10 day Mediterranean cruise, late April. What to pack?!?

[dragongirl64]

First time cruiser here and have never been to the Mediterranean before either :)! We are on a 10 day Roman Empire cruise and will follow that up with 3 days in Rome before heading home. We are sailing on HAL with our two children and have 2 formal nights. It is a very port intensive itinerary and we plan on getting out at each one and walking around as much as possible. What should we be packing on such a cruise? I want to keep it as pared down as possible but at the same time am a notorious over-packer and don't know if it is possible with me, lol! Any and all advice from anyone who has sailed that area before would be very welcome!

[Happy ks]

Last year we were on a 13 night cruise, with 3 days prior and one day post cruise, plus travel days each way to total 19 days. We packed for a week only and utilized the laundry and dry cleaning service.

 

I don't have my exact list any longer, as I change it for every trip we take, but I packed:

 

Formal evenings -3 cocktail dresses (could have packed 2, one being basic black and re-accessorize), with one pair of shes that went with all 3 dresses

 

Casual nights - one pair black pants, one pair ivory pants, with 2 tops for each pair of pants, one pair of casual night shoes.

 

Casual day - 4 pair long pants, 4 short sleeved shirts, 4 long sleeved shirts (one pair pants and one shirt was worn onto the plane). I could have done with 6 short sleeved shirts and only 2 long sleeved shirts, you live and learn! I did take one pair of shorts and was glad I did.

 

2 pair walking shoes

 

3 pair pajamas (could have cut this to 2) one lightweight bathrobe (I cannot wear the heavy waffle weave or terrycloth ones provided by ships)

 

spa slippers

 

one bathing suit for the hot tub, with a pareo as a cover up

 

3 daytime bras (one being worn onto the plane) 2 black bras for evenings (one was strapless).

 

Enough underwear for 5 days, plus the pair I wore travelling. I washed undies in the sink every 4 days or so.

 

Lightweight jackets, carried onto the plane.

 

Toiletries split between mine and his 3-1-1 bags, plus some in the suitcases. We ran out of toothpaste and shampoo, but was able to make pruchases onshore. It ended up being a nice reminder of the cruise, having Italian toothpaste at home for a month or so after :) The shampoo, well I wished I'd taken one more small bottle as my hair did feel a little dried out from drugstore shampoo.

 

I'm sure there is more, but this is enough detail.

 

Our laundry/dry cleaning charges came to about $100 during the 13 night cruise. It was well worth it to not have an extra suitcase along. I saw many other passengers wearing the same clothing multiple times....at least the ones I was paying attention to and that was the family members we cruised with.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

[Happy ks]

I should mention my husbands list was pretty much like mine (except no bras and he wore mens clothing) and we did rent a tuxedo for him. That saved a ton of packing space.

[hazeleyez3]

Last year we were on a 13 night cruise, with 3 days prior and one day post cruise, plus travel days each way to total 19 days. We packed for a week only and utilized the laundry and dry cleaning service.

 

I don't have my exact list any longer, as I change it for every trip we take, but I packed:

 

Formal evenings -3 cocktail dresses (could have packed 2, one being basic black and re-accessorize), with one pair of shes that went with all 3 dresses

 

Casual nights - one pair black pants, one pair ivory pants, with 2 tops for each pair of pants, one pair of casual night shoes.

 

Casual day - 4 pair long pants, 4 short sleeved shirts, 4 long sleeved shirts (one pair pants and one shirt was worn onto the plane). I could have done with 6 short sleeved shirts and only 2 long sleeved shirts, you live and learn! I did take one pair of shorts and was glad I did.

 

2 pair walking shoes

 

3 pair pajamas (could have cut this to 2) one lightweight bathrobe (I cannot wear the heavy waffle weave or terrycloth ones provided by ships)

 

spa slippers

 

one bathing suit for the hot tub, with a pareo as a cover up

 

3 daytime bras (one being worn onto the plane) 2 black bras for evenings (one was strapless).

 

Enough underwear for 5 days, plus the pair I wore travelling. I washed undies in the sink every 4 days or so.

 

Lightweight jackets, carried onto the plane.

 

Toiletries split between mine and his 3-1-1 bags, plus some in the suitcases. We ran out of toothpaste and shampoo, but was able to make pruchases onshore. It ended up being a nice reminder of the cruise, having Italian toothpaste at home for a month or so after :) The shampoo, well I wished I'd taken one more small bottle as my hair did feel a little dried out from drugstore shampoo.

 

I'm sure there is more, but this is enough detail.

 

Our laundry/dry cleaning charges came to about $100 during the 13 night cruise. It was well worth it to not have an extra suitcase along. I saw many other passengers wearing the same clothing multiple times....at least the ones I was paying attention to and that was the family members we cruised with.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

 

Thank you...I have been trying to figure out how to do the cruise and not take 2 weeks weeks of clothing.

[dragongirl64]

I should mention my husbands list was pretty much like mine (except no bras and he wore mens clothing) and we did rent a tuxedo for him. That saved a ton of packing space.

Lol, no bras? :p Thanks so much for taking the time to respond, it will really help in my packing I am sure. I am trying to convince my husband to rent a tux instead of lugging a suit all the way there and then just looking like he's going to work when we get dressed for formal night! We are staying in a suite where (thankfully!) we get free laundry and dry cleaning so will likely take about a week's worth of clothes along the lines of your list and have them washed around that time so we still have clean clothes for Rome :)! Did you notice how dressed up the kids were on formal nights? My daughter, 11, is very "anti-dresses" and I am wondering if we can find her a cute sparkly dressy top coupled with an appropiate bottom (maybe I will be able to get her into a skirt, but more likely dressy capris) if she would look ok and not be under-dressed. My 13 yr. old son will wear a pair of black dresspants and shirt and tie.

 

Thanks again!

[Cymro1953]

Make sure you take al light jacket and light showerproof coat.

We were in the Med ona cruise that time last year and it was not much warmer than being at home in the UK.

And it rained ALL day in Sicily when it should have been hot and sunny

[Happy ks]

dragongirl64, Sorry, we went in October and the only child I recall was an adorable 3 year old boy. He was with parents and both sets of Grands and this little guy was doted on like you wouldn't believe by the grands. I kept thinking what a nice trip it was for the parents :) He was dressed cute beyond belief!

 

Your kids should be fine with their choices. I know when my daughter was that age she didn't want to wear dresses, either. I kind of insisted and we bought her one relatively inexpensive dress from JC Penney, the only place I could find dresses that were modest enough for her age.

 

She's now 17 and I have no problem with her dressing up, except the cost.