Fiftiesareus

I always unpack so I can find all of my outfits. When we sailed on the Carribean Princess to New England & Canada 9/17/11, I put all my casual short sleeve shirts in one drawer, long sleeved & warm sweaters in another. Pants all got hung up. Purses and acessories went in one drawer. I used those open shelves on the side of the dresser for things I wanted quick access to on the way out of the room ie: cameras, magazines, lightweight mini back packs. I used the shelves under the safe for bathing suits, backpacks. I hang all my evening clothing up in the closet so I could find it all easily.

There is a huge variety of clothing worn on formal nights. Acessorize those outfits and you can wear them on formal night. Not everyone wears gowns. Many of the women wear cocktail dresses and tea length dresses. Some wear dressy pant suits.

I love planning outfits and reading about all of your outfits. Going on first cruise in July to Med and already thinking about sensible shoes for excursions right through to dresses for formal nights. I just wondered how dressy people are for the formal nights. I have a few good evening dresses I have worn for balls in the past. Some beaded top, some sequins, is this the sort of thing that is acceptable? Appreciate the advice of seasoned cruisers. x

I believe that you can never go wrong with a cocktail dress or formal wear on formal night. On the formal night, if you are going to dine at a specific time (not the anytime dining), about 50 to 75% of the people dress up a litttle. I call it "elegantly casual". You will see glitz on ladies all over the ship anytime of the day on Carnival but I am not sure what you'll see on a Princess Cruise Line touring (conservative) New England & Canada. The first night and last night on a cruise is typically casual. The rest of the nights you'll see every thing from pants & tops to dresses. Bring something like a stole or jacket for the theatre and or the casino because they typically keep them freezing!

Fiftiesareus

Spreadsheets! Wow, I am impressed. Are you, by any chance, an accountant?

You must be very organized.

15 items of clothing would be impossible for me. That's discipline!

Here's what I packed (with the help of my friend).

1. Dressy gown (My husband insisted on bringing his tux)

2. 3 pairs dress pants (if I could, I'd pull one out).

3. About 5 pairs shoes (1 dressy), mules in different heights. 1 is sort of waterproof)

4. Sleevelss jumpsuit for elegant night

5. Jeans & denim big shirt

6. Black juicy velour jog suit

7. Black Christine Alexander zip up front sweatshirt w/Svoroski crystals around hood

8. Black 1/4 sleeve Christine Alexander sweatshirt

9. Yoga Pants

10. 2 Bathing suits (they take forever to dry!)

11 I lightweight jacket

12. 1 thermal vest

13 3 sweaters (1 xtra warm, 1 lightweight)

14. At least 10 tops (we are spending 3 days in New Jersey/NewYork

15 1 hooded raincoat (black patent)

16 Warm scarf just in case we go on the whale wathing tour.

17 1 dress tea length (we are traveling with 2 other couples and they DRESS UP for 5 of the 7 dinners.

See you soon on the Carribean Princess 9/17/11 FIFTIESAREUS

Yes, I plan my wardrobe from the travel outfit to the returning to Dallas, Texas wardrobe. I already did a trial packing 3 weeks prior to our cruise in September on the Princess Cruise Line: Carribean Princess. I also have things folded in tissue paper, planned outfits, planned shoes, stoles, sweaters, jogging suits, tops etc. I take pictures out of magazines for the hairstylist to follow to do my hair on board , am bringing book markers so I can help my sister market her new book (she's a writer). I even wrote standard packing lists so that we do not forget anything. We bring a nightlight because I hate walking around a strange room at night, an umbrella, room spray, our very own laundary bag from the dollar store, rain gear from the dollar store, purses which long straps so I can hold onto my personal stuff in various sizes for various events, hats to match each outfit, stoles to match each dress. Yup, I bring all that stuff. Course, my husband and I had to go all the way home from the airport one time because he left his carry on bag in our house. He had all the essentials in it. That's what we get for planning a 7 am flight and talking to the driver all the way to the airport about some football game or something....

Back to the detailed planning. I was shooting for fitting everything in one medium size suitcase and 1 rolling carry on and then after doing the 2nd trial packing I realized that I will need a bigger suitcase. Not to worry. We have a stack of suitcases in the garage. My favorite one had a broken zipper so my husband took it to a baggage repair and guess what? The shoemaker fixed it for no charge. We have a lot of very nice people in Dallas, Texas. My friend Lynn is coming on Tuesday to help me figure out what I need to delete and what to include....I need another opinion and she just got back from Canada a week ago.

We are going to New England & Canada on the Carribean Princess. We are platinum on Carnival so we are going to miss a lot of perks, however, we liked the Carribean Princess' itinerary to New England & Canada better. Have fun on your cruises! I'm sure we'll look and feel fantastic. as long as there isn't another hurricane.

We cut costs on cruises by:

1) We bring 2 bottles of wine on board, at least a 6 pack of water and a 6 pack of our favorite sodas in a rolling carry on. We buy it at the departure port like San Juan, Ft Lauderdale etc. Bring bubble wrap to protect the wine bottles & a roll of scotch tape. We pack it and buy it all at our departure for the cruise,. This saves about $100 and we get the wine that we like. We even purchased a cheap rolling carry on in Ft Lauderdale at a Big Lots store. That way, we didn't have to pay the airlines to transport it or risk the wine bottles breaking.

2) We purchase tours from the cruise lines only in places where it could be dangerous like in Jamaica or anywhere which is subject to mudslides. Otherwise, we use good judgement and take cabs to tourist spots & purchase tours at the ports. This works very well in St. Thomas, St. Martin, Barbados, Dominca, San Juan, Nassau, Freeport. We took cabs to the latter ports and even took the public bus in San Juan. When we landed in Nassau, we took what we thought was going to be a $4.00 cab ride to the Atlantis and it wound up to be a limousine!!! When in doubt, go to a 4 star hotel and ask for a cab. The cabs are numbered and there is a record of your departure. You can ask the bell men outside, how much should the ride cost then have the Bellman tell the cab driver where to go and confirm the price for you. In Cozimel, you can take a shared taxi ride in an SUV to San Francisco Beach for a couple of bucks each way. Just never wait until the last minute to get your cab ride back to the ship. Be conservative and allow yourself plenty of time just in case there is traffic to get back to the ship. If you don't make it back to the ship on time, you are stuck paying airfare to the next port and maybe a hotel bill as well.

3) We eat all of our food on the cruise. We have cheap snacks like soups, chips & guacamole at a local bar or restaurant and take those individual cookie packages like peanut butter cracker sandwiches to ward off hunger until we get back on the ship or keep us from starving during a no meals flight. We usually get back to the ship in time for the tail end of lunch on the buffet deck.

4. We do not purchase the $8.00 per drink cocktails of the day. They're usually very sweet. I'd rather drink the free iced tea lemonade, or take the coffee and make yourself iced coffee. If you bring some cinammon along, you'll think you're at Starbucks. There's free coffee on the decks during all mealtimes. You can toss some ice cream in there and have iced coffee with a hint of chocolate or vanialla.

5. We don't sweat the small stuff. We use their laundry even if we have to pay $1.50 for clean socks. Why wash anything but a bathing suit on your vacation?

6. We don't do the massages, however I would spring $10/day to get into one of the solitary all adult pools without kids screaming or almost toilet trained.

Beware, some folks go topless there.

7. We bring a canvas lunch pail and take snacks breakfast time that are non-perishable for the tours. We bring along one of those ice paks & keep it in the fridge in your stateroom to keep it cool.

8. We bring all of our toiletries on board to avoid paying a premium in the gift shop. Bring your own mouthwash, toothpaste, camera film, batteries, deoderant.

9. We do order a custom cake which costs about $10 even for sugar free.

They bring it to your dining table if you booked for one of the specific

dinner times. We celebrate our special days with the others at the

table.

10. We do pop for one night at the upscale restaurant on the ship. Plan on 3 hours there and eating until you are suffed. Where else could you get 7 people to wait on you at one meal.

11. Bring a variety of clothing weights so that you don't get stuck buying clothing in the stores. A jogging suit always works out because it's fairly cool on the ships. It gets cool even in Cozimel & Cancun during January & February. The sweatshirts on the ships are $40 and $50.

12. You can ask the front desk to delete the tips they automatically add on if you so desire. We like to put the tips right into the hands of the people who served us the best....Your steward, waiter, assistant waiter, bread/coffee person, the Maitre D (if he accomadated you in any way), the gals who seated you breakfast time or lunch time in the diniong rooms. Perhaps she made sure that you had a nice table each morning with particularly nice people. Refer to the tipping guides for how much to give them. Give it to them on the last day because the day you dock, they all have different responsibilities and you won't be able to find them.

13. Cool it in the casino. Limit yourself and realize that the slot machines all look like they pay well but if you win $100 on a machine: Take it!!!!

All those bells & whistles are there to hypnotize you into throwing money away.

14. The art auctions sell things that are way, way, way overpriced. Drink your free glass of cheap champagne, take your "free" airprint & say thanks.