Worst Cruise Packing Mistakes

[Brittany C]

Hey there cruisers,

 

We are compiling the worst cruise packing mistakes we've made so others can learn from our unfortunate -- and sometimes hilarious -- mishaps. If you have any you would like to share, it very well might be published!

 

We look forward to reading and grimacing along with you :)

 

Best,

 

~Brittany Chrusciel, Associate Editor, Cruise Critic

[JF - retired RRT]

I have NEVER put electronics in my suitcase. Wouldn't want it stolen, right?

On our 12th cruise, I put our camera (cost $500) in the suitcase to save space in our carry-on.

It didn't get stolen...

The 2 suitcases went into the harbor. The whole loading carrier fell in with about 10 passengers suitcases.

That camera was D.E.A.D. dead.:(

 

We had insurance, but what a hassle.

[CATGUY7]

Probably not the worst, but I packed everything except the kitchen sink for our Caribbean cruise, and found out once onboard that I'd only packed one pair of shorts. Had not planned to shop for clothing on that trip. I have packing lists now...

[WISH84]

Probably not the worst, but I packed everything except the kitchen sink for our Caribbean cruise, and found out once onboard that I'd only packed one pair of shorts. Had not planned to shop for clothing on that trip. I have packing lists now...

 

HA! I forgot about mine until I read this... packed, as you say, the kitchen sink. Then unpacked once on board to realize I hadn't packed a pair of dress shoes to go with my suit. I did have a nice pair of black leather sandals but the entire night on formal night I just felt like everyone was looking at the 48 year old hipster.

[ERTHDOG]

my worst mistake , on alaska cruise , you know,the cruise where you wanna take a zillion pictures....forgot the charger to my camera:eek:

 

1 day in the cold and it was dead:(so trying to find a very special disposable battery in the town of sitka was a load of fun, finally found one even after the store clerk said "nope,we aint got one of those":rolleyes:

 

dave

[nukesubsailor]

I consider our worst mistake was the packing of formal wear. It takes up valuable space in our luggage which is increasingly more vital with the airlines charging for checked luggage. There are other items that we would get more benefit from on a cruise than formal wear. In our opinion the formal night dinners in the main dining room just aren't worth the hassle. I don't think we are alone in noticing that the trend today is moving away from traditional dining and formal wear.

[Renmar]

Our biggest mistake is taking too many suitcases and not enough wallets ;).

 

Theo

[elliair]

So far no disasters, but a friend of ours (a newbie) packed a bottle of red wine in his luggage. We told him to put it in a sealable baggie in case it got broken. He didn't believe us, and the bottle broke and wine was all over his clothes. Him and his wife spent two days doing laundry and most of his clothing was unwearable. This guy likes to brag about his college degree as well.:rolleyes:

Edited October 6, 2015 by elliair

[Who Knew]

So far no disasters, but I have, a couple of times, packed lots of clothes, but found I had nothing to wear once on the ship. Not really sure how that happens, but it has happened a couple of times.

[4x4bob]

The Big Mistake we will not repeat was not taking a charger for the the one phone we planned to take on the Cruise. Plan was to leave the phone off and in the safe so did not need the charger, Right.

 

We missed the ship and needed to make several phone calls literally around the world, call center was in India.

 

Then had to phone in reservations to our Hotel in Mexico because at 1100 hours at night they would not take reservations by computer.

 

Phone battery started to get low and we were still dealing with Princess Hq the next day to obtain tickets on a flight to catch the ship.

 

Lucky for us the Hotel front desk loaned us a charger.

 

This last cruise we took two phones and two chargers.

 

Bob

[bluenoser2]

As I was reading the posts above out loud to my DH, I said "oh, I don't think we have a Worst Packing Mistake...." to which he grunted, and said, "what about the one mistake you let everyone know I made?"

 

Oh yeah....on our European Explorer cruise which began in Rome, we decided to take one large suitcase and two smaller cases. The night before, I had everything ready to go, and since we had discussed the idea of packing some things for both of us in each case, in the event that one didn't make it, he said "let me take care of that". Trustingly, I left him to it.

 

Upon our arrival in Rome, off came all our luggage except for one. The Big One. MY Big One. So we completed the necessary details, trundled off to the ship and once our other luggage arrived in the room, started unpacking. Apparently, making sure some of my luggage was in the other luggage meant I had what I was wearing (my NOTFORWALKING shoes), 2 casual dresses, a formal pantsuit, 2 skirts and no tops. That's it. Luckily (for him) my suitcase arrived the next day having taken a detour to Germany. It was a grand reunion. Since then we have gone carry-on only AND I pack my own bag.

[KAR3600]

My biggest mistake was when we were leaving the ship!!! I was late to put bags out, so my daughter thought she would help and she put them out; not knowing I had hidden the passports in my purse in the suitcase!! Thankfully when we got to the terminal I was able to retrieve everything!! Didn't sleep well that night!!!

[Chunder Worthy]

It seems that most of the gaffs can be attributed to not starting off with a viable and well-thought-out packing list for any travel situation. It requires you to check-mark the things you actually bring or consciously delete those you specifically don't. Virtually impossible to go wrong. Keep a master on your computer, modify and print as needed. Planning is your friend.

[beg3yrs]

I consider our worst mistake was the packing of formal wear. It takes up valuable space in our luggage which is increasingly more vital with the airlines charging for checked luggage. There are other items that we would get more benefit from on a cruise than formal wear. In our opinion the formal night dinners in the main dining room just aren't worth the hassle. I don't think we are alone in noticing that the trend today is moving away from traditional dining and formal wear.

 

Looks like Shredie's Law of Thread Degeneration (you know, the one that says all threads will eventually degenerate into a formal wear discussion) strikes again.

[Potstech]

Looks like Shredie's Law of Thread Degeneration (you know, the one that says all threads will eventually degenerate into a formal wear discussion) strikes again.

 

And others seem to want to keep them going instead of just ignoring them.

[Treven]

On my Panama Canal cruise, I began unpacking after sail away and discovered I'd forgotten to pack the power cord to my laptop! I had my portable hard drive as well as everything else, but no power cord:(. Fortunately I ended up meeting a couple who just happened to have the same make/model laptop as I had. Yea!:D So I was able to power up my laptop for the duration.

To show my heart-felt appreciation, I gave them a bottle of wine from Francis Ford Coppola's winery in the Napa Valley. I'd packed the wine to drink at dinner, but I felt I'd like it more by giving it to that nice couple.

Edited October 6, 2015 by Treven

[Roatanfans]

The first year I worked for the airlines I worked in the lost luggage department where you see just about everything under the sun. My favorite one was the gentleman who came in from Alaska to report his bag did not arrive with him- it was one of those soft garment bags that used to be so popular. As we do I asked him to describe any unique contents to help identify the bag should it no longer have it's tags. He told me that it contained a suit and dress shirts, and that he had wrapped some of his shirts around the very special fish he was bringing home for his father's eightieth birthday. I struggled to keep a straight face as I asked him about the fish- so it was frozen? No- fresh, he had caught a salmon. We returned his bag to him later that day, but I'm sure there was no hope for saving any of the contents!

[Treven]

Roatan, I'm sure you were glad to get rid of the bag as quickly as possible. In addition to the contents, I'm sure the bag wasn't worth saving.

[grouchomarx]

Not really a packing mistake I could have known about ahead of time....boarded our Princess cruise and went straight to the phone to call the dine line, desperate to get into the Chef's Table (lottery type system, not easy to get). Low and behold we find out a few days later we were picked! Went to the briefing and were told only closed toed shoes are allowed in the galley. I had none as I packed for a warm weather cruise. Not even sneakers. So every port we went to, I'm searching and searching for a shoe store (none) or some closed toed shoes (none). I was desperate, and even considered wearing my husband's shoes (really) for the galley portion of the event. They ended up cancelling the event due to Norovirus outbreak, too bad, and so I didn't need those shoes after all. While packing on our last night, I found the (close toed) shoes I wore down to Florida hidden in my suitcase! Forgot about them altogether. All that worry for nothing.

[Mommypig]

Taking only one bathing suit on a 51 day cruise. I wore it a few times in the Thalasso spa (Pacific Princess), and when I showered off one day the suit went from fitting my body to hanging to my knees. The chemicals in the spa apparently dissolved the spandex.

 

Being that I am sort of egg shaped, there was no bathing suits in Auckland or Sydney that really fit, and forget anything sold on the ship. I found something that I could wear a pair of shorts over that was okayyyy sort of, but I won't make that mistake again. Taking 4 on the world cruise.

[shredie]

Looks like Shredie's Law of Thread Degeneration (you know, the one that says all threads will eventually degenerate into a formal wear discussion) strikes again.

 

Hahaha! So true!

[OCruisers]

Once I thoughtlessly packed our water shoes and snorkel masks. We were taking a Baltic cruise. :rolleyes: ... :o

 

LuLu

[RetiredNTraveling]

Not us but some friends of ours! Each packed their own suitcases for a 14 day Med-Eur-Eng cruise. To be comfortable on the long flight she worn an orange & black jogging suit. :) Comfortable flight but when they went to pickup the luggage her bag didn't arrive@!@!!! :eek: So for the next 14 days she wore the jogging suit & a jump suit (similar colors) and the ship began the routine of washing the other during the next day. Never saw any of the pictures of their cruise! ;)

 

Before our first cruise, I read something like this. Now we always pack combo suitcases with some of hers & some of his in every one. Just a great benefit of reading CC!

Just Mike

[fishywood]

Once I thoughtlessly packed our water shoes and snorkel masks. We were taking a Baltic cruise.

 

And I've packed four pair of heavy faux-wool knee length men's socks on a Caribbean cruise.

 

But what I do consistently, though only on cruise vacations, is pack a razor but no shave cream, or cream but no razor. Ya think Id've learned by now. I tried buying travel-size shaving creams and spreading them out among my packing paraphernalia. And what I discovered is that if you use them just a couple times then not for many months the propellant goes dead. Of course the few times I get to the ship and find one in the corner of my bag that still works--that's when I forget the razor.

 

And when I fly to or from a cruise there is always something in my carry-on to give TSA an excuse to hassle me. For a while it was the tiny bottle of fluid in my eyeglass repair kit; yes, it now goes in the checked bag. Flying home from JFK after disembarking a Transatlantic cruise I had put two heavy tins of fudge from Scotland in my carry to keep the check bags under weight. TSA must have thought they looked like ammo cans because without warning they unzipped and completely dumped out my carry on, denting one of the cans in the process. When I emerged from the scanner they were trying to figure out how to repack it, then just shoved it at me without a word.

[beg3yrs]

But what I do consistently, though only on cruise vacations, is pack a razor but no shave cream, or cream but no razor. Ya think Id've learned by now. I tried buying travel-size shaving creams and spreading them out among my packing paraphernalia. And what I discovered is that if you use them just a couple times then not for many months the propellant goes dead. Of course the few times I get to the ship and find one in the corner of my bag that still works--that's when I forget the razor.

 

Ah just grow a beard ... assuming you're not talking about shaving your legs ... :eek: