women -minimum amt clothing needed for 7day eastern

[imgoingtodisney]

What is the least amount of packing (w/out doing laundry) that a woman can get away with? This takes into consideration formal & semi-formal nights, tropical night, eating in all the restaurants, etc.

 

[aseafish]

let's see--I'm thinking comfortable shoes, a practical purse, and a credit card.

 

[SC Minnie]

It depends on what you are going to wear for formal and semi formal night- you can wear the same dress and different accessories. I would at the least try to wear the same shoes.

You will probably be in your swimsuit most of the day on sea days. I would pack 2 or 3 swimsuits- nothing is worse than putting on a damp swimsuit Yuck!. 3 shorts outfits. 2 or 3 outfits for regular dinners that can be mixed and matched and can use the same shoes.

 

[pmgreene]

- One semi-formal outfit for both formal and semi-formal night
- Tropical outfit with skirt or pants you can wear another night or two
- maybe one other evening outfit or mix and match from other outfits
- Multiple swimsuits and a cover up or two
- Two pairs of shorts (unless you are doing a non-swimming excursion on one of the stops, then take another pair)
- Five tops
- PJs
- one pair sandals, one pair dress shoes and maybe tennis shoes

Each time we went on the 7-day (twice) I over packed. I over packed for me, for the kids, for the hubby. I had to have a matching pair of shoes for each different evening outfit - never again! Dinner is a two hour event, maybe 3 if you go directly to or from a show, and then it is back into casual clothes. Don't worry about "dressing to impress", dress for comfort and space! Lay everything out and then put half of it back. I give good advice, let's see if I can actually do this on the next one myself!!

 

[CruellaDuVille]

I so overpacked for my cruise last week. I still haven't unpacked it.

 

[ducklite]

I'm not one to lay in a bathing suit all day, so I think I'll be packing differently than a lot of people who say they live in their suits.

This is what I've got on my list:

1 formal gown
1 formal long skirt with formal top
1 semi-formal pant suit (tops and bottoms for pant suit and long skirt with formal top are interchangeable)
1 pair dress shoes to wear with all three above

7 pair shorts
7 blouses/tops
2 "smart casual" dresses
2 pair slacks and matching tops

1 lightweight sweater
2 bathing suits and a coverup
1 water shoes
2 pair sandals (one are butt ugly walking sandals, the other are just "regular" day-to-day sandals)

Undies and PJ's, and a sun hat or two.

My list is actually longer, because we are spending time at WDW before and after the cruise, but if I were just packing for the cruise this would be the list.

Anne

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Okay, I am an admitted clothes horse, so if your goal is packing as lightly as possible, I don't know if I'd read past this point!

I plan one outfit for each day plus about 4 extras. I then plan an outfit for each meal but I do try to mix and match so I am not bringing an outfit for every night! I also bring two formal outfits and they get worn to the formal nights and Palo.

I admit that I have to stuff to fit my two suitcases! I'm wondering if my Daughter also gets two suitcases? I can easily pack all her little duds in one suitcase, I am sure....Hmmmm...That leavesan entire extra suitcase for me! Yahoo!

Oh wait.....There is diapers, food and all that other stuff you need to bring for babies....*laugh*

Kathy

 

[Renee']

I am an over packer to the max. But I have learned to consolidate and am down to this.

2 formal gowns - formal and semiformal evenings
1 tropical evening dress - tropical/mexi night
4 dressy/evening, street length dresses
3 pair of heals (coordinate with evening dresses)
3 workout outfits and tennis shoes
2 casual type outfits (capri set & romper)
2 shorts outfits
2 pair of sandals to wear with casual outfits
1 pair of jeans & top or sweater
4 bathingsuits & wraps

For the most part the casual outfits are the least worn. Most days are workout then bathingsuit until dinner.

 

[SC Minnie]

I way overpacked for our last cruise. I brought home half of the clothes unworn. I won't make that mistake again. It just takes up too much luggage space that souvies can fill!

 

[Karel]

If you want the least amount of clothing....

one nice fancy dress for formal/semi formal night
one tropical shirt
three pants/skirts/sundresses
three blouses/tops that match above pants and skirts.
four, five, six shorts - depending how messy you are, and how many times or how long you'll wear the bathing suit.
seven shirts to match shorts
how ever many bathing suits you may own
coverup for bathing suit
one pair of dress shoes
one pair of casual shoes to wear for dinner with pants/skirts/sundresses
one pair of sandals
one pair of sneakers - if you need something other than the sandals.
one light sweater if you will be cold in air or time of year

I actually took less clothes then this on the trip but
I did do laundry on our trip. We drove to the port - two days down, two days back so that's a lot of clothes for five people.
Personally, I think you can wear a pair of shorts more than once. And I think people take way too many dress clothes. Nobody will notice you're wearing the same thing twice ...and what do they care anyway? I had my dress clothes on for about three hours everynight. Wish I had taken more casual shirts for everyone though.

 

[The Disney Family]

I agree with SC Minnie. Although I live by the Girl Scout Motto, "Be Prepared," I was overpacked last time. I'm going to pack light, with mix and match outfits. In St. Marteen, I had no problem finding an outfit for tropical night. I would think it wouldn't be hard to find anything you felt you couldn't live without, for the rest of the cruise, on the islands.

Well Good Luck and Have a Blast!!

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by Karel
Personally, I think you can wear a pair of shorts more than once. And I think people take way too many dress clothes. Nobody will notice you're wearing the same thing twice ...and what do they care anyway? I had my dress clothes on for about three hours everynight. Wish I had taken more casual shirts for everyone though.

I like to dress up and don't get many chances, so I'm taking an outfit for each night. But I can certainly see those who aren't into it only taking one thing and using different accesories, or taking one long skirt and wearing two different tops with it, etc.

As far as the shorts go, in cooler months, most definitely I would wear them more than once. But in the hot, sticky summer months, the idea of getting back into a pair of shorts I've been sweating in kinda skeeves me.

Good tip about the extra casual shirts, I've been thinking about packing a couple. I think you just talked me into it

Anne

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Wow I'm glad I'm not going on the 7 day! I had only planned to pack one pair of slacks for dinner, shorts, tank tops and T shirts--this is what I live in during the summer anyhow. I have to force myself to wear long pants to church! I don't even own a "formal", and only own pair of white and one pair of black heels--I buy a pair of black flats for teaching each fall and wear them until they fall apart, then head back to payless for another pair!
Since we are going to WDW after our cruise and will have a washer/dryer at VWL, I can wash everything when we check in for our WDW time.
I guess I'm the "anti" clothes-horse!
Robin M.

 

[PiperG]

bump!

The more info the better. DH says he may need to get a second job in order to pay for all these cloths. LOL

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by Rock'n Robin
Since we are going to WDW after our cruise and will have a washer/dryer at VWL, I can wash everything when we check in for our WDW time.
I guess I'm the "anti" clothes-horse!
Robin M.

Robin-

Just a tip, the dryers in the Villas are painfully slow to dry stuff.

Anne

 

[kmoore]

If you're goal is packing light, consider items that do double or even triple duty. For example, I have a great black pareo (a large cotton square with fringes) which looks good as a bathing suit coverup (my bathing suit is black and white), but also looks very suitable worn as a skirt (make sure it's big enough to wrap so that it doesn't open too much when you sit down!) with a fresh white t-shirt and black sandals, and also serves as an attractive shawl in the evening over a sundress to wear inside (restaurants, movies etc.) I take comfy linen pants which work really well with a tshirt for being in town but also dress up nicely at night with a silk blouse or sweater. I have my favorite pair of sandals which are pretty enough to get away with at night but comfy enough for a day's walking - mine are from Easy Spirit and I love them! Big XXXL tshirts (like a multi pack from Hanes) are great for sleeping in and can also do for a swimsuit coverup. They can be decorated for special events (talent show? Tropical night?) if you're creative (bring fabric pens, for example) or signed by characters as a souvenir, perhaps? Or, they are so inexpensive, they could be discarded at the end of the cruise and make a little extra room for souvenirs!

In addition to multi-duty clothes, try picking (and sticking with) a color scheme so you can mix and match easily. For a cruise, blue and white or black and white or red and white (or a combo) looks very fresh and very nautical. I try to make a mainstay of a summer trip wardrobe a good quality t-shirt (Brooks Bros. has nice ones) in a good neutral color (white, my favorite!) which is neat and tidy, easy to wash (or bring several!) and a good background for accessories, which makes wearing the same thing look totally different (think scarf!)

I also pack few bottoms and lots of tops, so I can be fresh without lots of extra outfits, and plenty of undies and accessories, which don't take up much room. This way, you can even avoid doing laundry on holiday. Of course, if you're willing to do laundry, you can get away with even less.

Hope that's useful.

Have a great vacation!

Karen