Touring and Cruise Combination

The mantra here is: pack light pack light pack light.But sometimes you just can't pack light, and your trip sounds like one of those.

I carry-on only when I cruise. My regular (land vacation) packlist looks like this:

http://www.polyvore.com/mens_travel_pack_list/set?id=1440268

Most of my stuff works for resort casual, the normal dress code for dinners on the cruise. The major change is for formal nights. I add a black microfiber (but wool works too) blazer with black buttons (rather than brass) plus 2 ties and pocket squares. I wear the blazer on the plane.

For my regular clothes, One of the button up shirts is a plain white, no-iron dress shirt and one of my pants will be black (to match the blazer). I have a great pair of Ecco dress/walking shoes and I pack only black socks.

My black blazer and pants, white dress shirt and black, red or silver tie look plenty dressy for the cruise. Seperately they can be mix/matched with other clothes so I'm not packing them to wear once.

Women are actually easier. A black cocktail length polyester dress takes up no space and weighs nothing. Dress it up with costume jewelry, a scarf or just wear it as is. I think it's best to bring a pair of simple black sandals (shiny black/patent looks most dressy), they can be worn with casual attire but also look fine for dressing up. Both work for a nice dinner during the land portion of your trip too.

You also have the option of not participating in the formal nights - up to half of the passengers won't (I'm thinking on a longer cruise, you will have an older crowd that is more likely to dress up, but I could be wrong). If you choose this option, all you need is something other than shorts, sports gear and flip flops for dinners most nights. On formal nights, you can always eat at the casual buffet or order room service.

If you are concerned about formal wear, some cruise lines offer formal wear rental. My husband has done this on past cruises with good results and wouldn't do it any other way. This option, for a modest fee, gives options to be dressed up with none of the packing or cleaning hassles. My husband and son will each be renting a tux for a Med cruise this summer which is sandwiched between European land excursions. Note, some cruise lines also offer women's formal wear for rent and others require advanced notice for the rental.

You didn't say what cruise line. If it's Crystal, well, yes they are pretty formal.

If it's NCL, you can wear anything!

We are doing a Royal Caribbean transatlantic and I am curious if the longer transatlantic cruises are more formal than regular cruises. On a recent 1 week Mexican RC cruise, people were much less formal than cruises I remember from 10 or so years ago. I am interested in hearing more clothing opinions from RS people. While Cruise Critic is a great source of information, from what I've read so far (and I may be over generalizing) these people are REALLY into cruising and take the whole experience far more seriously than we do. I have already printed Brad's clothing suggestions (thanks, Brad) because this is more the way we hope to travel, in Europe before the cruise and the cruise itself...dressy casual but not looking like we're going to the prom.

We did a Princess cruise out of Long Beach a few years ago and managed with carry-on only. My dress outfit was black polyester satin pants, a lightweight sparkly top, and black sandals, and I wore the same outfit for both dressy nights. If I were going to combine with a land trip I would probably have packed a long lightweight black skirt as the satin pants would not be very useful on the road! Others in our party rented formal wear.

I'm very impressed by Brad's post - he has this down to a science!

Contact the cruiseline to determine if formal wear rental is available. Compare the cost of rental to packing, schlepping, and probably paying for another piece of luggage full of formal clothes that will only be worn on the ship. We have taken many, many cruises and were ready to tackle our first transoceanic cruise without so much as a pair of black socks but in the end opted for the rental as it wasn't too badly priced. The other option is to skip formal nights altogether and avail yourself of the countless other dining choices. That was plan A, but turned out that on an extended cruise the dinners in the dining room were a welcomed diversion. I think over the years the number of formal nights per cruise is reduced, but folks still dress up. Maybe not floor length gowns but dressy enough...all I track is whether I have to wear a tie. Have a great time....and find a good (thick) book.