To Pack or Not to Pack

Although this has been done before (see New Cruisers), with the constantly reducing luggage allowances when on a fly/cruise, (Thomson 23k to 20k), it is even more important not to pack stuff which is not going to be used well. The 'stay' hotel also needs to be taken into consideration too if you are doing both.

What do you insist on taking and what will you leave at home?:rolleyes:

Serious and lighthearted suggestions welcomed.

Right, I'll start it off. I'm leaving my umbrella behind, even though it is tiny and lightweight.

Won't need hairdryer and travel irons are banned.

I thought to save wieght I would leave my wife behind as most of my case is made up of her "just in case clothes"

This idea was soon knock out of my head, but the bruising is now going away slowly.

Who would take a 'powerstrip' and air freshener as suggested on another thread?:confused:

Who would take a 'powerstrip' and air freshener as suggested on another thread?:confused:

I don't do it myself but a powerstrip is for charging phones, cameras, tablet pc's, Kindles, mp3 players and all the rest of the gadgets we can't live without. As for me, my phone should last all week with just my tablet and maybe the camera needing charging.:)

Jan

Although this has been done before (see New Cruisers), with the constantly reducing luggage allowances when on a fly/cruise, (Thomson 23k to 20k), it is even more important not to pack stuff which is not going to be used well. The 'stay' hotel also needs to be taken into consideration too if you are doing both.

What do you insist on taking and what will you leave at home?:rolleyes:

Serious and lighthearted suggestions welcomed.

I'm more interested in what books to take, so I'll cut down by taking paperbacks instead of hardbacks

Although this has been done before (see New Cruisers), with the constantly reducing luggage allowances when on a fly/cruise, (Thomson 23k to 20k), it is even more important not to pack stuff which is not going to be used well. The 'stay' hotel also needs to be taken into consideration too if you are doing both.

What do you insist on taking and what will you leave at home?:rolleyes:

Serious and lighthearted suggestions welcomed.

What does "used well" mean? During the daytime who wears much?, other than bathers? and, if you go topless, thats even less for a woman;)

We'll do 4 shore excursions where we need clothes,otherwise we'll be in sunbathing gear,little weight there. That leaves evening wear, as far as I'm concerned I'll wear the same stuff 2nd week as first week,I think my wife feels the same.If we didn't "have to" go to the Captains dinner I needn't take shoes, thats uneccessary weight as far as I'm concerned + a suit for goodness sake:eek:

Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake.

(W. C. Fields )

Stevie :D

What does "used well" mean? During the daytime who wears much?, other than bathers? and, if you go topless, thats even less for a woman;)

 

We'll do 4 shore excursions where we need clothes,otherwise we'll be in sunbathing gear,little weight there. That leaves evening wear, as far as I'm concerned I'll wear the same stuff 2nd week as first week,I think my wife feels the same.If we didn't "have to" go to the Captains dinner I needn't take shoes, thats uneccessary weight as far as I'm concerned + a suit for goodness sake:eek:

Ooops! Typo... Should be "well used" (I think). I had had a busy day!!

Yeah, I have a lightweight cocktail dress for formal night but does hubby need to take black tie suit, shirt, shoes and dickie bow for one night. Less room in his case for my stuff and he would look really out of place at Thomas Bay Hotel on 2nd week. Would probably get arrested or asked to sing Rat Pack!:D

Ditch the books and get a kindle! much lighter and a fraction of space used, so able to take more shoes:D

We also buy toiletries and booze at airport, naturally like steve, booze is for medicinal purposes only:rolleyes:

If you go and try on different perfumes and after shaves in the shop you don't need to bring that.

Didn't think I would, but have just bought a Kindle for use on holidays. There is nothing like the feel and smell of a new book, but I had to agree with hubbie and taking 6-8 books on holiday did add unnecessary weight to my case, however I will still enjoy reading the real thing at home.

With regard to deciding what clothes to take, I find colour co ordinating helps. For 2 week holidays I usually take everything in shades of black, white , red and grey, many things can then be changed around for different looks. I also have an idea what to look out for when buying new items for holidays. Although I always say I have enough and don't need to buy anything, temptation always makes me give in, and I end up with yet more clothes, I am so weak.

I think successful packing is usually a matter of experience, once you have had a few holidays where half of your case returns home unworn, you learn for the next time, I never take "maybe's" anymore just "definates", you know what you are going to wear and what you really aren't too fussy on, so don't waste space on the "maybes".

But I think the most important thing is trying everything on before you decide to take it, particularly with holiday clothes which may only see the light of day once a year. It is so easy to forget that an item which still looks good on the hanger, and you remember how much you paid for it, didn't really suit you or didn't fit properly. It also reminds you to repair hems, tighten buttons etc.

However I think this may be a female thing, being organised, as my husband refuses to bother, but he does bring more unworn items back than I do, although he won't admit it !!

Ditch the books and get a kindle! much lighter and a fraction of space used, so able to take more shoes:D

We also buy toiletries and booze at airport, naturally like steve, booze is for medicinal purposes only:rolleyes:

Unfortunately you can't get all books on Kindle

Buy a cover for your kindle...has much more of a 'bookie' feel than just the machine. Would'nt be without mine now.

Most ships have a library of sorts so you could take your chances think its only open about an hour a day though. My case on the last cruise was only 18kgs spent the week expecting to find out what i had left behind but didnt !!

Who would take a 'powerstrip' and air freshener as suggested on another thread?:confused:

The powerstrip is one of our most essential items! How do you manage without one? So many things need charging these days.

As to the chargers, we have a plug in charger effort thing, thats if I can find it now we have moved, ummmm. So its normally a fight over who gets to charge up what over night. :D

So what would I leave out of my case, shoes, I am only taking three pairs, there was talk in the house of going on a cruise from Southampton yipee I said I can take loads of cases and shoes ummm shoes.

Couldn't live without my kindle, I carry it everywhere just in case I'm waiting for a short time & power strip again for charging camera, mobile etc. kindle battery lasts forever so can't imagine I'll need to charge that in the 2 week cruise.

I take my kindle everywhere I also have a case that has a light on it that won't wake up hubby while I read at night.

The powerstrip is one of our most essential items! How do you manage without one? So many things need charging these days.

I don't think we could have used a power strip on the Spirit last year. The sockets are right down on the desktop so a plug with the cable coming out of the bottom wouldn't have fitted. Luckily our mobile phone chargers have the cables coming out of the back of I had taken the Power Monkey and was able to charge that with the continental plug.

This year I'm going to take one of the adaptors with a socket on top then we can plug everything into that.

As for clothing we take ordinary summer clothes and nothing formal whatsoever. We are used to a 20kg limit as we come from the Channel Islands and that's been our limit for a long time on flights to the UK. But I don't think we're ever over about 17-18kg

this will be my first cruise and we are doing a week in sharm after and i know i will pack things that wont get worn i've done that for the past 10 years or so:p you would of thought i'd learned my lesson by now lol. things that are always top of my list make up(always in hand luggage) hair straighteners and countless shoes and bags lol think i've got 6 pairs of flip flops and sandals this time and got it down to 4 pairs of heels lol my son always travels light though:D, and if i can some extra shoes might sneak in his case:p. But i do wear stuff twice i used to take 2 weeks of night time clothes so i am improving on my packing skills:D

I always pack a plug in night light. Very useful for my other half when he needs the bathroom in the middle of the night, Saves waking me up by switching on a light or bumping into everything on his way to the bathroom.

I always pack a plug in night light. Very useful for my other half when he needs the bathroom in the middle of the night, Saves waking me up by switching on a light or bumping into everything on his way to the bathroom.

I always pack a plug in night light. Very useful for my other half when he needs the bathroom in the middle of the night, Saves waking me up by switching on a light or bumping into everything on his way to the bathroom.

We just leave the light on in the bathroom and you can see it through the door when you wake up.