What to wear on a Caribbean Cruise this winter

Anonymous

I am starting to plan my packing for the cruise we are taking as a family over winter break. I'm very excited...especially since I have never been to the Caribbean! I'm having a bit of an issue trying to figure out what season it is there over winter...do I dress for summer...brights and whites and tank tops? Or do I dress for winter....blacks etc...in a more lightweight fabrication because it is warm at that time of year?

Has anyone been on a winter Caribbean cruise that can provide any handy tips?

16 years ago

Dressing

7 replies

Latest reply was from CocoLion

velvetychocolate

Veteran

I have not been on a cruise to the Carribean, but I did go on a cruise to Mexico a couple of years ago.

Is this your first cruise? If so, I might be able to give you a few pointers.

16 years ago

Anonymous

It's not my first cruise...I went to Alaska a few years back. My problem now is I am stumped about what season to pack...winter or summer? In the Caribbean, do they dress the same as summer when it is technically winter?

16 years ago

velvetychocolate

Veteran

I don't know!

When I went on a cruise to Mexico a couple of years ago, (in February) I wasn't dressing 'winter-y'. That said, I did have some lighter weight black and navy dress pants, which came in handy for the fine dining nights that weren't the formal nights. I wore more spring-like tops with these. During the day, it's pretty casual.

Also - a trench coat really came in handy for getting to and from (from airport to airport and such).

Shoes seem to take up a lot of space in one's luggage, and for the cruise, I was able to get away with just *one* pair of very comfortable slides/sandals, and one pair of fancy shoes for those formal nights. The slides/sandals were sort of the kind of thing that could look dressy, but could also look casual during the day as well. The all-purpose pair I took looked something similar to these (in black):

http://clarks.zappos.com/n/p/d...../2750.html

http://www.eccousa.com/shoes/w.....etail.aspx

Perfectly fine with those dress pants, but also looked nice with white jeans and such.

And the best part was making certain that these 'all purpose' shoes were going to be comfortable, which was great when stopping in different ports.

You have asked a very good question. In Mexico, it didn't seem like people were dressing in wintery-colours, and this was February.

That said, I've been to Florida in the winter, and people *do* wear sweaters and fall/winter type clothes.

Hopefully someone else might know about whether or not people will be wearing winter colours.

16 years ago

Anonymous

This has certainly turned out to be a challenge! I have found a few "packing hints" lists out on the internet and they are quite generic....bring 3 pairs of pants, for example. I think that I will build a capsule wardrobe based around black with options for layering. I need to dig out my summer clothes again!

Our daytime excursions will all be very sporty and will require gear and swimsuits. Daytime on the ship will be fairly casual...lounging on the deck and sporty activities with the kids. They have rock climbing and ice skating!

From our last cruise experience, dinners were more casual than I expected. I think a nice assortment of smart casual and dressy tops over pencil skirts will work well. I beleive there is only one "official" fancy evening.

16 years ago

Carole

Veteran

Hi Marlene-How fun for you to have a cruise in your future! We have cruised the Carribean 3 or 4 times always in the early spring, Mexico as well. It seems to me if you are going to tropically warm temps you just pack your summer clothes and resort wear and you will be just fine. The dressy evenings on board you can go as dressy as you want, cocktail and evening gowns. Take a sweater or wrap as it can get chilly with all the air conditioning. I remember wondering about that issue as well, even for trips to Hawaii when it is still so cold here, it seems weird to pack up light summer wear, but you will fit right in once you are on the ship. Travel days I wore layers and even a light jacket, even capris, so that you won't be too cold. You might check tripadvisor.com for help on the temperatures to expect also I remember a websight called cruisecritics.com that really helped me plan our trip go to the forum section and you will learn a lot about what to do and not do! Hope that helps..

have fun..

16 years ago

lunaed

Active Member

I went in winter time to Caribbean island Nassau and it was really warm weather (mid to high 70s). I suggest looking at your itinerary and travel plan. Are you planning to do lot of water activities in the islands? We did! I was able to get away with wearing a loungewear/swimwear during the trip and remained cool in the weather, fashionable with just a few extra accessories (hat/hair clips/footwear) and free of much baggage (since i didn't have to carry extra separate clothes for non-swimwear).

fyi, I wore a high neck halter long swim wear from (http://www.swimsuitmodest.com/) -- similar to black tara dress but already sold out/unavailable now in their site. that dress worked out well in that I was able to wear it around cruise ship freely even in some places where they don't allow swim wear ^_^;; so highly recommend the site (or at least similar swimwear that look like dresses).

Overall, check out how many formal and casual dining nights you have in ur cruise ship. There was 1 formal dress night in our dining time/room and I ended up wearing same single dress I packed in the trip but amped it up with black stockings, jewelry and some formal hair style.

Assuming you're going for like 3-5 night cruise, these are my suggestions for you:
-- 1 or 2 knee length dresses
-- 2 stockings (just in case 1 of them tears somehow; they are lightweight enough to just pack just in case)
-- 1 pair slippers/1 mid or high heels (if possible)/1 covered flats/sandals
-- 1-2 bottomwear (capris/shorts/leggings/jeans/pants -- try to pack lightweight clothes to save on weight)
-- 2-3 tops (at least 1 formal and other two semi-casual or casual -- but definitely almost all should pair well with the 1-2 packed bottomwear -- I suggest sleeveless so you don't get tan lines on hands)
-- 2-3 swimwear (cruise will have whirlpools/indoor and outdoor pools; islands will also have water parks/beach/etc where you will want to wear them)
-- jewelry (especially earrings and watch at a minimum -- there's not a lot of clocks in the cruise at all; i don't even recall a clock in our stateroom so a watch is a big help just to keep track of time)
-- 1 shawls/wraps -- at night time in deck area it can get slightly chilly and windy at 60's and low 70's so just helps to have rather than be uncomfortable shivering; just choose one that's easy to match with all the outfits you pack
--innerwear -- of course choose appropriate ones for all your clothes; pack couple more than you think you need just in case of any mishap.

Choose all clothes such that they don't wrinkle even when packed. There's of course laundry and dry cleaning service in cruise but it's just extra expense you can pinch on and spend better at all the other fun cruise paid activities and island excursions.

I think I covered everything I could think of. Have lots of fun! You will surely enjoy yourself

and of course --- after posting i check on the date and see this thread was posted 4 yrs ago! Hah! ^_^;;;;

11 years ago

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

I'm going on a cruise to Hawaii in January. I think your response helped me!

11 years ago

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