I'm somewhere in the middle. We make a list of items to bring a week or two ahead of time. Travel toiletries, sunscreen and such are ready to go several days in advance. Passports, travel documents are also several days in advance. Unique clothing items such as bathing suits and water shoes are also several days in advance. As for our day-to-day clothes for a cruise, we don't usually pack them until the day before. It's a system that works for us. We've never forgotten anything, and we now no longer over pack as we used to always do.