Best cruise hacks?

[E23NK1]

An iron

a power strip

a "reserved" sign for your pool chair.

 

 

Just kidding....hahahahahaha...sorry I couldnt resist.

 

[trivia addict]

I always bring a corkscrew onboard the ship, no problem.

However, be careful if you are flying with one. Check your airline.
Back in the day, I had one in my carry on  at Heathrow, and they took it away from me.

Now, I make sure it is in my checked luggage.

[Graciesmom2]

I love packing cubes for packing my bags. When you get aboard just take each cube, set on a shelf or place in a drawer and you are unpacked and organized. 
note.. several people suggest metal straws. They are great, but bring a small brush to wash them and don’t forget you have them and throw away with the disposable cup you are using them with. (lesson learned the hard way). 

[Amaya042605]

On 2/16/2020 at 1:30 AM, theeddie said:

http://www.thekaufmanhouse.com/cruise.php


Danielle made a good list 

The over the door shoe organizer.  Is it able to hook over the door or do you have to use magnets to hold it up?

[kermit99]

 

Night Light! The actual bathroom light is super bright and it will be super dark otherwise.  We use one we have from ikea that stays charged forever so we just charge it up before we leave and are good to go. 

 

Magnets are the best thing ever!  There are so many uses. We have a set of strong magnets including ones with hooks that we keep in our cruise bag. We also have fun magnetic door decorations we bought at the dollar store. 

 

This bag also includes all our RCI branded stuff (pens, highlighters, lanyards, bags, and reusable water bottles) this stuff comes with us on the cruise and are always helpful. 

 

We use to bring bendy straws for the kids but now have metal bendy straws. 

 

OTC meds & other first aid supplies as mentioned these can be exorbitant on the ship and hard to find in ports. Ditto for menstrual products (I always pack a few things just in case). 

 

Snacks and snack bags. Your daughter is older so maybe not as big a deal but when my kids where under 10 we always took snacks off the ship with us. So packing a sandwich and having their preferred snack bar often saved us a meltdown because someone was hangry or the food at the beach shack or wherever in port was weird. Salty snacks, like chips or pretzels, can be hard especially hard to come by on the ship.

 

Poo-pourri can keep everyone happy. 
 

I bolded the things I think everyone should bring but the others are part of our personal choice and make our cruising easier and you may or may not find them useful. 

 

I find that there if you are on a 7 day cruise and don't over pack clothes there should be enough space for everyone's stuff. It's more a matter of organizing it.

[allisonb22]

50 minutes ago, Amaya042605 said:

Is it able to hook over the door or do you have to use magnets to hold it up?

ours hooked over the bathroom door 

[PortlandroseWL]

I always hang an old fashioned laundry bag over a hanger in the closet for easy centralization of dirty clothes.  No pile of laundry at the bottom of closet and leaves us space for shoe storage.  Also pack an air freshener for the bathroom and battery tea light to use as a night light.  Pack some plastic hangers in the bottom of luggage to use for drying dry fit shirts, work-out wear and swimwear  (many cruise line hangers are the slide out access kind that only the bottom portion comes out so there is no "hanger").  Use the clothes pins mentioned by others to attach hangers to the back of chair on the balcony and things dry quickly, stay secure and aren't visible from outside.  Magnetic clips others have mentioned are great too.  Pack a separate small medical/emergency bag with sea sickness pills (love Bonine as it doesn't make me drowsy), anti-acids, anti diarrhea, breath mints, Tylenol,  band-aids, tweezers, clippers, finger nail file, tape, stain removal pen, travel size container of Woolite for hand washing, small flashlight, corkscrew; anything that you think you might need so it's handy when you need it. Lightweight water bottle to take into port, or use around ship. Also before we unpack we do a quick wet wipe on door handles, light switches and TV remote.  Put "travel clothes" that we won't wear again until disembarkation in luggage and store under the bed until packing for disembarkation. Best advice is keep your cabin as clutter free as possible.  It's more enjoyable for you and your cabin attendant appreciates.  Explore your ship, find your favorite spots and enjoy!

[TheCount]

Battery powered digital clock of some kind.

Battery powered mini candle as our cabin night light.

OTC meds, for stomach and motion.

Corkscrew for the 2 bottles of vino we bring on board.

USB charger with extra USB slots for charging.

Luggage tag holders, convenience over lamented or packing  tape.

2 travel mugs or S’well insulates beverage containers for the morning coffee run, beats waiting for room service.

Small bag/light string pack to carry the insulated bottles from coffee/tea run.

Towel clips for the deck chairs or to hold the cabin drapes closed for black out depending on cabin location.

Store your luggage under the bed.

Use the carry on bag for laundry.

2-3 small zip lock bags to keep passports dry if going to the beach or excursion.

OH, this. Is the critical tip when going out and off at the islands,

remember your passport, camera and credit card when going off the ship. You can take the picture of the ship leaving port, pay for your flight home, and get back into your home country destination.

 

Enjoy your trip.

 

[Mickey527]

On 2/15/2020 at 8:41 AM, springfire said:

Love my Rum Runner's, we never cruise without them.

How do you get these on board? I have some but always afraid I will get caught. I did bring one into Disneyworld once 

[springfire]

4 minutes ago, Mickey527 said:

How do you get these on board? I have some but always afraid I will get caught. I did bring one into Disneyworld once 

We always leave them in our checked luggage, 35 years cruising and never an issue.  We bring it even when we have the drink package, as we enjoy our special drinks on the balcony.

[Junkhouse]

-The most annoying thing about a room is that the light switch for the bathroom is on the outside of the bathroom.  We bring a   battery operated light switch with magnets to hand on the inside of the bathroom.

-Lounge chair towel clips, the deck can by quite breezy

-Small bag to bring necessities to pool

-Leave as many clothes on hangers when packing

-Outlook extender plug (i.e. one male with at least two female sockets)

-Water on ship is all filtered so don't worry about bringing bottle water, just bring devices to hold it

-Carry on your 2 bottles of wine and 12, 1/2 liter drinks per room. If you leave in you checked bags you will have to go to the

 naughty room to claim

-If the room has a coffee table and you don't need it, put it in the closet. Will make room feel bigger and give you another shelf

 

 

[compman9]

My best cruise hack is . . .

 

I take formal wear, in an effort to preserve and promote the traditions of luxury vacations and provide a personal bulwark against the decent to the bbq by the syringe filled pool party at the drive-thru motel experience many fellow passengers appear to be striving for

[Pastordonna]

On 2/16/2020 at 1:46 PM, davekathy said:

I always have a corkscrew packed in our first aid kit. The ones RC will provide suck. In case your wine bottles you bring on board don't have a screw cap.

Make sure no knife on corkscrew as RC will send you to the naughty room and take corkscrew.

[Mickey527]

26 minutes ago, compman9 said:

My best cruise hack is . . .

 

I take formal wear, in an effort to preserve and promote the traditions of luxury vacations

I also dress “ better” while dining and for the evening show. 
I sat at my table last year with my son and daughter-in-law in dress and button down shirt with others in pool coverups and t-shirts. 
I remember when they were turned away in that garb and told to go to the buffet. Now their bare feet are bumping into my legs. 

[vacationlover_mn]

4 hours ago, Mickey527 said:

I also dress “ better” while dining and for the evening show. 
I sat at my table last year with my son and daughter-in-law in dress and button down shirt with others in pool coverups and t-shirts. 
I remember when they were turned away in that garb and told to go to the buffet. Now their bare feet are bumping into my legs. 

They actually let people into the MDR barefoot?  Ok, so I generally don’t care what people wear...  but I do want them wearing some sort of shoe?  Like even flip flops...

[davekathy]

7 hours ago, Pastordonna said:

Make sure no knife on corkscrew as RC will send you to the naughty room and take corkscrew.

Not true. Any blade length over 4 inches is on RCs prohibited list. My corkscrew has a 1.25 inch foil cutter (knife style) on it. Never been to the naughty room.  This corkscrew is part of our first aid kit packed  in our checked luggage and has been on many RC cruises. 

Edited February 18, 2020 by davekathy

[davekathy]

3 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

They actually let people into the MDR barefoot?  Ok, so I generally don’t care what people wear...  but I do want them wearing some sort of shoe?  Like even flip flops...

Look at it this way. Those that wear sandals or flip flops in the MDR don't wear socks. Once seated they kick the sandals or flip flops off. Barefeet.  😉

Edited February 18, 2020 by davekathy

[JacqueO]

16 hours ago, trivia addict said:

I always bring a corkscrew onboard the ship, no problem.

However, be careful if you are flying with one. Check your airline.
Back in the day, I had one in my carry on  at Heathrow, and they took it away from me.

Now, I make sure it is in my checked luggage.

 

I borrowed my husband's suitcase (carry on) that he used on his last work trip (driving) when I flew last.  I got stopped by security.  They asked if I had anything sharp - I was like NOPE.  Then proceeded to tear apart my bag... the dumb corkscrew had ripped the inside lining of the little zipper pack and was INSIDE UNDER the lining.  I felt so stupid - I don't even drink wine!  I could have killed him. 

[trivia addict]

Lol

Did they take it away or let you keep it?

[Pastordonna]

5 hours ago, davekathy said:

Not true. Any blade length over 4 inches is on RCs prohibited list. My corkscrew has a 1.25 inch foil cutter (knife style) on it. Never been to the naughty room.  This corkscrew is part of our first aid kit packed  in our checked luggage and has been on many RC cruises. 

Guess you were luckier than we were ... 

[davekathy]

21 minutes ago, Pastordonna said:

Guess you were luckier than we were ... 

Not lucky. My corkscrew is allowed and also in our first aid kit I always have mustache scissors.  Both are IAW RCs prohibited items list. 

Edited February 18, 2020 by davekathy

[awestover89]

One other thing my husband just reminded me of, an international power adapter. We currently have this one: https://amzn.to/2ufHxJ6

It's not necessary on the ship per se, but we have so many electronics and there's so few power outlets in the room. If there's a European style outlet we can use this to give us an extra US style plug and 4 USB ports. Even if there isn't a European plug, we can just plug this into a regular outlet and get the 4 USB ports.

 

Plus it has the added benefit if we are cruising from an international destination. This got quite a bit of use when we sailed out of Shanghai.

 

Power strips are large and run the risk of being confiscated if they have a surge protector, or the person checking bags thinks it has a surge protector. This is small and doesn't raise any red flags.

[CoolNickname]

Most important cruise advice we ever received:

 

Make a list, check it twice. Everything is extremely expensive in cruise ship shops and nearly as expensive around most cruise ports. Think captive audience pricing.

 

Make sure you take a selection of the OTC medications you most commonly use. Especially take pain medications like Tylenol and Advil, tummy medications like Pepto and Immodium, and allergy medication if you are prone to allergies. You may encounter things you're not used to so best to be prepared. I also recommend things for bug bites and after sun care.

 

I normally watch out for what is sometimes called purse packs and sometimes travel packs which are little tubes about the size of a lipstick tube because they allow me to carry enough of any OTC medication without taking up too much space in my luggage and refill them from my larger containers at home for each cruise. My entire emergency kit fits in a 2x3x6 inch makeup bag and I also carry some bandaids and triple antibiotic in there. All of these items are also quite expensive if you must purchase them on board a cruise ship.

[lovesthebeach2]

14 hours ago, awestover89 said:

One other thing my husband just reminded me of, an international power adapter. We currently have this one: https://amzn.to/2ufHxJ6

It's not necessary on the ship per se, but we have so many electronics and there's so few power outlets in the room. If there's a European style outlet we can use this to give us an extra US style plug and 4 USB ports. Even if there isn't a European plug, we can just plug this into a regular outlet and get the 4 USB ports.

 

Plus it has the added benefit if we are cruising from an international destination. This got quite a bit of use when we sailed out of Shanghai.

 

Power strips are large and run the risk of being confiscated if they have a surge protector, or the person checking bags thinks it has a surge protector. This is small and doesn't raise any red flags.

 

we have the same adapter. We plug it into the European outlet and use it to charge our phones and watches. This frees up the only other two outlets that are common on smaller older ships

[springfire]

57 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

 

we have the same adapter. We plug it into the European outlet and use it to charge our phones and watches. This frees up the only other two outlets that are common on smaller older ships

We do this as well, nice and easy way to have more outlets.