I pack all of the clothing I'm not wearing because of the season, such as shorts, short sleeve tops, swimsuit. I also pack the dresses that will not wrinkle up a few weeks in advance since I do not wear dresses throughout normal everyday life as well. The very last minute items which are like jeans and my long sleeve shirts or sweaters things that I wear during the winter is cross over, those will get packed the night before. The night before the cruise I do tend to go through and re-evaluate everything I've put in the bag to make sure that I have not over packed, this means eliminating probably half of what I put into the suitcase lol.

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I have been putting out things for a couple weeks for a mainly tropical Oceania cruise Luckily lightweight clothes.Seems like heavy on black and white.Probably total the amount in each category, then reduce by 1/3. I will pack a backpack or carry on with my shoes/jewelry to save room, weight in bag. Wear lightweight hiking books on plane.Do not pack bag until night before to prevent wrinkles.

I cruise in the winter, so of course that is opposite of the clothing I wear on the cruise. So because of that I like to try everything on to make sure it all fits the way I want it to. Nothing's worse than packing something thinking it fits a certain way and getting there and it doesn't.

So a few weeks before I get the suitcases out and print out a packing list. I pack the important stuff for my husband too, and tell him "hey you need to pick out 8 shirts" or something like that and go from there.

The suitcase goes in the guest room and everything gets laid out on the bed until it's time to actually be folded and put in the suitcase. I do that sometime the week before. I take the day off of work the day before we actually leave town to clean the house and run last minute errands and ill finish packing whatever is left that day. It's usually not much. The guest room turns into the cruise room. If it's going, it goes in there, that way everything is together.

I start the fun process a month out when I begin shopping for a few new things that will go with stuff I already have. I too make a list which I break up into each day of the trip. I'll list what I plan to wear each day for each excursion, dinners, etc. About two weeks before the trip I'm trying on all the outfits. One week before I'm adding jewelry for each outfit and hanging each outfit on the guestroom closet door. Day before the trip I'm packing the suitcase and deleting and adding things as I go, and packing tolietries. Day of the trip...I always end up stuffing something into my suitcase at the last minute...just in case...LOL!

For me deciding what to wear and packing are all part of the fun when I travel...even if it's just for 3 days!

I start with my clothing chart, in Excel. Down the side are the dates and ports (or other info like an overnight pre cruise). Across the top are column groupings for daytime and for evening. In each grouping are columns for bottoms, tops, wraps, plus in the evening there's another column for shoes, handbag and jewelry, if the cruise has formal nights.

Elsewhere on the worksheet, I list possibilities. At the bottom I put things like bathing suits, coverups, or boots and gloves, depending. I like to get this chart going at least two to three weeks ahead. I prefer a month ahead, in case I need to shop (usually online).

Meanwhile, I start gathering the non-wardrobe items. Like others in this thread, I use a room separate from the bedroom. There's no bed in there, but there is a sofa.

I start pulling possible clothing items and trying on and pressing them. And I shop. :D I work on the main part of my chart. I make sure that all evening tops are worn twice. Evening bottoms are worn three times or more, given that each time might amount to three hours or so. I also will wear a somewhat casual piece at night once and then wear it again for a daytime excursion. If a daytime top starts fresh with an excursion, it doesn't get worn again unless it goes through the ship laundry. I sweat too much.

I will go through my chart over and over again looking for ways to drop an item.

Several days beforehand, I put my meds and vitamins into little bags, one each for every morning and evening, plus a bigger bag with extras all together. I also change my handbag to my travel bag.

I start actually packing the suitcase a couple of days beforehand. I finish early on the day that my husband starts.:rolleyes:

For trips to other countries (not including Canada or short cruises) I usually start about two months out. As I think of them, I drop small items that I don't want to forget into a small tote that hangs on a hook behind my closet door. This can be anything from a two ounce tube of aloe gel to take to Tahiti to a paperback I want to take to London. I also double check my passport, because even though I know where it is and when it expires I am OCD about it.

About two weeks out I begin to look at the weather and think about what I'm going to pack for clothing. Anything that is dry clean only I make sure is clean or take to the cleaners. At this time I also order my foreign currency from the bank.

A week out I look at the weather again and pull out everything I want to bring. I make sure it all mix-matches and typically put away some of the things as they either don't match or I have too many tops or bottoms or whatever. I then hang the items I will pack back up but together so I won't wear them. I also decide what underwear, jewelry, accessories, shoes, etc. I want to take at this time, and I set those items aside. I also refill my 3-1-1 bag and clean out my makeup bag so only the things I actually need will come with me.

Two days before I leave I pack everything except my makeup bag into my suitcase. I also pack my cross body with my travel documents including my passport, my cash, the credit cards I'm taking, and anything else that needs to go into there. I set aside the clothing I plan on traveling in.

Just before I leave the house my make up bag, iPad, and any other small last minute items get packed and I'm out the door.

Since we are officially two weeks away from our trip, and next weekend being Easter (which will be busy), I am going to wash all my clothes I am taking tomorrow. I already have them out and sorted together.

I have been putting "things" I don't want to forget in my suitcase, which will eventually go in my tote.

Tonight, I have been uploading books, music, tv shows to my iPhone, I just bought a new camera yesterday, so I have been busy setting that all up too.

I have to pack my daughter up as well to go to her grandparents for 9 nights, so that will be a lot of stuff too! Ack, I better get started!

I keep my cruise clothes separate from my work and weekend wear, so the bag is always packed. I wash what I used and repack it back in luggage. I replenish my toiletries like 2-3 weeks before the trip so I'm not in a rush. Makes it super easy for me. :)

For my upcoming trip I literally started packing in October before all my warm weather clothes got buried and forgotten underneath all the winter clothes. I put everything in a spare bedroom instead of putting it away in closets and drawers. It is still really cold where I am and I just started organizing for my trip in 2 weeks and sure glad I put aside all the summer 'stuff' and don't have to empty closets and drawers.

I leave in ten days. I have started pulling items out of my cruise closet (everything goes in clean, so I don't have to worry about that). I have started folding things but the suitcase is not open yet.

This past winter we decided to cruise mostly with Princess. Therefore, like on our last cruise I packed two weeks before we left. I was able to do this because I did not have to worry about thing getting wrinkled because Princess has laundry mate for PAX use. If any thing gets wrinkled I can go there and iron them.

I don't actually pack the suitcase until the night before. But we're cruising in a few weeks and I've been planning for a while. Made my husband go shopping last month for a new suit and it was like taking a child to the doctor! Thank goodness, that's over! :) This past weekend I went through my closet and selected which dresses and daytime-wear I'll bring. I discovered I could really use some more shorts and t-shirts so did a little more shopping. I'll make a run to the dry cleaners next week. I think I'm ready!

I have never used any kind of a packing list or chart. That is just me.

Whatever works for each person....I use a computer every day a work

and have no desire to do a spreadsheet for my cruises. I know what

I am a bringing and don't want/need a list.

I am sailing next month:).....I am flying to Seattle on a Thursday

and so I will probably pack the weekend before I leave. It is an Alaskan

cruise so many of the items will be long pants, long sleeves, socks.....

sweaters, etc.

I will probably finish up my packing on Tuesday....since I am flying

on Thursday. The last items in will be in my carry on anyway.....

toiletries and that stuff.

My actual packing, where I put the suitcases on the guest bed, & start putting stuff in starts about 4 weeks ahead, but I also have two big clear containers that I put stuff in year round for upcoming travel, so I sort of always in packing mode. :)

I can't decide if I'm embarrassed or not that I have some items already set aside for next year's cruise & pre/post land trip.

I already have 3 skirts & several tee shirts put in the box for me, & quite a few tee shirts for DH. :) ( I pack him 10 black V neck tees for every trip, so he doesn't have to think about what he's wearing.

A month before,I start packing a little bit at a time.

I start gathering months in advance. After trying on everything I plan to bring I start packing in folders and cubes items I know I won't wear beforehand a few weeks before leaving.

I also make list of what I pack just in case my luggage gets lost. A list will make a claim much easier.

Shak

This past winter we decided to cruise mostly with Princess. Therefore, like on our last cruise I packed two weeks before we left. I was able to do this because I did not have to worry about thing getting wrinkled because Princess has laundry mate for PAX use. If any thing gets wrinkled I can go there and iron them.

Hi Geocruiser,

What is laundry mate? There is an ironing board for anyone to use? That would be awsome.

Cat