Below is my actual packing list from our Celebrity 10 Italy, Croatia, and Montenegro trip. We spent a few days in Rome before the cruise, and a week in Venice at the end, for a total of 21 days. We sink washed items as needed on the cruise, and we had laundry machines in our apartment in Venice. I used my Travelpro 22″ Maxlite 5 two wheeled bag, which measures 23″, and an 18″ Lovevook backpack. I flew Delta Premium Select (premium economy cabin), which includes dedicated overhead bin space, and the bag fit perfectly in the overheads. Delta does not have a weight maximum for cabin bags or personal items. We share our 311 bag space between the two ziplock bags (one for each of us per the TSA rules).

I tend to dress casually for excursions, often with a baseball cap if it’s warm, to cover my hair. I have very fine, thin hair and it’s just not recoverable once it gets wet with sweat. I often wear a wig when I want my hair to look pretty. At age 59, the ship has sailed (pun intended) on my bio hair ever being what I want it to be. Can anyone relate? I like linen pants for warm weather trips, as well as Merino wool tees. See my article about Merino wool to learn why I love it so much.

We always change for dinner on cruises because this is what we prefer to do. Celebrity has at least one “Chic Night” per sailing (our trip had two). This has replaced their formal nights, and I pack a dressier dress for those evenings. This is not required, but we like to dress up a bit. The dressier dress was a Grace Karin knee length chiffon dress from Amazon. It was lightweight and easy to pack, and I wore it for both Chic Nights. I do feel like I could have lived without the silver strappy sandals and just worn my wedges. As far as purses, I always carry a cross body bag for excursions and sightseeing. For around the ship, I usually pack a wristlet or small clutch.

I try to pack a capsule wardrobe with pieces that can be coordinated to create different looks. I usually choose two or three neutral base colors, and add a couple of other colors to coordinate. My base colors for pants were black, pink, and tan, and I added a selection of blues for accent colors. In addition to black and white tees, I had navy, light blue, and a dark pink tunic to wear with leggings. For layers, I packed a denim jacket that goes with everything, a tan linen jacket that is very versatile, and a blue hooded jacket. For this trip, I wore dresses for dinners on the ship as well as for some of the shore excursions. My three Merino wool dresses are lightweight, versatile to dress up or down, and easy to pack. Many of the other pieces were Merino wool or cashmere, including three of the four tops, the black pants, the cardi, plus socks and underwear. Read more about why we love Merino wool here. I like to add a couple necklaces to change up the look, but I’m not a big jewelry person. The collages represent all of the clothing pieces I took and how I used them to create different outfits. The full packing list is posted below.

We did not fly together, as Steve caught a jump seat to Rome. We do cross pack one complete outfit in each other’s bags, in case I am forced to gate check my bag and it is lost in transit. In addition, I also pack one outfit and one pair of shoes in my backpack, for the same reason. If my bag is lost, I will have the outfit I am wearing, the outfit in my backpack, and the outfit I cross packed in Steve’s bag. (Steve doesn’t have to worry about losing bags when jump seating on his airline.) It’s not a perfect strategy, but we try to minimize our risk within reason. The outfit I wear on the flight is part of my clothing for the trip. I will wash it when I get there, and wear it a couple more times.

I pack everything I will need for the overnight flight in a pouch in my backpack that I can pull out a put in the seat back pocket. That way I’m not digging through my backpack for things during the flight. I have a variety of zip top pouches I have collected over the years and they come in handy for things like that.

Each time we take a trip, I learn something new about packing, and this was no exception. At the end of the list, I’ll add some notes on what I could have or should have left at home.

Even though we went with just carry-ons, I still over packed for this trip. I did wear everything I took, but found that I only wore some things once. I could have taken two less tops, as I also wore the Wool& Brooklyn dresses for touring days, in addition to dinner on the ship. They are very versatile dresses and can be dressed up or down. I also could have eliminated the leggings and the tunic and worn something else on the two days I wore that outfit. Leggings are not the most flattering thing I can wear, though they were great for the rainy day we spent in Padua. I do like to pack them in case I get cold at night in the cabin. I also could have eliminated one pair of sandals, as I took black and brown and dind’t really need both. Overall, I packed a little more than I needed.

Hope you find this helpful for your planning and packing. Let me know how your packing goes.