What did you pack that was not necessary?

[adriennerm]

There was a thread posted a couple of days ago relating to things you forgot but needed during a cruise. After reading that, I wondered what were things you thought you needed but didn't. I"m guilty of over-packing.
My first cruise I packed everything under the sun. Turns out I only needed a fraction of the clothing, only wore 3 of the 8 pairs of shoes, didn't wear any of my earrings expect for elegant night, the towel Carnival provided worked fine (I usually bring my own spa towel b/c I have wider hips) and we only drunk 1/4 of the bottle of vodka we purchased.

I thought we were going to have all these mixed drinks in the room. Well actually we enjoyed sitting at the bar purchasing drinks.

This will be my first 7 day cruise, i'm hoping to learn from other peoples mistakes. My previous cruises were 3 and 4 nights.

What did you pack that was not necessary?

[Smithkids5521]

Medicines/band aids/etc...thankfully we did not need them!

I still plan on packing and bringing them along with us next cruise. Because chances are that if I leave that stuff at home, I'll end up needing it and having to pay big $$ to buy it on board.

[Gran3]

The only things I can say we never used were most of the meds, like Smithkids5521 said, but I'll continue to bring them. Better prepared than not. Have you seen the cost of that stuff at the ships store? Also it really doesn't take up a lot of room.

[girli565]

My first cruise I overpacked shoes. I ended up wearing two pairs of heels, sneakers, and 2 sandals/flip flops. I had a whole bag just for shoes, I packed like 8-9 pairs and only wore 5 lol.

On my last cruise I packed by the day, one day outfit and one night outfit. I only packed 2 extra outfits for hanging (like yoga pants and t-shirts) and i felt I didn't pack enough. This time I'll pack the same but add maybe 2-3 more hanging outfits to be safe.

[rydan]

The wife and I went on our first cruise only a few months ago. 4 day quick cruise. We packed enough for 2 weeks. Wont make that mistake twice.

[PhotogalMB]

I way overpacked on our last cruise too. Not as much clothes/shoes (although I brought a pair of dress heels that I wore for an hour then changed to dressy sandals and a couple of dress pants for dinner I never wore) but more things that were "must have for the room" that I never used. Forget the over the door shoe hanger there is plenty of room in the bathroom for everything and it wouldn't hang over the door anyway with the robe hooks there. I brought my little magic bullet blender..never used it to make the pina coladas we got them at the bar instead. My little first aid kit with meds, bandaids etc, but I will def bring it this time just in case. DH brought more shoes then I did, and several pair of dress pants he never wore. Wore shorts for dinner except elegant night.

[Gran3]

Originally Posted by girli565

My first cruise I overpacked shoes. I ended up wearing two pairs of heels, sneakers, and 2 sandals/flip flops. I had a whole bag just for shoes, I packed like 8-9 pairs and only wore 5 lol.

On my last cruise I packed by the day, one day outfit and one night outfit. I only packed 2 extra outfits for hanging (like yoga pants and t-shirts) and i felt I didn't pack enough. This time I'll pack the same but add maybe 2-3 more hanging outfits to be safe.

Wouldn't you rather have too much than not enough?
I am a member of the over packers club, and I do not want to change.

[girli565]

Originally Posted by Gran3

Wouldn't you rather have too much than not enough?
I am a member of the over packers club, and I do not want to change.

No, I like to be exact lol. I go to Disney a lot and have that packing down to a science. Now I'm trying to get cruise packing perfected. Haha! I think one day & one night outfit per day and a few extra hanging out clothes is perfect, I just need to figure out how many extra I need. This is in addition, of course, to bathing suits and coverups.

[kayehall]

Underwear...LOL

[Gran3]

Originally Posted by girli565

No, I like to be exact lol. I go to Disney a lot and have that packing down to a science. Now I'm trying to get cruise packing perfected. Haha! I think one day & one night outfit per day and a few extra hanging out clothes is perfect, I just need to figure out how many extra I need. This is in addition, of course, to bathing suits and coverups.

You're a better packer than me. I find that if I try to do that, the outfit I've chosen just isn't doing it for me that day. Just doesn't look, feel right. By overpacking I've got some choices. Maybe if I traveled more I'd make it work.

[kelzbelz77]

Originally Posted by kayehall

Underwear...LOL

That made me laugh! That was a good Friday funny!!

[GlendaleCruiser]

Originally Posted by PhotogalMB

Forget the over the door shoe hanger there is plenty of room in the bathroom for everything and it wouldn't hang over the door anyway with the robe hooks there.

I love my over the door shoe hanger. A lot depends upon how many people are in your cabin. When we have two--I don't need it. When we have 3--we do. It has clips for the top of the door and doesn't interfere with the robe hooks on the other side (I hang it on the outside of the bathroom door for camera, S&S cards, odds and ends that would end up on the counter, which I HATE.

I underpacked once for the Med and packed just right last time. We'll see how well I do these two cruises coming up.............

[30038599]

On our last cruise I bought Advil, Cold Medicine, Oniments etc ( you get the picture) The house keeper couldn't believe all the stuff we bought and
mentioned that it reminds him of a drug store. I felt that we were on a
12 days cruise that it was better to bring more then less. Plus it will
be pretty expensive to buy any of the stuff on the ship. On my next
cruise in Sept I will be bring the same items with us. You never know when you may need it.

[GlendaleCruiser]

Aside from overpacking a little a couple of times (but not too often or badly) I don't take anything that I haven't learned from experience that I wished I'd had on an earlier cruise.

There are a lot of things I know I'll never pack like fans, blenders, white noise machines, rum runners, coffee mugs, to name a few.

I will always take Avdil, Pepto, aloe vera, band aids, Neosporin, needle and thread, eyeglass repair kit, dental emergency kit and hope I never need them.

Learned my lesson after paying $12 for a tube of Aloe Vera on the Jubilee in 1991. That's about $20 in today's dollars. What can you do? Kid with a bad sunburn...............

[maldenmusic]

Shoes and clothes.

[mactrio]

Originally Posted by GlendaleCruiser

There are a lot of things I know I'll never pack like fans, blenders, white noise machines, rum runners, coffee mugs, to name a few.

I will always take Avdil, Pepto, aloe vera, band aids, Neosporin, needle and thread, eyeglass repair kit, dental emergency kit and hope I never need them.

I pack the same things, I have a small medicine bag that is always packed and ready to go.

This past cruise I had 2 pair of capri pants with matching tops that I didn't wear and 1 dressy top and evening pants. Everything else was worn.

[mousey]

Originally Posted by girli565

No, I like to be exact lol. I go to Disney a lot and have that packing down to a science. Now I'm trying to get cruise packing perfected. Haha! I think one day & one night outfit per day and a few extra hanging out clothes is perfect, I just need to figure out how many extra I need. This is in addition, of course, to bathing suits and coverups.

Don't forget to pack your underwear!

I used to overpack in my younger years, now "I've pretty much got it down to a science." I'm one of those people that love clothes and I actually sit down and make a chart where I write down each day's outfits including all the shoes and accessories I'm going to wear with them. (and I enjoy doing this mind you, even though the DH thinks I'm nuts!).

I would say what I used to bring with me that I now don't, is a travel iron/steamer and an extra hairdryer. The travel/steamers aren't allowed anymore anyway and my hair is natural curly so I just let it dry on its own, fluff, and go. I also don't bring a roll of duck tape anymore because I found out that if you need it you can get some from your cabin steward in an emergency...however, I still bring some with me but now I just tear a bunch of it off the original roll and wrap it around an un-sharpened pencil, which takes up less room. Just in case ya know!

While some people adhere to the less is more rule, I'm a take-what-you-need-and-then-just-a-little-bit-more kind of gal!

Hope you have a great cruise!

[jhale]

I am not proud to say that I've regressed in the packing area. During 2007-2008 I had it down to a science, getting everything into carry-ons. Well since then, even after 20+ cruises, I've become a "bag-lady." not even using half the clothes I take. It feels good to confess

[Dee777]

Originally Posted by adriennerm

There was a thread posted a couple of days ago relating to things you forgot but needed during a cruise. After reading that, I wondered what were things you thought you needed but didn't. I"m guilty of over-packing.
My first cruise I packed everything under the sun. Turns out I only needed a fraction of the clothing, only wore 3 of the 8 pairs of shoes, didn't wear any of my earrings expect for elegant night, the towel Carnival provided worked fine (I usually bring my own spa towel b/c I have wider hips) and we only drunk 1/4 of the bottle of vodka we purchased.

I thought we were going to have all these mixed drinks in the room. Well actually we enjoyed sitting at the bar purchasing drinks.

This will be my first 7 day cruise, i'm hoping to learn from other peoples mistakes. My previous cruises were 3 and 4 nights.


What did you pack that was not necessary?

We were on a 15 day Hawaiian cruise this past January. I took 3 pairs of shoes, only wore 2. More formal dresses than I needed. Bottle of rum we barely touched. Out of the 2 bottles of wine we brought on, we only drank one and ended up giving the unopened one (plus the one Carnival casino host sent me) to our steward. Brought some toiletries I never ended up using, I tried their body wash and shampoo and ended up liking it so next time won't bother packing my own.

Our first cruise in '07 I brought SO much stuff... everyone recommended the over the door shoe bag so you could fill it with incidentals and toiletries. While handy it only encouraged me to bring more crap and that was the one and only time I packed it. Each trip, be it cruise or otherwise, I am trying to find ways to lighten our load. Lighter luggage equals more purchases I can bring home

[Texarribean Chick]

For years I would pack a shorts/shirt outfit for each day - since, I realize that typically I put on the swimsuit/cover up in the mornings and stay in it all day until time to prep for dinner time. I would suggest cutting down 1/2 the number of "day" outfits and just stick to swimsuits and evening wear.

Have Fun!