sho-me

We are leaving on the Zaandam - HAL on 9/281/17 and we have now been officially changed from Valparaiso to San Antonio - we don't know why - it just is. All Valparaiso shore excursions have been deleted, and nothing new has been put in its place - if any one has any idea why, would love to pass it on to a bunch of angry cruiserx - thanks

sho-me, I can't speak about packing for a 38 day cruise, since I'm still a working gal and don't have that much time off at one time--Yet!--but I can give you a tip on what worked for me on our Alaska cruise for different temps. Good for both rain and cold, I packed a lined, hooded raincoat and a pair of $1.00 knit gloves (the one-size-fits-all kind) in the pockets. If you must have access to a fingertip or thumb, just slit the tips and the glove fingers will shrink down to about the first knuckle. I took several scarves to dress up my day and evening tops and bottoms and they provided neck warmth on glacier-viewing days. I layered a fleece zip-vest under the raincoat when necessary. I didn't take any other extra fleece or warmer layers other than a pair of leggings to wear under my bottoms because I found my fleece vest would fold down to gallon zip-lock bag size; with the air squeezed out, it was very packable-friendly. Your mileage may vary, but since Missouri's weather is similar to Kentucky's, I'll say that's what I would pack again. It worked marvelously for me. I can't remember now if they were black or chocolate, but I took one pair of dress pants and wore them only to dinner with different tops. I wore a pair and took a pair of jeans, both with lots of stretch to layer leggings under if necessary, and one pair of navy Columbia quick-dry pants that were sink-washed several times. Jeans are unmemorable and so were those navy pants. IF I were going for 38 days, I'd like to think that I'd pack for that same Alaska cruise and send out laundry as necessary, wearing those leggings and a tunic on laundry day. One carry-on sized rolling suitcase and one back-pack or tote for personals is all I can manage by myself and DH can't be pack-mule for me. He takes care of his own luggage and the c-pap makes a third bag for him to wrestle even if it is small. Because his pacemaker causes him to be wanded through, I wind up with everything that goes through the scanner at security. I can't manage more than bare minimum and wouldn't want to if I could.

 

Good luck. Let us know how you manage.

Thanks for all the info - 38 days and 3 different weather ranges plus high humidity in the Amazo - going to be fun seeing if we get it right:)

How do you pack for a 38 day cruise? We will be going thru several climates, some shore excursions where it is 50 degrees with major wind. 1 person suggested 2 shirts/blouses for every pair of pants. But how many pants would youtake - do plan on hand washing, but preferablynot daily - any ideas

How did your trip turn out