What Should You Pack For Your Cruise?
Our best advice is to pack light. You may change your clothes a lot but not really get them dirty. You’ll probably never wear everything you brought so there’s no use lugging it to and from your cruise or spending time unpacking, repacking and looking for things! Keep it simple.
We travel the world, including month-long cruises, with a carry-on suitcase and a small backpack each.
Despite our limited space, there are some cruise items we would never leave without! And a lot of things that do double-duty for cruises and world travel in general. We’re going to share some of our favorites here with you!
Clothing
Keep it simple! You need LAYERS. Ships can be hot or chilly or just right. Being at sea can bring all kinds of temperatures and weather conditions.
Cruises are pretty casual overall these days if you aren’t on a luxury line (often even then!) but you do need something other than flip flops on your feet to get into the dining room (fancy blingy ones should pass muster). You also usually can’t wear shorts or casual t-shirts to the main dining room at dinner, and men may need a collared shirt like a polo or button-down. Read your own cruise line’s specific guidance. On formal night(s) it’s fun to dress up a little, but don’t get toooo fancy-schmancy. And you can re-wear the same thing—no one notices.
Be sure you have shoes that are allowed in the dining room and won’t slip on deck, but keep it down to a few pair as they are heavy in your luggage. You do a LOT of walking to and fro on a ship and in port so take comfortable shoes.
Definitely bring a bathing suit even for a cool weather cruise in case you want to use the hot tubs or thermal spa. A sun hat can shade the sun and cover up “spa/pool hair.” A rain jacket is never a bad idea either. Whatever you are comfortable in!
What NOT to Take
Before letting you into our luggage, so to speak, it’s important to check on your cruise line website to see what they do NOT allow onboard. This almost always includes irons , steamers and extension cords (though we use one that has never been confiscated as we’ll note below). Sometimes you can’t bring hair straighteners either but if that’s your usual you can always try it—items that are confiscated will be given back at the end of the cruise. Obviously you can’t bring cooking appliances or weapons (even small knives). You cannot bring drugs, even things like cannabis that may be legal in your own state and the port, and they even include CBD as a banned “drug” even though you can buy it on Amazon. So no CBD balm for aches and pains. Some cruise lines like Carnival have resorted to drug dogs inspecting luggage, carry-ons and people, so they aren’t playing around. Having some disallowed items like drugs can get you banned forever. Be sure you read the policies on bringing aboard any beverages as well.
All the Other Stuff
We travel full-time and each of us has a carry on and a backpack so there’s no room to bring (or purchase!) anything else. We’re going to list only items that we have and use on pretty much every cruise.
Definitely bring your valuables and your prescription meds in your carry on. I always bring over the counter cold meds and a mask just in case, as well prescription any nausea just in case.
Okay, are you ready for the great stuff in our luggage? We’ll save you money on laundry if the ship doesnt have self-service. We’ll be sure you can use ALL of your plugs! (Yes most cruises have plugs for more than one country and there’s a way to use them all—and to be prepared if you have a hotel in a foreign country with different outlets than the US). We’ve got products that won’t take up “liquid bag” space on the plane, so you can fly with carry-on only. Don’t overspend if you don’t want to (use your luggage under the bed for dirty clothes.)
We also included all our GoPro gear in case you want to film underwater (or anywhere) affordably. We use this and our iphone 13 Pros for our YouTube channel—you can see the quality there.
Our 2 favorite suitcases made the list—the Osprey is great for nomad life with huge wheels for rough roads and that’s what we currently use and love. But the hard-sided served us well for decades and is still a favorite.
Odd Tip: Avoid pineapples and flamingos on your cruise wear and door decorations if you’re not a swinger (Google it…). Yep, it’s a thing on cruises.
You should know that all of these photos link to Amazon and we are an affiliate* so we might earn a bit on your purchase but it costs you no more to use our link.
All the “Other Stuff” in our Cruise Luggage—links to Amazon*
It's easy to get quesy or bloated after eating or drinking questionable food/water in port, or sometimes even on a ship! At the first sign of upset you'll want to take this! Recommended to us by a pharmacist (and we're currently using it in Bali!), we'll never leave home without it!
Secure, waterproof, cruise luggage tag holders so your luggage makes it to your room (remove while on a fight)
I wear more makeup than usual on a cruise and these little pads don't take up an "liquid" allocation in your luggage when flying. They are super gentle on my sensitive eyes but work great even on waterproof mascara!
AirTags. So you always know where your luggage is, can make it "sound" and track it on your iphone.
Even though the ship has towels for port, we always carry these large, thinner, soft Turkish towels that can be used on the beach with a hidden pocket for your phone or key card, can be used as a beach or pool pillow, a sarong, as a blanket on the plane, and for many other uses.
Because ports have bugs....
TSA Compliant corkscrew to open your own wine bottles in your cabin.
Chewable version of the cheaper generic version of non-drowsy cruiser favorite Bonine. Remember seasick pills only work when taken BEFORE you feel sick! You can also but bulk of this in non-chewable but these are nice if you take a boat excursion (the smaller the boat the more you feel it)
Suction clothesline for your cabin--just stick the corners of your clothes through the twists. When there's no self-serve laundry, a little handwash in the cabin meets the need MUCH cheaper than sending it out, but the clotheline in the shower is too short.
Laundry sheets to handwash in the sink--no liquid so easy to fly with and not messy! A great way to save money when there's no self-serve laundry or you just want to wash a few things to hang dry.
These cards are the BEST! Heavy duty, nice feel "plastic" and they come in a heavy duty box so they don't get squished or lost. T hey hold up to humidity, sand, dirt, you name it, and last pretty long. We carry two decks in different colors.
Our favorite game...and it never gets old! We carry just the cards and 2 colors of chips in separate baggies and the board so it barely takes any room in our luggage and it keeps our minds exercised every day! When on a ship, people stop constantly either to say "what is that?" or "that's our favorite game!" Easy to learn.
We love this sunscreen stick and it doesn't take up space in the TSA liquid bag in our carry-on luggage. We also use reef-safe lotion when snorkeling but I can't say we love any of them enough to recommend so just search Amazon for good reviews if that's what you're looking for. By the way, this has never gotten melty and it goes on smooth.
Liquid free mosquito repellant wipes. Strong, effective and easy to throw in a bag.
We love these packing cubes that come in a selection of set sizes and colors. The mesh allows you to see what's inside and the zipper compresses your clothing so you can fit MORE while also keeping everything organized. They really the make the difference in carry-on for us.
Because sometimes you get nauseous for many reasons and this makes it less gross on planes and boats. Always good to keep a few on hand.
This Osprey carry-on is built to last...super thick water-resistant material with heavy-duty zippers and a solid handle, it also has 2 large wheels to handle rough roads. It's been good to us.
This was our favorite luggage pre-nomad life and it served us well on MANY trips over decades. I loved it so much I even gave it as gifts. Expandable hard-sided bags seem to fit a ton and are easy to spot at the airport carousel. A very reasonable price. I can also personally vouch for the fact they stand by their guarantee--a wheel got caught and broke and they replace the entire suitcase, so save your receipt.
Kept wrapped up tight and smooth, we've never had this confiscated yet (if you do they'll hold it for you). I hope sharing this doesn't jinx it!
Our favorite adaptor because it gives you so many USB and C connections and works all over the world. You do not need a separate converter for products charged with USB or C connections. We also carry the Targus adaptor set because of the way some plugs are situated this doesn't always fit.
This Targus world wide adaptor set seems to fit no matter where the plug is located. So you can use the European and Australia and every other plug in your cabin in addition to your U.S. ones! And you're all set for hotels also. Note that the 2 flat prong fitting (American) PIVOTS to work in Australia and NZ (took me awhile to figure out).
This compact, short-barreled curling iron packs easy and is dual voltage curling iron works great in the U.S. or with an adaptor (no need for converter). Gets nice and hot. It's 1" around, and a short barrel so took a little practice at first and is best for light curl jobs.
Floating Handle (can also be used out of water) for Go Pro--has storage inside the handle too for a few bucks, chapstick, small accessories.
We're not fancy--we use a little older but still great GoPro Hero 8 Black and it does the job for a reasonable price. Be sure to get the batteries and charger too, as well as the float handle.
You need these batteries and charger if you buy a GoPro Hero 8 Black
What we use for storage with the GoPro
We love this portable charging bank for our phones etc. Easy to see how much charge it has.
To keep our stuff safe and dry while we're in the water at the beach.
This is the backpack Tim uses--it holds a ton, including half his packing cubes (it even comes with some but they aren't compression so get the Bagail ones) and everything is easy to access. It's comfortable and fits under a plane seat.
I LOVE this toiletry bag--it fits all my makeup, hair and dental stuff, and I usually stuff in my meds etc for travel days. Airbnbs and hotels never have enough sink space so I hang it on a towel rack or the door and live out of it super easy. I first checked into it because it's popular with flight attendants and I can see why!
NOT AMAZON (no affiliate): This is just the only backpack ever in my life that doesn't hurt my back. The way it's designed is very comfortable. The front pockets are a nice feature I sometimes use and sometimes don't but it has lots of great features!
Did you buy a few souvenirs? Will your luggage make it onto the plane without overweight fees? You'll always know with this lightweight, easy to use luggage scale so you can properly balance your packing for on the way home. For both pounds and kilograms.
Because sand and water...especially salt water!...are never good for your phone. But you need it with you.
We carry our snorkel gear with us (see our nomad packing list page), but these are great even for any ocean or pool so you can float longer and be visible to boats or your family. They fold up tiny and light, then just blow them up!
These handy hooks extend your storage area--great place for hats, bags, drying things etc and very heavy. Will stick to magnetic surfaces like cruise cabin walls, refrigerators, etc.