Top 5 Things You Must Pack

[SoCalgirl]

Wow, what a list Bippytrip! I am going to just print that out and use it to pack from. You guys all have some good suggestions; I have learned the hard way to pack lots of the toiletries, meds, sunscreen, film, etc. that costs a fortune if you have to buy it onboard but the other ideas like small bills and ziplocs are going to be on my list this time for sure too.

[GinaDucey]

I use Joico K-PAK Reconstruct. It is a little miracle worker! Your hair will never look or feel like you were in salt water - but you will still have the natural highlights that the sun gives. I use it every night on a cruise and about every three shampoos normally.

[LeeNHCruiser]

WOW ~ you guys/gals are great!!!! Thanks so much. I better start packing now. lol

 

Birth control ROFL. You mean people actually have sex on these cruises? Wait until I tell my husband! ;)

 

Great, great ideas. Thanks for sharing your wealth of experience. Keep 'em coming!

[Flamingo19040]

Ha - I think we will be too busy for sex, won't we!! lol We are celebrating our nifty 50 birthdays - sure don't want any little "surprise" running around 9 months from now.

 

Sailing one week from today on Fascination

First cruise - can't wait!

[LeeNHCruiser]

Ha - I think we will be too busy for sex, won't we!! lol We are celebrating our nifty 50 birthdays - sure don't want any little "surprise" running around 9 months from now.

 

Sailing one week from today on Fascination

First cruise - can't wait!

 

See above ~ birth control!!! :D Have a Happy Birthday ~ what a great way to celebrate.

[aggieastrosfan]

Here's something to NOT bring: leave all your extra credit cards, debit cards, membership cards, etc., at home. If you're bringing passports and aren't driving, leave your license at home, too; don't give thieves a chance to steal anything you don't need to use! Leave one useless card in your wallet with a magnetic strip for the safe; I can't remember which ships have keypads these days.A big lifesaver for us on our last cruise was a laundry bag - we just threw all our dirty clothes in there, made packing to go home a breeze! Plus, it was easy to tell what was still clean (quite a bit, unfortunately - I'm getting better, but I don't think I'll ever get the packing thing down.).

[DreadPirateRobert]

An extra pillow and 2 rolls of quarters.

Carnival's pillows are not always the best, at least to our tastes. And if you were going to smuggle a little booze on board (of course not that I'm suggesting or condoning such activity) it might come in handy.

Between toll roads, or airports or whatever, we always seem to need more quarters than we have. Extras can always be used at the casino.........

[NickGlover]

duct tape....for whatever comes up....suitcase repair....to fix your window after a rogue wave!.......

[GroupCruiser]

Bring a digital alarm clock. Sure, the ship has wakeup call service, but if you wake up in the middle of the night to visit the little room, it's nice to know what time it is. ESPECIALLY if you're in an inside cabin. You can't even tell if it's day or night in there.

 

Make sure you have a power strip as well, otherwise you have to unplug the clock to use your curling iron, hair drier, battery charger, or whatever. This comes from experience.

 

As far as the cable ties, we always put them on before putting our luggage out in the hall the night before debarkation. Not that the employees would do anything, but you have hundreds of other passengers and kids that you have no idea where they came from or what they might be up to. Not that a cable tie would stop someone, but at least you'd know someone was in your stuff.

 

I've heard where kids will snatch a suitcase and stash pot, drugs, or whatever in it, get off the ship first, and recover their stuff before you get to your bags. That way if it gets caught, they arrest YOU. As a precaution, kind of watch for one of the crewmembers gathering luggage and watch him put yours on his cart. They usually make a final sweep right after the latest time to have your stuff in the hallway.

 

Have a great cruise.

[FnyFACEnAL]

As we leave the house for any trip I always think:

money, medicine and documents

 

Anything else can be easily purchased.

[Grandeur]

Great info.

[sugar n spice]

[*]Seasick med (although we only needed it our last day @ sea)

 

LOL! You must have been with us on the Glory last year (May) coming back from the western Carribean.

[sugar n spice]

One of the things we found handier than a shirt pocket that I haven't seen mentioned is the vacuum seal bags...the ones you roll up and don't have to have a vacuum cleaner to use. You can pack at least 2 times the amount by using them. That leaves space for packing things bought at port or on the ship. I also found that, for us, packing wet and dirty clothes in vacuum sealed bags helped keep down the odor and mildew.

[dololie]

Eventhough, you maybe flying in bring your driver license to get on the ship they ask for a picture ID.

[SupraGal]

Duct Tape, never forget the Duct tape, it can be a lifesaver..........really, many many uses................

Hiding your safe key

Keeping those bed legs together, so the beds don't separate

Bras.............(women, you know of what I speak)

Quick luggage repair

etc.

[CHRISnAMY]

A big lifesaver for us on our last cruise was a laundry bag - we just threw all our dirty clothes in there, made packing to go home a breeze! Plus, it was easy to tell what was still clean (quite a bit, unfortunately - I'm getting better, but I don't think I'll ever get the packing thing down.).

 

OK, ladies.....Laundry bag is a great idea to keep clean/dirty separated. However, one thing I've started doing is having all the dirty clothes laundered on the ship the last full day of the cruise (need to send them out the night before to have them back in time to get luggage in the hallway). This is especially helpful on longer cruises (7+ days). The way I see it, the last thing I want to do after a vacation is go home to a week's worth of dirty laundry, laden with an international assortment who knows what kind of germs. If the ship will do it for me for $30-40, more power to them--its money well spent. I just think of it as part of the cost of the vacation. You've already got a week's worth of mail, email, voicemail, work, house chores, etc. to catch up on. If you're spending a couple thousand $$ on the cruise, why not spend a few bucks more & not have to worry about laundry when you get back.

 

Cheers!

Amy;)

[BEEZALAR]

Oh - I forgot - clothespins to keep the drapes closed, so it is nice and dark.

Some of us won't need those with that inside room :) Just happy to be on the ship....

[lnhoney]

Bippytrip,

Thanks for the reminder about the cardboard, Almost forgot about it. Read it on these boards four years ago and it sure helped when it came time to pack the pictures that we bought on the ship. They arrived home without a wrinkle thanks to the tip from this board.

[bippytrip]

Bippytrip,

Thanks for the reminder about the cardboard, Almost forgot about it. Read it on these boards four years ago and it sure helped when it came time to pack the pictures that we bought on the ship. They arrived home without a wrinkle thanks to the tip from this board.

 

 

Yes, we got that tip from this board a while back and it proved to be very useful on our last cruise. ;)

[swimmer_steph]

A small portable fan. TRUST ME on this one. I'd considered packing one since someone here mentioned it, but I didn't b/c I didn't know that we couldn't control our own thermostats :eek: [this was our first cruise] and our cabin was a consistent 75 degrees :( w/precious little air coming through the vent on the ceiling. I asked to borrow a fan but was told they didn't have any available. The stale non-circulating air was awful - next time we're packing a small fan no matter what.

 

I also wouldn't want to forget the over-the-door-shoe-holder for bathroom items as some bathrooms are teeny-tiny.

 

The multi outlet power strip was a lifesaver as our cabin had only two plugs - one in the bathroom and the other near the dresser.

 

A clock radio. I didn't trust my morning wake-up call plus it was nice knowing the time since our cabin didn't have a clock.

 

Steph

[swimmer_steph]

Bring a digital alarm clock. Sure, the ship has wakeup call service, but if you wake up in the middle of the night to visit the little room, it's nice to know what time it is. ESPECIALLY if you're in an inside cabin. You can't even tell if it's day or night in there.

 

Make sure you have a power strip as well, otherwise you have to unplug the clock to use your curling iron, hair drier, battery charger, or whatever. This comes from experience.

 

As far as the cable ties, we always put them on before putting our luggage out in the hall the night before debarkation. Not that the employees would do anything, but you have hundreds of other passengers and kids that you have no idea where they came from or what they might be up to. Not that a cable tie would stop someone, but at least you'd know someone was in your stuff.

 

I've heard where kids will snatch a suitcase and stash pot, drugs, or whatever in it, get off the ship first, and recover their stuff before you get to your bags. That way if it gets caught, they arrest YOU. As a precaution, kind of watch for one of the crewmembers gathering luggage and watch him put yours on his cart. They usually make a final sweep right after the latest time to have your stuff in the hallway.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

:D Wonderful ideas -- I took them and they worked beautifully! And last night when it came time to place our bags in the hall, we double-checked the cable ties, left the cabin door open so we could see the bags AND tipped the person loading them. I wasn't taking ANY chances!!!

 

Thanks again,

 

Steph

[Cheeky]

I thought I might mention this here, even though it's not on the "packing list".

 

I have my cousin come over to take care of the cats. I make sure the following is in order:

 

Double the food that I think they'll need. Double the litter that I think they'll need. The bags are in the open so they don't have to search for it.

 

LOTS of shopping bags (like grocery bags) and a small trash bin with a lid near the litter box.

 

I leave an extra bowl for water and extra food bowls ~ both are filled regularly during my vacation. In case the carer can't make it one night, the cats are still ok.

 

I leave the Vet's telephone number, address etc. I leave "emergency taxi money" that will cover an unexpected trip. I call the vet ahead of time and say any treatment needed to go ahead and do it and I'll pay it on my return. I've always offered to leave my Visa # ahead of time; they've always declined but wrote the note in the file that I'll be away.

 

I leave specific instructions with the carer (my brother's girlfriend or my cousin) as to what to do in case of emergency. It's not nice to think about but I usually say, "Any immediate treatment necessary, no second thoughts, no matter the money. Do it. If the cat is in grave health, cannot recover, will suffer immensely until my return - euthanize." I sign that paper for the vet also.

 

I also make sure to leave the number of a 24-hour Vet and a Vet that does housecalls. I also make sure my cat-cage is handy.

 

As long as my babies are taken care of, I'm a happy camper! :D

[Cheeky]

Duct Tape (for)

Bras.............(women, you know of what I speak)

 

LOL! I'd share a pic but I'm shy. Before the last cruise, I couldn't find those "stick on bras" for love nor money. I did what any smart girl would do. I taped 'em up. I had to tape over the nipple area though. At first, I looked like Madonna in her Gaulthier Blonde Ambition Tour cone outfit!

 

But so right you are... That duct tape saved me.

 

PS: I was at a staff Xmas party where one of my co-workers had a girl wrap her waist in duct tape. Cinched like you wouldn't believe. I can't see myself going that far, but I do have high esteem for duct tape!

[debhaynes]

We like having snacks along with our drinks. I always pack ziplocs and large bags of popcorn, pretzels and peanuts. The kids love having the snacks and my husband and I like to have them with our drinks.

[dancedoc]

I had locks on my luggage last year and had no problem out of Chicago to Atlanta. They told me to wait by the x-ray machine, in case I had to open my luggage and that was that. Also used them in going to New York, just last month. Sorry the ties, are just not secure for my taste