Jump to content

Need Great Ideas of clever things to bring


long2cruise
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • 1 month later...
Does the ginger only work for tummy issues or is it also good for dizziness? I've only done 1 cruise (just booked another) - I had no problems with my stomach, but was very dizzy/unbalanced for most of the cruise (and about 2 months after I got home). Would I be better off with ginger or bonine?

 

I would recommend sea-bands for this. They would deal with nausea and dizziness. Sea band also makes ginger anti-nausea gum which works extremely well.

 

One thing nobody has mentioned is Norwex cloths. They are naturally antimicrobial - use and just rinse with hot water. I prefer them to Clorox wipes, which say the surface has to stay wet for several minutes to actually sanitize and disinfect. How many Clorex wipes would it take to make things stay wet that long?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
I'd like to find a small eg 500ml or 1/2 litre insulated leak proof water/drinks container/mug/bottle, so far have had no luck..any ideas recommendations please.

 

Thanx

 

Sandy in Spain

 

CamelBak makes insulated water bottles. Even with the drink spout flipped open, I've never had a Cambelbak leak or drip. I have a filtered Camelbak that I use for travel. It's in my carry-on and empty as I go through security. Once through, I find the nearest drinking fountain and fill it up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Wow...Just reading through all of this stuff makes me tired! I'm more a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants guy. I figure if I make it on board the ship with surf trunks, flips flops and a credit card I will still have a great time! In fact, as long as I have the credit card I can track down everything else I need pretty easily, although a few people might object to me wandering naked down the decks with my credit card in hand! :eek:

 

More power to you all for your extensive thought on all these things!

 

JC

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

After many cruises we have our "cruise stuff" that we always pack. Most of it takes very little space and helps keep the small cabins neat and tidy. If we cruised in suites I would not bring a lot of it. However for a cruise five days or more ( next is 10) I need to be organized or it will make me grouchy to live in a mess. The bigger the cabin the less tidy I need to be. Many of my hacks came from the dollar store so cost is little and I have it down now what we will use and won't use.

 

I bought my $1 antibacterial liquid soap for the bathroom sink today. We don't use bar soap at home so why would I want to at sea? It goes in a ziplock in my checked bag and I leave it on the ship.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First, I wish that there was a way for people on the same cruise to be able to share/offer something to other travelers. If I brought duct tape, I’d be happy to share it with other cruisers who had a problem and needed it. Same for eyeglass kit, sewing kit, etc.

 

Second, a question -does anyone know if google voice will work like icall does?

 

Last, here are 3 things I'm packing that I don't think I saw anywhere else:

  • We always travel with a small white noise machine, plus we roll up a towel and lay it across the bottom of the door to stop extra light/noise from coming into the room
  • I'm also having everyone take probiotics for a week before and during the cruise, just in case a tummy bug starts to go around the ship.
  • The suggestions of candy along with tips gave me the idea to purchase extra Valentines cards with the candy attached (my kids often give them out at school). They have a cute little message and you could probably add your dollar or two inside the folded mini-card.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

First, I wish that there was a way for people on the same cruise to be able to share/offer something to other travelers. If I brought duct tape, I’d be happy to share it with other cruisers who had a problem and needed it. Same for eyeglass kit, sewing kit, etc.

 

Second, a question -does anyone know if google voice will work like icall does?

 

Last, here are 3 things I'm packing that I don't think I saw anywhere else:

  • We always travel with a small white noise machine, plus we roll up a towel and lay it across the bottom of the door to stop extra light/noise from coming into the room
  • I'm also having everyone take probiotics for a week before and during the cruise, just in case a tummy bug starts to go around the ship.
  • The suggestions of candy along with tips gave me the idea to purchase extra Valentines cards with the candy attached (my kids often give them out at school). They have a cute little message and you could probably add your dollar or two inside the folded mini-card.

 

I don't think probiotics would actually work for that prevention, but carrying a pack/small bottle of electrolytes will help a lot in case of hangover/puking/diarrhea etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"We try to write at least one postcard and sometimes two or three for each day of the trip; we get them in port or sometimes on the ship or both, and mail them in the next port, if possible. If it's too much hassle to mail them ourselves we just post them from the ship, which may mean they don't go out until the cruise is over. We bring pre printed address labels with us".

 

 

Nice mention.

Sticky address labels are big time savers. We send a ton of post cards to our daughter and our grandsons from each place we visit when away from home. Our daughter still has every post card I ever sent her while traveling since she was 5 and that was 38 years ago.

If you want your cards to get posted from where you are visiting and haven't passed a post office while on shore the store where you bought your post cards quite often have stamps for sale. Quality stores will usually volunteer to mail them too. I've done this many, many times and have yet had a store not send the cards. Don't be clever and buy stamps at home for your cruise because US stamps only work in the US. That's a big newbie cruiser mistake.

Here's another suggestion. Get some business card sized address cards (nice ones) printed with your names, address and email printed on them before your cruise. Use them to hand out to new friends you might want to stay in touch after the cruise. There's a bonus doing this. How often have we all said [on a cruise], "darn, what were the names of those fun people we were speaking with last night?" Had they handed you such a card you'd know. The Japanese are masters of this art as hand shakes usually come with a card.

For you [digital] camera buffs out there. Do not use mega Gig photo cards. Use smaller capacity cards (6-8 gig storage max). If a large capacity card (128 gig or larger) 'poops the bed' - EVERY vacation picture you've taken dies with it. Don't take the chance of loosing everything you've photographed on what may be a once in a lifetime trip. Besides the extra memory cards you should now be carrying buy at least one extra battery, charge it and pop that in your pocket too. Don't forget to pack the battery charger. A digital camera with a dead battery and defective memory card is a paper weight.

 

Excellent suggestion! I am not extremely social, but I like to remember and follow up with people I have interacted with. And you always find amazing, interesting people on a cruise you would like to keep in touch with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
Excellent suggestion! I am not extremely social, but I like to remember and follow up with people I have interacted with. And you always find amazing, interesting people on a cruise you would like to keep in touch with.

 

I make my own business style cards and laminate them I usually title the card with name and date of the cruise, then add a route map to one side and/or a small head shot photo of myself and OH, then of course our email address. If there is space I might add a short message like <Lovelt o meet you>. <Happy Cruising> etc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also have not read every page of this thread but there is one thing that I have not seen in the last few pages.

 

My husband has had a TBI (traumatic brain injury) and because of this he does not tolerate extreme heat or extreme cold. When we went to Disney World last June (Yes, I know crazy to go in the heat of June) we took one of those sport cooling towels. It really helped him weather the heat.

 

We are going on a cruise to the Panama Canal next month and it is already with our must take items.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Love all the great ideas! The one thing we always take on cruises is a portable travel safe. It is hard plastic with a cable attached. We can always find a pole or something that can't be moved to attach it to when we are lying around the pool or on the beach during an excursion. Once, I slipped the cable through two beach chairs attaching them together! It would have been pretty difficult for someone to sneak away holding two big beach chairs! We put our cell phones and sea pass cards in them so we can relax when we walk away from our chairs without fear of them being stolen. We bought it for around $40 on Amazon. Best purchase ever!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

We usually fly to port and we spend a couple of days pre/post cruise. We try to travel light, not only because of the luggage fees, but just dragging it around. I have to keep the cabin tidy. In the bottom of my piece of luggage I carry one of the cardboard flat boxes sold at the Dollar Store. I leave it at the end of the cruise. It unfolds and that's where sunglasses and all the loose items go at the end of the day. I take a magnetic hook with a clip attached. I pt the lanyard on it when i come in at the end of the night and can grab it as I leave the cabin. The clip holds the daily news. I carry Zip-lock bags. Found this tip here LONG ago. I put damp swimsuits in them to bring home. Anything used on the beach (sand) goes in a zip lock. If I go to the buffet to get something to have for a late night snack, i put it in a zip lock bag. It keeps it germ free riding the elevator to get to the cabin and keeps it fresh in the cabin. If it's cheeses, it can go in the fridge to stay chilled and fresh (gal size). When we had small children going, we would put an entire outfit in a zip lock to grab and take along in case of a spill or to grab to take to the bathroom for shower time. The dirty outfit went back into the zip lock bag and tossed into the empty luggage. By the end of the cruise, most of the packing was done. I still do it for my dirty clothes. That way none of my dirty clothes are touching my clean clothes in the luggage to bring home. I always take Over-the-counter medicine. We have actually used a few of them and there's nothing worse than a sick stomach or headache in the middle of the night on a cruise. Nothing is open on the ship and you can't get anything until you reach a port and get off the ship. I take the usuals like Advil and Pepto Bismol, but i also take Bonine, Neosporin, Immodium, band-aids, and because of a bad night YEARS ago, I also take a few cold med gel caps like Robitussin. I've had calls at night from friends/family on a cruise with us asking for medicine. I take a tiny sewing kit, which did get used once. None of this takes up any real room in the luggage.I stick them in the corners (in a zip lock, of course) I've taken the over-the-door hanger and never needed it and the pop up hamper which i also didn't need because of the zip-locks. I try to keep it as simple as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

AF1QipOd_A3aFMdvS-dc2i_EOu5hPuKDAATkVnDS1Tir

AF1QipNNSapZt6Zj9dvb8N5wKZjCeuDIPg8dq1M4Uxyi-tmp.jpgN87Ft2oooAqOapyKdcUJJkdn0pHb1-uQB4ug1TdetBh6x7zJvJ7XYe6HhJaPpvcKykVlB6gEzP3f44U5N0g18qWhEh7vj7xUJbTte1ZoVH3GvUDjKu6a47mw4DmW29ubcP6txVtcWPoaKq0nNvc0_h9bj7aj4WxyzxvFOgN-tItmjc6V2TmI59qYwYDzzbUPBul2DwYXCGD9YY1OxnMA0OdyLRrZDXjYPDP_DE9GZf5GQkM76-U-vMUNrq5-lqSPQC9bXcGDjIFqkT63--qgGPkN3W_ZRuktLYt3u6mI9fyaNo90p2AdN7V4tW2RtaX7qguO_UKCtJ-rJCrs4yiQ3IxpfqPnVR4NyQx0sTkgyengZfCGofaorJOwDf61uGucRBwQDMygWl8uIfoN1XQOe8lbsktE6sPzNWk7NCSn72jB55sCSyJ9obS3O0G9exLxFyNPohoipL8bLnV8uN4SP7cQsXDLMHQ6JmbBYmrUcxIawV25xTE33szRI_YE2z8FH8PV9L2q4mdtAoNR2rL_y3OjhWME0Swxq-XZ6f0OQ5UqpUDzHlNC5i0mr3XS5APDXY0Oq_6_D5y6BCxbqkTTsoLrntrqi5XUdx8JGcQhhUHrc2UPRZTQ=w434-h770-no=w400

I wanted to share my experience with some of the items suggested on this board, so I'm posting pictures of the items with a brief description of how I used them and/or like them. (I'm having trouble shrinking my photos from Google albums, so I'm posting each item in a separate post, sorry for that!). We cruised in April 2017 on RCI Independence of the Seas.

 

I thought I would really like using this one, but ended up wishing for a smaller one or different style. We actually didn't use very much and I missed having both of the cabin-provided hooks for use. Some people put it on the door but I didn't like it there. I had trouble getting it to stay with magnets and the hooks didn't fit over the door. Maybe I got the wrong kind, but I still don't think I would have used it. I could have just as easily used the smaller shelves behind the side mirrors in the main cabin area for sunglasses and other small items.

N87Ft2oooAqOapyKdcUJJkdn0pHb1-uQB4ug1TdetBh6x7zJvJ7XYe6HhJaPpvcKykVlB6gEzP3f44U5N0g18qWhEh7vj7xUJbTte1ZoVH3GvUDjKu6a47mw4DmW29ubcP6txVtcWPoaKq0nNvc0_h9bj7aj4WxyzxvFOgN-tItmjc6V2TmI59qYwYDzzbUPBul2DwYXCGD9YY1OxnMA0OdyLRrZDXjYPDP_DE9GZf5GQkM76-U-vMUNrq5-lqSPQC9bXcGDjIFqkT63--qgGPkN3W_ZRuktLYt3u6mI9fyaNo90p2AdN7V4tW2RtaX7qguO_UKCtJ-rJCrs4yiQ3IxpfqPnVR4NyQx0sTkgyengZfCGofaorJOwDf61uGucRBwQDMygWl8uIfoN1XQOe8lbsktE6sPzNWk7NCSn72jB55sCSyJ9obS3O0G9exLxFyNPohoipL8bLnV8uN4SP7cQsXDLMHQ6JmbBYmrUcxIawV25xTE33szRI_YE2z8FH8PV9L2q4mdtAoNR2rL_y3OjhWME0Swxq-XZ6f0OQ5UqpUDzHlNC5i0mr3XS5APDXY0Oq_6_D5y6BCxbqkTTsoLrntrqi5XUdx8JGcQhhUHrc2UPRZTQ=w434-h770-no

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was another really, really useful "hack" that I brought with. We had 4 people (me, DH, DS and DD) in the cabin and shower storage would have been super tight without this! It stuck really well to the wall in the shower with the suction cups. I actually wish I had brought more of the suction cup hooks for hanging other items around the cabin.

 

0AghMUWVMqBNglMyD2fcYKZX23rsCUVAzb4vA6I8z7s8BmPiD-Per6JEZLiJehQh_bYt6mvXB6PSY4NghQSb5wHPOmhhl1kTLqQbI5HD0jZufAc6-P6vfShwJJ7sHiuk6v1BNS6HjgKGUlE3k-wUfQXSazvSLHHz0mFUrF0B9x9cdrEUE5-Fs3_GTXQMytLoNyI6ixsWdhHZuGD2wpvEPAsOalKHi2kFMW4yeCUyF8SS_5zoYMn_0ZcD5p9Q-T09-a499yFCSMV186UeDKOYLdONM2QTGlCxSiMQ4BRRwzO5b7FR_RWIwB1qs9qgBolg0yV6oOofW7TUk8W0KbRNFbbCDLojqFDdn4dUYmlx1jI1o-L9jyFZ9k1waIUM_c7AJqTTYmjXO1xeMWqRe8NB6eJgXOp-rd38DXCnBCtWg6ZnDDqLq8-xCwB1Idu3QYjRWYwq5k6fnawh6pZynhb9EczTmxxpG5BGxa-Mu076ikqJ2n7yQkpwsLNqEGIH11GXvDQG1nrP0YZt4qpQ--27cRxScTW_A-Qonk6SaEKqNNFyEeyhoEwnOdJXyW7l3QdlTWgNvw6fSpmFEsdWQevTEEzavtiUVSsXuzMSJETbgMQ9lFwuVbwf=w1000-no-tmp.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also invaluable! We never tripped over shoes and had plenty of storage space. With 4 people in a cabin, even though we only had 2-3 pairs each, they would have been awkward without a place to put them! As you can see, I also pull out the life jackets to use the shelves for clothes in the closet. After I shove the suitcases under the beds, I put the life jackets also under the beds in an easy-to-access spot. We each had our own shelf for general clothes, then everyone had 1-2 items hanging in the back of the closet, hats on the top shelf, and swimming suits were in the drawers in the main cabin.

 

GZzkccbRT1ppy94WDMrtmksV5cw-x7jq1qI2PUuMYl3KuRxEcD826Li0UGfDZbAvpYIs8Bk5Uvs6Vn82HKsJ1MQjD-6lkqFJ6h60CgeIvTukY5vQyxl61Sh2frWjL0IJeBoWUWzLwiFkJAgk2CuIQYWZzZJUv7lNRBb3iBm8kdaT0Y_sdY0Vhri39rshwg7M0-SbFf0Q0zONRh1dHzamXcPvN31wZmymmT7UBi1p_rkJZonOxUV-fkLhsj4g0EaCdtjIQjx18qkmTfXqMyKQ3zuDK6cgdXGocYCcVgGc0Km9ezVyhSIWV9GPNBPJxZGXAFtgnOdz8pUyx54ZV-_c4qM6yj-gK9zPbqjr0TzC-qenkOZIpZomU-6Yw2yXlgX20a3KUnBpj-lOC3TMm6MFMO38kUrfNefSQTSo_Lji2egFTTpny0v7dB7gpgOKAo5b1BFxG_dNJiroQ-FFZitqHxGLy_Z_ktTlvIV9hp4t8Nox2X7u64lzgc-bJwbyugvbCjsKliosYKosRTY3wWWnpywuIo56j3Ndc3vfCQBBHSbwfkxu8xWmokOeCJsT0ZCmrOgNd0qzPlOOJnHQIWNVmkrjFQrWqdm1ItzLWx-eZGTWn6dZH6oW=w434-h770-no

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...