Thanks for the great clothing suggestions. I'm glad to hear tanks and flowy skirts are appropriate for dinner because I'm going to focus on those because I can blend all that stuff into my warm weather wardrobe here. Plus mix & match makes packing light! I do love to buy new stuff for vacations, though. I think ChatKat said it's part of the excitement, and it is! Here's the kind of outfit I think will work well (from Nordstrom):


Shoes aren't going to be a problem, I'll bring only a few all-purpose pairs, but unfortunately my 13 yr-old daughter has overnight turned into the Paris Hilton of packing. I took her and my son to Fla recently, and when we're ready to leave for the airport, we all meet at the bottom of the staircase with our luggage--one piece each for carry on plus one extra small piece if nesc. was the instructions. They're airline kids, experienced world travelers, they know how to pack. Or so I thought! She comes down with a suitcase and a backback--the ones we decided on but OVERstuffed to the point that if they didn't explode in the car, they'd never be able to fit in the overhead bin. She'd brought five pairs of shoes for a five day trip (I hear KarenS saying, "And your point is?" :) )!!! So, we tear down the suitcases and between me and my son split what she claimed she HAD to have, and I made her leave stuff behind. For the PG, I'm going to give her a 25" suitcase to roll-along herself and tell her it can go to 44 pounds, just for her stuff so no stressing for me, and I'm going to weigh it BEFORE we leave! Ha! And then SHE'S responsible for dragging it to Papeete and back!

Donna--great to meet you! How cool is that you and LeeAnn are writers. No, I didn't know. We'll have to meet up sometime on one of the off-topic threads so you can tell me what you write. Thanks about my website. I visited your blog and it's great! I enjoyed reading about the Manila stopover on your last cruise--you had me all choked up describing how Capt Dag got the staff's families onboard.