Need Great Ideas of clever things to bring

[tgptmp]

If I brought all of that I would not have room for clothes!! lol

[sanuk4u]

If I brought all of that I would not have room for clothes!! lol

 

 

That's totally what I told my sister who is going as well. She was like...I think that is a little over accessive. However, some of the list is sensible because I think a lot of vacationers think "oh, if I forgot it I can just go buy it or ask the concierge for it" What if they don't have that because we are cruising, you know? LOL. So some of it makes sense, not all of it. LOL. Especially a shoe rack...that would be large to carry, no?

[tgptmp]

Someone had posted a full list of this in another chat, maybe it will help everyone? I'll repost it here:

 

SUGGESTIONS

FOR WHAT NOT TO FORGET TO TAKE WITH YOU ON YOUR CRUISE

 

 

CLOTHING, ETC.

 

Small tote umbrella

Extra pair of prescription glasses

Large metal paper clips for hanging up wet bathing suits

Sweater and/ or jacket for cool nights at sea or air conditioned areas that are quite cool

Over-the-door shoe holder

Cheap waterproof watch

 

LAUNDRY

 

Small containers of laundry detergent

Dryer sheets

Nylon mesh laundry bags

Pop-up laundry hamper

Stain remover pen

 

FOR STORING CLOTHING

 

A shoe rack which fits over the bathroom door

Extra hangers

 

AIR FRESHENERS, ETC.

 

Fabreeze air freshener (may be a problem if flying)

Airfreshener solid

 

TOILETRIES (PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS)

 

Shampoo

Hair conditioner

Disinfectant wipes

Travel roll of toilet paper

Purell or other waterless hand cleaner

Liquid hand soap

A small shower organizer to keep the soap and shampoo, razor, etc. (There is little enough room in the bathroom for storage)

 

FOR OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

 

Bug spray

Sunscreen

Waterproof (water resistant) shoes

Sunglasses

Suntan lotion

Plastic hair clips for holding down towels on your chair or holding wet things drying on the balcony

 

FOR ON-SHORE EXCURSIONS

 

A backpack or fammy pack for carrying things on shore excursions

Driver Licenses if needed

Your passports

Ship Cards

Credit Card

Cash

Tour Vouchers & Payment for Tours with tips

Waterproof Camera

Chair Clips

RainPonchos

Thermal Bag with drinks & ice

 

DRUGS, MEDICINES, ETC.

 

Headache medicine (aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, etc.)

Stomach ache medicine (Pepto Bismol tablets, etc)

Bonine or Dramamine

Band Aids

Antiseptic ointment

Extra prescription medications (extra 2-3 days’ supply

Benedryl

Neosporin

Calamine lotion

 

APPLIANCES AND ELECTRONICS

 

Nightlight (for the bathroom or elsewhere)

Alarm clock

Hair dryer

Flat Iron

Power bar/ power strip

Extra batteries for your digital camera

Rechargable batteries for your digital camera

Battery charger

Cell phone charger

Flashlight

Extra memory cards for your digital camera

 

CLEANERS

 

Clorox spray cleaner for disinfecting surfaces

 

LAUNDRY NEEDS

 

Fabric sheets

Pop-up hamper for dirty clothes

Trash bag for storing dirty clothes

Duffle bag for dirty laundry

 

SHOPPING

 

Empty duffle bag for carrying what you buy on shopping trips

Empty tote bag for carrying what you buy on shopping trips

 

IF YOU BRING A LAPTOP COMPUTER

 

Memory card reader and/ or cable to backup your photos to a flash drive or CD/ DVD

 

MISCELLANEOUS

 

A highlighter for the newspaper or Patters

Bottle opener

Jigger

Small cocktail shaker

Single $$ for tips and misc. spending

Sewing kit

Bottle opener (“Church-key”)

Guidebooks for your cruise desitnations

Small roll of duct tape

Post-It notes to leave messages for the porter or those traveling with you

Cork screw

Addresses of all those that you want to write postcards and letters to while on your cruise.

Ziplock bags

Copies of passport, credit card & important numbers incase you lose it

A small pair of scissors

A bungie cord to hold open the sliding door to the balcony and/or hold the drapes open

Small pair of binoculars

Eyeglasses repair kit

Thank you cards to leave for waiters and stewards. (They really appreciate them!)

 

A few thoughts--

Under-Clothing etc

I would skip the large metal paper clips and grab a few small travel plastic clothes pins

I would skip the shoe rack-too bulky

 

Under Laundry-

Before you bring any laundry supplies I woould make sure my ship had usable facilities on it--I have never been on a ship that did.

We use on of our smaller suitcases for dirty clothes-then on way home fill rest of it wih shoes

 

Toiletries

Unless you you have to have a certain kind--your room will be stocked with shampoo and conditioner

I would skip the organizer--but I am a guy

 

Outdoor activities

Insetad of water resistant shoes I have a nice (Lands End) pair of water shoes that are comfortable for hiking as well.

 

Miscellanious

a jigger? come on

a cocktail shaker? come on

Edited May 6, 2009 by tgptmp

[jackdhouse]

On my last trip, I went to Hawaii and I brought along a cheap pair of watersocks I got from Payless. I went in the ocean and waterfalls with them. Then I threw them away before coming home.

[tgptmp]

Great idea!!

[TammieLand]

we cruised over christmas a couple years ago and I picked up some stuff at the dollar store, including a christmas stocking with iron-on letters to personalize it. on the ship we ironed the steward's name on and wrapped up each of the little toys and trinkets and treats and stuffed the stocking and left it on the bed christmas morning when we vacated the room. yes, I travelled with wrapping paper and tape.. rofl.. my whole family was on the cruise and it was christmas! people told me not to wrap my gifts before I flew. :)

 

she cried. she sat down in the room and wrote us a 3 page letter. she cried and hugged us in the hallway. she was so.. excited, that santa had found her on this ship so far from home and family, and touched that strangers had done that for her.. it was such a simple thing, too.. honestly I did it as much for myself as for her.. her reaction absolutely made my christmas. :)

 

one of the things that made the cruise on the other hand was bringing along a small pair of speakers to plug into the walkman so we could have music of our choosing in the cabin.

 

OMG! That made my cry! What a thoughtful thing to do - - -

[WeTravelers2]

So some of it makes sense, not all of it. LOL. Especially a shoe rack...that would be large to carry, no?

 

I believe that they are talking about a clear plastic shoe rack that has slits on the top of each compartment-as opposed to one on the side, and hangs over the door. This is to organize items so that you are not wasting time looking all over the cabin for them. They fold up, come with the hooks in the package, and are inexpensive. (Walmart has them for about $8.00). :)

[sanuk4u]

How beneficial is this hanging shoe rack everyone is talking about?

[DoniaG]

I've had so much fun reading this thread - and gotten so many good ideas from it! Thanks to everyone for sharing. My small contribution includes -

 

• Baby powder - Shake a little on sandy feet and brush the sand right off. No fuss, no muss! There are small travel-size containers available.
  
• Paper hats - I suspect everyone knows this one, but just in case ... You can buy hats made of paper straw that look like real straw. The major advantage is that you can fold them into your suitcase without destroying them. They'll shake out when you get there as long as you don't cram them into toooooo small a space.
  
• Large zip-lock bags - The compression bags are great - but very pricey. You can do virtually the same thing with the 2-3-gallon zip-lock bags for a fraction of the cost. Fold your items carefully, place them in the bag (don't stuff it too full) and seal all but a small opening on one side of the zipper. Then lean, kneel, sit, or lay on the bag and close the small space as you do it. It will seal just like a vacuum seal. You can pack a lot more and have it arrive in better shape. I have no idea why things packed this way are so much less wrinkled on arrival, but they definitely are. (There are also giant zip-lock bags, but I find them a bit hard to seal.)
  

Happy cruising! Donia

[gtarbet]

The shoe rack idea is a must. We have done it both ways and will never cruise again without taking it with us. I love the idea of the prepaid international phone card. Where do you get that? Does anyone know?

[Roadtripster]

The shoe rack idea is a must. We have done it both ways and will never cruise again without taking it with us. I love the idea of the prepaid international phone card. Where do you get that? Does anyone know?

 

Funny how it is a must for you, but for us - no need to bring it. We don't have enough to fill it up with. LOL

 

As far as the prepaid card, around here, you can purchase them at the grocery store, WalMart, Target, etc... Just look for the rack of all the prepaid gifts cards and you will probably see it hanging there.

[Ilivetogo]

How beneficial is this hanging shoe rack everyone is talking about?

 

 

I think the general sense I have gotten about this hanging shoe rack is that for those of us (especially) in the smaller cabins (I will be FOUR in an inside), the need for keeping clutter to a minimum is a necessity. When you hang this over the back of the bathroom door, everyone in the room can slide things like sunglasses, lotion bottles, pens and notepads, hairbrushes, charging cords, etc. etc. in the pouches. These are all things that may end up on the tiny little tabletops and taking up room and making clutter. Also, it makes your things available right there at your fingertips and easy to see and grab while keeping them out of your way.

I got one with 24 "pouches" for our door in August.

[WeTravelers2]

The best thing I have come up with is an accordion file. We bought the check sized one, and I have labeled all the pockets. I keep passports, tickets, hotel information, rental car info, shore excursion info, etc. all in this nice little file.

Thought we would give the idea of the small file a try. I have started filling it for our trip this coming Saturday. I am surprised how useful it is. We have many papers and now they are organized. The plastic protects everything. Glad we decided to use one and we haven't even left yet. :D Thanks for the suggestion!

[brokenarrowhd]

For those who will be spending time at a beach, get The Neat Sheet ground cover. They are lightweight and it repels water and sand. Took it on our cruises last year and it worked great.

[USNUZULOOSE]

I need some sugesstions on clever things to bring with me. I read somewhere to bring a shoe bag that hangs over the door to put in your sunglasses, tickets, chapstick, all those things you don't remember where you put them. Great Idea. Anyone else have really clever ideas? :rolleyes:

 

 

 

I love using lens cloth for cleaning my glasses or my camera lens, great for sticky hands while out and about. have a great cruise!! love all these ideas. Thank you corrina

[Mizwoodym]

We just got off the Star Princess this morning and one of the things I know we could have used ws a bottle opener. You can buy a bucket with five beers in it but we didnt have an opener.

Im in the process of writing some notes down to post later on the first time cruiser threads. This was our first cruise and I learned alot!

We didnt use the shoe holder, we didnt bring one and there was tons of storage in the room to store stuff. but everyone is different.

[Mummo]

Everyone says duct tape.

 

Use for tapoing things, marking luggage, repairing anything, and as a lint roller.

 

 

Duct tape saved us this time. My husband always wonders why I have so many unusual things packed. When we got to the ship, our suitcase was destroyed. (Split down the side) We taped it to get home and that worked great! Duct tape is our friend. :)

[magandab]

Since I have small boys and the room is always dark (except this time I have a balcony) but I still will use this. I always take a glade plug in with a nitelite it makes your room smell fresh and gives a little light when needed you can also get them with the extra outlets on them which we all need.

Also helpful is a small power strip if extra outlets is needed. We also love those pop up clothes hampers they fold pretty small and when needed they just pop up. Also those of us with dirty little boys know that washing of swimwear is almost always needed so bring detergent in little containers from home. You can use the laundry or handwash in room. I have more but I'll have to think on it:cool:

April

Mariner Nov 26th 2006

 

 

I have learned that I can wash clothes using the supplied shampoos. It's gentle, smells good, and it's already on board! (I bring my own shampoo for my hair!)

[magandab]

I've read some great ideas on here. Here's a packing tip - pack your clothes on hangers it makes unpacking really quick. Just pull out of the suitcase by the hangers and hang in the closet. It really does cut amount of time spent unpacking on the ship.

 

An old friend of the family, who owned dry cleaning stores, also said, cover each group of hangers (3-4 items) with a dry cleaning bag. I promise you, your clothes will NOT be wrinkled when you take them out of the suitcase.

[magandab]

I'm thinking of bringing TWO over the door shoe hangers. One will hang inside the bathroom for toiletries, the other will hang outside for all the normal room clutter.

[Polomom]

Just came back from 9 day Bermuda/Caribbean trip- here's my tips!

 

We used the shoe rack for the first time- LOVED IT! With 2 women (DD and I) in the same bathroom there were too many items for the storage areas. This allowed us to put shower items away and pull out just what we needed each time- kept the shower clear! The small sink area was clear too! I'm sure our cabin attendant was happy! Even had room for suntan lotion and hair stuff! Be sure to get one that is only 4 sections wide so it fits across the small door. Only 1 compartment was blocked by the door handle- and that could house small items easily.

 

We also used a ShamWow a few times to help swim suits dry- it helped for sure, but the suits were still a bit damp. It would be a big plus if the deck chairs were damp in the morning (ours were not as we had great weather! :))

 

My travel mug was great for in-room coffee. The cups that come with room service are tiny so I could fill the mug and enjoy 2 cups worth out on the balcony! Kept it piping hot too!

 

Extra wire hangers allowed us to hang most of our clothes since there was very little drawer space. We left them there. I would do that again.

 

I bought the "boca clips" that people have talked about here (at Bed, Bath and Beyond). They were great too! Better than plain clothes pins- although they would be an easy substitute. The clips were large enough and strong enough to hold a beach towel on the metal parts of a beach/deck chair in very windy conditions! Ours never came off.

[cruiselife4me]

I have been an overpacker all my life. On our upcoming cruise I've decided that I don't have to have every bit of makeup in my bathroom, or the dvd player/bunch of videos, just some shorts that match with more than one shirt, some skirts/tops, my formal wear and wear very generic jewelry that I can match with everyone EXCEPT for my formal jewelry. I'll let you know how I do when I get back!

[sjscs]

Just a quick note to the person who said that they always take crazy glue and use it for a detached crown. I did this once and, when I made it to the dentist on monday, he told me to never do that again as one component of superglue is cyanide and it could be dangerous(cyanoacrylate). Just so you know.

[cruisemeister8]

On our first cruise, we followed ALL the advice found here on the boards. We took the duct tape, the shoe rack, the power strip, the bubble wrap for breakables, the foreign money, the foreign postage, the THIS, the THAT, and THE OTHER THING. I remember feeling ridiculous leaving the house with all these suitcases stuffed with stuff. But this was a cruise ... and we supposed that living on a ship for a week is different than any other trip. NOT!!! We didn't need a stich of it! Matter of fact, that roll of colored duct tape came home and went to live in the garage with the regular duct tape, and it's still there - - unopened - - several cruises later! Cruises, by the way, for which it stayed home, surely feeling the stick of abandonment that all under-traveled duct tape must feel.

 

What we learned is what all first-time cruisers must learn for themselves. Pack like you would for any other trip! Don't get caught up in the mythical fantasies that just because it's a cruise, you have to bring a steamer trunk and move in. It's only one week, people! You're not going to the backwoods sticks. Cruise ships are modern vessels with civilized faciliities for creature comforts. I know people who take less on a camping trip.

 

My rule: If you don't use it at home on any average week of your life - don't bring it!

 

That being said, the things that I do keep in the "cruise bag" which have come in handy include:

- the little plastic waterproof box on a string (water safe?) to keep the seapass dry while you're in the spa/pool.

- 9x12 manilla envelope with a stiff carboard sheet for transporting home the cruise photographs (keep one of the cardboard bottoms that come on reams of paper)

 

- gosh, I can't think of anything else that's in there.

 

Pack some common sense clothes, a camera, an empty bag, and some money. The latter will get you out of any pickle. How much more do you really need to "relax" for a week??

[sassycat]

I agree that you wouldn't want to take everything on these lists BUT it is nice to review and remind yourself of things you do want to take!! A couple things that we always take are a night light for the bathroom and the over the door shoe hanger. Both are very handy. When we were traveling with others we also used sticky notes quite a bit. We also have a couple things that we do for the stewards and other crew - varies by cruise - which are appreciated.