must haves we brought on our cruise (and things we wish we did)
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We recently returned home from our sailing on the Allure of the Seas with Royal Caribbean and BOY did we learn a lot! One of the biggest things we learned is that what you pack MATTERS! There are some things we brought that literally saved our trip and others that we wish we would have thought to bring. Let’s talk about what those were so that you can be more prepared than I was on YOUR next cruise!
Check out our Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas Playlist!
Loop Earplugs
I know… This seems like a weird thing to start with, but HOLY COW! I would NOT have been able to do this cruise without these. The ship was incredibly loud with music blasting at all hours of the day and many of the shows and entertainment had that music at a crazy volume. We had an interior room, so we didn’t really have a great retreat to go hide out in, so having these earplugs seriously was a lifesaver.
These are very discreet and Loop offers several different options depending on what you will be using them for. They even send a variety of different earbud sizes so you can trade them out and find what fits the most comfortable for you. These are a fantastic option if you are someone who has sensory issues as well!
Charging Ports
This one can be a little tricky. Royal’s official rule is that you may not bring surge protectors or extension cords, so it may be hit or miss on what you may bring. Our room only had one outlet in the entire room, so the charging ports we brought were a game changer! The specific ones we used looked like a bigger version of a charging brick that you would get with an iphone. We had no problems bringing these on and we were able to easily charge all of our devices!
Pop Up Hamper
This is a tip I use ANYWHERE we travel and it a super easy way to keep organized in the room! A small pop up hamper is a great place to put your dirty closes and keep things separated. I have also found that this helps keep my small items like socks from getting left behind.
Not necessarily on a cruise, but if you are at a hotel that has laundry services, these are also a super easy way to transport your items!
Magnetic Hooks
Honestly I was really surprised by how many hooks were already in our room! However, we were glad that we brought these so that we could hang up other items like our lanyards, sunglasses, hats, etc. The walls and ceilings of cruise ships are all magnetic, so these are a great thing to have to help get things off the floors and counters!
These come in lots of different colors and are really strong!
Sunglasses
Speaking of sunglasses, I NEVER leave home without my goodrs! These are my favorite as they are comfortable, colorful, and pretty inexpensive! At around $25-$30 a pair, these are pretty great quality and I love that they are polarized AND come in a ton of great options. That sun can be no joke! Especially when you are on the island, so having good protective eyewear is a must.
Here are some ready to ship options from Amazon, but they also sell Goodr at REI.
Seasickness Management
What about the not so shiny days when the boat is rockin? Honestly this is a must on any cruise! We used patches, dramamine, and seabands. I don’t know that I could tell you what worked the best, but the combination of the three at least made it do the trick!
I did like that we were able to find Dramamine with Ginger in it. Ginger is a great one when it comes to helping with nausea, so we definitely were popping a few of these in on those extra rocky days.
Towel Bands
It can get VERY windy on those pool decks! That means towels flying all over the place! You can definitely use the clips, but we prefer the bands as they seemed to be a little more secure and take up virtually no space in our suitcase. I was laughing a bit when we pulled them out of the package as they remind me of workout bands, but they did the trick!
These were also helpful on the island to help us easily identify where our chairs were and we knew we could walk away without worrying if our towels would still be there when we returned.
Lanyards
When you go on a cruise, you will get something called your ‘Seapass’ this is a card that works as your room key, credit card, and entrance to get on and off the ship at ports. You will use your card alot, so having a lanyard can help keep that card handy, especially for younger ones.
This can also be especially helpful on the island so that you aren’t having to take your whole wallet with you!
Comfy Shoes
Our ship was HUGE and we did ALOT of walking, but even if you aren’t on a bigger ship, you may still do alot of walking on at the ports or on Coco Cay. Make sure you have at least one really comfortable pair of shoes so that your vacation doesn’t get ruined by blisters or sore feet!
My personal favorite for Tennis Shoes are AllBirds! These are crazy lightweight and made from renewable materials. We wear these to the Disney theme parks where we can walk 10+ miles a day and these do wonders.
Get a free pair of socks with shoe purchase when you use our link! Just make sure to add socks to your cart.
If you are looking more for sandals, I love Tevas for something more adventureous and my REEF Water Vistas for something comfortable and cute! Both of these are water friendly, so great for use in the pools or ocean, and are also lightweight and comfortable. I also wear both of these to the parks on a daily basis and they work great!
Now for the things we WISH we would have brought!
Room Spray
We really did enjoy our interior stateroom, BUT for some reason it smelled like a boys locker room…. Honestly the whole ship did not smell very pleasant and I wish we would have brought a light room spray to help freshen it up a bit. I don’t recommend anything with heavy aerosol since there isn’t a ton of ventilation, but a small bottle of something refreshing would have helped give us some relief.
I’m very sensitive to smells and although, yes, we could have gone up to the pool deck for fresh air, it was pretty warm and very sunny during the day, so that wasn’t always an option. I did have a pretty hard time with this and I wish we could have done this to help make our room feel a little more like a retreat.
Pens
This is a really simple one, but a pen! You can order complimentary room service breakfast and yes, you can call it in, but you also have the option to hang a card on your door and order that way. The only problem is, there aren’t any pens in the room, so we had no way to fill ours out!
There were even a few other times like during trivia when the pencils they give out are barely sharpened that I wished I had a pen on me. Usually I’m pretty good about bringing stuff like that, but for some reason on this trip, it just slipped my mind!
Snacks
Yes, you will eat a TON on a cruise, but if I’m honest, there aren’t really any great places to get simple snacks like crackers, chips, granola bars, etc. I didn’t even see any in the gift shops. Not that I needed a ton of snacks, but there were moments when I was feeling a little ill and I just needed something like crackers to settle my stomach and I didn’t want to trek all the way to the buffet to try and find something.
Just remember, that any food you bring on board must be in a sealed pre-packaged container. They won’t let you bring things like fruit, opened packages, or any other fresh items.
Hopefully this list gives you some good ideas of what to start packing for your vacation! Of course there are lots of other things you can bring to help make things more convenient, but these were the things we found to be the MOST helpful that anyone could benefit from bringing!
