Packing for 2 weeks plus

[oferiniowa]

It is still well over a year before we set sail, but I guess the excitement has me thinking and planning well in advance. I'm looking for advice, suggestions, ideas, etc for packing for an 18 day trip for just the two of us. We're going to be spending a few days in London before taking the WBTA on the Dream in 2024. We've packed for a 7 to 10 day trip before, but over 2 weeks is something new to us, plus we'll be packing formal attire. We'd like to keep our luggage down to 2 checked bags, 2 carry-ons and a personal bag each.
Looking at the weather for the UK, Spain and Portugal for late October, it doesn't look like shorts and t-shirts, but Lighthouse Point and Fort Lauderdale should be. What are recommendations for packing?
Help me convince my wife not to pack more than 3 pairs of shoes.
For people who have done a transatlantic before; do you normally do laundry on the ship?
Any and all advice is welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Jim

 

[CamColt]

I would absolutely be doing laundry on the ship on this cruise. I usually do it on a 4 night cruise, but thats because we usually have a few days away on land before the cruise.

 

[Marthasor]

I haven't done a transatlantic, but my family routinely does up to 3 week trips with 1 carry-on, 1 personal item each (including 20 night cruises to Norway/Iceland/Scotland and 3 week trips to Greece). We had a terrible experience with losing checked luggage a few years ago and I haven't checked luggage since. It just means I look at our itinerary prior to leaving, strategically plan what we will wear on each day and then plan our laundry days (we will be in Europe for 20 nights in August and I will be doing the same). Yes, we do laundry on the ship - if you go that route, I would just suggest going to the laundry room at off hours as it can get crowded. I also splurge on occasion and have hotels or the ship do our laundry for us. For an 18 day trip, I would probably pack for 10 days and plan to do laundry on the 9th or 10th day. Or even pack 7 days worth of clothes and do laundry twice. I never pack more than 3 pairs of shoes - pair of sneakers for ports/gym, one pair that goes with anything I'm wearing to dinner and one pair of flip flops for the pool. We are very casual, so we do not pack formal wear, but that can certainly take up a lot of space!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We just returned from 24 days away with hot weather in Florida to cool and rainy weather in Europe back again to hot weather in WDW on our EBTA. We did laundry on the ship twice. Layering is the key for the cooler climates. When I packed, I planned on wearing outfits about 3 times each. I also brought clothes that I could mix and match.

I would recommend bringing athletic shoes (excursions), some type of sports sandals (rainy days/ship) and casual flats or sandals for dinners.

 

[ScooterScott44]

It takes a little planning and coordination but 2 plus weeks is not hard to do on a DCL cruise. We have a 10, 12, and 14 day on DCL and 10 and 12 day on another line. All included at least two days (or more) on either end. We typically will do one checked bag and one carry-on or backpack.

The bonus on DCL is the ability to do laundry. Depending on how you pack you may need to do two laundry days but I would suggest trying to plan on only one. With the WBTA (we did that one before) you will have a flurry of port days followed by the stretch of sea days. It would be poor planning to have to do laundry on one of your port days before the real crossing. You could think about doing laundry right after boarding if necessary.

The key for us is some basic pieces that can do double duty. Here are some tricks - Dress pants can usually do a few dinners and maybe double on a cool day for touring. Golf shirts do great as casual dinner, touring or a number of other days hot or cold. Suits are a two day for me usually, and sometimes the suit pants can double back with a golf shirt for a casual dinner. I always work out and my t shirt selection does first day as a casual wear and the second day as a workout outfit. The tough part can be shoes, (trying to keep it to) one set of dress shoes, one athletic shoe (sneakers), and a pair of thongs is ideal. Again finding double duty here is advantageous, I did a brown boot in Alaska that could be worn out on the shore but was still dressy enough to go with khaki's for dinner.

Good luck planning and finding the right combo's that work from your closet.

 

[starry_solo]

I would plan to wash laundry either on the ship or on land, the day before you depart so you have all clean clothes (except your PJs) for the trip across the Atlantic.

 

[Lauri]

We did the transatlantic last September with a carryon and personal item only (luggage was routinely being lost in London at the time), and we were gone for three weeks total. I always do laundry on a cruise, but just did it a few extra times on this cruise. Every time we return from a cruise, I always find that I packed too much anyways. This time I just planned for re-wearing items, and I still brought home things that I didn't wear. Packing cubes are your friend! And now we find it to be a challenge how little we can take with us, and so far, it's working out well.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

It is still well over a year before we set sail, but I guess the excitement has me thinking and planning well in advance. I'm looking for advice, suggestions, ideas, etc for packing for an 18 day trip for just the two of us. We're going to be spending a few days in London before taking the WBTA on the Dream in 2024. We've packed for a 7 to 10 day trip before, but over 2 weeks is something new to us, plus we'll be packing formal attire. We'd like to keep our luggage down to 2 checked bags, 2 carry-ons and a personal bag each.
Looking at the weather for the UK, Spain and Portugal for late October, it doesn't look like shorts and t-shirts, but Lighthouse Point and Fort Lauderdale should be. What are recommendations for packing?
Help me convince my wife not to pack more than 3 pairs of shoes.
For people who have done a transatlantic before; do you normally do laundry on the ship?
Any and all advice is welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Jim

Last September, we had four nights in London followed by 26 nights on board the Magic (b2b2b Norway-British Isles-Transatlantic). We packed the same as we would for a 10- to 14-day trip and did laundry twice. We had two checked bags, one overhead-bin-size roller bag, and a backpack that can go overhead or underseat, along with DW’s personal item/purse. This included formal clothes. So you can certainly manage with similar capacity. The most difficult part for me was taking an extra pair of shoes so I would have actual formal shoes to wear.

Definitely plan on layers to manage cooler weather. I find a dark (navy blue in my case) sweater that coordinates with the khaki pants I favor for evening MDRs and cooler days works well.

Good luck convincing your wife to limit herself to three pairs of shoes. That will never happen in my fondest dreams. As least both of us have small feet.

We’re booked on that same WBTA, and plan to spend up to a week in England prior to sailing, once we work out lodging and flight plans. We last did a southern route WBTA in 2015, and weather was wonderful. However, the 2015 sailing was in early September and the 2024 sailing is late October, so we’re planning on different weather until we get to the Bahamas.

 

[imbelle]

Several years ago I got a reversible cardigan (black on one side/beige on the other) and a reversible long tank dress from Travelsmith. Great for saving space by getting multiple looks from the same article of clothing. Also got a convertible messenger bag/backpack which is handy when you have both city and day hiking destinations on the same trip.

 

[Anna131517]

Do laundry on the ship. Pack laundry detergent and dryer sheets. Look into capsule wardrobe ideas. No need for more than 2-3 pairs of shoes on vacation!

 

[Travel60]

We did 43 days in Europe last year with one checked bag and one carryon each. From hot, hot Greece to 14 days around chilly Norway.

Pick a neutral base color. For me it was black but you might do navy, gray or brown. Pack 3-4 bottoms (pants, shorts, skirts) in that color plus long skirt in that color.

All tops must coordinate with all bottoms and with each other. Solids are best but print ok if it can be worn with other sweaters or over other tanks (like a black and white dot or geometric). Layering is key so sleeveless or tank tops (for hot weather) topped by coordinating sweaters or jacket (for cooler weather). One all-weather rain resistance jacket. Some scarves that incorporate base color and colors from tanks/sweaters. Shoes: 1 athletic or walking, 1 flip-flops for pool, one dressier sandal or flat. Jewelry as you please - I don't take extra because I don't like to keep up with it .

My formal nights were (1) a black skirt with cream lacey top, (2) same black skirt with black top and scarf.

Plan on laundry once a week

 

[SleepyDeb]

We're getting ready for 10 day cruise + 7 land days and I'm struggling with the idea of 1 checked + 1 carry on each (for 2 of us.) 1 checked bag each is included in our Economy + airfare. We're going to have to make liberal use of onboard laundry.

Regarding convincing your wife to only bring 3 pairs of shoes...ROTFL. There's no way I could travel for 18 days with different climates with only 3 pairs of shoes. Good luck with that. My husband of 42 yrs says the only way he'd suggest it would be if we were in danger of being overweight and then he'd point out that shoes weigh a lot.

 

[tlprice]

We definitely did laundry on our WBTA.

We did a month long road trip last summer with a DCL Alaska cruise in the middle. We did laundry at a friend's right before the cruise and laundry the final full day of the cruise because we wouldn't be able to do laundry again for 10 days after the cruise. We were able to take a much larger variety of clothes though since a large portion of our trip was in our car.

 

[auntlynne]

Laundry - definitely! For that long, I would probably be doing it many times. (I did it twice on a recent 8-night cruise). You do not have to bring quarters. You can use your room key; $3 gets a basic wash or dry. And very quick - about 35 minutes.

I pack detergent pods: they have not popped yet on planes or being tossed around and I get my preferred scent(less) ones. The ship’s offer is Tide detergent and Snuggle softener at $3/box/load. Dryer sheets take up no space. The dryer is hot.

Shoes - just up the limit to 4. One pair of dress.

I found TA and PC cruises to be more casual (in the days when people were dressing up). A lot of it seemed to be luggage restrictions on the flight to/from Europe.

It is definitely a mindset about cruise clothes - rewear, repeat. This is not a time for a daily fashion show. Make a list, then start paring it down. I took 4 dresses for 8 nights - and should have left one behind. As the cruise goes on, it was just easier to not change for dinner.

What you wear on disembarkation in FL will be something you wore on the ship - pants + lightweight top. It won’t require something different. As others stated, layers. Khaki-weight pants, a pair of shorts cover most weather. Ladies jeans are less bulky now. If you take jeans, limit the number if they take up a lot of space.

Expect cool weather. Our photos from London and France in mid-October show us wearing modern, lightweight, non-bulky outerwear that is warm. Temps on the crossing can be cold at night (as can the air-conditioned ship).

Bon Voyage!

 

[soniam]

We're getting ready for 10 day cruise + 7 land days and I'm struggling with the idea of 1 checked + 1 carry on each (for 2 of us.) 1 checked bag each is included in our Economy + airfare. We're going to have to make liberal use of onboard laundry.

Regarding convincing your wife to only bring 3 pairs of shoes...ROTFL. There's no way I could travel for 18 days with different climates with only 3 pairs of shoes. Good luck with that. My husband of 42 yrs says the only way he'd suggest it would be if we were in danger of being overweight and then he'd point out that shoes weigh a lot.

Men’s shoes typically weigh more than women’s. Just sayin

 

[mousefan73]

For me, there’s no difference between packing for one week or two weeks if you have laundry facilities. Just pack what you need for one week and wash in between that’s one of the great things about DCI was that they have laundry rooms not all cruise lines have this. I’ve also recently discovered on Cruise Critic that many people have throwaway clothes for Cruises. For example, they’ll save their old underwear they want to toss anyways and just bring that with throw them out. Or an old T-shirt. Use it as a night shirt and then leave behind makes room for souvenirs I guess.

Someone else said I would focus on packing for layers, maybe get leggings and then pack a tank top, T-shirt and a cardigan and then you have already three outfits with one pair pamts

 

[DisneyConvert]

Yep, yep. Laundry on the ship isn't so bad...easier if just doing one load every 4~6 days rather than two loads concurrently. It can get busy but folks works together to "keep it fair" and the app reminds folks to get back to the washer or dryer. I bring 3~4 Tide pods and haven't ever had a problem. To me a + of DCL.

 

[starry_solo]

We did 43 days in Europe last year with one checked bag and one carryon each. From hot, hot Greece to 14 days around chilly Norway.

Pick a neutral base color. For me it was black but you might do navy, gray or brown. Pack 3-4 bottoms (pants, shorts, skirts) in that color plus long skirt in that color.

All tops must coordinate with all bottoms and with each other. Solids are best but print ok if it can be worn with other sweaters or over other tanks (like a black and white dot or geometric). Layering is key so sleeveless or tank tops (for hot weather) topped by coordinating sweaters or jacket (for cooler weather). One all-weather rain resistance jacket. Some scarves that incorporate base color and colors from tanks/sweaters. Shoes: 1 athletic or walking, 1 flip-flops for pool, one dressier sandal or flat. Jewelry as you please - I don't take extra because I don't like to keep up with it .

My formal nights were (1) a black skirt with cream lacey top, (2) same black skirt with black top and scarf.

Plan on laundry once a week

WOW! I can't even convince my dad to pack a carry-on for an 8-day trip, how did you manage that?!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I am loving detergent sheets for travel. We used them on our Alaskan cruise. No chance of them popping and I found scent-free ones for my scent-sensitive family. They got the clothes clean and were so easy to pack.

 

[msmama]

We are doing WBTA this Sept (with time in Iceland to Scotland beforehand). So we could deal with weather from snow to 90 degrees plus. My plan is layering in the colder places. I might even look into mailing winter stuff home if it looks like we’ll need it (waiting until closer to see Iceland temps).

Use packing cubes to maximize space (but be aware of weight). I WILL be taking more than 3 pairs of shoes, lol. (2 pairs good for walking, one pair of nicer sandals, comfy crocs, and a dressy pair of flats).

I have plans to do laundry both in one of our pre stop cruises and on the ship.

Luckily we’re sailing back into NY (which is home) so I don’t have to worry about too much luggage flying home. I’ll take an extra bag in my luggage for things we acquire.