Cruise Must Have's (Installment 1 of ???)

Excuse the mess of the room here, but this is what cruising is like when there are two adults and THREE TEENAGERS!! Life gets messy when you're more worried about the fun outside your room vs staying in your room!

There are just a "few" things that I cannot live without on a cruise. Well, maybe some I could live without, but I'm going to start with my top five items that I MUST have for cruising!! Don't worry, I will keep adding to my list...

1. Magnetic hooks!!

You have to carry your card with you everywhere you go. It is your money and your room key. Not to mention this ID's you when you get on/off the ship in various ports. We wear ours on lanyards and then hang them up so they don't get lost.

2. Clear over the door shoe organizer (and over the door hook if needed)

These things have saved my sanity on some cruises because space is limited and clutter is real! I hang one or two of these on the outside of the closet doors to stash whatever things you find you need a place for.... flip flops, bug spray, sun screen, medicines, random things.

3. Something to decorate your door with! This will help you recognize your room door because they all look identical! You can get some magnetic clips (vs the hooks) or some cute magnets to put on your door.

4. A backpack (for everyone)! Everyone will need a backpack of some sort. They are super easy to just throw on your back and go. You will need them for excursions, even if you're just getting off the boat to explore... you don't know what you'll need and you don't know what you're going to buy. Trust me, you're going to need one and will start off day one using it!

5. ZIPLOC BAGS OF ALL SIZES!!!

Let me start out with the largest that I take... 10 gallon bags...

I use these for dirty clothes that need to be packed, wet clothes that need to go home as well but don't want to get everything else wet and even for excursions if you know you're going to be bringing a wet beach towel back. You don't want to carry it across your arm the whole way. Throw it in a zip bag, put it in your back pack and get moving! There are even 20 gallon bags!

Don't forget the gallon size that we all have at home. For excursions where we know we will be getting in the water we will wear our bathing suits there with our clothes over them, but we will put undergarments in a gallon zip bag so we can take off our suits and slip some dry clothes on for the way back to the boat. We then put our suits in the zip bags so we can throw them in our backpacks and get to shopping at port.

Pack extra zip bags of all sizes with you on your cruise. I'm not supposed to tell you this but we have packed snacks to go into port. I remember we did do this and packed sandwiches from the boat and took with us into port because we were just going to taxi to a local beach that was just a tad too far to walk to. (Just one way to save a few dollars)

Keep checking back for more must have's for a cruise! I have an endless supply of tips and tricks to keep things simple.

OR just check out a comprehensive list on my blog!

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