My No Stress Way To Pack For A Cruise
Packing for a cruise
Pack for your Carnival Cruise months in advance without stress
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Pack for a cruise in advance to reduce stress. After watching multiple videos on what to take on a cruise. We didn’t want to break the bank buying unnecessary things while at sea. Therefore I figured I'd share what I have learned & experienced with you all.
Container Store Men’s Shoe box
So I started saving things that were of travel size to keep in this one bin that I never unpacked. In the beginning, I started using a Container Store Men’s Shoe Box and it was ok but I noticed that as I purged various areas of my home I quickly realized I had more travel items than I thought. Therefore, I moved everything into a Deep sweater box, this allowed me room to grow if necessary.
This worked well for me cause these items will never get unpacked out of this bin.
Inside my luggage:
I like for everything in my luggage to be neatly organized when I pack, so…I started looking at new Packing cubes & ended up purchasing a nice set that worked pretty well. No complaints at all. I went with a loud green color to ensure they didn’t blend into the State Room bedding, carpet or bathroom space & get left behind. So this year I will give my husband the green or blue ones & order myself some that will match my new luggage I purchased during Quarantine.
Here are the new packing cubes & Luggage.
So after checking off
Luggage
Packing Cubes
I moved on to the necessary toiletries. I reviewed multiple lists and after comparing them I finally purchased this Travel Packing Checklist to keep in my Travel Bin (Deep Sweater Box).
Keeping this list in this bin will allow me to do the inventory of whats in the bin. Making an automatic list of what I need to run to the travel section of Target and purchase.
Travel toiletries
Anything I wanted to take with me I just dropped into this bin so I didn’t have to look for anything once it was time to pack for the cruise or any other trip for that matter.
I kept my checklist & pen in the same bin on a clipboard so that I could easily mark off anything I added to the bin.
Here is the very convenient list if you need a guide to go by http://amzn.to/2ss2Bu3
This is an absolute must-have for those who travel often.
Click the photo below to view the full Amazon Ideas Travel Board
[bctt tweet="Awesome organizational info be sure to #RT."]
Cruise packing checklist
I also ran across this website called Travel Checklist & you enter your info & out comes a printable checklist made just for you. Talk about Having it your way. This website is great!
My travel bin includes everything you need for any trip but the travel database above makes packing for different trips super easy.
Then once I return from the cruise I simply pour all my travel toiletries back into this bin. This is where these items live until my next trip.
#SuperSimple.
Once all my bags are unpacked I store the packing cubes inside my Luggage.
So please let me know if you found these tips helpful. I love hearing from my subscribers. You are a subscriber, right?
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If your going on a cruise below are a few Items I think you will absolutely use.
Accessories:
Cruise Hats ,Designer Sun Glasses, Designer Tote, Comfy Shoes,
Remember that you will be doing a lot walking when you go on excursions and it is so important to have the right shoes on. I suffer from Metatarsalgia (foot problems created by wearing high heels when you have flat feet) So … I must create my outfits around the shoe I’m wearing.
Some of you with this issue may want to purchase some insoles for this condition since you will be doing more walking than usual. Strutz works well for me.
They are awesome for anyone with Flat feet or Collapsed arches. The terrain is rough in most other countries so I recommend something with a thick sole. Avoid anything that is flat with little support.
~MUST-HAVES ~
One thing mentioned on the checklist was a Power Strip because most Staterooms only have one plug. Being the organizer I am, I took a Power strip with me which was convenient since we all had gadgets to plug up.
Although I will be purchasing another PowerStrip that is majority USB connection to keep in my Travel Bin. I wanted more USB ports so that I wouldn’t have to bring all these cords & Plug square( the part that plugs in). Some are bulkier than others….. I’d rather just plug into the USB port.
Although, I’ve been advised by some that Royal Caribbean & Disney Cruise Line does not permit extension cords or power strips.
But yet I've talked to someone that they always take these on their Disney cruises, 5 different Disney Cruises to be exact & they had never been confiscated.
Someone else had advised me that she had asked for an extension cord for a CPAP through special needs on Celebrity and it, was waiting for her when she arrived at her cabin. They even taped the cord down to prevent tripping.
I’ve personally have never been on a Disney Cruise line but I hear that there are plenty of outlets in the cabins. I would think this depends on the ship your on.
I would assume the newer the ship is the more outlets they would have.
Your other option is to take a USP Port Charging Station
Something everyone forgets
One thing that wasn’t on any of the lists were Paper Towels. My mom and I found that we always wanted a paper towel to wipe our hands. I did have wet wipes but we also needed dry paper towels.
The Cruise line put’s great effort into not littering in the beautiful sea so…..you will only find small drink napkins in the Bar area or the hard elementary school brown/tan paper towels in the Visitor Bathrooms around the boat.
In the dining areas, they only provide cloth napkins which add to the ambiance of dining on a cruise ship. This way they don’t increase cruise cost to cover paying a cleanup team on a smaller boat to follow the ship to clean up any waste dropped in the sea.
So next time I will bring 1 roll of paper towels in my checked luggage.
~
Update: I’ve been chatting with other cruisers on Cruise Critic and wow have I gotten some good information about the rules on some cruise lines. I did add the updates to this post. If you have any tips or tricks that would make the packing/planning process easier please do share.
Know this about WiFi before you go on your cruise
So I spent $50 for the wifi package on the Carnival Paradise. It didn’t work at all while everyone was on board but when everyone was off the ship on an excursion it worked fine. For me, that wouldn’t work because I wanted to upload pictures while everyone was on board. As well as the fact that I was taking excursions as well and didn’t want to sit on the ship just to upload photos & check my email.
So I did what anyone would do… I bumped the internet up to the largest wifi plan which was $100 so that was $50 additional to the first $50 I paid. Guest what happened???? Nothing … cause I still couldn’t connect. Yes, I’d wasted $100 because there were just too many people on the ship trying to connect. So I now understand that when I take a cruise it’s really time to detach from work & Social Media and just have a good time.
Check your cell plan to see if you have an international plan that will work in other countries should you cruise to far away places. While the ship is cruising it is more than likely that you won’t get a signal because there are no towers close enough to give you a signal. I just wanted to ensure that you were aware of that… cause that will really matter for some.
So that’s it for my cruise tips. Feel free to check out my other posts & go follow me on Social Media to stay up to date.
I ran across a great blog post about vacation planning the correct way. It was so awesome. If you initially plan everything … getting off work to go have a little R & R is a breeze. Less stress all around.
[bctt tweet="Awesome organizational info be sure to #RT."]If you feel that it's always hard for you to get the time off from work to vacation. You should check out The Power of Vacation Planning.
Take a look at it here: https://www.projecttimeoff.com
HAPPY CRUISING !!!!
First Time Cruisers click below
Have you seen my related post:
Cruising 101: Top Organizational Tips For First Time Cruisers
https://www.dallasorganizer.com/blog/2019/3/12/first-time-cruisers-top-organizational-tips
Click above to see the entire post.