Alaska Cruise – Part 1: Preparing to Travel

Well, it finally happened. After almost 17 years together, my husband convinced me to take a cruise.

“It will be amazing,” he said. “We’ll do land and sea.”

Honestly, it was the land part that made me cave. I envisioned a train ride where we’d have beautiful views and see lots of animals.

From a distance.

Within the confines of a lovely train car.

So, I agreed. I truly had no idea what I was in for, but I was in.

Mind you, being my first cruise, I had no idea where to start. So, he did his research. He also chose the ship, the itinerary, what deck, and what room he felt would be best for my first adventure on a cruise ship.

We still wonder why we hired a travel agent after doing all that research. But hire one, we did. I have mixed feelings on that part, but that’s a story for another time.

Once that was sorted, I was able to focus on what I do best: packing and organizing.

Due to the trip schedule, we were each allowed one carry-on and one small bag or backpack for the land portion of the trip. We also packed one large suitcase to go ahead to the ship. I kept track of everything with a spreadsheet.

Doesn’t everyone do that when they discover they have 5 nights on land that they need to cram into 2 carry-ons and 2 small backpacks? Just me? Okay, I’ll own that, and I’d do it again if needed. It kept me organized when things got a little hairy the week before the trip! (I might explain that one later, too.)

Another bonus for having the spreadsheet was that we needed to figure out how we were going to pack things like bug spray, sunscreen and other toiletries that had to be sent in checked luggage.

In the end, we brought one hard-sided carry-on on the plane, two backpacks, and a purse that would be used later in the trip for excursions off the ship. Those held anything we’d need right away like medications, our passports, and our Kindles. We checked one carry-on that mostly contained toiletries.

Thanks to the spreadsheet, we managed to pack all the clothes we needed for the first five nights into both carry-ons as well as two pairs of binoculars, rain jackets, packable puffer jackets, slippers, power cords and more.

In case you were wondering, the spreadsheet was updated and rearranged constantly.

I’ll put some links below for some of the things that helped us fit what we needed into the smaller bags. Check them out and do some research on your own to find what works for you.

Lliving La Vida Llama (and adjusting to a 4-hour time difference)

Travel Slippers