This list is the one I reuse for groups of twelve to sixty, where the same four packing questions arrive every season. It assumes seven nights, warm weather and one checked bag per person, and it is built around the bag you keep with you on embarkation day.
1. The Bag That Stays With You
Most luggage reaches the cabin before dinner, and the rest turns up after nine at night, so day one effectively gets packed twice. I plan the day bag as though the checked bag has gone missing, which is the only assumption that holds on every sailing.
- Medication for the full week, in original boxes.
- One change of clothes, swimwear and a light layer for the theatre.
- Passport, cruise tickets and printouts of the boarding passes.
- Phone charger and a small power bank for the terminal queue.
2. Clothes Built Around Two Indoor Evenings
Most ships ask for smart casual twice a week, and the rest of the week is shorts and a shirt that dries overnight. I bring two evening outfits, four day outfits and a laundry bag, because a seven-night sailing runs out of socks long before it runs out of plans.
- Evening clothes in the compression sack at the bottom of the case.
- Day clothes folded in the order of the first three days.
- Shoes worn on the plane, plus one pair that survives a wet deck.
- Swimwear in the day bag, not the checked bag.
I keep the shoes and the layer for the theatre out of the compression sack, because the outfit you actually wear on the first evening is the one that was easiest to reach. Everything else can be flattened again on day two once the case has found its place under the bed.
3. The Medicine Pouch
The onboard medical centre charges for a consultation and sells the basics at terminal prices, and nothing there replaces the pack you already use at home. I put motion tablets, plasters, rehydration sachets and a thermometer in one clear pouch so it can be found in the dark.
Anything on prescription travels in its original box with a copy of the prescription folded behind it, and I split it between the day bag and the checked bag. Customs ask about quantity more often than they ask about the brand.
4. Papers and Power
Cards, passports and tickets live in one pouch that never leaves the cabin safe, while photocopies stay in a different bag entirely. Two chargers matter more than one: the cabin has a limited number of sockets and they sit behind the television.
- Two plugs and a short extension lead for the desk side of the cabin.
- Printed tickets as well as the app, because pier wifi drops in the queue.
- A card with no foreign transaction fee, plus a second card in another pocket.
Everything in that list fits under the seat in front of you on the flight out, which is how it survives a delayed bag at the airport before the ship is even involved. It is also the bag that walks off the coach first on the last morning, when the cabin cases are still being called by row.
5. What Stays at Home
Steamers do not survive the flight, formal shoes get worn once, and the dryers on board are stronger than anything that fits in a case. The items I never regret leaving behind are the third pair of shoes and the full-size bottle of sunscreen, which costs less at the first port than at the airport.
Ironing boards, beach umbrellas and straighteners with a two-pin plug add weight without adding a single hour to the trip, and the ship lends most of it anyway. If the scale at check-in is close to the limit, these are the first four things I take out.
6. The Night-Before Check
On the last night every passport, charger and medicine goes back into the day bag, because disembarkation morning is the one hour of the week with no slack in it. The two lines worth keeping from this list are the medicine pouch and the day bag: they cover the suitcase that arrives late and the pharmacy that is shut when you land.
7. Laundry and the Last Morning
Most ships run a bag service where a full bag comes back the same evening for a flat fee, and on a seven-night sailing that buys back two outfits rather than two hours of hand washing in a sink. I send one bag out on day four, which keeps the evening clothes usable and leaves the last morning for the passports instead of the laundry.
The bag that goes out never takes anything that lives in the day bag, because the day bag is the plan for the morning after the bag has gone. Shoes, documents and the medicine pouch stay in the cabin, and everything else can come back in a paper sack on day six.