Soft Cooler and other packing "hacks"

[ellis101]

Great tips guys!!

 

Our must haves for a cruise are;

 

1) highlighters for the freestyle dailies. We have a colour each!

 

2) sticky notes block. We use these to leave notes for each other in our room. Especially useful when our boy was self checking into and out of the kids club

 

3) instead of a power strip I bought an 'anker 6port mass USB charging device' which allows you to charge 6 USB devices using one socket. I use it everywhere now too

 

4) pillow case for laundry

 

5) lanyard for ship card/room key

 

6) dry bag for beach - not only keeps the water out it keeps the sand out too!

 

7) we also bring a gift for a room steward that we give to them on embarkation day with a money tip - a small token from where we are from. we always get the best service and occasionally a few perks too!

 

 

 

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[Highlyrespected]

***** best hack ever!!!!!

We bring 5 very strong rare earth magnets and a black sheet....

The magnets hold the sheet by one edge to the ceiling!!! The ceiling is metal! This creates a wall between the couch and bed for a little privacy.

 

 

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[wannavacay]

Travel size baby powder to get sand off you. We live by the beach, works great.

 

 

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[garycarla]

Some interesting posts, some of which are family specific.

 

We have never done the over the door thing, but then again, we take alot less stuff (carryon only).

 

re: phone changing time - fix that by turning off the AUTOSET function in the settings.

 

Nightlight is a great idea.

 

Laundry bag - that is what all those grocery plastic bags are for. There are some permanently in our suitcase. Actually, we often have those laundry bags that hotels leave for you.

 

Tape can be handy. If without it, the airline tags will also work. The entire thing is tape - just peel off some of the paper.

 

Soft cooler - still have no idea what that is all about.

 

The idea of a sheet with very strong magnets to make a room divider is cool. That is main advantage of a minisuite - it has a curtain. The sheet saves a few hundred bucks.

[SSMcruises]

Just off the Escape with the UBP. Daily my husband and his friend were provided with a bucket of their choice of beers, all unopened. Our server would keep it refreshed with ice throughout the day. Any beers left at the end of the day were taken back to the room for a late night drink on the balcony. I could totally see why someone would use a small cooler.

 

 

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[rjm11]

regarding kids especially-

ziploc bags are awesome- we brought back lots of snacks to the room from dinner or the buffet. Also as others have said bring pre-packaged stuff they like to take on shore excursions.

 

ALSO- small single serving dried gatorade or pedialyte packs. Add them to your medicine bag- in the case of stomach upset it's a lifesaver- just mix with water. Bring as many peds meds as you can- the onboard ship is really limited on meds in general and almost no peds stuff. So bring anything you think you might need. I brought kids Bonine too (chewable and in kids doses) - have only needed it once.

[Memsailor]

I kept seeming packing cubes advertised but didn’t think they were worth it. Bought new linens for my bedrooms, they come packed in various sized plastic zippered bags. They work great, makes packing easy, as each bag was for specific things once zipped closed that was complete. Morning of travel day, toss each bag into suitcase, out the door.

 

 

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[Shawnino]

If you're flying, "crosspack'. That is, put some of other person's clothes in your suitcase, and some of yours in theirs.

If a suitcase gets lost, heaven forbid, you'll have at least a couple changes while you wait for your luggage to catch up...

[grouchomarx]

Just off the Escape with the UBP. Daily my husband and his friend were provided with a bucket of their choice of beers, all unopened. Our server would keep it refreshed with ice throughout the day. Any beers left at the end of the day were taken back to the room for a late night drink on the balcony. I could totally see why someone would use a small cooler.

 

 

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I thought you can't get buckets with the drink package.

[Skubi]

I have to admit, I'm an overpacker. I pack most of the things that the posters above do, with the exception of the cooler, but I'm not a beer drinker.

I also bring

A couple little fold down cloth boxes from $ store to organise things like socks in the large drawers, as well as have one sitting on the desk with all the small stuff we bring like extra batteries for our camera, small set of binoculars (we have a balcony cabin). They fold completely flat and take no room.

I will be bringing a dummy credit type card on my next cruise because the Epic lights need a card in the slot to work apparently.

Wine drinkers: May want to bring a cork screw if you plan on opening a corked bottle in your room. If you don't plan on finishing it in one session you may want a stopper.

[GUT2407]

Personally I don’t think I’ve ever needed most of those things.

 

Two things I do use

 

Sticky notes (post it notes) to leave message ‘I’m at.... etc”

Different coloured pens/ highlighters to mark the daily schedule with who wants to do what, red her, blue me.

[SSMcruises]

I thought you can't get buckets with the drink package.

 

We didn't order the buckets, the server just brought them. I assume its easier/faster for her to restock the bucket with beer and ice a couple of times a day, rather than getting individual drinks each time. I also saw other people with buckets around their chairs, but not sure if they were ordered or not.

[grouchomarx]

We didn't order the buckets, the server just brought them. I assume its easier/faster for her to restock the bucket with beer and ice a couple of times a day, rather than getting individual drinks each time. I also saw other people with buckets around their chairs, but not sure if they were ordered or not.

 

Well that's pretty nice service!

[uneamie]

When I was on the Epic this past December it was very easy to get unopened cans of beer.

I am hoping that's the case...I like to have a few for later in our cabin. I paid 400 and some $$, for this FREE UBP, in gratuities so I'd like to have a few in my room.

[GUT2407]

I am hoping that's the case...I like to have a few for later in our cabin. I paid 400 and some $$, for this FREE UBP, in gratuities so I'd like to have a few in my room.

I’ve never had an issue asking for them to be left unopened.

[uneamie]

Also, for shore excursions, we have a couple of these waterproof dryboxes and my wife has a waterproof case for her phone. The nice thing about these is you can take them with you snorkeling and not worry about any of your valuables being left on shore when everyone is in the water. One of these will hold an iPhone6 plus, four passports, credit cards and cash. I just put it around by wrist and off I go.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Scuba-Choice-Waterproof-Container-iPhone/dp/B00VAZVT6I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1489375739&sr=8-2&keywords=scuba+dry+box

 

I have a small pouch I put credit cards and money in when on the beach. While there I inconspicuously dig a hole in the sand and bury it under my chair or beach blanket.