Planning My Cruise Packing List: What To Wear

At any given time, a peek into a planner will generally reveal a laser focus on something - perhaps a big project at work, an upcoming vacation, or a party plan. For me, right now, my planner is all about my upcoming cruise.

I've only been on a cruise once before, for my honeymoon in 1996, so I am really excited to sail away again. In my imagination, I'll sit by the pool all day with pina coladas delivered directly to my upstretched hands. My children will love Camp Carnival, obviously, and want to spend every waking hour there, while my husband and I enjoy three courses every night.

(Obviously, the children will NOT want to be at Camp Carnival whenever dolphins are spotted, during port trips to the beach, or when we are trying to sleep in. Oh no. Surely not. Because this is MY dream and I said so, that's why!)

The truth is that dreaming is not the same thing as good planning. Good planning actually takes work. Excellent planning means that I will carry everything that I need on to the cruise ship, but not lift a single thing that I don't actually have to carry.

I don't need to make a packing list until 2 weeks out, but that didn't stop me from starting one. So far, I just add things as I read about them (like when I read that Carnival Cruises allow two bottles of wine for two adults in our carry-ons) or think of them (I really need to bring sunglasses). But it's started. A couple of weeks before the cruise, I'll add anything from old packing lists that isn't already there.

But I can't wait to plan what I am going to wear. First, I'm a lady, so I need to look nice. Second, I obviously need time to shop for any clothes that are missing from my wardrobe. Silly husband, thinking otherwise! For example, I need to inventory swimsuits and the like and make sure I have enough. I certainly don't want to rewear a wet swimsuit. Yuck!

Here's the link to a PDF of my cruise clothes packing plan. This plan is for a 7-day cruise with 2 elegant nights and 3 port days. But it could easily be revised for a shorter or longer cruise. It's also a nice way to set up clothing plans for other trips, whether camping or going to Disney World.

Some keys to make a clothes packing plan effective and efficient:

1. Choose versatile clothes that you can wear more than once. (I don't wear shirts more than one day in tropical heat, but I wear shorts twice and bathing suits every other day, with a hand wash and hang dry in between.)

2. Mark the first time you wear each piece (for packing).

3. Mark the last time you will wear the piece (for putting them in the dirty clothes bag THAT YOU REMEMBERED to pack, right?).

4. Coordinate everything with your shoes and accessories.

5. Copy the things you need to pack onto the start of your packing list, as in this picture.

I hope to post the whole packing list soon as a PDF. Also, stay tuned for some posts about what stuff to pack for a cruise and a you tube video or two on the process.

Etcetera.