Twelve days. Two formal nights. Nine ports. One suitcase. I have been going back and forth on the same three decisions for two weeks and I am no closer to resolving any of them.
The first one is shoes. I have three pairs I want to bring — comfortable walking shoes for port days, smarter shoes for evenings, and something for the formal nights. That is already three pairs of shoes for one suitcase. Every packing guide I have read says to bring two pairs maximum. Every packing guide I have read is wrong about this.
The second one is the formal night situation. MSC has two formal nights on a twelve-day cruise. I have a suit. The suit is fine. The question is whether I bring the full suit or just the jacket and wear it with dark trousers. The honest answer is that nobody on a cruise ship is scrutinising your outfit that closely, but I will know, and that matters to me more than it probably should.
The third one is whether to bring a small day bag or just use my jacket pockets for port days. A day bag is more practical. Jacket pockets mean one less thing to carry. I have been going back and forth on this for longer than I am comfortable admitting.
I have also been thinking about the weather. We are sailing in May. The Mediterranean ports should be warm — Barcelona and Santorini especially. Rotterdam and Cherbourg are less predictable. I am packing a light waterproof that folds into its own pocket, which feels like the right call.
The suitcase is currently half-packed on the bedroom floor. It has been there for a week. I keep walking past it and adding things and then removing them again. At some point I am going to have to commit.
The shoes are all going in. That is the one decision I have actually made.
Paul
25 April 2026
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