Something you WISHED you had?

[kid-at-heart]

Do be 100% honest my preferred brand and type of feminine products and Midol. Seems like with out fail no matter how I track or how consistent I am that time of the month rears it's ugly head on vacation. The cruise only carries 1 type (1 tampon and 1 pad) and then getting it in port can sometimes be more difficult depending on what port. Some have little pharmacies and CVS close others do not. So now I pack enough just in case.


Besides that not much of course I'm not traveling with kids yet so I'm sure that will change!

I always carry a few space bags for dirty clothes. Stick the bag in the closet and when the first one is full, zip it up, press out the air and poke it in a suitcase. Open the next one and repeat. Makes packing at the end of vacation a breeze. I use this style but there are other styles that work as well. Also using space bags make a nice compressed pile of dirty clothes and holds in the smelly odor. https://smile.amazon.com/Space-Jumb...UTF8&qid=1472855542&sr=8-2&keywords=space+bag

 

[CesD]

Yes! I started doing this a few years ago, and it makes me so much happier. It's 98 cents well spent!

i also bring my own antibac pump hand soap. and yes, for 99 cents i dont feel bad leaving it behind

 

[cgolf]

The proper clothes for the weather we are going to encounter on the trip. When we went on the Hawaii cruise we expected a lot of very warm days. The sea days weren't freezing by any means but it was jacket weather. I wish I had packed more long pants and long sleeve shirts. I did get a ton of use out of the hoodie I bought onboard

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

Definitely some Advil. My husband and I were relaxing in the deck chair in the grown-ups only area and he smashed his finger in the chair. Had to go to get some first aid, but they were a little stingy on the pain relief

Holy crap! I thought I was the only one foolish enough to do something like that, I actually broke the bone in my finger.

 

[bumbershoot]

More casual clothes, especially yoga pants, for during the day. Inside areas were too cool for my liking for shorts, but I also wanted to be more comfortable than I would be wearing jeans.

Yes. I've gone more and more casual as we do more cruises. Now it's dresses for dinner (with nylons for warmth), one pair of shoes that goes with all dressed, a shawl or two, shorts, tank tops and maybe a couple casual tops, exercise clothes, swimsuits, coverup, running shoes and whatever I wore on the plane to wear home on the plane. Sounds like a lot written out but it's less than I used to being.

Holy crap! I thought I was the only one foolish enough to do something like that, I actually broke the bone in my finger.

Ouch!!!!!

 

[Dug720]

i also bring my own antibac pump hand soap. and yes, for 99 cents i dont feel bad leaving it behind

Stock up now if you drink the kool-aid that it ever added anything to the soap but chemicals...

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-orders-antibacterials-removed-consumer-soaps-n642036

 

[TestingH2O]

Stock up now if you drink the kool-aid that it ever added anything to the soap but chemicals...

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-orders-antibacterials-removed-consumer-soaps-n642036

I've been anti antibacterial for a long time. I just don't like the bars.

 

[TestingH2O]

Speaking of soap. Apparently bar soap is losing popularity all around.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/29/healt...e-decline-trnd1101PMStoryLink&linkId=28345449

 

[casana]

Small purse to carry my phone and sunglasses around the ship.

 

[squirk]

Tell me something that you wished you had packed for your cruise after the fact. Something that would have made things easier for you or helped in any way.

For my first cruise - one of those little 5-port USB chargers, which DCL does not count as a power strip (i.e., prohibited).

But as others have said, really, it's more about what I wish I hadn't brought. Too many clothes, too many toiletries, too much bric-a-brac.

Streamline. You need less than you think.

 

[MinnieMouse64]

I packed clothes pins to hang out wet swim wear on the veranda while in port (if its not to windy, I clip them to the chairs). You can also use them in your shower because they have a drying line to hang stuff up on. I also pack plastic trash bags to fold up dirty clothes in as we dirty them. Because on the last night you have to set your luggage outside of your door, so if you already have your dirty clothes organized and packed in the suit cases, it don't take as long. Normally, I try to pack all the dirty clothes in one suitcase and the rest of our clean clothes in the other. This year, I am packing some laundry soap packets due to traveling with to small children, so hopefully, we won't have as much dirty clothes going back. Speaking of smaller children, one is a baby so I am packing some dish soap to wash out bottles, and the cups we pack. I am basically packing like everyone else, 2 outfits per day, one for day and one for night. Since we are going in November (our first cruise not going in the summer months), I plan on packing only one pair of jeans, so if I had to I could wear them more than once.

 

[Tzbwilsonfam]

Love this post! Following!

 

[Tzbwilsonfam]

Question: Do you gift once during your cruse (7 day cruise) or more than once? How often??

 

[Dug720]

I packed clothes pins to hang out wet swim wear on the veranda while in port (if its not to windy, I clip them to the chairs). You can also use them in your shower because they have a drying line to hang stuff up on. I also pack plastic trash bags to fold up dirty clothes in as we dirty them. Because on the last night you have to set your luggage outside of your door, so if you already have your dirty clothes organized and packed in the suit cases, it don't take as long. Normally, I try to pack all the dirty clothes in one suitcase and the rest of our clean clothes in the other. This year, I am packing some laundry soap packets due to traveling with to small children, so hopefully, we won't have as much dirty clothes going back. Speaking of smaller children, one is a baby so I am packing some dish soap to wash out bottles, and the cups we pack. I am basically packing like everyone else, 2 outfits per day, one for day and one for night. Since we are going in November (our first cruise not going in the summer months), I plan on packing only one pair of jeans, so if I had to I could wear them more than once.

FWIW, you are asked not to put things on your balcony to dry. Even with clips. Obviously people do it anyway, but you're not supposed to.

 

[scgustafson]

Remember the DCL commercial about the souvenir surprise? Yeah, don't forget to pack what you need to guard against this, particularly all you aspiring and active verandah club members.

Verandah club-related posts are usually my thing.

 

[jlynch924]

Question: Do you gift once during your cruse (7 day cruise) or more than once? How often??

For FE? On a 7-day, I usually do two or three gifts... maybe one bigger and then one or two smaller items.

 

[MSD]

Random but if you have an independent toddler that is transitioning away from sippy cups and wants to drink from a regular cup, bring some flexible straws for dinner. They do put plastic tops on the drinks but flexible straws would help so our toddler wouldn't tip cups over when bringing the cups down to her level trying to drink from the longer straight straws.

 

[Danielle loomis]

More money, so I can just stay on the ship - Back to Back to Back to Back...

Unrelated but... My maiden name is Cassetta and my first name starts with a D..lol

 

[KDG]

I wish we had brought binoculars. I had thought of packing some but decided they were too heavy in the suitcase. But we wished we had brought them several times.

Also, I 'm glad I had a small cloth purse to hold my phone, card and sunglasses. A backpack for shore excursions was handy. We got one as a C Club gift and we used it every day.

 

[BruinEd03]

What I will bring more of: Cash in various denominations for tipping. Luckily my wife brought more than I did, but it really allows you to customize the amount of tip you want to give. Discounted gift cards because it makes more sense to save money ahead of time if you know you're going to spend that amount anyways. It's also really easy to combine gift cards into a single gift card.

What I always bring extra of: Ziploc bags of varying sizes. They take up little to no space and I've always used one or two extra ones for various things. Also useful for those who want to grab the H20 products and make sure they don't make a mess. One extra pair of Flip-flops/swim suits. Because they take a while to dry and i don't want to wear a wear soggy flip-flips everywhere (when I'm not going to the pool) or a wet swimsuit the next day. Water, because I like bottle water versus the soda machine water and it is pretty expensive on board. Snacks because sometimes I want something late at night and I don't want to order room service, or you want to take it into a movie theater/activity.

What I have learned to bring: tweezers in case you get splinters on anything (yes, you'd be surprised and they take up very little space), band aids, all medications (allergy, sea-sickness - I use children's version since it makes me less drowsy, anti-diarrhea, Tylenol, etc.), nail clippers (useful not just for the obvious, but in case you need to cut a loose thread, or cut off a tag so you can wear the newly bought clothes). For all the ladies, I also make my wife bring extra feminine products because yeah the selections are slim if it strikes (and it does matter which brand/type it is). If you are gluten-free, then gluten-free ice cream cones in a plastic box (to prevent crushing). This allows my wife (who needs GF food) to enjoy ice cream with me.

Maybe Bring More of: the single use laundry detergent/dryer sheets. If, they were pretty cheap (On the ship it was only $1 for each). Did laundry for the first time on the ship this time and it was ridiculously easy. This can allow us to bring less clothes.

Bring Less of: Clothes. With laundry being so easy, it will allow us to have a much lighter luggage. Aside from t-shirts, I had a huge surplus of socks. I only needed one pair a day since I was in flip-flops most of the day. I would need even less if I was doing laundry (and I didn't care if I separated the socks from the colors). I would also ditch the kindle. I never used it at all. There's so many things to do that I never had time to read the books anyways. In addition, at the airport reading things on the iPhone was perfectly fine.