Ladies: how many shoes do you take?

[SwissMyst]

This topic came up on another thread talking about packing and is where I start losing ground in both space and weight. Just curious -- how many pairs of shoes are you taking.

 

That is my toughest choice for bulk and weight. I try to keep my basics geared around black and cream/tan/taupe and then more color in tops and jackets to go with those basics.

 

Here is my own "minimum" and I would love to (and hope) add more:

 

1. rain/walking shoes

2. sandals walking shoes

3. black dress high heels*

4. gold flats

5. black espadrilles

6. beige espadrilles

7. black loafers

8. casual slides for around ship*

9. taupe low heels*

10. low black silk heels

 

* these will be the first to go if I can't take them all - so for me 7-10 pairs of shoes which on its face sounds ridiculous but when I sort it out seems like too small a variety for a 21 day cruise. Oh, dear. :(

 

I passed an open cabin door once to see a least a dozen pairs of highly decorative spike heels lined up against the entry way wall.

[CowPrincess]

I love shoes. I own far too many pairs of shoes. I want to take them all cruising :) Back in the day, when I could take as much luggage as I wanted, 10 or 12 pairs for a 7 day cruise.

 

Now? If it is Alaska 7 day, I take 3 prs of shoes and wear my hiking boots on the plane. Merrell sandals, black medium heel leather sandals, and a pair of fairly low-heel casual-ish black shoes. I WANT to take my gold leather spiked-heel sandals, and my red patent kitten heels and my black silk sandals and my other gold leather shoes and my other 7 or 8 pairs of "Those would be nice to have" but I don't. Sigh....

 

For a 10 or 14 day warm-weather cruise, my gold spike sandals and my black silk sandals come along usually.

 

Wanna talk evening bags? :D

[trvlcrzy]

I guess I'm a minimalist. I always plan my casual and dress wear to be able to limit my shoe colors to black.

 

For Alaska, the Merrell hiking shoes on my feet on the plane.

For the Caribbean, my casual walking shoes (ship/port) are on my feet for arrival.

 

I would say... 3 pairs for me.

[IRL_Joanie]

2 pair.

1 Dress Pair of slip ons and 1 pair of my "The North Face MEN'S NSE TENT MULE III" which serve me as casual shoes. I cannot wear regular shoes and when I am on my scooter no one can see what they are anyways:) It is for my comfort that I dress so these slippers are fantastic. No pain in the feet means Joanie is a much happier cruiser:) I wore them in Glacier Bay this past September and my feet were so toasty:)

 

BTW, no one notices them as slippers unless they ae pointed out as being such. I found them in Ketchikan this year at Tsongass Trading store and love them!!

 

Joanie

[HamburgAvonLady]

Basically, as I have some foot problems (and had to give up wearing cute shoes some years ago) --- I take 3 pair in addition to whatever I have on my feet. Basically: beige, white, navy and black. Also, I wear my walking shoes (the heaviest/bulky) on the plane

traveling. I realize that my choices may not look the best, especially on formal nights, but comfort and safety are my first concerns. If others don't like what they see or percieve my lack of current fashion sense ---- that's their problem. We also have weight restrictions to consider as we need to fly to our departure points.

[Essiesmom]

Did a five day cruise with two pairs. Just did a 10 day with four pairs. Sneakers for touring, semi-dressy sandals for evening, flat sandals for daytime. Backup sandals for touring. Doing 24 days next year with those four pairs. Oh, and everything goes in two standard carry-on bags. EM

[woodworker&knitter]

We are on the Rotterdam for 60 Days. Jan. and Feb. 2012 , so far I have about 15pr of shoes and sandals that I have taken out of my closet. In a month I will start so r seriou tweaking and will hopefully end up with only 3pr dress shoes, 1 pr for the ship, 2 or 3 sandals, 1 pr of dressy loafers and a pair of walking shoes.......that should do it.

[innlady1]

One pair of walking shoes that I wear on the plane

Two pair of Wolky sandals in lime and in red

One pair neutral sandals

Black dress shoes or sandals

Crocs flip flops to wear to the beach or pool

 

No cute shoes for me either...foot problems. But it makes it easier.

[SwissMyst]

My own other self-imposed criteria is to wear one of the easy-on, easy-off shoes on the plane because of those irritating moments in security and for longer foot comfort while being on the long flights, so the bulky all weather walking shoes end up hogging space in the suitcase. This I need to renegotiate with myself and it might be for this very next trip - a few moments taking these shoes on and off for an extra pound or so in luggage?

 

Brava Essie for your very common sense approach to packing - 24 day cruise with two carry on bags. Can you provide your packing list? Thanks.

[Shebba]

My feet won't wear heels any more, so that cuts the list WAY down. I plan to take:

 

1. Black dressy shoes

2. Brown-ish dressy shoes

3. Brown sandals

4. Black sandals

5. Athletic shoes (for walking, excursions)

6. One pair of flip flops just to knock around the ship

[cb at sea]

Destination dictates shoes for me. For Caribbean cruises, I bring 2 pair of flip-flops, a pair of sandals (although I live in the flip-flops 99% of the time!!!) and as many evening shoes as I need for my outfits.....I don't really care how many I bring....they don't weigh hardly a thing!

[1cruiselvr]

I have learned the hard way (by overpacking shoes) that bringing alot of dress shoes is really a waste because you only wear them for an hr or 2 for dining wear for as much space as they take in the suitcase. I coordinate around back and bring 2 pair of dress shoes that work with everything I wear. Comfort shoes are more important - so I always bring good walking sandals, tennis shoes and water shoes if I'm going to do some water sports. Plus the always necessary flip flops. I use to overpack both dress clothing and matching shoes, but have learned that nobody really cares if you repeat outfits so it's not necessary to bring so much. Happy Sailing!

[porrah]

Cat among the pigeons - what if the airline loses your luggage? It happened to me a year ago. For some reason DH and I had not mix and matched and I had no clothes for a week. The case was sitting in Toronto the whole time. Now I am wearing running shoes, have my flip flops and another pair of canvas shoes in my carry on and have a pair of black dress shoes in each suitcase.

[sparky-elpaso]

Black slip-ons for air travel and casual evenings on the ship.

Beige walking sandals for sea days.

Black walking shoes for port days.

Black dressy shoes for formal nights - have to go shopping for those. I need something with a bit lower heel than I have.

 

This is for a 34 day b2b and 2 days before and after in Sydney.

[nena4U]

For those of you that like to wear different dress shoes with each outfit you can get a slip-on that allows different tops to be snapped on. They are really handy to keep the space and weight down.

[SwissMyst]

Cat among the pigeons - what if the airline loses your luggage? It happened to me a year ago. For some reason DH and I had not mix and matched and I had no clothes for a week. The case was sitting in Toronto the whole time. Now I am wearing running shoes, have my flip flops and another pair of canvas shoes in my carry on and have a pair of black dress shoes in each suitcase.

 

Good reminder. Thanks.

[SwissMyst]

Black slip-ons for air travel and casual evenings on the ship.

Beige walking sandals for sea days.

Black walking shoes for port days.

Black dressy shoes for formal nights - have to go shopping for those. I need something with a bit lower heel than I have.

 

This is for a 34 day b2b and 2 days before and after in Sydney.

 

I found I "needed" two different pairs of black dress heels. The tall ones for fun and the length of the pants or dress, and lower ones that would not tip over in the carpet pile in case the dress nights were during wobbly high seas. The rest of my shoes are comfortably close to the ground, as a good mariner should be wearing.

 

Here is one difference between HAL and Crystal Cruises - one sinks into some very heavy pile carpets on Crystal ships, making any teetering spike heels a real liability even in smooth seas. Not so with HAL's shorter pile, more utilitarian carpets. This is one of those Law of Unintended Consequences bonuses sailing on HAL. But still, flat feet in high seas is a travel necessity.

 

Here is another Bad Fairy to the Picnic test: which shoes would you wear if your had to dress to (gulp) abandon ship.:(

[Sea42]

For our upcoming Caribbean cruise I plan on:

1 pair slip on athletic shoes - airport and hiking

1 pair Teva walking sandals - onboard and in port

1 pair black dress shoes - evenings

1 pair flip flops - to and from the pool

[IRL_Joanie]

I found I "needed" two different pairs of black dress heels. The tall ones for fun and the length of the pants or dress, and lower ones that would not tip over in the carpet pile in case the dress nights were during wobbly high seas. The rest of my shoes are comfortably close to the ground, as a good mariner should be wearing.

 

Here is one difference between HAL and Crystal Cruises - one sinks into some very heavy pile carpets on Crystal ships, making any teetering spike heels a real liability even in smooth seas. Not so with HAL's shorter pile, more utilitarian carpets. This is one of those Law of Unintended Consequences bonuses sailing on HAL. But still, flat feet in high seas is a travel necessity.

 

Here is another Bad Fairy to the Picnic test: which shoes would you wear if your had to dress to (gulp) abandon ship.:(

My North Face Slippers as they ar insulated:)

 

Joanie

[Sea42]

 

Here is another Bad Fairy to the Picnic test: which shoes would you wear if your had to dress to (gulp) abandon ship.:(

It would have to be my slip on athletic shoes.

Good traction, easy on and off.

Of course, now I'm rethinking my choice of nightwear! Just in case :p

[SwissMyst]

It would have to be my slip on athletic shoes.

Good traction, easy on and off.

Of course, now I'm rethinking my choice of nightwear! Just in case :p

 

Silk and wool are best when they get wet. Wool socks to go with those shoes too. :(

 

Don't want to be morbid here, but my first world cruise ship did go down off Penang a few years ago. All passengers while getting off safely, did have to stay out on the water in lifeboats for sometime until all were rescued. Some even watched the ship finally go down as I recall. (SunVista - the former Celebrity Meridian and former Galileo Galilei)

[jbhcw]

Good post:) As someone who has had to give up heels I am so happy that cute dressy flats are in style now!! They still don't look as good as heels but they make me feel better:D

 

I used to way overpack but now try to cut it down to:

 

2-3 pair dressy, sparkly flats, black, silver and blue

black and beige Sketchers that can double as walking and casual

My Reef flip flops which I live in during the summer

and maybe a patent leather pair of flip flops!!

 

So guess that's about 7 for me....7 day cruise...maybe some tennies but I hate tennis shoes:eek:

 

Dh is limited to his dress shoes for his tux

Rockports for his khakis

Tennis shoes for walking

slip on shoes for the pool and the beach---I'm a meanie:D he doesn't get a lot of room!!

[SwissMyst]

I wonder what the dress guidelines were for this particular sailing day - my former first ship goes down and notice how the passengers were dressed:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfPNbHENL3Q (3 minutes - warning music, yeah it is the theme from Titanic:()

[cruisinggranmama]

5 at the most:

 

 

1. Tennis shoes if I'm flying

2. Walking shoes/sandals

3. Leather Flip flops for pool and walking around decks

4. Multi-color, sparkly flats for dinner

5. Wedge heel "thongs" with replaceable ribbons of colors to match outfits for formal dinners. They really look dressy with slacks or long skirt/dress

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Three pairs - athletic/walking shoes for ports and flying, black flats for smart casual nights and sea days, black heels for formal nights.