How To Pack For Seven or Ten Days for an Alaska Cruise With Just Carry-On

It can be done, and yes, even in cold weather!! See how I did it using packing cubes and a carry-on bag + one "personal item"-which means another bag for under the seat.

The photo above is a stock photo, but the ones in this blog are from me just doing a pack right now to show you how to do it.

Now, this is for those who want to travel with just a carry-on bag, but you can absolutely pack in a bigger suitcase and check your bag or bags. Check with your airline and cruise line for their guidelines, pricing, and restrictions.

I love going with just carry-on, then if I buy stuff, I may check a bag on the way back, that way if it gets lost, it will get to me when it does and I'll be home so it won't matter. :)

This is from left to right.

7 pairs of underwear

5 undershirts (I like tanks with a shelf bra but if I didn't do this, I'd just bring like 3 bras)

6 pairs of normal socks

3 pairs of wool socks

1 pair of jean shorts

1 pair of skinny jeans

1 pair of wool pants

1 pair of leggings/yoga pants

1 pair of lightweight convertible pants (great for hiking and also convert into shorts)

4 t-shirts

1 skirt

2 jersey material maxi dresses

1 Ralph Lauren dress

3 long-sleeved cotton shirts

1 rasher long sleeved

1 workout bra top

1 bathing suit

1 long underwear shirt

1 wool long-sleeved shirt

1 long-sleeved t-shirt

1 Linen button-down shirt

1 flannel thicker button-down shirt

1 wind and water proof LL Bean lightweight jacket

1 Alpaca outdoors jacket (from REI) keeps out all wind

1 down vest

1 pair of Merrill hiking water proof sneakers

1 pair of normal lightweight trainers

1 pair of trek shoes

1 pair of flip flops

then two bags for makeup and moisturizer, shampoo etc.

My travel hair dryer

1 brush

1 curling iron

1 knit hat

1 cap

1 Foldie bag so we can buy stuff and check the bag on the way home *

So the way I did it this time was with two packing cubes from BIAGGI-they are my favorite packing cubes that I have tried as you can zip them down and compress them. I am not an affiliate for them so I'm getting nothing for sharing but I love them.

I take all the long-sleeved shirts and fold them into the deeper part of the bag. (These bags have a deep and not-so-deep side). I put them all in and had more room so I added two dresses.

I jammed underwear into the extra space.

Then, I zipped it all up for bag 1 to go into my carry-on

Then, I compressed it down by zipping around the bag.

For the next one, I put everything else and repeated except the shoes and personal items.

I grabbed a under the seat bag that is easy to smoosh under a seat. Usually, a duffle or tote will work just fine. Sometimes I bring a backpack, which I may do for our Alaska trip but for this, I used a tote/duffle.

I put all the shoes at the bottom, then added the hair dryer, the makeup and personal items, and then I put in the Foldie, the hats, and the down vest.

I am not an affiliate for Foldie either but I LOVE LOVE LOVE their bags, and always bring one for when I buy stuff on the trip. You can find them HERE

Now, this is how it looks

The flannel, the Alpaca jacket and Merrells will be worn on the plane with lightweight pants of some sort, and a t-shirt and tank under it.

To be brutally honest, to me, this is WAY TOO MUCH clothes for this trip but I put it all in as an example of how you can do it. I will do one with the real way I pack with much less later.

We are headed to Alaska this summer, and I will cut this way down, but it does depend on the weather.

One of the biggest reasons that people, especially women, --sorry I don't mean to be a traitor to my gender--overpack is the "what if I decide to do this?"

Look, it's a cruise, everyone is in the same situation. You can be casual, especially in Alaska.

We don't go super formal for dinner, but we look nice. I don't bring dress shoes ever, especially not for the Chef's table on Carnival as they walk you back into the kitchen, it says formal but I find wearing trainers under a long dress is fine with them and it's safer for us. I worked in restaurants for a long time, trust me, no heels in the kitchen is always a good rule of thumb.

For flip flops, I won't bring these orange ones but I will bring nicer ones with support for massive walking. I love Crocs, yup, they make flip-flops and I have some with rhinestones and they look dressy.

Now for extras like sunscreen, and things like that, we get the on the cruise in the shop or we get them in whatever city we are leaving from. This time it's Seattle so we will pick up there.

I also put in a purse with RFD and a belly band, what used to be called a fanny pack in the carry-on that goes under the seat.

I hope this is helpful , if not, GOOGLE how to pack for x amount of days with just a carry-on, there are loads of videos.

I'll also do one with rolling and in a different kind of suitcase, for this I used a standard hard shell, goes in the overhead bin on a 737 or bigger aircraft.

. You can see how they fit in the side by side. In the zipped part I put the rest of the socks and the white linen shirt, that's it so it could close easily.

Here they are standing up in a softer sided carry-on that also goes in the overhead bin,

This one is great for the smaller planes like the 737 as it's a bit shorter than the hardshell one at only 19 inches instead of 21 and it's soft so easy to zip around. I placed these standing up and there is room at the front for toiletry bags, or anything extra like your Foldie bag, etc.

Thanks so much for reading and I'd love to hear your packing ways in the comments. I may put this on the forum as well.

xo Stephanie

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