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It's easy to fill a carry-on with footwear alone when packing for a cruise. The must-have basic is a comfortable pair of travel shoes for the flight, ship and walking in port. After you print your luggage tags for your cruise, make sure that you purchase cruise luggage tag holders for your cruise line. This cruise packing hack will ensure that your paper tags don’t fall off your luggage during the boarding process.
Consider Doing Laundry Onboard
You'll likely pick up a few souvenirs during your cruise, so you'll need room in your luggage to bring them home. Consider packing a foldable duffle if you're unable to pack so that there's space in your luggage for your return-trip purchases. It won't take up much space in your suitcase, and you can fill it up and check it for the flight home. Some places are more formal than others, and you'll need to bring the right gear depending on your itinerary.
Cruise Packing Tips: Expert Hacks for a Smooth Voyage
Now that you know what to put on your cruise packing list, you'll also want to know what to leave out. Some items you might be tempted to pack are outright banned by the cruise lines. Some must-pack items for cruises defy categorization but are important nonetheless. You'll want to pack items specific to the activities you aim to do in port.
What to Pack for the Galápagos: A Complete Checklist - Travel + Leisure
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Clothing Packing Hacks: Rolling Clothes, Freshening with Dryer Sheets
However, if you prefer to bring your own, you can bring some lightweight foldable hangers so that you can unpack quickly. Dryer sheets are great to have in your luggage to keep your clothing smelling fresh. This is especially important as you pack up at the end of your cruise, and will likely have dirty clothing. Alternatively, you may want to pack towel bands, especially if you’re trying to pack light on your cruise. Pack a few bandaids in a baggy and throw them into your cruise shore excursion bag.
Travel Corkscrew
10 Must-Pack Items for New CruisersYou don't have to learn the hard way. 9 Cruise Packing Hacks That Will Revolutionize the Way You TravelCombat common packing problems with these simple solutions you never would have thought up on your own.
Whichever route you choose, be sure to bring cash (including small bills for tips ashore), an ATM or debit card, and credit cards. If you are on a longer sailing, consider taking advantage of the onboard laundry service rather than overpacking. Sandals and flip-flops are must-haves for pool and beach days, while more elegant shoes are de rigueur for fancier evening dinners on board. Flip flops aren’t allowed in the main dining rooms and speciality restaurants in the evenings. Celebrity’s sailings of seven nights or longer have two nights designated as Evening Chic, while shorter cruises have one.
More Travel Tips
I don't know about you, but my flip-flops and water shoes do not belong next to my snorkel or my water bottle. Even if you're flying straight from home to the cruise port, pack like you're spending a night in a hotel. Pack a complete change of clothes and necessary toiletries in your carry-on bag. No matter what kind of luggage you take, checked and carry-on bags should have personal tags with your name, email address and phone number.
Don’t think you have to pack all of these items, but those that catch your interest should be brought along. However, it's easier and cheaper to pack your own first-aid kit. As electrical outlets are in short supply in most cruise cabins, you'll need a battery-powered light, preferably motion-activated, if you don't want it on all night. Cruise ship cabins can be extra dark at night, especially if you've pulled the blackout curtains closed or have booked a windowless inside cabin. Night lights can help you find your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night without waking your cabinmates. You can never entirely predict the weather where you are cruising.
If you’re on an Alaskan cruise, bring a lightweight water repellant backpack for port days in Juneau, Ketchikan and other Alaska ports. Before closing up your luggage, write your name and email address, as well as your travel information on a large paper that you place inside your luggage. If you check a bag, be sure to bring a carry-on that has anything in it you might need for the first day. So you’ll want a change of clothes, swimsuit, toiletries, boarding documents, and any valuables.
To keep other items like wallets, cell phones, sunglasses and water bottles organized and always at the ready, bring along an over-door shoe organizer with clear pockets. In the event that you are going on a snorkeling tour, you need to remember to only bring eco-friendly sunscreen, as most tours now only allow that type of sunscreen on their excursions. In case of rain, stay dry with a small umbrella or light raincoat, and prevent bug bites with some travel-sized mosquito repellent.
You’ll want to download the app for your cruise line before you set off. Once you step onboard, be sure to turn your phone onto ‘airplane mode’ so that you don’t rack up any data charges while at sea. I have a full list of the laundry facilities on every cruise ship for you, so you can find out if there are washing machines and whether you need cash for them. It can be hard to find the right balance between making sure that you don’t forget any of the essentials and bringing so much stuff that you can’t move inside your cabin. As a rule of thumb, don’t bring anything on the ship that can cause a fire.
They’re also small enough to toss in a tote and bring with you for a beach day in port. And, if you’re sailing on a large ship, especially on a day when everyone is onboard, there might be more rows of deck chairs than your frozen cocktail will allow you to keep track of. So, a cheeky cactus, or watermelon, or flamingo sticking up from your seat in a sea of identical towel-clad loungers might help you better locate your place in the sun.
On cruise ships that don’t have laundry facilities, I like to use my Scrubba wash bag. It’s the easiest way to wash your clothes in under five minutes. That means one pair of shorts, chinos or jeans for daytime (depending on your cruise's itinerary).
If you're packing enough shoes to warrant a 24-pocket shoe organizer, you're probably over-packing, even for a world cruise. Instead, use the shoe organizer to pack and store your toiletries and other small items easily lost in your cabin clutter. Shower shelves and small baskets that attach to the shower walls or glass door via a suction cup will provide additional toiletry space, while suction-on hooks are handy for drip-drying swimsuits. Binder clips or magnetic shower weights can help clingy curtains stay in place.
Your cruise ship will provide you with white towels to use in the bathroom and coloured towels to use by the pool. You can also take these ashore with you and you’ll spot lots of cruisers with their ship towels on nearby beaches. Many of the activities that you can do on cruise ships require you to have your legs and feet covered. So, if you plan on trying rock climbing, ice skating, laser tag, zip-lining, a high ropes course, trampolining or anything like that, you’ll need the correct shoes, socks and trousers to take part. No matter how carefully you fold your clothes, when they spend a day in a suitcase, they are going to come out wrinkled.
I recently ditched my heels for comfortable black sneakers I pair with skirts, slacks and dresses. If your cute sneaks can stand up to touring by day but look good with your evening wear, you've just saved a ton of space in your suitcase. One of the easiest space-saving cruise packing tips is to re-wear bottoms with different tops. It will also make you less likely to run out of closet space in your compact cruise ship cabin. Accessorize a simple dress or suit with different jewelry, ties and scarves, rather than bring two suits or cocktail dresses. Your shipmates won't know (or care) if you wear the same outfit twice.
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