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15 nights in November/December, no washing machine, carry on only

My husband and I left Tucson on 11/24, heading to Barcelona for a couple of nights prior to embarking on a twelve night cruise with Celebrity Cruise Line. We each had a carry on size Samsonite roller bag and an Ecohub brand personal item backpack. I also had a medium sized Travelon purse that held my travel-size Cpap machine. I used that purse while on the cruise. The port stops were three different Canary Islands, Casablanca, Tangier, Cadiz and Malaga, before heading back to Barcelona for one night.

We checked the weather prior to packing. It looked like the temperatures would be in the 60s – 70s during the day and cooler of course at night. I brought a medium weight puffer jacket that I purchased several years ago at Costco, as well as an Eddie Bauer waterproof rain jacket and a lightweight hoodie (Tek Gear from Kohl’s). I also brought a pair of gloves, a hat and a cozy scarf in case it was cold when we were out at night, especially when visiting the Barcelona Christmas market on the night after the cruise.

We were not going to pay the rather ridiculous fee for having our clothes laundered while on the ship. I know, compared to the overall price of the cruise, it would be insignificant, but it was mostly the matter of a personal challenge to see if we could make it work with what was in our carry on bags. We used primarily packing cubes and a couple compression cubes, all from various companies.

We did quite a bit of sink and shower washing and strategically re-wore clothes. We don’t get super-dressed up really ever and we wore nice enough clothing to the dining room on the nights that required dressing up a bit more. I like the fact that Celebrity seems a little more laid back for the dress-up nights than cruises that we’ve taken on other lines.

On the flights, I wore 32 Degree leggings with pockets, with a lightweight t shirt and a button up convertible sleeve blouse over it. On the way to Barcelona I packed my puffer jacket and wore the rain jacket. On the way back to the U.S. from Barcelona, I did the opposite and wore the puffer jacket. I wore my boots on the flights.

Besides what I wore on the flight over, I packed eight tops (mostly fairly thin that could be layered) and one lightweight pullover sweater. I packed one pair of jeans, one pair of cargo pants, one lightweight pair of black pants that I could wear on the nights that I needed to look a little dressier, a pair of joggers, and another pair of leggings. Besides the boots that I wore on the flights, I took a pair of Skechers tennis shoes, a cute pair of Aerosoles black flats and a pair of spa slippers for inside the cabin and hotel rooms. My feet are very fussy so I like to have footwear options in case my feet start hurting. I also took two pairs of lightweight pajamas as well as underwear, bras and merino wool socks from Costco.

The weather was glorious the whole time we were there. It was actually warmer than we had planned for but was still very nice. It never rained but I don’t regret bringing the rain jacket or travel umbrella. The only times that it was cool were a couple of “sea days” when the wind was blowing very strongly and when we returned back to Barcelona after the cruise.

Other items that I packed included: Remington ceramic dual voltage hot rollers (I only took half of the rollers), over the counter medicines for “just in case” in a school pencil bag, six foldable hangers, toiletries, Kindle, small purse for the plane, travel blanket (because I like to have one for the hotel and ship), some snacks, ziplock baggies, laundry sheets and a 2 gallon ziplock bag for laundry (which I didn’t end up using as I just washed clothing in the shower or sink), and electronics.

We checked our bags for the flights home.

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This is a great post. I know it took a bit of time to put together the details. We have a My Way tour to the Alps booked for next summer and I know we'll need to plan on layers. I have glanced through your post and didn't see any particular reference to light weight wool. Were any of your tops made with wool?

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511 posts

Thanks, demseyf for the kind words. No, I didn't bring anything made of wool other than the Merino wool blend socks from Costco. A few of the tops were made from Tencel, a couple were a polyester blend, a couple 51 % polyester/49% cotton and one was a very lightweight cotton that dried overnight when washed.