Do you have a cruise right around the corner? Are you new to cruising or just want to up your cruise packing game? Here are 37 cruise essentials you should pack for your cruise. I am not including a must have for clothing, as each cruise will require different clothing depending on the temperature at each port. Here is a general idea of what clothing items to bring.

No matter how long or short your cruise is, you should always bring enough clothing and shoes for each day and separate set for the evening meal. Think about the kinds of activities you plan on doing while onboard and off the ship – will you be lounging by the pool? Sightseeing around port cities? Attending fancy dinners? Make sure that your clothes reflect the different activities so that no matter what, you’ll look and feel great. If you plan on zip lining, ATV riding, or any other adventure activity, be sure to bring closed-toe tennis shoes. Bring plenty of bathing suits and water shoes are a must!

We have cruised with Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Carnival; we have cruised 8 times, with our 9th cruise scheduled to start in 18 days. Now this one was scheduled off-season to get the best deal; a perk of being an empty nester.

I also interviewed a friend, Jeanne who has cruised more times than she can even count; she has been on 4 cruises in the past month and a half (I am super-jealous). She helped me compile my list of 37 cruise essentials.

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37 Cruise Essentials to Pack

Towel clips

One of my favorite pastimes is laying in a lounger, either sunbathing, reading, or listening to music. You will lay on your towel, but anytime you move, your towel will fall; so frustrating! These towel clips are one of the cruise essentials and will hold your towel in place!

Heavy Duty Magnetic Hooks

Staterooms are normally pretty small and space is at a premium; use these hooks to hang things on the doors and walls to get them up and out of the way. These are heavy duty and will hold up to 50lbs.

Power extender

Most staterooms have very limited power outlets — one maybe two if you’re lucky. If you have multiple devices, smart watches, cameras, etc. you will need one of these! Make sure it does not have surge protector capability, as the cruise lines may confiscate them if they are found as surge protectors are not allowed on board.

Motion Sickness Remedies

If you think you might be prone or are prone to motion sickness, do not leave home without your preferred motion sickness preventative OTC medications. I prefer the Dramamine, less drowsy, but I have friends who prefer the patch and others who prefer the band. If you are unsure of which works for you, I would bring multiple options because feeling nauseous will put a serious kink in your cruise.

Clear over the door shoe organizer

A clear over the door shoe organizer is a perfect addition to your cabin and one of the cruise essentials. You can put toiletries, medications, shoes, and anything else that you may need that won’t fit on the small bathroom counters.

Portable Fan

I don’t know about you, but we cannot sleep without some sort of air circulation and white noise in the room. The staterooms can get stuffy, and this portable fan will circulate the air and provide some white noise while you are sleeping.

Packing Cubes

We don’t leave home without our clothing packed in packing cubes. You can pack by day or by clothing type. It comes in really handy when trying to keep your stateroom organized!

Laundry Bag

You will want somewhere to put your dirty clothes. These laundry bags will do the trick to help keep your cabin organized and tidy.

Cruise Luggage Tags

When you check-in for your cruise at home, you will receive your luggage tags. These need to be printed in color. Some people simply fold and staple them to their luggage handle, but we use these cruise luggage tags to slip our printed tag in. These help keep your luggage from getting lost; if your stapled tag gets pulled off on accident, your luggage will be delayed from getting to your room and you will more than likely spend time in the guest services line to locate it. You don’t want to start your cruise that way, trust us! This is definitely a cruise essential!

Water Bottle

A reusable insulated water bottle will come in really handy on the ship. It is nice to fill it up at a drink station and have nice cold water all day; you will get thirsty while laying around the pool. It is also nice to take to your room, so you have something to drink to take medications with as well. It isn’t always convenient to walk to a drink station when you are thirsty, so having your water bottle to keep full will be very convenient!

Reusable Straws

Most Cruise Lines have gone green and do not give you plastic straws in your drinks. They might give you an edible straw or a paper one, but we don’t like either of those options. We always bring our own reusable straws with us, just don’t forget to grab your straw before you leave your empty cup at the bar.

Lanyards 

You will need a lanyard to keep up with your room key card; this card contains your method of payment to make purchases on the ship and to get in your stateroom. You will need your card to buy drinks or show you purchased beverage package, to pay for bingo and other activities, to shop on board, etc. The card can easily get lost if it’s not attached to a lanyard.

Waterproof Phone Pouch

If you plan on hitting the beach or water parks, you will want to have waterproof protection on your phone. You will want to take photos, but don’t want your phone to get ruined when a big wave comes! If you have one of these, you can also use your phone to take photos if you go snorkeling too.

Beach Bag

A beach bag is a cruise essential to carry your towel, sunscreen, bug repellant, flip flops, water bottle, clothing and more to the pool or off to a beach day when at port.

Waterproof Travel Backpack

If you plan on riding ATVs or doing other adventurous activities, a waterproof travel backpack will come in quite handy. This will keep your contents dry and clean while your slinging mud on your off road adventures!

Travel umbrella

You never know when it might rain and you don’t want a day at port to be ruined by a pop up rain shower. This umbrella is compact and will not take up much space in your bag you are carrying for the day.

Reef Friendly sunscreen

Sunscreen is a must, whether you are on an Alaskan, Mediterranean, Caribbean, or any other beautiful itinerary cruise, you will be spending time outside and your skin needs to be protected. Reef safe sunscreen is required for certain excursions, so I recommend this for everyone even if you don’t plan on getting in the water. Once you see the beautiful waters, you will be tempted to at least dip you toes! Keep our environment safe with this sunscreen.

Sunburn Relief

There is a high chance that you will get some sun and your skin will thank you for applying this after sun lotion. This lotion contains hydrating aloe, cocoa butter, and vitamin E and smells of a pina-colada, perfect scent reminiscent of a tropical get away!

Poo-pourri

Remember how I said your stateroom will be on the small side, unless you really splurge for a suite. With that being said, unpleasant odors, can consume the stateroom quickly! Be sure to keep a bottle of poo-pourri in your bathroom and spray before you go. Everyone in your stateroom will appreciate it!

Wrinkle releaser

You are not allowed to bring irons or clothing steamers on cruise ships, so keep some wrinkle released handy. You can spray your clothes and put the in the bathroom while you are showering; between the steam from the shower and the wrinkle release, your wrinkles will be somewhat smoothed out. I do iron everything before I pack though to make sure I don’t look like my clothes were balled up in a duffle bag.

OTC medications

Any ailment that can affect you on land, can affect you at sea. I recommend bringing at least the basics such as headache/pain relief, anti-diarrheal, heartburn relief and allergy medications. You can buy some on-board, but it will cost a lot more and might not be the brand that works for you, so I would rather bring the products I know and trust to alleviate my symptoms.

Prescription Medications in a pill organizer

If you take prescription medications, be sure to organize them in a pill organization box; you will not want to carry multiple bottles on the ship. I would take a photo of your pill bottles, so if there are any questions, you have proof that the medication is prescribed to you.

Portable Charger

You will be taking photos and possibly surfing social media or the internet; you can purchase a Wi-Fi plan on the ship or use free Wi-Fi in some port locations. You won’t want to be at port and have no battery charge on your phone in case you need to use your phone for navigation or make a call for a taxi or such. This portable charger is one of the cruise essentials.

Insect repellant

Insect repellant is a must if you plan on doing any excursion off the ship, especially if you are going into jungles or forests. We carry ours everywhere because some ports just seem to have mosquitos and/or sand fleas and we’d rather be safe than sorry. There is nothing worse then being bit up from head to toe, when you can easily prevent it.

Blister Band-aids

You might have bought a new pair of shoes or be wearing high heels and you get the dreaded blister. Be sure to pack some blister band-aids in your suitcase. They could come in handy; another one of the cruise essentials!

Make-up wipes

After a day at the beach or riding ATVs, your face might feel very sticky and be dirty. These make up wipes are individually wrapped, so they come in handy to give your face a quick refresh after outdoor activities. You won’t want to leave the ship without these.

Tissues

Travel size tissues always come in handy; when at port, you might need to use the restroom and toilet tissue might not be available there. These are a perfect size to carry with you just in case that happens to you.

Jewelry Organizer

It really stinks when you travel with jewelry and you pull it out and everything is tangled up. This organizer will keep everything separated to prevent tangling and everything will be easy to find. You will want to wear jewelry to spice up your attire; be sure to get one of these to make it a breeze to find your jewelry.

Corkscrew

Most cruise lines allow you to bring 1 bottle of wine per adult, so a corkscrew is a necessary tool to bring with you if you decide to bring your bottle(s) of wine. If you do plan on bringing wine, be sure to carry it on; do not pack it in your suitcase.

Wine ice bags

If you do chose to bring wine, I would recommend a wine ice bag. I have had really bad luck with refrigerators keeping anything even remotely cool in any of the staterooms we have stayed in. Your room steward can bring you ice and these bags will get your wine nice and cold!

Ziploc Bags

Ziploc bags are handy to store your passport, money, credit cards when you get off the ship to keep it dry. It’s easier to transfer it from your daily bag to the safe when you don’t need it any longer. Nothing will get lost or left behind in the safe if you keep everything in the bag.

Lip Balm with SPF

You want to protect your lips just as you do the rest of your skin. A lip balm with SPF is an important cruise essential.

Electronics Organizer Case

I’ve mentioned it before, but it is critical to keep you small stateroom organized; this case will keep your charger boxes, cables and plugs organized in one spot. This is a phenomenal product!

Disinfecting wipes

You’d rather be safe than sorry. Grab some disinfecting wipes to wipe down highly touched surfaces in your stateroom.

Collapsible Cruise Bag

When you just have a couple of things to carry, or you are headed shopping. You can pop this bag in your pocket; yes it folds up that small. Then you will have it when you need it to carry things around.

Full Face Snorkel

If by any chance you plan on snorkeling, grab some of your own gear. When you go on snorkeling excursions, they provide the gear, but I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust someone else cleaning what I’m going to put in my mouth. The gear you get on the excursions is normally old too. They have come out with new and improved snorkeling gear. Also if you would just like to snorkel off the shore, then you wont even need to pay for an excursion

Journal

If you’re anything like us, your memory is slightly fading; grab a journal to bring on the cruise to take notes of what you did everyday, so you will be able to recall all the exciting things you saw and did. I recommend making note s few times throughtout the day to keep an accurate account of your amazing trip!

With these tips in mind, we hope your packing checklist is looking much more manageable! These cruise essentials will make your cruise much more enjoyable. At the end of the day it all comes down to choosing items that will make your cruise comfortable and enjoyable—so pack smartly with this recommended list of cruise essentials, but don’t forget those extras that will make your trip truly memorable! Bon voyage!

If cruising is your cup o’ tea, try a land tour with Globus; you will love it! Here are our 10 reasons to travel with Globus — Alluring Southern Ireland – 10 Reasons to Tour with Globus

-S&E