Ladies - How do you handle the "shoe issue" on a 7-night cruise?

[MrsPotatoHead]

I'm planning my outfits for our 7-night cruise next April on the Magic, and it seems like I'll need to pack so many pairs of shoes!! I'll WEAR my comfy walking shoes onto the ship on embarkation day, and use those shoes for touring the islands as well. But here's my packing list for additional shoes:

1) Aqua socks, for the pools and beaches.
2) Casual comfy sandals or flats, to go with my resort casual outfits for dinner (make sure all my resort casual outfits match that one pair of shoes!)
3) Dressier shoes (pumps or something of that nature) to go with my dressier outfits for Lumiere's and Palo's.
4) Fancy black heels to go with my black cocktail dress on Formal and Semi-formal nights. (This pair of shoes is too fancy to go with my other dresses. Sigh).
5) Running shoes (Nikes... they're bulky and take up a lot of space, but I never travel without them).

Yikes! It seems like half my suitcase is going to be taken up with just my shoes! How many pairs of shoes do you pack? Any tricks that I'm missing here? Thanks for any help!

 

[lespaul55]

This is what I brought on my last 7 day cruise and will probably bring the same on June 29th Magic:

Walking shoes for plane and other heavy walking port days

Teva sandals for the beach [don't like aqua shoes] and casual dining days, basically all day on ship

Dressy sandals for formal nights

Three pairs of shoes, I just like to keep things simple. I always cruise with my children [all five of them] and I have to pack for all of us. Shoes are an easy way to cut back. Of course, I don't run so there's one pair of shoes I don't need. My Tevas have embroidered straps and are more feminine than the usual ones, so I can eliminate the casual sandals you listed. I wore my Tevas right into the water, no cuts on my feet. I'm an ex RN and have spent many hours on my feet, so I go strictly for comfort in shoes.
I bring one pair of black dress sandals and wear long dresses for formal night so I don't need nylons. No matter how careful I am with sunscreen, I get burned somewhere on my legs and nylons with sunburn is torture!!

Leslie

 

[aprilgail2]

I am just bringing a pair of sneakers, a pair of aqua socks and a dressy pair of sandels that I plan on making go with everything else....

 

[imgoingtodisney]

Planning on bringing 4 pairs of shoes (Im not "into" shoes anyways)
Shoes for my 3 long skirts
Water shoes
Sandals

oops - edited because I forgot my sneakers

 

[BethC1952]

I'm another "3-pair" woman. I brought my comfortable, cushy walking sneakers, which I wore when sightseeing anywhere regardless of what else I was wearing (it's just too hard to have a good time when your feet hurt), a pair of very comfortable black sandals (almost all of my shoes are black, this way I don't have to worry about what purse matches and all that) which are semi-dressy enough that I can wear them with a sun dress and be comfortable and wear them with a cocktail dress and still look great, and my water shoes, which I wore a lot around the pool and on deck, since I didn't need to worry about them getting wet.

While we weren't on the 7-night, so therefore didn't have formal nights, those would have been the only shoes I brought anyway, and those black sandals have gone to a few black-tie events!

Beth

 

[bray]

When we were on the 4 day cruise last summer, I had already been away from home for 10 days. My family joined me at a convention before we headed for DW and our cruise. Therefore, I had already packed a TON.

I took my trusty birkenstocks for the touring and just wearing around the ship. 2 pairs of summer sandals went with all my evening clothes. We did not have formal night but a black pair of strappy sandals or pumps would probably work for most any formal outfit. I also took a pair of soccer sandals for the beach.

 

[Bev J]

Birkenstocks for everyday wear, water shoes for beach/pool,gold sandals for evening wear-another pair of birks-love em!! Remember your feet might swell so dressy sandals work great instead of pumps, by the end of a cruise I can never wear a closed in shoe.

 

[Disney Dreamer]

Move over Imelda Marcos!! My obsessions in life are DISNEY and SHOES!!! I am very much a shoe person. I have to take shoes to match every outfit! I never know which shoes I will want to wear so I have to have them all!! I usually end up with a suitcase for shoes only! I wrap each pair in a plastic sack from the grocery store and pack them in the suitcase! I also put hubby and kids shoes in this suitcase so it looks like its not only for me! DH has finally accepted that fact when traveling. So my advice is take as many shoes that will make you happy!!

 

[bakmmo]

We were on a 7 night cruise last year myself, myhusband and 2 daughters ages 12 and 14.
We had a suitcase full of just shoes. Ofcourse we had 1 for each outfit each. This year's cruise should be better as we are finally all in the same size but I can't see going with much less.
1 for each casual outfit, 1 for each dress outfit, water shoes, sneakers, black heels and an extra pair just in case. Don't forget the flip flops that match the bathing suits as well.
Good luck.
Andrea

 

[happydays]

We had a suitcase full of just shoes.

We (family of four) did the same thing on our 7-night cruise. We all wore our bulkiest shoes on the plane and then I packed our set of three suitcases as follows:
Large case: all clothes, including formal wear (I just plan on having it pressed on the ship)
Medium case: all shoes (I'm sure I had five pair for myself)
Small case: all toiletries and such

I always fill up any loose space with bottles of wine or water - that space is used for souveniers on the way back.

Then the only thing we drag on the plane is one small satchel with my purse, camera, jewelry and medicines and one backpack with the kid's travel entertainment supplies.

Have a great cruise!

 

[SingingMom]

I wore my sneakers for arrival/departure days and for shopping in St. Thomas. Three pairs dressy sandals (black, gold, white) and one casual pair for the beach/pool. But, keep in mind, I wear a size 3 or 4 shoe, so they don't take up too much room!

 

[ducklite]

All of my formal and semi-formal attire is black. I have one pair of very dressy black sandals that I'll wear for all formal/semi-formal/dressy meals.

I'll bring two other pair of sandals, one will be on my feet, the other will be in my luggage.

I'll have aqua shoes for the beach, and dressier flip flops for around the pool.

And my Keds for the plane, and if I decide to work out. Not what I usually wear for working out, but pack small. I will NOT get on a plane with sandals on!

The sandals, flip flops, keds, and aqua shoes are all flat and take ver little space. The dress sandals I pack and surround with bathing suits and other non-wrinkleables to maximize space.

Anne

 

[TnRobin]

Another Imelda in training here. I have one suitcase dedicated to shoes.

* a pair of comfy Tennis shoes for wearing during the day (When I am not at the pool).
*pair of water sandals
*pair of comfy natural sandals for Mexicalifragilistic and Parrot Cay
*Black pumps for semi- formal and Palos
*Glass slippers aka Cinderella for formal (okay they are vinyl)
*Bone Flats for dinner at Tritons
* pair of canvas deck shoes for Animators Palate

Believe it or not this is less than last year.
(if it were not for dressing up for dinner, it would be sandals and tennis shoes)

 

[SC Minnie]

I wore my tennis shoes(running shoes) when we boarded. They are too bulking to pack. Also wore them home. I packed one pair of shoes for both formal nights - wore black dresses so the same pair of shoes went with both. Took several pair of sandals - white dressy ones, black casual, and brown casual. Water shoes and sandals to wear around the pool. That's 7 pair but they did not take up that much room.

If you want to eliminate a few pair try to pack outfits that don't need their own 'special' shoes- all women know what I mean!LOL