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Yep, you can do it! Here’s how:

Alaska cruises are notoriously difficult to pack for. For one thing, the weather in the areas you visit can be wildly unpredictable. In my own experience, I’ve found myself wearing anything from a tank top to three layers and a hat. And those were all in July!

People will tell you that the key to packing for an Alaska cruise is layers, and that’s certainly true. But the key to packing light for an Alaska cruise? Well, that’s pretty simple: you have to be ok with wearing the same clothes more than once.

Before we go any further, let me clarify: I’m talking mostly about your pants and your layers, like your coat, hat, gloves, shoes, etc. (Please don’t tell your friends that I advised you to skimp on the number of pairs of underwear you packed for your Alaska cruise.)

Alaska cruises are a lot more casual than your usual cruise in the Caribbean. In some ways, that’s due to the packing challenge of Alaska cruises: You can’t exactly fit a ball gown and heels in your suitcase when it’s filled up with layers to keep you warm.

I like to take advantage of the more casual dress on Alaska cruises by bringing along a very limited capsule wardrobe and re-wearing some of my clothes. I also packed for my Alaska cruise with the intent to take advantage of Royal Caribbean’s laundry service, which I get for free as a perk of my loyalty status.

Here’s a list of what I packed for my 7-night cruise with a two-night pre-cruise stay in Seattle:

• 1 pair yoga pants
• 2 pairs jeans (1 blue and 1 black)
• 1 pair leggings (for under jeans if cold, or to wear to dinner with dresses)
• 2 dresses
• 5 shirts
• 1 light sweater/wrap
• 2 thermal shirts
• 1 layering athletic zip-up jacket
• 1 rain jacket (lightweight)
• 1 pair waterproof gloves
• 4 pairs socks
• 1 hat
• 1 bathing suit
• 1 gym outfit (shorts, sports bra, shirt)
• 8 pairs underwear and 2 bras
• 1 pair waterproof sneakers
• 1 pair sandals
• 1 pair flip flops (I can’t help myself, it just feels weird not to wear flip flops on a cruise)

I divided my clothes between my carry-on and a backpack, carrying the warm clothes in my backpack in the off chance that I somehow got separated from the carry-on. Using packing cubes helped me fit a lot of clothes into a relatively small space. (This is an Amazon affiliate link, so I receive a small commission at no cost to you if you click through and purchase using the link.)

Fortunately, our weather was surprisingly good for May, so I was overloaded on warm clothes: I could have easily avoided bringing the gloves and one of the thermal shirts. I wound up not using the bathing suit or gym clothes, so I could have left those out as well. But overall, I wore most of the clothes that I packed, washing the dirty clothes through the ship’s laundry about halfway through the trip.