Over packing.

Wife and I are going to Alaska this trip. It’s going to be a good test to see if we pack the right clothes as well as the correct amount. Going to the Caribbean is pretty easy to pack for. Shorts, t-shirts, bathing suits, etc. Alaska will be cold sometimes and nice others. Rainy then sunny. Inside clothes—outside clothes. Not counting all the sundries. I’ve learned about “bundle packing” to try helping with wrinkles. My wife takes more stuff than I do but she’s worth it. And I don’t have to hear the “I told you so’s”. :)

We went to Alaska in august. Most of the time warm. Lots of insects so bring deet. However a couple of freezing days near glaciers. So you need clothes for spring summer and early winter. No light packing

I have a spreadsheet with every day listed and clothes I am wearing for day/ evening. I can wear stuff two or three times in different combinations on different days. I pretty much stick to it and I find I pack less.

I have a spreadsheet with every day listed and clothes I am wearing for day/ evening. I can wear stuff two or three times in different combinations on different days. I pretty much stick to it and I find I pack less.

I do the same !! For hubby too

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I have a spreadsheet with every day listed and clothes I am wearing for day/ evening. I can wear stuff two or three times in different combinations on different days. I pretty much stick to it and I find I pack less.

I do the same. Usually I come home with perhaps 1 shirt I've not worn at least once, and that's because I bought a new one along the way.

I do the same !! For hubby too

 

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I do the same. Usually I come home with perhaps 1 shirt I've not worn at least once, and that's because I bought a new one along the way.

 

 

 

LOL! My wife copies my spreadsheet. I choose and pack my own clothes, and always have. She just wants to know what I'm packing for dinner.

Of course she does !!! Haha !

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We have cruised many times and I always take additional items “just in case” you need them . When I unpack after a cruise there are some clothes I discover that I have never worn. So this got me thinking how many people over pack or is it just me?

 

 

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I did this a couple of times ad had too many pairs of shoes etc. THEN

when we did a Baltics cruise I wanted to fly with a carry on only and cruise with that bag/s

Spent time here on CC and other sites and can now get into a small roller bag and a tote for flights/carry on AND cruise for 17 days of travel

Scarves/pearls etc help change up black dress or dress/skirt etc

Layers/neutrals

VERY LIBERATING.

I think I read an article last year - might have even been on CC? where a couple of ladies were going on a summer cruise for 9-10 nights and one of them had packed 28 pairs of shoes!

On our Solstice cruise in March / April from Sydney I packed 2 more t-shirts than needed - and I did need them because it was very hot every day. I also packed a jacket that I never needed and although I packed enough underwear for 14 days, I didn't need half of it because I was hand washing my and wifes underwear every day or 2 and it dried pretty quickly in the heat!

If you want to experience over-packing try sailing on Cunard. We just finished our second Cunard cruise and the amount of stuff you have to bring is a pain. They expect you to dress for dinner every night...jacket for men (tie optional), smart for ladies. Then there are two or three formal (now called "chic") nights, where you are expected to have formal dress, preferably a tux but they will let you get away with a suit. Of course kilts or a military uniform are fine. And don't expect to simply skip the MDR if you don't have the right dress. They don't want to see you on most of the rest of the ship after six if you're not up to snuff. Of course the crew will not ban you or comment unless you show up for dinner in shorts and a t shirt. But, if looks could kill, your Brit fellow passengers have perfected the art.

.....and then there is the mossie repellent, the pack of cards, the bottle opener, the $1 ponchos, the sewing kit, the tiny pen knife with the screwdriver thing and of course the duck tape!

The eyeglass repair kit that we needed twice before we started packing one.

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I have a question for those that use packing cubes. I bought a set of different sized packing cubes earlier this year and have used on one vacation so far. Almost all of my clothes were wrinkled and needed ironing! I even watched the videos online on how to pack them. (Rolling clothes) What's the secret? I want to use on our upcoming cruise, but I don't want a bunch of wrinkled clothes. (I had better luck with folding my clothes and placing in plastic bags in groups.)

I bought a second of packing cubes because I forgot I had a set and didn’t use them a second time because my clothes were so wrinkled.

I put two or three pieces of clothing in a dry cleaner bag on their hangers. Repeat as necessary.

Then I lay the first set, hangers and all across the suitcase with the bottom half hanging out. The next set goes crosswise also with the hangers inside. Next I reverse direction lengthwise and then cross wise. When I’m done I start folding the bottom ends in, alternating directions.

When my luggage arrives, I lift out the top two sets of hangers, hang them in the closet, and continue till I’m done.

No wrinkles!

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Woman always over pack.

Really? I've traveled to Europe plenty of times with a carry on bag & a duffle... last time I looked I was female lol.

Oh, & I managed to be relatively stylish at the same time. :)

I mix and match my day wear with dinner wear. Out of our over 50 cruises I can only remember on guy that seemed to wear black pants and a yellow shirt every day. That was on Azamara. I do not have any problems wearing the same shirt of dinner 2 days later. The staff seem to be able to wear the same clothing each night. Why cant I.

Really? I've traveled to Europe plenty of times with a carry on bag & a duffle... last time I looked I was female lol.

 

Oh, & I managed to be relatively stylish at the same time. :)

Here here.. Me as well

In fact on the Baltics trip I mention above-- I traveled in a zip-tote and a small roller bag for 17 days. While DH and the "boys" ages 20 and 23 traveled in 1 large duffle and 1 carry one per person!

I will say that their suit(s) did take up more room than my dresses/skirts/knits however they packed more jeans as well

If you want to experience over-packing try sailing on Cunard. We just finished our second Cunard cruise and the amount of stuff you have to bring is a pain. They expect you to dress for dinner every night...jacket for men (tie optional), smart for ladies. Then there are two or three formal (now called "chic") nights, where you are expected to have formal dress, preferably a tux but they will let you get away with a suit. Of course kilts or a military uniform are fine. And don't expect to simply skip the MDR if you don't have the right dress. They don't want to see you on most of the rest of the ship after six if you're not up to snuff. Of course the crew will not ban you or comment unless you show up for dinner in shorts and a t shirt. But, if looks could kill, your Brit fellow passengers have perfected the art.

Very true. You really need to commit to formal nights when cruising on Cunard. We did and absolutely loved it. There was just something so special about seeing everyone, and I mean everyone, dressed in tuxes and long gowns. Watching those folks waltz elegantly around the Queens ballroom to a live orchestra later in the evening,,,,priceless. Taking a promenade in your formal wear? Right out of a romantic movie.

I would not want to do it for every cruise but we will go back and do it again. You wear your formal attire all evening as theaters and most (but not all) bars require it. Even in those venues that don’t require it folks will be dressed formally. Except of course on the upper decks in the buffet. It was nice that folks really respected the dress code downstairs.

Unlike Princess or Celebrity where you might have your formal wear on for 2 hours, on QM2 we wore it for 6-7 hours on each of our 5 formal nights. So it is really worth the effort of bringing it. For 14 days we took two 28 in and two 25 in cases as well as a backpack and duffle.

I think most people do not invest in formal wear that actually fits so they are uncomfortable. Everything we own fits well and is very comfortable, from our shoes (silver flats for me and quality shoes for DH so no sore feet ) to DH bow tie.

See and we share a large rolling bag and each have a carry on. But my issue is it takes me hours and hours to pack and strategize?? What am I doing wrong? To me, cruising takes more than land vaca for clothes. Need pool, workout, casual and evening wear. And I like to dress for night. But it’s a lot.

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To me, cruising takes more than land vaca for clothes. Need pool, workout, casual and evening wear. And I like to dress for night. But it’s a lot.

 

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I agree. On cruises we use way more clothing than land based vacations as you have mentioned.

Reading this thread with both amusement and head nodding.

I consider myself a (Somewhat) Reformed Overpacker, now named an Appropriate Packer. I marvel and cringe at the people who pride themselves on only taking a carry-on. I'm not a size 22, but my clothes are larger than they were when I was 22, and I'm here to tell you that the physics of space and time do apply and fewer of them fit in a carry-on than did when I was 22. Also, I hate manhandling the carry-on into the overhead plus at our home airport there is only 1 daily flight where the plane is large enough to take carry-ons onboard. Ninety percent of the flights you will gate check your carry-on which is its own set of annoyances. I can pack a week's worth of stuff in my favorite Delsey carry-on, but I almost always get one free checked bag, so why bother.

I do not consider it liberating to have to wear dirty clothes, I consider it stressful. Flip side, though, is that packing, unpacking, and hauling around things you don't need or use also counts as Not Fun.

Now the fun is in the Right Sizing Hunt (or puzzle as DH calls it). A successful Hunt for me means coming home with no more than one unworn article of outer clothing, no matter how many days I've been gone, no matter how many different types of events I have attended or changes in temperature and weather I have endured.

The Hunt involves much planning (haven't tried the spreadsheet yet, giving that some thought :)) and pre-packing dry runs, all of which increase the anticipation of the cruise. Our last big trip which was a land trip to France, I got so cutesy with the pre-planning, that I accidentally miscounted when I was actually packing and ran out of clothes about 48 hours before I ran out of trip - not going to do that again!

Our upcoming in Nov trip is a masterclass, because we are doing 3 days in London, then a TA cruise ending in FLL, so there will be cold weather, warm to hot weather, city touring and hiking and some pool time. Going to try to do that with in room laundry, but I'm not enthusiastic about sending my "out to dinner clothes" to the Celebrity laundry, so we will see.

Completely agree that while meds and sewing kit, bandaids, etc, are lightweight, it is hard to go without those things when you have had an experience of needing an item and not having it to hand - and when you are married to a Boy Scout!

If you want to experience over-packing try sailing on Cunard. We just finished our second Cunard cruise and the amount of stuff you have to bring is a pain. They expect you to dress for dinner every night...jacket for men (tie optional), smart for ladies. Then there are two or three formal (now called "chic") nights, where you are expected to have formal dress, preferably a tux but they will let you get away with a suit. Of course kilts or a military uniform are fine. And don't expect to simply skip the MDR if you don't have the right dress. They don't want to see you on most of the rest of the ship after six if you're not up to snuff. Of course the crew will not ban you or comment unless you show up for dinner in shorts and a t shirt. But, if looks could kill, your Brit fellow passengers have perfected the art.

We were behind two ladies walking into the Queens Grill one night on QM2.

The maitre ‘d advised them that they had plenty of time to change or that they could dine on the Lido deck.

It was not formal night.

They were wearing summery dresses and heels.

They said they’d just do the buffet and left.

Their table was next to ours. The next morning they came to breakfast in the same dresses, but that was fine.

We wore long skirts every night with different tops, and slacks or dresses for breakfast and lunch.

That was the most I’ve ever taken in a cruise.

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My wife and I teach a class on travel and emphasize cruising. One of our classes is on packing. My wife packs up two carryons and shows everyone how this should meet pretty much any situation. We pack 1/2 mine and her’s in each, even with carryon’s you never know. A few special trips, we’ve added a medium suitcase. We also wear a different outfit each class for differnt itineraries, season or if mainly in a big city or roughing it (to be honest, my wife’s idea of ‘roughing it’ is a Motel 6). I didn’t think it was a big deal, but more than a few people said that was helpful to see examples. Funny. I did wear a Tux one class!

Our first travel together was a bus tour of Greece, Italy and into Austria, and we way overpacked with too many pieces. Lugging those suitcases was a lessons learned. We slowly cut back to what we think is reasonable, which of course is very subjective. Last trip, as we unpacked, we were proud we used all our clothes except one extra change of underwear - perfect!.....for us.

Den

I also do not feel not bringing luggage is liberating. I would not be comfortable wearing the same clothes with a different scarf or accessories or doing laundry daily fun. I like choice. Not everyone minds carrying or paying for a piece of luggage . not bringing

Adequate day , evening, and swim clothes would be stressful for me

My last cruise was the first time I felt like I packed perfectly. I used everything and nothing was clean when I went home. Of course all of my previous cruises were 7 nighters and I am taking my first 10 nighter next spring. So I am sure I will go back to over packing again.

I also do not feel not bringing luggage is liberating. I would not be comfortable wearing the same clothes with a different scarf or accessories or doing laundry daily fun. I like choice. Not everyone minds carrying or paying for a piece of luggage . not bringing

Adequate day , evening, and swim clothes would be stressful for me

The nice thing is that we all have choices, & can respect them, I may save money by not checking an extra suitcase, but I more than pay for it in a laundry bill.... I may be only packing 25 lbs total, but I send out laundry for both of us every single day. Not everyone is comfortable doing that.

One thing that bugs me is all the "just in case" other stuff we pack for each cruise -- the band aids and cough medicine and various types of potions and lotions and pills and pain relievers for all the possible things that might occur from bug bites to diarrhea to a loose crown.

 

We use very little of it on any cruise, if any at all, and end up re-packing it to bring back home, where we end up tossing a lot of it after it passes its expiration date, and then repurchasing it again.

 

It would be nice if there was some kind of communal stash of all that stuff somewhere on the ship so that we would not all need to keep carrying duplicates of the same stuff back and forth for each cruise, but I have no idea of how such a setup might work, or be kept sanitary, or if it would even be legal.

I have stopped bringing stuff that I know they regularly carry on the ship, such as hydrocortisone cream and Nyquil.

But it would be just my luck that if I should ever need it, that will be the time when they will be out of it.

Please. What do you pack for a loose crown?

One thing that bugs me is all the "just in case" other stuff we pack for each cruise -- the band aids and cough medicine and various types of potions and lotions and pills and pain relievers for all the possible things that might occur from bug bites to diarrhea to a loose crown.

 

We use very little of it on any cruise, if any at all, and end up re-packing it to bring back home, where we end up tossing a lot of it after it passes its expiration date, and then repurchasing it again.

 

It would be nice if there was some kind of communal stash of all that stuff somewhere on the ship so that we would not all need to keep carrying duplicates of the same stuff back and forth for each cruise, but I have no idea of how such a setup might work, or be kept sanitary, or if it would even be legal.

I have stopped bringing stuff that I know they regularly carry on the ship, such as hydrocortisone cream and Nyquil.

But it would be just my luck that if I should ever need it, that will be the time when they will be out of it.

Exactly. This stuff takes up a lot of room. On the cruise to the Baltics I refused to be the "mule" for the family's tylenol/pepcidAC/Advil Sinus etc etc and spread it out. Amazing how much room I have in my bags when I am not carrying all of the "what if" stuff for 4 people in my bag.

Just went through this is sunscreen and after-sun spray. I bought it all--and Everyone had to pack theirs in their bag.

Now put the daily meds in those week long/individual plastic sorters. Taking 2 extra days (just i case) Day meds in a clear one, Night meds in a blue-green one. Saves on packing space. And one small bottle (mixed) of things like zyrtec/advil instead of individual bottles because even travel-sized adds up.

I do a sheet for the trip with what I am wearing each day and stick to a color palette.

We have traveled as a family on longer trips that included multiple formal nights and DH brought his tux, and we had tuxes delivered for the boys (they were younger/growing and didn't own their own tuxedos)

Planned right--the ship laundry can turn around dress shirts in time

See entry # 6

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2214451