Packing for land and sea

[sukhakuli]

We are doing a "land and sea" vacation. One week at Disney World and one week on a DCL. We are flying from California (coastal So Cal so we are used to 70 degrees and sunny afternoons, but cool and cloudy mornings and nights). As you know, packing for a Disney cruise comes with its own needs, such as formal wear, snorkels, etc. We are a family of 6 and we are flying SW so we get 2 bags each. We will need extra space for souvenirs we buy on the flight home. I don't want to pack too heavy, but I want to make sure we have everything we need. I do have plans to ship a package from Amazon to our resort (sunscreen, hair care [my curly hair has needs] glow stuff, water etc). But I'm stumped about how to pack for this trip. Please help. The kids are 16, 14, 11, and 6. The oldest and youngest will be 1 month from their birthdays, so essentially 17 and 7. Our excursions are Chichen Itza, Saltwater Forest, and a private driver in Jamaica.

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

I'm not sure I follow exactly what your question is, but here are some thoughts from a dad who regularly does 2 week vacations that include land and sea with a wife and 3 kids (now 15, 13, and 9).

We have a large assortment of luggage, which includes a number of very large pieces. We take at least one of those per person, then sometimes have additional luggage to check beyond that. Last year, we had to purchase more luggage while on vacation, which we will try to avoid this year. We usually pack each child's clothes separately. Often, hanging clothes go with my stuff in my big suitcase. We spread other gear (snorkels, sunscreen, etc) wherever it can go. We have one large bathroom bag that holds most of that gear, then one bathroom bag for sunscreen, then 1/2 for my daughter's hair care products. I roll items and use packing cubes for space.

We typically don't plan on doing laundry, so we have one shorts/t-shirt outfit per person per day. We do 2 nights per set of PJs. For dinner attire on the cruise, we try to limit the number of pairs of pants/shorts for the men/boys to 2-3, each of which goes with multiple shirts. My DD loves to take dresses to wear to dinner, so my wife and DD have lots of dresses, which is tough on space. We try to minimize the shoes, but the boys usually have sneakers + flip flops + crocs; I have sneaks + 2x flip flops + brown dress shoes (formal night and Palo). I don't bother with a suit to save the space. The girls have more pairs of shoes, but we try to keep it low. We take 3-4 swimsuits per person because we mostly do water excursions. The kids get one light zip-up sweatshirt jacket each, which they carry in their backpacks, then my wife takes 2-3 cardigans because they all get cold. We vacation in August, so it's never cold enough for me to need additional long sleeve gear, even in super AC restaurants.

We fly United, where I usually have status, so we get 2 checked bags per person at up to 70 pounds. Our bags typically come in at 60ish pounds each. Last year, I did not have status at the time of our trip, so we used carry-on bags to pull enough weight to get us close enough to 50 that the airlines wouldn't charge us extra. I spent 30 minutes at the check-in desk of the Grand Floridian shuffling gear last year to make it work, even with paying for 7 checked bags.

Overall, I'd say try to minimize what you need for cruise dinners by having items that can be worn again; think hard about any last minute items you might throw in; and consider whether doing laundry is a possibility. I always end up doing multiple loads (due to stains), but haven't ever packed on the assumption that I would do lots of laundry. Be wary of bulky souvenirs.

Hope that helps and enjoy the trip.

 

[holden]

Based on your signature, it looks like your trip is in September. It will be hot both in FL and on the cruise. Expect temps in the high 80s/low 90s. End of September might be a little cooler than the beginning.

I'd count on shorts/t-shirts for both trips. You might need a sweater/pants for the cruise (ships are sometimes chilly), but not for WDW or beach days in the Caribbean.

I'd also do wash while at WDW so you can use those same clothes on the cruise. That will save some room in the luggage.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I would consider your laundry options first as that affects how much clothing to bring. Usually, I bring twice as many t-shirts as bottoms for my kids b/c they usually will re-wear a pair of pants or shorts. If I think I will do laundry after 7 days, I'll pack 9 pairs of underwear. That sort of thing. I highly recommend packing cubes as they can keep you organized, every kid can have a set for all of their stuff, anything dressier can stay in a cube until you're on the cruise.

We were on a 3 week trip in May to Europe (so warm weather anticipated) all cruising, two weeks on DCL with self-serve laundry on board, one week on MSC where I bought a laundry package. I think for each of my boys about 10 t-shirts, 6 pairs of shorts, 2 long pants (could probably have done with 1), 1 hoodie and 1 light packable jacket, then they each wore runners and brought a pair of walking sandals and a pair of flip flops. Plus a slightly dressier shirt or two. We still had tons of clothing.

For the five of us we had three big suitcases (all under 50 lbs), plus a carry-on rolling bag, plus each kid brought a backpack for the flight. It was totally more than enough space.

 

[coast2coastmickey]

I'd do laundry at WDW before your cruise. That way you board the cruise with plenty of clean clothes and can relax.

We did land-sea-land last December, 3 days WDW, 4 nights cruise, 3 days WDW. We ended up doing laundry halfway through the cruise, which was super nice. We had clean clothes for the rest of our trip and much less laundry for when we came home. That said, it's just 2 adults and a toddler for us.

We pack light: one shirt/bottom per day, one swimsuit, and for dinners on the cruise, one set of nice slacks with an appropriate number of dress shirts for the guys, easily foldable dresses for the girls.

For shoes we stick to one pair of sandals that can be worn for long walks/park days/beach days, and a pair of nice shoes for dinner. Shoes are a killer in luggage so finding a pair that can get wet but also be comfortable for hikes/walks is key. I like Crocs sandals for this

Doing all that, we were able to stick with 1 medium sized checked bag (not the big checked bags that most people take, 1 carry on sized bag, and 1 backpack for the entire trip. We even packed the diapers and baby stuff rather than buy in FL to save space.

 

[LizGirl]

We just did a week cruise to Alaska and then a week sightseeing in Seattle so I feel your pain! All of our bags (only 4 checked!) were stuffed to the gills!

Hopefully your trip will be a little simpler since you won't have any boots, coats, etc. I'd plan to do laundry before your cruise if you can. If you are staying at a WDW hotel, they have laundry machines on site and you can check the status of your load from your phone. You can wash multiple loads at one time so it doesn't take so long. And they are open 24 hours. Also, for peace of mind, there is self serve laundry on the ship so you can wash if, for example, something you intended to wear twice gets a spill.

As for shipping a box ahead, can you not just order what you need from Amazon or a local store and have it delivered to your resort? Might save you a step. Or, we rent a car and return it at the port so we have freedom to go off site for whatever we might need.

Oh, what a nice problem to have. Hope it's a fun trip!

 

[pixiedustedme]

There are guest laundry rooms at the Disney World resorts and onboard the Disney ships. Pack mostly clothes that don't need to be dry cleaned, and wash them as needed. It really doesn't take up that much time (DCL even has an alert system to tell you when your stuff is done), and is easier than hauling around a ton of luggage. September is basically still summer where you're going, so you'll only need to pack warm weather clothes.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

For our land/sea trip to DL (3 days) and EBPC (14 days) everyone was limited to one carry-on bag, no checked baggage (airline employee, riding standby). Remarkable what priorities you have with only one empty suitcase and not the endless black hole of multiple suitcases. We do laundry at the resort and on the cruise as needed and all clothing is machine washable. All clothes are interchangeable with each other to make multiple outfits. We wear the bulkiest (usually shoes, light jacket, slacks, etc) on the plane to save space. This was the longest sea/cruise and all survived, but this is also the rule for every trip.

Set a volume limit per person. Help the 7 and 11 yo pack.

We love to watch when the luggage arrives at the staterooms. Numerous giant pieces of luggage, like they are moving in, and it's only 2 adults.

 

[Jdawson9807]

We are also doing 1 week WDW and 1 Week DCL, after a lot of consideration and lack of compromise we have decided to drive so we (well me) can bring as much as I can squeeze without having to lug everything through the airports and pay a ton in checked luggage. I am not brave enough to ship anything (my husband had suggested it, but what if its lost or stolen...no thank you do not want to chance that). So our plan is to have separate luggage for WDW and separate luggage for DCL, the luggage we are not using at each location can just stay in the vehicle. We will be the couple that has 5 pieces of luggage for 2 adults, my husband teases me all the time, but a girl needs choices and you need to be prepared for anything. Every time there is always something he needs and I have it and he is so impressed that I even thought to pack it. Well duhhh I pack everything
My solution is to this is to drive, however that would like dayyysss from California, (we can get there is about 18-20 hours) but you would have enough room to pack what you want and not have to pay any extra fees, do any laundry, lug around 100 suit cases, and have all you need (and then some)

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Strategic laundry and careful packing. We've done land and sea trips (sometimes as long as 3 weeks) with only one carry-on and one piece of personal luggage each. I map out exactly what each of us will need each day (shorts/t-shirt, bathing suit, dress or dress shirts, etc.) and then I see where I can "recycle" clothing. For example, I bring one pair of dressy sandals that goes with every single dinner dress I bring on the trip. If I only want to do laundry once, I count out everything I need for the entire trip and then divide it by 2. I would highly suggest doing laundry at WDW as the laundry are typically, virtually empty. The laundry rooms on the ships are a whole other story - typically really crowded.

 

[Riss]

For our trip my mom and I debated about possibly doing laundry on the ship before we went to WDW, we did it in sea and land order lol, but ended up deciding against it. For our 9-day/8-night trip, we packed shorts that could be worn multiple times and just like a different shirt for every day as well as the other items we needed. All of us also brought along at least 2 pairs of shoes, if not more.

There were 7 of us on the trip, my parents (51, 50), we, their four children (24, 23, 22, 19), and the child we babysat (1 month shy of 3). We flew American so all of us had 1 checked bag, up to 50lbs, and were allowed a carry-on and personal bag. So we had 7 suitcases amongst us that we were able to move around with.

But I also definitely recommend packing light or looking for clothing combinations that can be used more than once, like taking along a pair of regular jean shorts that could be worn on more than one occasion for the duration of the trip and being conscious of the things that you're taking likes shoes or any other extra pieces of clothing to take "just in case." Our trip was mid-September so we mostly relied on shorts and t-shirts to get us by because of the humidity but did take along a pair of jeans and a jacket in case we got hit with unexpected rain or low temperatures.

 

[MomOTwins]

We did a massive load of laundry at our WDW hotel before the cruise. It all works out.

 

[Lisa F]

it definitely makes sense to do laundry because you won't have room in your stateroom to store all of those suitcases full of a week's worth of stuff.

What I would do is allow everyone to have one suitcase per person (9 undies/socks, 3-4 bottoms, 7-8 shirts, night clothes, a sweater/sweatshirt/hoodie, pair of long pants, personal toiletries which should fit in the size of like one makeup case per person), one suitcase of cruise-specific wear (dresses, pirate stuff, whatever) and a bag of shared toiletries.

I would pack the 6 suitcases by day though and not have everyone's clothing in one suitcase in case one suitcase gets lost - everyone just loses 1-2 outfits.

Do laundry the night before the cruise then you can unpack fully and nestle suitcases. Each person having their own (plus carryon) should really allow for room to bring back souvenirs too.

 

[leanne2255]

Lay out everything you want to pack and then eliminate half of it. Jean shorts can be worn multiple days especially if you’re in a bathing suit all day. I’ll wear a T-shirt multiple times since I may only have it on a few hours a day (again, bathing suit all day). Kimono type wraps do double duty as swim suit cover ups and as a wrap for a maxi dress. Change out your accessories because honestly no one pays attention if you wear the same dinner attire twice in a row. Pjs don’t need to be changed often either. How dirty do they get when you’re just laying in bed? I’ve overpacked so many times and ended up not wearing a good portion of the clothing I brought.
,