I just got home from what was for me a LONG vacation -- 24 days aboard Holland America's ship Maasdam! We left Ft. Lauderdale on March 4, spent 14 days in the Southern Caribbean, returned to Ft. Lauderdale, and then stayed on board for 10 days in the Eastern Caribbean. It was lovely! As always, I took some stitching with me, and pieced 16 blocks for the current quilt at the hand-piecing stage. I find that taking some stitching up to one of the lounges with huge windows on quiet afternoons is a lovely way to spend some "down time" -- watch the water, sip a diet cola, stitch, and usually meet some interesting folks.
By the way, new to me was a baggage deal that I would highly recommend to anybody on a cruise who needs to fly home. About 10 airlines have a setup with some cruise companies where for $19, you fill out a form with all of your flight data, and the cruise ship contacts the airline and arranges for your luggage to be taken from just outside your cabin door on the last night to a special holding area, and after docking it goes directly to the airport for you and is checked through to your final destination. You walk off the ship with your boarding pass (which was printed for you by the ship) do NOT have to find and wrassle with luggage, and only need to get to the airport and fly home. You don't see or touch your luggage from the time you put it outside your door the last night of the cruise until it shows up on the luggage carousel after your flight! It worked beautifully, and was great!
As for travel with quilting, I figure the piecing is of the same importance as my jewelry, my money, my passport, my medicine, and my tickets, so I carry a largish purse and pack it into the bottom of a rather large purse or tote bag and carry it with me. The sewing kit stuff is in a suitcase, and sad but not tragic if it disappears, but the quilt blocks are not going to get lost.