Ultimate Packing List for the Newbies....

[Janet Foster]

My Mom, sister, and I are going on a European cruise (Amsterdam – Barcelona) next month. Mom loves her happy hour rum and coke. Are we allowed to use the rum runners when flying overseas? It’s my first time to Europe, and I don’t want to be caught smuggling contraband when we go through customs!!!!

 

Thanks for all the lists,

Jane

Are you going over early enough so you can fill the rum runners once you are at your destination? I have flown with filled rum runners and there is nothing wrong with that but it can weigh down your suitcases. If it were me I would probably fill them up once I got to my final destination. If that is not an option then I would more than likely just put them in my suitcases filled. Last time we flew overseas we were not charged for our luggage on international flights. (something to check out).

 

There is no rule that you can't fly with liquids in your checked luggage. I would however distribute them very carefully when boarding the cruise ship. AND.. I would put each runner in a zip lock bag as extra insurance. Oh bring zip lock bags.. lots of them.. and lots of different sizes!!!!! :-)

 

Let me know if you have any other questions and have a great time and wonderful happy hour!

[simplelife]

IMO this list is far too complicated, especially in light of today's luggage restrictions. Simplify! See my notes ***** the various siggested items

I was asked to share a list, so here is my list.

 

 

First, we have a clear over the door shoe organizer -

never needed - with only 2 in the cabin, plenty of room in the various storage, areas

 

One of the first things we do when we get in the cabin is wipe down all the door knobs, handles, phone and remote control with those Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. Not necessary or desirable - Most effective way to fight germs is to wash your hands frequently (over-use pf antibacterial products is actually counterproductive/

 

Ø Zip-lock bags – OK- useful and take uo very little weight/space

Ø Hangers - There are usually plenty in the closet, if not ask your room steward for more

Ø Clothes Pins - OK

Ø Power Strip – not many outlets in the room. I have never needed more outlets than provided. Leave elctronics at home

Ø Extension Cord - Not needed - See above

Ø Alarm Clock – Some people just use their cell phones. So don't waste space bringing this. Do you really need an alarm??

Ø Night Light – Cabin is dark, if you don’t use your cell phone for light then bring one. I found an OV cabin to have plenty of light. Or put TV on the Ship Channel

Ø Bathroom Spray – Have not needed this

Ø Lanyards – these are those things you wear around your neck and attach your Sea Pass card to it. Front desk will hole punch your card or bring your own hole puncher. OK Good idea

Ø Bar Soap – I like to bring my own instead of using the small bars they give. A personal preference - I see no need for this

Ø Portable Ipod Speakers- so you can enjoy your downloaded Caribbean music as you sail. Seems unnecessary to me

Ø Motion Sickness Medicine – if you think you need it, some you need a written RX. Yes, good idea.

Ø Prescriptions and Medicine – the over the counter, Tums, Imodium, Pepto Bismol, aspirin Of course

Ø Sudafed, tooth ache gel, band-aids, mole skin, aloe vera lotion for sunburns Of course

 

Ø Cell Phone charger – you will need to charge up before we get home! I turn off my phone while we are sailing. It is still charged up when we are ready to disenbark.

Ø Extra Camera Memory Card - Last thing you want to do is run out of memory!!! OK, good idea

 

Ø Extra camera batteries or rechargeable batteries and charger. OK The extra batteries will take up less space than the charger and will need no outlet

Ø Small roll of duct tape – many uses. One is we tape our luggage tags on our cases of water, soda or whatever else we bring that we buy at the store before we go to port. Duct tape has many uses. Some swear by it - OK does not take up much room or weight.

Ø Small spray bottle.. use this up by the pool to spray myself when it is hot. OK, if you need it _ I jist take a shower or have a dip in the pool

Ø Walkie Talkies- we always bring them, keep the volume low. Traveling with large groups on a large ship we sometimes need to find someone. Or if you need to find your kids. Please note this can be disturbing to other travelers so we really keep the volume very low! Leave these at home!! More trouble than they're worth.

Ø Binoculars – Okay

Ø Rum Runners – NO!!!

Ø Hand sanitizers – small kind to put in pocket purse or clip on landyards OK, but there is sanitizer all over the ship

Ø Sports Bottles – We use these at the pool and around the ship for “special drinks” = OK, good for water on excursions

Ø Snack Items We have cocktail parties in our cabins with our friends so we munch on snack or salty items. We buy these at the store before we go to the port. NO NEED for this - there is food EVERYWHERE on the ship - Use the previously listed ziplock bags to bring snacks to cabin

o Plastic Glasses as the ones in the cabin are too small. Matter of opinion - can do without - you already have sports bottle

o Powdered Crystal Light – for our bottled water -OK

 

Ø Small Rolling Ice Chest – We bring this to keep our drinks really cold in our room. The room attendant will fill it with ice daily for us. Got mine on ebay. Nice to have but not a necessity - some cabins have refrigerators.

 

 

Ø Suitcase Scale – We bring one of those luggage weight scales to we can make sure we are within our weight limits as we fly. ???? Something to add to weight of suitcase to check weight of suitcase ???? Weigh suitcase before you leave and don't add to it

 

v We bring lots of one dollar bills for tipping. Yes, good idea

v We tie bright colored ribbon on our suitcases to help us identify them. yes good idea

v Bungee Cord - Brought a bungee cord to secure a door that we wanted to keep open from banging. We once had all of our cabins next to each other and had the doors to the balconies opened up all the way. Our door kept banging.. so this helped it to stop. Not needed for an inside or OV

 

They say that the cabins have hair dryers and robes in (some) them. AND get some water (aqua) shoes for going on shore, you will want them in the water. I think this is about all I have unless I forgot something. Yes there are hair dryers - verify if there are robes. Do brigmgyour own aqua shoes if yo uwill need then

 

Besides the copies of the passports I also call our credit card companies and give them the dates we will be traveling so they will not lock down our account thinking the card was stolen. If they tried to call us, we would not be home to answer the phone!! Sooooooo call your credit card companies and let them know. Yes, please do

[Janet Foster]

Thank you for complaining.. have a great day complaining about other things...

 

You take all the fun out of planning and traveling!!

 

By the way.. I didn't bother reading your comments..

[MrsPete]

I never felt I added bulk or more work to pack up on the last night or more to search for as we're disembarking... :eek: I am a planner and the more the merrier is my motto and to each his own. My list is not intended as a MUST HAVE.. it is intended as a guide. If you need it take it, if not don't.

I'm a planner too, but I'm not an over-packer. The two don't go together! I just returned from a 19-day trip (non-cruise), and I had one carry-on. I used everything I packed, and I found myself needing only item: I used up my large pack of AA batteries and had to buy more. Other than those two things, I had everything I needed in my one carry-on -- that's good planning.

I don't understand how packing up more stuff before the cruise, then repacking it on the last night (a chore I despise) isn't more work. Even if you don't personally mind the extra packing, I'm sure the cabin stewards notice.

Lots of different sizes have been very helpful.. what is the harm? Is this weighing down the suitcase????

It's more of a pattern -- bring everything, bring everything . . . it might be useful. A few bags are a good idea, loads of them are overkill.

My husband needs to run his cpap machine and other items that warrants the use of the power strip. The ships I have been on only have one outlet and it is at the vanity.

Okay, so the cpap machine is a medical need, and you really do have a greater need for electricity than other people -- my family'll be packing diabetic testing supplies, other families will have other specific needs. It's misleading to new cruisers -- the target audience of this thread -- to suggest that everyone needs a power strip and a cord.

Every ship I've sailed HAS HAD multiple outlets in convenient spots. I stick to my opinion that instead of planning for every possibility, it's wise to ask about your SPECIFIC ship and plan accordingly.

What if you don't want to???

What if you don't want to???

What if you don't want to???

Are you channeling my eight-year old nephew?

You don't need to bring any snacks at all; you won't be hungry. ALL your guests prefer salty snacks? And that's worth -- what? -- half, a quarter of a suitcase? What does that end up costing in checked baggage? (Being a small person, I can't even eat everything that's presented to us on the cruise; I don't need to bring more.)

You don't need to bring an alarm clock; your cell phone has one built-in, and you can get a wake-up call.

Maybe you've decided that you're willing to pay the extra weight fees at the airport, have extra stuff in your cabin, etc. But you're directing your information to new people who don't know that these are choices, options, enhancements -- not necessities. It's more honest to let them know that pretty much everything they need onboard is already provided, and that these are options.

I don't understand why anyone who's aware that digital media storage has improved significantly would choose NOT to upgrade to a new memory card. The new ones hold more photographs, meaning that you don't need to change them mid-cruise (and risk losing the tiny things as you travel home). The professional cards upload much faster than those made just a few years ago; this means they take better action shots (i.e., dolphins jumping, kids leaping into the pool), and they "recover" faster, meaning they store the photograph to the card more quickly, leaving you able to take a second photograph more quickly. They also upload faster to your home computer. And you can have this new card for about the cost of a combo meal at McDonalds! I teach photography, and I don't understand why anyone who's aware of the improvements would choose to stick with yesterday's technology. We're not talking about a new camera, just a new media card.

Of course, if you don't want to use better technology to protect your cruise memories, that's your business. Shoot, my grandmother still uses film, but she's 96 years old and doesn't want to learn new technology.

Lug our suitcases down to the gym?? Is anyone else laughing... vs.. packing a small scale that weighs hardly anything.... hmmmm which should I pick??

You're willing to lug all these suitcases onboard, what's a few more steps? Seriously, though, why would you spend money such a gadget when there's a free option onboard? Let's take a vote: Who'd rather have a gadget that'll be used exactly once onboard, then will clutter up your drawers at home . . . and who'd rather spend that money on another fru-fru drink? I always assume that people who bring these things don't know that there's a scale in the gym.

Of course, since we have one carry-on apiece, we don't have to think about weight at all. Why add more work to your cruise?

In summary, I think some people just like to pack more, more, more because they have the idea that packing more = having more fun. (It's closely related to the idea that spending more money = having more fun.) In reality, the reverse is true; packing more means you spend more time messing with stuff -- packing it, transporting it, moving it around, storing it, repacking it . . . oh, and everyone's favorite: paying for it. Less is more.

Enjoy your trip.

[Janet Foster]

Please don't let the negative :mad: comments posted by "others" distract or dissuade you from getting excited about planning your potential cruise and packing what you want. The negative commenter’s as you will find, are everywhere. They like to pick apart anything they can. It is sad that they don’t have anything better to do. I think they are jealous about the list. :D

The good news is there are more positive people around than negative and you can see that by the comments posted on this link. A few bad apples won't spoil the bunch.

Please remember that the list is a general list and I am sure everyone is big enough to decipher what they need or want to bring without having someone come on here and burst your bubble and pick apart a list.. LOL...

The count of visits will tell you how popular this link is …...

Happy Cruising!!!

[MrsPete]

We travel in groups and have parties.. and fun.. so we bring lots of stuff perhaps maybe one day we will be head of you in line.. wouldn't that be fun??:D:D:D:D:D

Nah, that won't happen . . . let's do a quick run-down of the realistic scenerios . . .

 

Let's say your family and my family arrive at the airport at the same time. Your family -- with multiple suitcases -- is forced to stand in line at the counter to check-in your bags. My family walks by with one carry-on each. We'll be at the gate sooner. (We also save at least $15/bag by not checking.)

 

When it's time to disembark the airplane, my family can walk straight off the plane to the rental car counter -- even with four teenaged girls in tow, we'll be halfway to our hotel while you're still waiting for your luggage to be loaded off the plane.

 

Let's continue this hypothetical discussion by assuming that we both arrive at the port at the same time. My family can hop out and go straight to the security line, while yours stops at the porters' spot to unload bag after bag, check the tags, and tip the porters. By the time you get into the line for security, we might well already have our ship passes.

 

Onboard we don't have to wait for our bags to be delivered -- we already have them!

 

Fast-forward to the end of the cruise . . . your family has to spend the last evening getting together your suitcases, getting them out into the hallway by 11:00 or 12:00 . . . my family's out having fun, knowing that our small bags can be packed in the morning before breakfast because we're carrying them off ourselves.

 

The next morning, we disembark carrying our one bag and are out of the terminal, headed for home while your family is still waiting for all its baggage to come off the carrousel. If you're taking a taxi or van service, you probably get to pay extra for all those bags.

 

Back at the airport, you get to pay AGAIN to check all that luggage, and you get to wait AGAIN at your home airport.

 

Honestly, there's a reason that emotional issues are sometimes referred to as "baggage" -- bags are a great deal of work!

 

This extra work and extra money would be worth it . . . IF the extra suitcases were necessary, but they aren't! We decided years ago that no matter where we're going, it's going to be with one bag each. Sometimes we send laundry out, but we have never been disappointed in this decision.

[MrsPete]

Please don't let the negative :mad: comments posted by "others" distract or dissuade you from getting excited about planning your potential cruise and packing what you want. The negative commenter’s as you will find, are everywhere. They like to pick apart anything they can. It is sad that they don’t have anything better to do. I think they are jealous about the list. :D

Jealous of the list? I don't think so.

 

Take what you need, but don't over-pack. You'll find that advice all over this board and in every travel book you'll ever read. What is it that travel writer Rick Steves says? There are two types of travelers: Those who pack light and those who wish they had. Every experienced traveler will tell you the same thing.

[Janet Foster]

Thank you for your comment have a nice day.

[Happy ks]

I don't think of dissuading people from over-packing to be negative in any way. As a matter of fact, it's the opposite and rather positive. Not only does it reduce the weight and clutter, there will be more vacation $$ to spend on enjoyment.

 

I wish I would have read a post like simplelife made with comments before our first cruise. Instead, I believed all the suggestions made and packed like we were going camping for a year, complete with a new wardrobe for all 4 of us. By the time we left and with all the excitement reading suggestions made, I had probably spent close to what another cruise might have cost us.

 

The sad thing was, most of the stuff was unnecessary, never used, the clothing never worn again since it was "cruise clothes" and much of it donated to Goodwill a couple years later. How I wish I would have not spent a fortune on all the junk we dragged along and dragged back home again.

[Janet Foster]

Thank you for your comment, have a nice day.

[simplelife]

I don't think of dissuading people from over-packing to be negative in any way. As a matter of fact, it's the opposite and rather positive. Not only does it reduce the weight and clutter, there will be more vacation $$ to spend on enjoyment.

 

I wish I would have read a post like simplelife made with comments before our first cruise. Instead, I believed all the suggestions made and packed like we were going camping for a year, complete with a new wardrobe for all 4 of us. By the time we left and with all the excitement reading suggestions made, I had probably spent close to what another cruise might have cost us.

 

The sad thing was, most of the stuff was unnecessary, never used, the clothing never worn again since it was "cruise clothes" and much of it donated to Goodwill a couple years later. How I wish I would have not spent a fortune on all the junk we dragged along and dragged back home again.

 

Thanks for validating my post (and MrsPete's as well, which shared silmilar ideas.) :) At least JF read yours. Did you notice that of 85 posts, 40 of them were from her? Maybe that accounts for the "count of visits" attesting to the lists's popularity?? :confused:

 

I have a great time planning for my cruises and I have found that packing light makes my cruise MORE enjoyable. IF JF gets the same pleasure from extensive packing, then good for her. How much she packs does not affect me (and how little I pack does not affect her).

 

The beauty of these boards is that there is room for multiple opinions which reflect the diversity of cruisers.

 

New Cruisers: Consider multiple opinions and then weigh what will be best for YOU!

 

Happy cruising to all!!:)

[simplelife]

As a first-time cruiser, the packing list was very helpful! I printed out a copy and will take it home with me! My cruise departs on 8/29/09 and I can't wait!

Have a great time!! (of course you will - it is a CRUISE!):)

Edited August 6, 2009 by simplelife

[MrsPete]

I don't think of dissuading people from over-packing to be negative in any way. As a matter of fact, it's the opposite and rather positive. Not only does it reduce the weight and clutter, there will be more vacation $$ to spend on enjoyment.

 

I wish I would have read a post like simplelife made with comments before our first cruise. Instead, I believed all the suggestions made and packed like we were going camping for a year, complete with a new wardrobe for all 4 of us. By the time we left and with all the excitement reading suggestions made, I had probably spent close to what another cruise might have cost us.

 

The sad thing was, most of the stuff was unnecessary, never used, the clothing never worn again since it was "cruise clothes" and much of it donated to Goodwill a couple years later. How I wish I would have not spent a fortune on all the junk we dragged along and dragged back home again.

Yep, my thoughts exactly. It's not negative -- it's realistic. Believing what we read, we also brought waaaay too much on our first cruise. On our second, we brought less, but we still had stuff that we didn't use.

 

On the way home from our second cruise -- while it was fresh in our minds -- we created a list of things we'd actually used, and we typed it up for future cruises. Obviously details change a little from trip to trip, and we've needed to make small changes here and there (for example, when we made that list, diabetic testing wasn't yet a part of our lives), but that list has proven itself perfect!

[Janet Foster]

Thanks for writing.. have a great day!

[scrapulous]

Sing with me people:

 

KUMBAYAH...

[Janet Foster]

Sing with me people:

 

KUMBAYAH...

Too funny... yes... can't everyone just get along and be kind??

 

Deep breathing helps...

Edited August 7, 2009 by Janet Foster

[jilro]

hi everyone! Lets just thank everyone for the great lists. These lists are just recomendations . Pick out what suits you and ignore the rest. Appreciate that someone took the time to share their ideas with you. No need to be negative. This is a forum to share. Remenber we are all in the same boat! Enjoy your cruise and most of all, enjoy life. Am leaving Friday for a 12 day Med. Cruise. Thanks to everyone for your great ideas. Also dont forget the playing cards. they are great on a long trip and they dont take up much room!

[Janet Foster]

Great message.... have a wonderful time. That is one of my cruises in the future I wish to take. Very envious!! Hope you post a review. What line?

[toolgrl919]

Yikes! Never thought people would get to testy over a list. :confused:

I liked the list, lots of good suggestions. I like being able to read what other cruisers bring, probably more experienced than I, and see if I can find things that I should bring too. Or even find things that I won't need that I thought I would.

[scrapulous]

For the record Janet, I appreciated your list. I printed it, and while I probably won't bring everything on it, I will bring several things you mentioned that I wouldn't have otherwise thought about. So thank you.

[Janet Foster]

To everyone.. thank you for your very nice notes. I appreciate your comments.

 

My first cruise I was so unprepared. Which is not like me. After that cruise and after I realized how much we liked cruising, I decided to do my homework and get a list together. This is how I came up with my list. Bits and pieces of all the lists I have found.

 

I don't take everything either but like you say when you read or hear something it might trigger something else that you didn't think of.

 

Everyone is different and everyone has their own particular needs for what ever reason. So if the lists helps you then great. If it doesn't then that is fine too.

 

My main goal was always geared at making things easier for those who have never cruised. I know when people in my office are taking their first cruise they are all so grateful when I email the list to them as are the people we travel with.

 

I hope everyone has fun planning.. that is the best part of getting ready for the cruise!!!

 

Oh and for the record we always fly on Southwest Airlines so we never pay baggage fees and my daughter works for the airline so we never pay for the airfare.. so for that we are very grateful...

 

Best Regards!

Janet:D

Edited August 8, 2009 by Janet Foster

[simplelife]

:):)Though we may not agree on some things, we both enjoy planning and cruising. We just approach the process differently As I said in my earlier post, that is fine - we each enjoy it and my process does not negatively affect yours nor yours mine. It just goes to show that cruisers are a wonderfully diverse group. :cool:

I imagine you would be as upset about not having something you need/want as I would about having packed too much! (My best friend is a heavy packer, and we just appreciate and laugh about our differences)

 

I certainly did not intend for my response to your list to be a personal criticism of you - just a response based on my own experience - one alternative voice of many for other posters to consider.

 

Your list makes sense considering that you do not have baggage restrictions, (lucky you!:) - we don't have Southwest here) but many traveling nowadays do and may need to make the hard choice of what to take and what to leave behind. Both your ideas and mine, combined with others presented, help them to do this.

 

Anyway, thanks for publishing your list and helping new cruisers to consider what they might need to pack.

 

PS. I see you have done Celebrity - How did you like it? We are considering it for our next cruise.

[Janet Foster]

Thank you for your note. I appreciate the response. When we cruise it is with all of our friends/family. We all get junior suites next to each other and then have the room attendant open up the balconies all the way down so we have about 6 - 8 cabins in a row. Just about my whole family works for Southwest so like I said earlier we are fortunate in that respect. We also have themed cocktail parties each night so everyone is responsible for their own party and we bring decorations. The room attendants love us and we leave them all the decorations for their own cabins... Believe me they wanted to help us.. We do go over the top and we do have a good time after all it is our vaction, we are all in our 50's and all have grandchildren and we have worked hard for our money. We like being waited on and having our luggage delivered to us, throwing parties and having a good time and we may bring more than what we need but we tip well and the baggage handlers always appreciate us. But like we all say planning is the best part of getting ready to go and each person has their own preferences..

 

My cousin..we took her with us on our last cruise and talk about an overpacker.. she had more shoes that you could ever imagine and she had more clothes than I could ever think of taking.. Plus my sister who roomed with her said she had a zipped bag for every outfit. The kind of clear plastic zip bags that good pillowcases or sheets come in. So during the whole cruise all my sister would hear is: Zip...zip...zip.. zip zip..zip.. got to be pretty funny I would guess.. LOL

 

I will say this.. my last cruise we all got Aft cabins.. we had two decks and I was not happy with the afts on the Liberty of the Seas.. On the sides of the ship you are looking down at the water which is what we all like. . On their aft you are looking at the ship's steel structure then beyond that is the water. So I would say I am more a balcony girl than and an aft girl but I am glad we all tried it.

 

You mentioned Celebrity... that is my husbands favorite.. HE is looking to book another on that line. On that line we get SkySuites and the cabin has a butler. We are thinking of booking that one in 2011 for a tour of Alaska. I like Royal Caribbean but Celebrity is just a tad bit classier. We also want to do the Med. Hoping to get something going on that as well.

 

Thanks for writing and happy Saturday.

[simplelife]

Just replied but seemsto have lost my message somewhere in cyberspace.

Sounds like you and your friends and family have a blast. We have only cruised with a family group once - would love to do that again. Usually it is just DH and I alone or with one other couple.

 

I think we would like Celebrity, and I'd love to do the Med - I'll have to save up my money for a while though!

[metalmynx]

Janet, as a first time cruiser, I appreciate you taking the time to put together this list. I probably won't bring everything on it, but I find it to be very helpful as it contains a lot of items that I might not have thought to bring, but may need or want to have.

 

I'm going to be "overpacked" as far as the cruise is concerned anyway, we're staying in Sarasota for a week following the cruise, so by necessity I'll have to have more than four changes of clothes with me. I'm going to try to pack as light as I can though.