Question for Recent Past Cruisers

Rolaids and water pills!!! By day 3 of my last cruise I had terrible heartburn and my feet were all swollen!! Also, depending on what ship you are on, a hair dryer and surge protector or extension cord! I will also bring a GoPro camera on our next cruise!!

My biggies, already mentioned, are power strip, air freshener, and highligher.

I haven't seen pump hand soap for bathroom; I hate sharing / using that little bar.

Another vote for the power bar/extension cord. Duct tape to try to keep the curtains as blacked out as possible in the morning and to tape the extension cord to the floor. Temporary cork for sparkling wine. Colored paper and a pen attached to a string for taping to the outside of the cabin door. We used to do this so we could exchange notes with our kids who were in their own room, but then found that it became a ship-wide attraction with random people leaving notes, even drawing pictures and some pretty fine artwork. We had to change the paper a couple times a day.

I also love to bring a wall map and plot out the route using the TV display or GPS off a mobile device. It's fun to be able to see where you are and where you've been without having to turn on the TV, change the channel and wait for the screen to scroll past the humidity and wind direction statistics.

A clock & night light for the Bathroom.

My feet always swell by day 4-5 of our cruise. I am not sure why since I am average weight and pretty active while home, but they do. Our first cruise I had to buy a $40 pair of flip flops so I could have shoes that fit and were comfortable. So now I bring an extra pair a size larger than I normally wear. I also elevate my feet every night which helps a lot.

This is off topic, so I'm sorry in advance. :o Mine use to do this, too, until I realized that the ship water was doing it to me. It doesn't affect most, but the water on the ships are high in salt. I must have filtered water and I have to drink a lot of it to keep this from happening. I now bring on 24 waters for a 7 day and pick up more in port if the trip is longer. I drink a minimum of 3 a day, sometimes 4 (it's cheap in port if you need more). Since that water is in the food, you may have to up your water intake to stop it from happening. ...back to your regularly scheduled thread... :):p

Hair conditioner!

liquid hand soap for bathroom sink

Clothes pin to pin the window shades shut. We like to sleep in and the sun peaks through the gaps in the curtains.

Throw away wire clothes hangers.

Plastic drink containers for ice and water. We bought water, but next time I will take my own reusable ones and just fill. Also travel mugs for coffee/hot chocolate. Was great for watching the dive in movies!!

Prescription anti barf and anti diarrhea meds in case you pick up something on the ship or sampling the local cuisine. These were a lifesaver for us in Mexico and Myanmar.

We take a few clothespins and put on the bottom on the shower curtain. This helps the shower curtain stay inside the shower and helps keep it inside if you accidently bump when showering.

We just throw out at the end of the cruise.

Twice the money and half the clothes they think they'll need.

Amen! I use a 21" carry on piece of luggage for a 7 day cruise. I'm not looking to pack more. After almost 30 cruises and 50 land vacays, the lighter, the better.

Dollar store decorations for the door, because decorating the door is fun and also it's an easy way to spot your cabin if you come back in the wee hours a bit drunk. :D

This isn't a thing to bring, but please, for their sakes, be sure they know to put their cell phones/tablets/devices in airplane mode for the duration of the trip. Wi-fi can still be turned on if they find it in port, but always keep devices in airplane mode.

Power strip.

Liquid hand soap ...bar soap is gross for hand washing

Earplugs to block out the loud announcements by the CD.

bungee cord for the balcony door. Power strip. Bluetooth speaker for tunes. Meds.

A few things that I have discovered:

1. a good beach bag with an inner zipper pocket

2. a good swimsuit with a good beach cover-up

3. refer to #2 when packing and you will pack a lot less of the casual clothes. If you have a good swimsuit and quality beach cover-up you will have a lighter suitcase.

Lysol wipes

Never step on a cruise ship without these. Got off the Coral Princess today. The sailing before ours had norovirus. the first 7 days of the cruise we could not get our own drink, fix our salad, pepper/salt were brought out if you asked (individual packets) and so on. It was nice the first day but got old quickly. Everyone handled it great.

I wiped every surface in our cabin with Lysol wipes.

What is the one thing (or several things)that you would tell someone to bring with them that they might not think to bring themselves when they are packing?

Some OTC meds: aspirin, anti-diarrhea, antiseptic cream, band aids, cough drops and/or cold med, something for upset stomach, seasick prevention.

I know these are available in ship shop, or medical Center, or port but if you need the, in middle of night or crack of dawn that is no help.

You can get travel sizes at Minimus.biz

Hi Bcsurvivor05 :)

 

 

 

My wife & I like to keep a cruise journal from all of our voyages.

 

We have been doing this for a few decades now. And have quite a collection of cruise journals.

 

The strolls down memory lane are fantastic! Often more interesting than viewing the photo's taken.

 

...

I also keep a journal. I bring a blank book from vista print.com with one of their designs on the cover and besides writing each day in it, I tape things from the newsletter in it as well as postcards. So I bring small scissors and a roll of scotch tape with me for doing this.

Years later those journals really bring back memories, as you've said.

This is off topic, so I'm sorry in advance. :o Mine use to do this, too, until I realized that the ship water was doing it to me. It doesn't affect most, but the water on the ships are high in salt. I must have filtered water and I have to drink a lot of it to keep this from happening. I now bring on 24 waters for a 7 day and pick up more in port if the trip is longer. I drink a minimum of 3 a day, sometimes 4 (it's cheap in port if you need more). Since that water is in the food, you may have to up your water intake to stop it from happening. ...back to your regularly scheduled thread... :):p

Where did you ever get the idea that ship water is high in salt or unfiltered? Ship food may be overly salty to cater to mass market tastes. But the water is not. It is desalinated and filtered continuously- better standards than most municipal water supplies and the bottled stuff, most of which is also municipal.

While we're on the topic of what NOT to bring (besides leaving the bottled water home):

NO alarm clock or night light (cell phone works fine).

NO duct tape. It leaves a residue and you will be charged for the damage it causes. (If you really need tape for whatever reason, ask your steward to borrow some gaffer tape from engineering).

NO bungee cord for the sliding door. Keeping it open really screws the AC/heat balance for your neighbors.

NO power strips or extension cords. The ones you bought at Home Depot are not rated for marine use.

NO personal hair dryers. Can you imagine the power draw if every cabin on your circuit used personal high amp appliances at the same time?

NO travel power converters. Look at the fine print on your various chargers. You'll probably see 110/240. If not, buy one.

NO Crocs. Their soles are not meant for wet floors, which you may encounter on decks.

NO small containers for sand and shell collecting. Don't bring that or any non-inspected and not pre-packaged-for-sale food items into the US in general and agricultural states like CA or HI specifically.

NO e-cigs. You don't need the formaldehyde.

NO rum-runners. Really bush league.

NO walkie-talkies. See "rum-runners."

NO anything you plan on hanging from your balcony railing, especially while the ship is underway. Naval architects of yore are rolling over in their graves.

NO credit cards with ATM or foreign transaction fees.

NO trinkets or candy or mementos from your home town to give as tips/gifts to crew in lieu of cash (USD).

Is your suitcase several lbs. lighter yet?

Judging by amount of contradictory advice generated above, the best thing to bring is a healthy dose of cynicism regarding what anonymous message board users insist you need to do or not do on your first cruise. Not that Cruise Critic fails in its mission to spread information among those who share this common interest--heck, it does a better job than many of the cruise lines' own websites--but does anyone really need all these redundant health tips from posters who apparently do not know the difference between bacteria and viruses?

If you're cruising to Alaska: folding umbrella, insect repellent, binoculars.

inexpensive rain ponchos.... the kind u can get from dollar store.... in case of rain on ur port days they come in handy! but hopefully u won't need them!:p

YES!

We always bring 4 or 5 of these "emergency" rain ponchos. They are super small to pack. Why do we bring extras? Not because of rain, but because - if we want to sit in a park and have a picnic or that bench has "goo" on it, we pull one out and use it as a ground cover! Then deposit it in a nearby trash bin when we are done.

Also - though, yes, I realize we are very low maintenance dressers - we always buy a couple of cheap 5 packs of *pick your name brand* t-shirts for each of us. Blues for me, Browns for DH (so we can tell in a glance which ones are for each of us). Then at the end of the cruise, we can leave some of them behind in the trash if we have purchased a few extra trinkets!

We do the same with basic toiletries.