Are these things in the staterooms?

[CM_Mom]

The "over the door" hanger is a shoe hanger and they have them at WalMart in the closet section although we found one at Everything's $1.00 for you guessed it...$1.00. It's not as nice as the 5.98 ones at WalMart but it worked. We also took Suction hooks and hung the shoe hanger on one of those. There is a
"robe hook" on the bathroom door that you can hang it on also.

We took a power strip and had several things plugged into it all the time. Glad we had it because the transformers on some of the plugs are big.

 

[OJulie67]

Our stateroom host brought us an alarm clock...

I brought my own iron. Was very careful to shut it off, just like it was my own home. It's not like they check your luggage for irons...and if your responsible, I don't see the big deal.

As for the duct tape...never found a reason to use it.

Over the door travel hanger or shoe organizer is a great idea! Not alot of room in those little baths!

The main thing you need to bring is a power strip! The bathroom plug (120 volt) is not strong enough for a blow dryer or a curling iron, and if you use either one of those, you have to use the plug in at the desk. Only 2 plugs there...and if your dryer has a big plug in adapter, you won't be able to plug it in there without the strip or without an extension cord...because of the way the plug in receptacles are positioned. AND...the stateroom blow dryer is not strong at all! My DH could blow on my hair and get it dry faster than that thing!

Also, another good idea is lots of dollar bills for tips! That was so handy to have in my wallet to tip for room service.

Shout travel wipes work really good too for stains...so they don't sit and ruin your clothes over a course of a week!

Those are the best tips that I found to be most useful!

 

[PizzieDuster]

Extension cord!

The only tense moment my DH and I had was the first night, when I went to blow dry my hair for dinner.

My dryer would not fit in ANY PLUG! We were in a Cat 3 and Guest Services said to try the plug in the vanity area. Of course, that would sense! There was NO PLUG THERE! I was going nuts! I'm thinking, I cannot be the only person who has to plug in their blow dryer!

I remembered one thing.... as I was starting to get a tad bit upset just thinking about a week of frizzed out hair.....earlier, when I unpacked, one of the drawers held the ships blow dryer and the cord was all out the back of the drawer, so I couldn't shut it. I asked my DS11 to reach back there - the cord dropped to the back.

So my DH tells me "somone's coming to look at it" and I just yank that drawer out and I find an outlet! That fits my dryer!

Who knew I was suppose to pull the drawer out of the vanity to plug in my dryer and then put the drawer back in and I had like THISMUCH of a cord left to dry my hair! I guess that is what the chair was for!

Luckilly, I brought an extension cord! Was able to plug in the dryer and flat iron when I wanted it. I left the extension cord in the suite with a note to please keep it there for future gals - like me - who like their favorite blow dryer!

We never used our duck tape. It was the same roll I took with us last year on our four day cruise. If I go on a cruise again, I'll probably pack the same roll!

Used all zip lock bags, used LOTS of pens and post its, travel scissors, grocery bags for just ... putting stuff in them to pack in the day bag (so snacks don't get sunscreen on them) black trash bags for wet items. Clips to dry out clothes so they would not blow away on the varandah. Sunscreen everywhere! In everyone's backpack, bathroom, day bags. Drycleaner's hangers! They come so neatly wrapped, easy to pack, easy to leave. Underwater cameras. Disposable cameras - my camera broke on the second day and fortunately I did not have to pay a fortune for cameras on board. A duffel bag that folded like a rain poncho for "extras" - which helped us so much. We packed our dirty clothes in it because we packed our souveniers, pictures, etc. in our nice luggage.

A place in the room for everyone to place their KTTW card.
A post it on the door saying "Do you have your KTTW card?"
Our cabin host cracked up at that, he sees a lot of people who forget their KTTW card.

And I agree with OJulie67 above..... my DH brought 50.00 in $1.00's. We kept the money in a drawer for room service, tips, etc. He took another $50.00 in ones for on shore. We were ready for anyone to tell us they couldn't break a 5, 10 or $20!
We used ALL of them! Right down to the porters who take our luggage to be checked in at the port!

yak yak yak yak.......boy can I yak!

 

[JenLynn]

The scissors i bring are a tiny pair of sewing scissors that are in my little travel sewing kit ... i have brought them on every cruise and never had a problem. They are a definite "must pack" item for me.

As for the over-the-door shoe holder thing ... I got mine at Target for about $6. I bought it several years ago and actually keep it stored in our luggage when we are home. The one i bought is clear and has 4 hooks along the top to hang it over the top of a door jam ... on the cruise we hung it on the bathroom door and it worked perfectly. Funny thing is that i still cover the dresser tops with junk ... can't imagine what it would look like if we didn't have the shoe holder.

And i am reading everyone's similar issues with the lack of accessible electrical outlets. You'd think they would have planned that better.

 

[KAMLEM]

Originally posted by PizzieDuster

Who knew I was suppose to pull the drawer out of the vanity to plug in my dryer and then put the drawer back in and I had like THISMUCH of a cord left to dry my hair! I guess that is what the chair was for!

PizzieDuster-
At least you finally figured that out - we never did! We were in a category 3 in March and had the same problem. The ship's hair dryer was just lying in the little space under the TV, not even plugged in. We did have an extension cord but we had to use the outlet under the TV because that was the only one we could find. Definitely poor planning on Disney's part.

 

[msh8675]

I put a small pair of scissors in the outside zipper of my luggage that was being CHECKED so that I could cut off the zip ties I used for my luggage. I also packed some extra zipties in the outside pockets as well. Seemed to work fine and none were ever cut by the bag checks. Also I think a good reason for the ductape someone had mentioned to ductape your initial, and X or something across the entire front or back of your suitcase, this way its easy to spot. I didn't do this, however when I was looking for mine, one with a bunch of curly ribbons on the handle really stood out and it was kinda cute too...that is also an idea. Most of the luggages looked just like mine so it was sort of a pain!!

We used a wake up call every morning. I kept having to get up for the first coupla nights to check the time on my cellphone or the clock on the dresser. Finally I put the dresser clock on the nightstand and didnt' seem to have a problem with it. There is no need to get out of bed when its still dark, and when the sun comes up you have a little light in your room through the porthole or verandah. A light up clock would have come in handy but I did fine without it.

I bought an over the door shoe holder at the dollar store for $1. It did the trick. Stuck hair ties and small bathroom items in there and clutter in bathroom was slim to none. Its worth the buck but you dont' need a fancy one!

I do have to complain about the electrical outlets. There were 2 on the side of the dresser but you cannot fit 2 blow dryer like plugs in them. There is not enough space. Barely could fit 1. At night i could not fit my camera plug to charge my battery and my cellphone plug at the same time. Not an extension cord but rather a POWER STRIP would've come in VERY handy just so you could charge more than one at a time.

For those of you with tempermental hair, I have hair that is naturally curly that I often like to blow dry/hot iron pin straight. Now to those of you who are listening you know what I'm saying when the slightest bit of heat or humidity hits your straightened hair it shrivels into the cutest little curl that you DO NOT WANT!!! Well, I have to say that every time I had straight hair on the ship I had absolutely no problems with the humidity OR heat curling it up. And when it got wavy towards the end of the day, mostly from the wind...and the wind will mess with EVERYONE who has hair...I just used the hot iron again for a quick fix up and it worked like a charm.

I just came back in may so i dont' know if august would've made a difference with the higher heat...but we were in the 90s pretty much all week.

Take care and enjoy your trip!!

Meesh

 

[drclaws]

Originally posted by OJulie67
I brought my own iron. Was very careful to shut it off, just like it was my own home. It's not like they check your luggage for irons...and if your responsible, I don't see the big deal.

As Dennis Miller would say, "I don't mean to go off an a rant here, but..."

Therein lies the rub....."IF you're responsible." I guess I have a hard time accepting the fact that people will purposely ignore a safety regulation for the ship. I can't imagine that DCL people sat around one day and decided to formulate nuisance regulations just to annoy those on board.

I'm responsible with candles, but would never dream about ignoring that regulation in the stateroom.

What if the person in the next stateroom also thought they were responsible, but in the rush of things inadvertantly didn't shut their iron off and caused a fire in the stateroom that also damaged your room? Would it be a big deal then? Accidents do happen.

I don't mean this as a personal flame, I'm sure you ARE resposible, but the fact remains not everyone is, and DCL's responsibility is to everyone's safety on board. The safety regulations are there to minimize potential accidents.

As you can tell, disregarding safety issues is a pet peeve.

 

[msh8675]

can't argue with you there.....drclaws...
OJulie67---Maybe you should go back to that post of whether or not there are enough life boats on the ship to hold all the people that are cruising and read the WHOOOOLE thing!!

Sorry rules are rules and I could've used a clean iron whenever I wanted it, but I am not sneaky like that to go against the rules. Especially when I could be responsible for potentially hurting someone!

 

[ksumom]

This goes back to the posts about the alarms being set. I had this happen a few weeks back when I was at a hotel! From now on I will try and check the alarms before I go to bed at any hotel or anywhere someone may have been before me! There is nothing worse than feeling the luxury of being able to sleep untill your heart desires and then being woke up by that annoying BUZZZ of an alarm clock!

My pet peeve is why can't the house keeping staff check the alarm on each room as they clean it? This should be added to their list of things to do in the room? Collect dirty towels, change linens, clean floors... check alarm to make sure it is off! How hard could it be??

 

[invaderzim]

OOOHHH -- you just reminded me of a pet peeve on the DCL. I didn't think I had any -- but YES, there is a VERY annoying thing that they do that I could do without on my cruise. The PA announcements that come over the speakers in your stateroom during the day. The first cruise, we were right in the middle of a nice nap and wham -- there was the captain's voice telling us about some event that evening. I wish there was a way to turn off that darn system in your individual room -- although you'd still be able to hear it from the hallway speakers!

Ironing is not allowed in the staterooms. There is an iron and ironing board in the laundry rooms.

Forget about the alarm clock -- have a wake up call instead. That way you can hear Mickey or Goofy's voice first thing in the morning!

 

[smchan]

Originally posted by tkd lisa
The reason an iron is listed is that the ones in the laundry room are communal irons. And some people aren't as careful as they should be, which has resulted in some damaged clothes. If you're pressing your formal dress, some people would rather be sure that the iron is clean. An alternative is to take on of your hand towels with you, and lay it on whatever you're pressing. Any dirt will go on the towel, not your clothes.

Had that happen to me. Someone ironed a t-shirt with some sort of iron-on design which, of course, melted to the iron. Which in turn stuck to my white dress shirt. Grrrr.... Fortunately, it came out when I washed the shirt and a DCL crew member came right away and cleaned the iron.

Sam

 

[4myguys]

The announcements in the middle of the day annoyed me as well because I was always somewhere on the ship where I couldn't hear what he was saying.
That's not half as bad as sitting by the adult pool and having the horn go off at noon right in your ears. We learned real quick to keep an eye on the time so we could cover our ears.

 

[ksumom]

That's not half as bad as sitting by the adult pool and having the horn go off at noon right in your ears. We learned real quick to keep an eye on the time so we could cover our ears.

That should be a tip for everyone! Thanks for the heads up! Does it go off every day at noon? Any other times?

Thanks!!

 

[staylor]

About the alarm clocks. I am a flight attendant and can tell you from experience that it is HOUSEKEEPING that sets your alarm, not the person before you. Not that they deliberately set it to an early time, they just usually turn the switch to ALARM instead of OFF.
After you get woke up this way a few times, you learn to check the alarm clock.