There’s no prize for packing light

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Day 9, Grand Asia 2017

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017 – At Sea

You may have noticed there is no Monday, Oct. 9, blog. We crossed the International Date Line and skipped Monday. Instead of being about 5-6 hours behind Dallas time, we’re a bunch of hours ahead. We continue to set the clocks ahead an hour a night, and last night was two hours. I’m waking up earlier and earlier.

Packing for a long cruise

My last cruise was seven days in the western Caribbean. All I took was a carry-on bag and a backpack. There is virtue in traveling light, at least among those who do it. But once I have crossed the threshold of easily managing my own bags, I throw all light-packing virtue to the wind. The challenge with 80 days is to not take everything you own, but still have the things that make life comfortable for such a long trip.

If you book a certain level of stateroom or higher on Holland America’s grand cruises (I think it is category F on this cruise), HAL will ship two suitcases to and from the cruise for no additional charge. I’m in an inside category I. So I paid HAL $60 to ship a 30-pound suitcase, which I dropped off at FedEx about two weeks before the cruise. I checked two suitcases, (one large and one medium), and took a carry-on and backpack on the plane. It seems like a lot (and it is), but once you quit trying to pack light, it’s easy to get carried away.

img_9768Here’s a brief summary of what I packed:

  • Tops: 15 casual, 6 dressy including 2 dressy jackets. Three of casual are long sleeved
  • Slacks: 4 casual, 2 dressy, 5 shorts
  • Skirts: 3 casual, 3 dressy
  • Dress: 1 casual
  • Outerwear: 2 sweaters, hoodie, windbreaker, all-weather jacket
  • Shoes: 4 sandals, 2 dressy wedges, 3 casual
  • Scarves, jewelry, small bags for evening (1 casual, 1 dressy), 2 hats
  • Electronics: laptop, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, camera, batteries, memory cards, external drive
  • Toiletries, makeup, medications
  • Other: Zip-Locks, protein bars, scissors, post-its, sketchpad and pencils, Costco card and car insurance card (to rent a car in Hawaii), flashlight, canvas book bag, etc.

I put each item on a spreadsheet and marked which bag I packed it into, in case I forgot what I shipped earlier or a bag didn’t make it on the ship. Probably over organized – but that’s just me. I will post an update at the end of the cruise to report on what I forgot or took and didn’t need.

img_9769Holland America has the roomiest staterooms I’ve seen on a ship. I have five narrow closets and a bunch of drawers. There would be plenty of room for two people on a long voyage. I spent 14 days in an identical cabin on this ship with three people and we had plenty of room. I do bring an over-the-door shoe bag to organize my toiletries on the bathroom door.

Whether it’s 30 days, 80 days or 120 days, you really only need the same amount of clothes. On this cruise, maybe a little more since we start in cool weather in Japan and end in hot weather. Just like at home, there are favorites I wear a lot. I’ll be repeating lots of things, especially dressy outfits on gala nights. There is a self-service laundry down the hall from me, but I am enjoying my free laundry perk.

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Captain’s talk

Today Capt. Fred Eversen entertained and educated us with a talk about being captain. There haven’t been bridge tours for nearly 20 years, so he gave us a virtual video tour, going into great detail about how the bridge stations are organized and what all the instruments do. During the talk I could hear the ship’s horn give a long blast every two minutes, and knew the mist of earlier had deepened into a heavy fog.

A few details from Capt. Eversen’s talk: At our cruising speed of 21 knots, we burn almost 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel a day. In other words, we travel 22.5 yards on a gallon of fuel. We will travel almost 24,000 nautical miles on this cruise and use about 1.6 million gallons of diesel fuel.

There currently are 960 passengers and 640 crew members. I hear that we will pick up as many as 300 passengers in Hong Kong. While most people are taking the whole 80-day cruise, HAL sells segments as well.

The ship no longer has paper charts – everything is electronic with lots of redundancy. Capt. Eversen reassured us:

“Luckily I have an iPhone so I always know where I am.”

Christopher Columbus (celebrated on the day we skipped) would be envious, I think.