there are alot of long time cruisers that will tell you about stuff you want to take that you might not normally think of… here is mine!
The “LIST”, here are a few suggestions of things we like to take(some of these we talk about a little more in other sections)
PASSPORT or Birth Certificate and ID, this isn’t something that is an optional “would be good to have”, but I want to put it on here first as a IF YOU FORGET EVERYTHING ELSE LIKE CLOTHES, SHOES, SWIMSUITS, SNORKEL GEAR, YOUR SPOUSE OR KIDS, ETC… DO NOT FORGET YOUR PASSPORT, you can pretty much replace anything else, but if you forget your passport you wont be getting on the ship! (If you are going on a cruise that leaves from the US and returns to the US you do not have to have a passport, you can use a Birth Certificate and Drivers liscence)
Travel Clock, i am one of those that if i wake up at night i like to know what time it is, here is a good one i use that will stay back lit
or if you use a clock app that has a “screen saver” function that will give you a lighted clock this is a great stand for your phone, it is also great for using on a plane to hold your phone watching a movie
Multi port USB charger and portable chargers, alot more stuff now charges from USB ports, (phones, tablets, cameras, etc) most of the time you have access to one or two outlets, here is a good corded multi port hub ,i have used one that plugged directly into the outlet and most cases worked fine, but have run into a couple situations that a corded would have worked alot better. Note:they do not let you take power strips on most ships, when we got off last time i saw a whole table of them that they were letting people pick up as they got off.. also a good portable charger is good to have off the ship, can charge straight from wall outlet and has cables integrated for charging phones and devices
Sweater/light jacket, unless its the dead of summer, even if you are headed to the Caribbean you will still want to bring a little something in case you get a chilly evening. (if you are going on Royal Caribbean ships that have ice skating shows you will want a sweater)
Long pants and socks, if you are going on a ship that has ice skating these are required to skate.
Rain Poncho, its a good idea to check the weather where you will be, a little rain isn’t usually a big deal, sometimes it can be nice, especially in the middle of the summer when it can get a little too warm, a light rain poncho can make it a little nicer if your expecting some rain.
Beach blanket, this one we got packs up really small and is nice to keep the sand off you or out of your stuff, has little pockets in the corners you can put sand in to keep it in place
waterproof cases for phones and important stuff, there are alot of good phone covers that will still let you take pictures, i bought one on the ship and took my phone swimming/snorkeling with me and it kept it nice and dry, but then i used the same case on a trip a year later and it leaked and got my phone wet (the moral of this story is that it might be a good idea to get fresh ones every once in a while) good for phones if you are not planning on using your phone it can be kept in one of these waist pouches with passports or other stuff you want to keep dry, we will usually put one in our backpack to keep passports in when we take them off the ship
Extra bag to bring a few things back, seems like there is always someone you need to bring a t-shirt back for, like your kids, or babysitters, neighbors that watch your house while you are gone, etc..
a couple years ago we ended up buying a collapsible luggage/duffel bag on the ship that folds up really small, we throw that in our suitcase, a lot of times we will use that to just stuff all our dirty laundry in. and on our way home we have extra room in our luggage for souvenirs and stuff . i found a similar one for a better price, Here, and it packs into its own pocket ends up 9″x9″x1″.
TP, BYOTP, the toilet paper on the ship is not all that great, bring a few rolls of your favorite soft TP 🙂
Water, bring water bottles with you,(to take off the ship in port and use in your room) we usually throw 10-15 in each of our suitcases depending on how much weight we have left. (cruise ships are starting to limit the amount of water you can bring, see what your cruise lines limit is, usually you can put 4-5 in each of your bags)
you can also bring empty water bottles ( the double wall stainless are great for keeping water cold all day) and fill them on the ship each day before you get off (they kind of discourage it a little at some self serve water locations, but you can just dump water out of prefilled cups at the buffet, on our last cruise several times i had the waiter in the dining room at breakfast fill my bottle for me) this is my favorite insulated stainless steel water bottle (40oz) about $15 , sometimes you can find a two pack on sale at Costco for about $25
Luggage Scale, if you are flying, you need to know how much your luggage weighs before you get to the airport, and your probably going to bring back extra stuff so a scale will help you pack better. here is the one we use
Backpacks, one thing we have found really useful is some of the new backpacks that are able to be stuffed into a small sack built into itself, a lot of times when we get off in Port we will take our swim fins in small snorkel bag/backpacks, then throw in one of those stuff sack backpacks, if we end up getting t-shirts, souvenirs or something we can fill the extra backpack. we actually have used these as our main backpacks in all our travel, this one is better quality than similar cheaper ones
Luggage tags. Make sure you have good luggage tags with your name and address on them in case your luggage gets lost,
When you check in online for your ship you will usually be able to print off your luggage tags that have your name and room number, after you print those off and fold them, run clear packing tape over them, it will make them a lot stronger and less likely to get torn. on our way home on our last Cruise we had one of our bags get the luggage tag (the Royal Caribbean one with our disembark number) ripped off of it, so it ended up costing us an extra half hour to hour tracking it down, we did end up finding it and it wasn’t a big problem but it would have made life a lot easier if we had used something like this luggage tag holder for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, This one for Carnival, Princess, Norwegian.
we have some now and they work great.
Over the Door Hanging Shoe Organizer, i have seen other people recommend these for a while, i held out for a long time and finally got some to take on our last cruise, it was great! helped free up space on the few shelves they give you and you can put anything in them, not just shoes. did not work to hang on the back of the closet doors so we hung it on the last hanger in the closet. got it for $8 on amazon
A Nice thing you can do, (i also mention this on the “on the ship” page) your room will be cleaned twice a day, usually morning/noon and in the evening when you are at dinner, these guys are great and its nice to come back to a clean room, at the same time that is what they do all day long every day, they never get off the ship in ports like some of the other staff (because they are cleaning your room) we have found that they really appreciate it when we offer for them to not clean our room either in the morning or evening a couple days in the week (you can give them the option of getting a little break AM or PM), especilly if you are traveling with family or friends and have a couple or few rooms it can give them a decent amount of time to do something.