Avalon 101: Packing

Welcome to Avalon 101 – a beginner’s guide to all things Avalon! Follow along as Bethany Explores how to pack light for an Avalon River Cruise.

I am getting ready to embark on my sixth Avalon River Cruise: Active & Discovery on the Lower Danube. This series documents my experiences before and during the cruise. This post explores how I am packing for this cruise. If you are new to river cruising in general, or are new to the Avalon family, welcome aboard!

The photo above is what my checked bag looked like, after it had been delayed and mis-routed to get to me in Cambodia. I flew Tampa-San Francisco-Singapore-Siem Reap (Cambodia). A very short layover in San Fran meant that I made the connecting flight by my checked luggage did not. I arrived in Siem Reap and my bag was not waiting for me. Unfortunately, there were a few administrative hurdles and miscommunication along the way. I was also a moving target. I spent two days in Siem Reap before flying to Phnom Penh to board the ship and sail the Mekong River!). So it took five long, hot, and humid days before I got my bag back. I only had one change of clothes with me, so it was quite an adventure!

Creating a Packing List

After that frustrating situation in Cambodia, I decided to learn how to pack smarter and lighter. I was a chronic over-packer, bringing a lot of things “just in case.” I have learned a few tricks along the way, and now I happily only travel with carry-on.

Checking the itinerary and weather

The first step I take before every trip is to look at what the itinerary is. I look at the locations and activities to help determine what essentials I need to bring with me. Once I know the locations, I use the internet to look at the average high and low temperatures. I also check the average amount of precipitation. I like weather.com, but there are many different options available.

Another thing I consider is what sorts of activities I have planned, as some may require certain clothing and/or footwear. Below is an overview of my itinerary with the excursions I have booked for this cruise. The ‘Dress Requirements’ section comes directly from the details of each excursion on the MyAvalon website. Some excursions may have requirements (no bare knees or shoulders) in some holy places. But I do not have any such excursion requirements on this cruise. Active excursions may also have some restrictions as to type of clothing and/or footwear that may be required.

Putting the packing list together

Now I know I need to plan for seven days and seven nights, including time pre-cruise in Bucharest. The weather looks to be fairly warm, so I’m not bringing too many layers. I have booked a couple of Active excursions, so I need to be sure I have appropriate clothing for those. I’m sticking with tee-shirts and either shorts or capris for the day, and lightweight tops and pants for evenings. I love packing moisture-wicking clothing for the days, especially in warmer weather. They are lightweight and they do not wrinkle easily. I can usually wear each item at least twice before needing to wash it.

My packing list, by category

• Wear on Flights: What I wear on all flights. The cardigan and hiking shoes will be worn during the trip as well.
• Day Pack: What I pack into the small day pack I will use on the trip. For the flights, this small pack will go in my personal item, so I stick with the two-item carry-on limit.
• Bucharest Clothing: I am spending two days in a Bucharest hotel before the cruise. I am packing everything I need for these two days in a separate packing cube. This way I can just grab and unpack that one cube in the hotel. Everything else for the cruise can stay neatly packed until needed.
• Day Clothing and Evening Clothing: Everything I will wear on the cruise. I will also re-wear the clothes I pack in the Bucharest cube as well. All of the tops and bottoms are mix-and-match. Every top can be worn with each bottom to make some different outfits each day.
• Misc: Random items I will need for the trip.
• Dry Toiletries: Personal items that do not need to be separated for TSA screenings.
• Liquid Toiletries: Personal items that need to be separated for TSA screenings.

Using Packing Cubes

Once I have my packing list finalized, I work on getting everything ready to pack. I love using packing cubes. I have some from Eagle Creek that I have had for years. They are lightweight and have a compression option. I use two sizes: larger ones (9″ x 14″) for my clothing, and smaller ones (6″ x 9″) for my underwear and other smaller items.

Folding and rolling clothes

My favorite trick is to use a piece of cardboard cut to the same size as the cube as a template. The below series of pictures shows the steps I take to get a tee-shirt folded and rolled for the large packing cube:

1. Lay the shirt flat, with the template centered at the neckline
2. Fold the sides in, over the template
3. Slide the template out
4. Roll the shirt as tightly as you can (but you don’t need to go crazy with this!)
5. The end result…a rolled shirt that is exactly the same width as the packing cube

I use the same template and process for most everything in the cubes. For shirts with longer sleeves, I fold them in lengthwise as shown below. Pants can also use the template – I fold long pants or capris in half first, then tuck in any pieces that are wider than the template before rolling.

For large or bulk pieces, like the maxi dress I am packing, I prefer to fold these around the template and lay these on top of the rolled items in the cubes. This ensures I use every inch of space in the cubes. I have found that the fuller the cube is, the less likely the clothes will shift and wrinkle in transit.

Filling the cubes

As I roll and fold each item, I place it in the cube. I do not use the compression option on the larger cubes with my clothing as I found that tends to wrinkle everything a bit more. By not compressing, I can typically fit two layers of rolled clothes, or a layer of rolled and a layer or two of folded, in each cube. Below is my Bucharest cube, top view (with a list of all of the items within it) and side view.

My cruise cube includes both day and evening clothing. I also used two small cubes for all of my underwear and socks. Since these are not as full and I am not concerned about wrinkles, I use the compression option on these.

Packing My Bags

Now that all of my cubes are filled, I can start the fun game of Tetris to see how everything best fits in my bags! For this trip I am using my Away “The Bigger Carry-On” and my Away “The Everywhere Tote”, both in the Coast Blue color.

Carry-on bag

I put the cruise cube at the bottom of the “flat side” (the side without the bars of the handle) of the carry-on, with the two smaller cubes above. Since my sun hat packs flat, I slid that in the narrow, zippered compartment that also acts like a compressor for the other side of my carry-on. I put items that best fit between the bars of the handle on that side…shoes, toiletries, and the purse I will use in the evenings.

Personal item – tote bag

I put my Bucharest cube and my packed day pack in my tote bag (personal item), along with a portfolio of my travel documents and my iPad tucked into the laptop sleeve.

Day pack

Here’s everything I packed into my day pack. This is the bag I will use during the day while out on excursions. The pack itself, on the right, is a small Hedgren backpack I have used for years. I love it because it is small yet holds quite a bit. The main zipper is also on the back, which lies against my back when wearing it, which makes it less prone to pick-pockets.

The smaller square pouch in the top row is my wallet – it is large enough to fit my passport, plus it has a few slots for credit cards. I also love this travel wallet because it has RFID protection, plus it has one large pouch which makes it easier to collect and use coins while traveling. The other small square pouch, in the bottom row, is an amenity kit I got on Air Canada many, many moons ago. It is soft-sided and is the perfect size to hold all of my chargers, cords, and adapters.

The final item to point out is the Contigo water bottle. This is much smaller and lighter than many of the larger, heavier bottles that are ubiquitous these days. I like this one because it fits nicely in my smaller pack, but it still holds plenty of water to get me through a few hours on an excursion.

Wardrobe

I often get asked about what to wear on a river cruise. Some of this will depend on the weather and the time of year, but I generally pack the same or similar clothes. If the weather is going to be cooler, I will swap out one or both pairs of shorts with capris and/or full-length pants. Likewise with the tops, for cooler weather trips I’ll swap a few short-sleeved tee shirts for long-sleeved ones, plus I will bring a sweatshirt.

I also use the same or similar packing list and quantities regardless of how long the trip is. My general rule of thumb is to pack a week’s worth of clothing. If the trip is longer, I will re-wear things again and may need to send a few items to the laundry to be washed. I managed to do a 3-plus week ocean cruise and land extension in South America in 2023 by also just doing carry-on, using a very similar packing list as what I have for this cruise.

Daytime clothing

Pictured below, left to right, are the clothes I will wear on the planes and during the day (for 7 days):

1. On the plane: full-length, lightweight lounge pants, a short-sleeved tee shirt, and a lightweight cardigan. I also wear my lightweight hiking shoes (from Merrell – similar to sneakers, but a bit sturdier) and compression socks. The cardigan may be re-worn during the cruise if the weather is cooler. The hiking shoes will be worn many times during the trip! I wear these on the plane instead of packing them because they take up too much room in my luggage.
2. Day-time clothes: two pairs of shorts, two pairs of capris, and five tee shirts. All of these items are moisture wicking. The shorts and pants are all from L.L. Bean (Vista Camp). The tee shirts are all from Columbia (various styles).
3. Loungewear: lightweight capri pants (in my favorite nautical-themed print, of course!) and a basic tee shirt. Also pictured here are my walking sandals from Merrell, which will be worn during the day on excursions and also when relaxing on the ship.

Evening wear

Here is an overview of my evening clothing, which will cover 7 nights. Everything is mix-and-match, so every top will be worn with both pairs of pants and both pairs of sandals. The dress code on Avalon ships is very relaxed. The only restrictions are that shorts cannot be worn in the Dining Room or the Panorama Lounge in the evenings. Even though the dress code is relaxed, I still enjoy getting just a bit ‘gussied up’ (as my mom used to say!) for dinners. I still aim for comfort over style, but to me it is fun to look a bit nicer at dinner than during the day. But, to each her own…if you choose a more laid-back style, have at it!

• Three print tops, all from the Chico’s Travelers collection
• One pair of ankle pants, white
• One pair of full-length pants, black (I often refer to these as my ‘pajama’ pants…they are lightweight jersey knit with an elastic waist, so they are oh-so comfy!)
• One maxi dress, also from the Chico’s Travelers collection – this will likely only be worn once, at the Farewell Dinner on the ship. This dinner is typically held the second-to-last night of the cruise, and it’s an opportunity to get a bit more dressed up (although nobody really goes crazy…feel free to leave your ball gowns and tuxes at home!)
• Two pairs of sandals, yellow and navy blue
• One small handbag, yellow

Conclusion

Packing and wardrobe questions are usually the most frequently asked questions I get directly or that I see on social media forums. As you can see from this post, if you stick to some key basic pieces that can be mixed-and-matched and only bring things that will be worn at least twice, you can very easily do carry-on only. Luckily, I am expecting warm and dry weather on this cruise so I can leave some heavier layers at home and bring a few more pieces that may only be worn once. But even still, I have plenty of room in my luggage for all of the souvenirs I will collect along the way!

I am definitely a more relaxed traveler when I travel without checking any luggage, especially when there are short layovers on the itinerary! Doing more with less can take some time to get used to, but with a little planning and practice you can travel with easy using carry-on only as well.

Links

Click the buttons below to read other posts in this Avalon 101 series, check out details of my past Avalon cruises, or visit the Avalon website.