11 Worst Things To Forget To Pack For Your Cruise

What are the 11 worst things to forget to pack for your cruise? I want to take a look at 11 things that would just be bad, if you didn’t pack them on your cruise, starting with this one.

1. Three Obvious Things

There’re three absolute obvious things that you need to pack, and you probably could get away with your whole cruise if you only packed these three things.

  • Passport
    First of all, your passport. Now, certainly you could argue that on some cruises you don’t really need your passport. For example, there are what’s known as closed loop cruises. These are cruises that sail out from the same port and come back to the same port. Certainly, at the time of this writing, the regulation said that you didn’t specifically need a passport.

    However, I really recommend that you travel with a passport because if you have any issues having a passport is going to make it so much easier for getting back or repatriating if you need to.

    Just note that your passport needs to have normally at least six months before it expires for your passport to be accepted.

  • Credit card
    Second thing that you need is a credit card. That’s also very important because cruise lines generally won’t take debit cards, or they’re required to deposit a lot of cash to cover any onboard expenses. So, credit card is what most cruise lines require.

  • E-ticket
    Third thing that you need is an e-ticket. Increasingly, what’s happening is cruise lines require you to have checked in online and have an e-ticket which they scan when you board.

Those are certainly the three absolutely essential things. If you have these three things, you can probably go on your cruise and everything else you can just sort out.

2. Government photo ID

The second thing that I recommend you take though is some sort of government photo ID. You’ve obviously got your passport but I don’t like taking my passport out and about with me. And you’ll find that in some ports, when you go out on an excursion or self-exploring, you’re required to have some sort government issued photo ID with you.

 

I don’t like the idea of taking my passport out. I like to take my government photo driving license because if I lose that, it’s less traumatic and less problematic replacing that than it is a passport. So, some sort of government ID is a really good idea to have that with you because you can then leave your passport.

 

Also, in some itineraries you’ll find that the cruise line actually keeps your passport and that’s because you’re going through lots of different immigration places. They keep it to be able to process that so having some sort of ID is going to be really helpful when you’re heading out in port. It’s good to have ID with you in case you get into trouble or problems, you have some sort of identification.

3. Mobile phone

The third thing that I would recommend you never leave behind if you go on a cruise is your mobile phone, for all sorts of reasons. One of them is actually quite a practical reason, and that’s because many cruise lines have shifted to use apps online.

 

Some sort of interactive stuff, and they will normally give you access to use all of their apps where you will manage your account. You can book restaurants, you can book excursions, you can check your bill, you can do all sorts of things on your mobile phone.

 

So actually having that becomes a fundamental part of the way that you do your actual cruising, so that’s very important. You might not use it for anything else, but you’ll find increasingly as cruise lines move more into technology.

 

Obviously, you have the obvious things, if there’s an emergency or you want to stay in touch with family, you’ve got your mobile phone. Also, the thing that I find a mobile phone really helpful for is, of course, using it as a camera, save you taking out bulky camera equipment.

 

But also, you’ll find that there’s lots and lots of apps you can have on there that can help you.  Particularly, if you’re going self-exploring, you can do things like look at the hop-on/hop-off bus timetable, you can order Ubers or taxis, you can do a translate. You can also have a currency converter to check, when you think of buying something, if that is a good price or not. Lots and lots of application on your mobile phone to make your whole travel experience much easier.

4. Medical supplies and back-ups

The next thing that you should absolutely not travel without are things that fall into the medical category. There’s the obvious one which is prescription drugs. If you do take prescription drugs, you need to take those, take plenty of those to cover yourself. Good idea to take copies of the prescription or copies of the bottle if you have any issues to show the doctor.

 

I always take a little personalised first-aid kit. Going to the medical centre can be very expensive. You can’t buy a lot of the over the counter things on the ship. If you then are in a country where you don’t understand the language, trying to navigate around the pharmacy can be really difficult.

 

So, what I always do is a little first-aid kit where you might have things like headache pills, seasickness tablets, anti-diarrheas, things for multiple illnesses, all kinds of stuff that you might need.

 

Also, you might have some plasters in there if you cut yourself. All the sort of daily bits and pieces, just little niggles that you might have. Because it could become quite expensive and difficult to replace those or find those.

 

Other key things are sunscreen, insect repellant and all stuff like that which you might need depending on the location. So, think about those kind of things and make sure that you’ve got those.

5. Dental Kit

The next thing I’ve actually made is a whole separate topic and this is really, really important, is on cruise ships there is no dentist. So, if you do have a medical issue, ocean cruise ships, you have a medical centre so you can go and get things sorted out.

 

However, if you have a dental problem, there’s no dentist on board and they can’t help you for all sorts of, I guess legal reasons and being sued or in expertise. So, if you have a problem with your teeth, it could be a real problem particularly if you’ve got something with lots of sea days.

 

I always take one of those little patch up kits. You can buy them in a drug store, in a pharmacy, and do things like put back crowns or fill a filling or a broken tooth. So, one of the key, key things is that dental repair kit. I know so many people that it has been an absolute boon for.

6. Back-ups for emergency or crisis

The other thing that I would strongly recommend that you make sure you pack is some sort of backup of all your critical documents. Now the easiest way to do that is to take a picture and store it on your phone, in your photos, or scan it in and have it in the cloud.

 

Things I would recommend you have is like your passport, copies of your medical insurance, perhaps even a copy of your photo ID and perhaps some of your emergency contacts. Basically, key documents that if you were stranded and you needed them, you could share a copy of your passport or travel insurance. So, have a little folder somewhere on your phone, a little album, where you keep that sort of stuff.

 

Hopefully, you’ll never have to use it but if you do need to use it, you’re going to be so, so pleased. That’s also perhaps where you could store stuff like a copy of your prescription, or photographs of the bottles that your prescription drugs come in.

7. Glasses and back-ups

The next area that I personally have found has been really, really helpful is when it comes to glasses. Now I wear glasses for reading, and I’m very clumsy, and I’m always sitting on them and breaking them so I always make sure I’ve taken a backup pair. It might be very simple, one of those inexpensive reading glasses that you can just buy at a pharmacy.

8. Adapters and chargers

The next area is around adapters and chargers. You know, we rely so much on technology these days particularly if you’re going to have your phone or your camera, or all sorts of bits and pieces that need charging.

 

One of the things to think about is not only making sure that you’ve got all the different chargers, because as you know, as phones upgrade, they have different chargers, different people in the family might need different plug-in things.

 

The good news is many cruise ships, both ocean and river are increasingly having USB chargers so you don’t have to worry as much about the different charger types. But just assume that you don’t have the USB charger types and you’re going to need all different plugs. Very important, the adapters to go with those.

 

Most cruise ships are actually built in Europe, however, they tend to have more US style plugs. A lot of them will have mostly US style plugs, maybe some Euro plugs, so make sure you’ve got adapters.

 

Very importantly, cruise ships do not allow extension cords with surge protectors, and some are really strict and won’t let any on board. So, double check that, but certainly take lots of adapters and plugs so you don’t simply find your phone’s run out or your camera’s run out, or your tablet’s run out and that can just drive you crazy.

9. Appropriate clothing

The other worst thing to forget to pack is appropriate clothing and there’s probably three critical things that you should think about this.

  1. First of all, dress clothes.
    So, depending on the cruise line you’re on, you want to make sure that you brought appropriate clothes. If you’re on a very formal cruise, like a Cunard for example, where they have formal nights where you have to wear jackets, tuxedos, or fancy, glitzy gowns to get into the dining room, make sure you brought that. Of course, if you’re going on a cruise which has a much more relaxed approach, you don’t need to be taking all your tuxedos and ball gowns.
  2. The second thing is you might want to take clothing linked to the parties.
    Different cruise lines have different parties. It might be red, white, or blue party or some other themed party. So, make sure that you’ve checked that and you’ve taken appropriate clothing so you can really get into the swing of things.
  3. Third area of appropriate clothing is you want to make sure that based on the excursions or where you’re going to, you’ve got the right clothing.
    You don’t want to head off toAlaska, particularly when it can be rainy and you haven’t got any clothes that are layered to keep you warm or waterproof outers so that you can stay dry. Just make sure that you’ve got appropriate clothing to the region and the sort of excursions you’re doing.

10. Shore excursion bag

The next thing that I strongly recommend you pack is think about a shore excursions bag. If you’re heading out, there’s probably bits and pieces that you want to take on a shore excursion, and make sure that you’ve got a bag, particularly a bag that is relatively secure. Get some sort of a rucksack, but one that’s not easy for pickpockets to do so.

 

Or if you’re heading off and you’re going to be on the beach and you’re taking some valuables, like your phone or money to the beach, perhaps get one of those little waterproof bags that you’re going to wear when you go in the sea.

11. Night time accessories

Another thing that I think is a terrible thing not to pack is think about your night time sleeping experience. Some people go as far, because they’re really fussy about their pillow, they take their own pillow. You don’t necessarily need to do that. Many cruise lines will give you a choice of pillows, if it’s a feather pillow that you need. You can normally find they can sort that out for you.

 

But for example, you might want to take eye shades or ear plugs, or a white noise machine, or what you know is good for giving you a great night sleep. Because you never quite know what it’s going to be like, so for example, you could be going on a cruise into northern Europe where the sun never goes down.

 

So, it’s light all the time and if you’re the sort of person that likes to sleep when it’s dark, and you’ve got a balcony cabin or an oceanview cabin, you might be really grateful you brought some eyeshades for that. So, whatever the things that help you sleep well at night, that’s something that I strongly recommend that you pack.

Recent Comments

    you might also like

    about us

    CruisesforSingles.net is dedicated to providing quality information on the subject of Cruises for Singles and in particular various other cruise ideas for customers and merchants online.

    Cruises for Singles

    11 Worst Things To Forget To Pack For Your Cruise

    What are the 11 worst things to forget to pack for your cruise? I want to take a look at 11 things that would just be bad, if you didn’t pack them on your cruise, starting with this one.

    1. Three Obvious Things

    There’re three absolute obvious things that you need to pack, and you probably could get away with your whole cruise if you only packed these three things.

    • Passport
      First of all, your passport. Now, certainly you could argue that on some cruises you don’t really need your passport. For example, there are what’s known as closed loop cruises. These are cruises that sail out from the same port and come back to the same port. Certainly, at the time of this writing, the regulation said that you didn’t specifically need a passport.

      However, I really recommend that you travel with a passport because if you have any issues having a passport is going to make it so much easier for getting back or repatriating if you need to.

      Just note that your passport needs to have normally at least six months before it expires for your passport to be accepted.

    • Credit card
      Second thing that you need is a credit card. That’s also very important because cruise lines generally won’t take debit cards, or they’re required to deposit a lot of cash to cover any onboard expenses. So, credit card is what most cruise lines require.

    • E-ticket
      Third thing that you need is an e-ticket. Increasingly, what’s happening is cruise lines require you to have checked in online and have an e-ticket which they scan when you board.

    Those are certainly the three absolutely essential things. If you have these three things, you can probably go on your cruise and everything else you can just sort out.

    2. Government photo ID

    The second thing that I recommend you take though is some sort of government photo ID. You’ve obviously got your passport but I don’t like taking my passport out and about with me. And you’ll find that in some ports, when you go out on an excursion or self-exploring, you’re required to have some sort government issued photo ID with you.

     

    I don’t like the idea of taking my passport out. I like to take my government photo driving license because if I lose that, it’s less traumatic and less problematic replacing that than it is a passport. So, some sort of government ID is a really good idea to have that with you because you can then leave your passport.

     

    Also, in some itineraries you’ll find that the cruise line actually keeps your passport and that’s because you’re going through lots of different immigration places. They keep it to be able to process that so having some sort of ID is going to be really helpful when you’re heading out in port. It’s good to have ID with you in case you get into trouble or problems, you have some sort of identification.

    3. Mobile phone

    The third thing that I would recommend you never leave behind if you go on a cruise is your mobile phone, for all sorts of reasons. One of them is actually quite a practical reason, and that’s because many cruise lines have shifted to use apps online.

     

    Some sort of interactive stuff, and they will normally give you access to use all of their apps where you will manage your account. You can book restaurants, you can book excursions, you can check your bill, you can do all sorts of things on your mobile phone.

     

    So actually having that becomes a fundamental part of the way that you do your actual cruising, so that’s very important. You might not use it for anything else, but you’ll find increasingly as cruise lines move more into technology.

     

    Obviously, you have the obvious things, if there’s an emergency or you want to stay in touch with family, you’ve got your mobile phone. Also, the thing that I find a mobile phone really helpful for is, of course, using it as a camera, save you taking out bulky camera equipment.

     

    But also, you’ll find that there’s lots and lots of apps you can have on there that can help you.  Particularly, if you’re going self-exploring, you can do things like look at the hop-on/hop-off bus timetable, you can order Ubers or taxis, you can do a translate. You can also have a currency converter to check, when you think of buying something, if that is a good price or not. Lots and lots of application on your mobile phone to make your whole travel experience much easier.

    4. Medical supplies and back-ups

    The next thing that you should absolutely not travel without are things that fall into the medical category. There’s the obvious one which is prescription drugs. If you do take prescription drugs, you need to take those, take plenty of those to cover yourself. Good idea to take copies of the prescription or copies of the bottle if you have any issues to show the doctor.

     

    I always take a little personalised first-aid kit. Going to the medical centre can be very expensive. You can’t buy a lot of the over the counter things on the ship. If you then are in a country where you don’t understand the language, trying to navigate around the pharmacy can be really difficult.

     

    So, what I always do is a little first-aid kit where you might have things like headache pills, seasickness tablets, anti-diarrheas, things for multiple illnesses, all kinds of stuff that you might need.

     

    Also, you might have some plasters in there if you cut yourself. All the sort of daily bits and pieces, just little niggles that you might have. Because it could become quite expensive and difficult to replace those or find those.

     

    Other key things are sunscreen, insect repellant and all stuff like that which you might need depending on the location. So, think about those kind of things and make sure that you’ve got those.

    5. Dental Kit

    The next thing I’ve actually made is a whole separate topic and this is really, really important, is on cruise ships there is no dentist. So, if you do have a medical issue, ocean cruise ships, you have a medical centre so you can go and get things sorted out.

     

    However, if you have a dental problem, there’s no dentist on board and they can’t help you for all sorts of, I guess legal reasons and being sued or in expertise. So, if you have a problem with your teeth, it could be a real problem particularly if you’ve got something with lots of sea days.

     

    I always take one of those little patch up kits. You can buy them in a drug store, in a pharmacy, and do things like put back crowns or fill a filling or a broken tooth. So, one of the key, key things is that dental repair kit. I know so many people that it has been an absolute boon for.

    6. Back-ups for emergency or crisis

    The other thing that I would strongly recommend that you make sure you pack is some sort of backup of all your critical documents. Now the easiest way to do that is to take a picture and store it on your phone, in your photos, or scan it in and have it in the cloud.

     

    Things I would recommend you have is like your passport, copies of your medical insurance, perhaps even a copy of your photo ID and perhaps some of your emergency contacts. Basically, key documents that if you were stranded and you needed them, you could share a copy of your passport or travel insurance. So, have a little folder somewhere on your phone, a little album, where you keep that sort of stuff.

     

    Hopefully, you’ll never have to use it but if you do need to use it, you’re going to be so, so pleased. That’s also perhaps where you could store stuff like a copy of your prescription, or photographs of the bottles that your prescription drugs come in.

    7. Glasses and back-ups

    The next area that I personally have found has been really, really helpful is when it comes to glasses. Now I wear glasses for reading, and I’m very clumsy, and I’m always sitting on them and breaking them so I always make sure I’ve taken a backup pair. It might be very simple, one of those inexpensive reading glasses that you can just buy at a pharmacy.

    8. Adapters and chargers

    The next area is around adapters and chargers. You know, we rely so much on technology these days particularly if you’re going to have your phone or your camera, or all sorts of bits and pieces that need charging.

     

    One of the things to think about is not only making sure that you’ve got all the different chargers, because as you know, as phones upgrade, they have different chargers, different people in the family might need different plug-in things.

     

    The good news is many cruise ships, both ocean and river are increasingly having USB chargers so you don’t have to worry as much about the different charger types. But just assume that you don’t have the USB charger types and you’re going to need all different plugs. Very important, the adapters to go with those.

     

    Most cruise ships are actually built in Europe, however, they tend to have more US style plugs. A lot of them will have mostly US style plugs, maybe some Euro plugs, so make sure you’ve got adapters.

     

    Very importantly, cruise ships do not allow extension cords with surge protectors, and some are really strict and won’t let any on board. So, double check that, but certainly take lots of adapters and plugs so you don’t simply find your phone’s run out or your camera’s run out, or your tablet’s run out and that can just drive you crazy.

    9. Appropriate clothing

    The other worst thing to forget to pack is appropriate clothing and there’s probably three critical things that you should think about this.

    1. First of all, dress clothes.
      So, depending on the cruise line you’re on, you want to make sure that you brought appropriate clothes. If you’re on a very formal cruise, like a Cunard for example, where they have formal nights where you have to wear jackets, tuxedos, or fancy, glitzy gowns to get into the dining room, make sure you brought that. Of course, if you’re going on a cruise which has a much more relaxed approach, you don’t need to be taking all your tuxedos and ball gowns.
    2. The second thing is you might want to take clothing linked to the parties.
      Different cruise lines have different parties. It might be red, white, or blue party or some other themed party. So, make sure that you’ve checked that and you’ve taken appropriate clothing so you can really get into the swing of things.
    3. Third area of appropriate clothing is you want to make sure that based on the excursions or where you’re going to, you’ve got the right clothing.
      You don’t want to head off toAlaska, particularly when it can be rainy and you haven’t got any clothes that are layered to keep you warm or waterproof outers so that you can stay dry. Just make sure that you’ve got appropriate clothing to the region and the sort of excursions you’re doing.

    10. Shore excursion bag

    The next thing that I strongly recommend you pack is think about a shore excursions bag. If you’re heading out, there’s probably bits and pieces that you want to take on a shore excursion, and make sure that you’ve got a bag, particularly a bag that is relatively secure. Get some sort of a rucksack, but one that’s not easy for pickpockets to do so.

     

    Or if you’re heading off and you’re going to be on the beach and you’re taking some valuables, like your phone or money to the beach, perhaps get one of those little waterproof bags that you’re going to wear when you go in the sea.

    11. Night time accessories

    Another thing that I think is a terrible thing not to pack is think about your night time sleeping experience. Some people go as far, because they’re really fussy about their pillow, they take their own pillow. You don’t necessarily need to do that. Many cruise lines will give you a choice of pillows, if it’s a feather pillow that you need. You can normally find they can sort that out for you.

     

    But for example, you might want to take eye shades or ear plugs, or a white noise machine, or what you know is good for giving you a great night sleep. Because you never quite know what it’s going to be like, so for example, you could be going on a cruise into northern Europe where the sun never goes down.

     

    So, it’s light all the time and if you’re the sort of person that likes to sleep when it’s dark, and you’ve got a balcony cabin or an oceanview cabin, you might be really grateful you brought some eyeshades for that. So, whatever the things that help you sleep well at night, that’s something that I strongly recommend that you pack.

    Recent Comments

      you might also like

      about us

      CruisesforSingles.net is dedicated to providing quality information on the subject of Cruises for Singles and in particular various other cruise ideas for customers and merchants online.

      Cruises for Singles