tips for future cruisers

[ganurse]

is there one thing you can recommend to future cruisers that you didnt do/bring on your cruise?
thanks

 

[crisi]

I thought people were nuts who brought a digital alarm clock, but in the middle of the night when you wake up in a strange place and you have no light and you don't want to wake your spouse and you don't know if its 2am or 6am .... I wish I'd brought (or the staterooms had) a good clock. On the same line, I ended up buying a very nice watch....few clocks on board and if you want to make it to a programming event on time you'll need a watch.

 

[ksjayhawks]

We bought cheap ($6) waterproof watches at Walmart that we wore during the day and on our excursions. It was great to always have the time and not have to worry about them getting wet! I also brought along a lighted alarm clock so I could see the time.

 

[Otimon]

I always brought a small flashlight with me to keep at the bedside to check my watch if I woke during the night.

Also would bring a small air freshner for the bathroom as it is such a small enclosed space. I usually lay one of those "Stick-ups" on the glass shelf above the sink. Makes the room smell so nice if nothing else

 

[maddiemom]

Definately take a digital alarm clock. The rooms are very dark and it is hard to tell what time it is even if it is in the middle of the day and you are taking a rest.

Other than that I would HIGHLY recommend an over the door shoe bag. My husband thought I was crazy when I listened to that tip and got one. We had an inside stateroom (cat 11) and when we got there I was so relieved to have that shoe bag to store all of our toiletries etc in. It made such a huge difference....and you can use it when you get home too!

Store your luggage under the bed...leaves a lot more room in the closet for other items

 

[WDWLVR]

I have a nice travel alarm clock I bought at Wal-mart for less than $10. It has an indigo light so a quick press of a button and I can see the time even without my glasses. I'm one who usually wakes up at least once a night and like to know what time it is.

 

[Skuba2]

One thing I haven't seen much about lately is the safes in each room. You need a card with a magnetic strip to lock and unlock it. The problem is that depending on how much you use the safe, the card may become damaged. I would bring two cards---they can be anything with a magnetic strip on the back in the same place as a normal credit card. We actually used our hotel keys from the days before the cruise. They are the kind with your name imprinted on it--so they are ours to keep. The safe reads the strip and locks itself. I don't remember if it also has a code you have to punch in--I don't think so. Then only the card with the exact info on it can unlock it. I would highly recommend not using credit cards.

DG

 

[disneysailor]

The thing I did bring (thanks to these boards) and couldn't have lived without was a highlighter. We went over our navigator's first day and highlighted all the things we really wanted to do. With our kids in two different clubs, it helped to have everything highlighted when we were trying to coordinate who had to be where and when. Of course, this won't help if you forget your Navigator's in your room sometimes.

 

[crisi]

I had a highlighter....the thing that I thought about bringing but didn't is a couple of calendar pages with times on them (you could make your own, with a column for each person in the family across the top and times down the side). Then schedule events like appointments on the page.

Juggling two kids navigators and our navigator made for some occationally difficult reading. Everything the family wanted to do on one page for each day would have been better.

We didn't do (or need) the over the door shoe holder. But we were only on a four day and aren't bathroom stuff people. Toothbrushes, my husbands razor. A brush a comb for hair. My makeup each evening was the glow on my skin from sun and sea air and a little mascara. I did have a bag with more stuff in it (hair gel, additional makeup) that went on the shelf under the sink and didn't get opened.

 

[jrabbit]

Arrive at the port around 11am. Our first cruise we didn't arrive until around 2pm and that first day was a total rush (in this case, not a good thing - and we were not making any ressies) and we didn't feel oriented until then next day. We like to get on board early and be able to leisurly enjoy the ship (after doing the ressie rush)

 

[jilljill]

A night light for the bathroom - the light is very bright in there in the middle of the night.

After sun care in case you burn - I learned that one first hand!!!

 

[figment52]

Originally posted by disneysailor
The thing I did bring (thanks to these boards) and couldn't have lived without was a highlighter. We went over our navigator's first day and highlighted all the things we really wanted to do. With our kids in two different clubs, it helped to have everything highlighted when we were trying to coordinate who had to be where and when. Of course, this won't help if you forget your Navigator's in your room sometimes.

I would suggest a different color highlighter for everyone then you can instantly identify who wants to do what when. We also kept a "log" book in the cabin and whenever anyone left or passed thru they time stamped it and indicated where they were going. It not only helped if we were wondering where to look for someone it made a great diary of what we did when once we got home.

 

[Minnie&Mickey]

Originally posted by crisi
the thing that I thought about bringing but didn't is a couple of calendar pages with times on them (you could make your own, with a column for each person in the family across the top and times down the side).

Although we haven't cruised yet, the one thing that I am bringing is a calendar of all of my kid's up-coming school vacations so that I can book our next cruise while we are onboard! Our oldest is in college and the youngest is in high school, and there are only a few weeks out of the year when their vacations overlap. Even though our trip is over 90 days away, I already have a calendar printed out and sitting in the beach bag where I am throwing things that all of you on the boards mention to bring on the cruise. The calendar goes up to August 2005.

 

[Tonyspad]

My recommendation to new cruisers is to carry-on a bag with your bathing suit and a T-shirt. On our first cruise we were one of the many people walking around the pool deck with no access to our bags, which is where our suits were. You can swim from the time you embark(around noon) until 3:30. We love having lunch at Pluto's Dog House then going to our cabin or a restroom and put on our bathing suit until the fire drill at 4:00.

 

[tink5697]

For our upcoming cruise I have to remember a small personal fan! My DH, DD and I are all "White Noise" people and we went nuts it was so quiet!! The first night we were all awake, probably in part to our excitment. So the next night we put the TV on a static channel and DH found a way to turn the television ALL the way around so the glare wasn't shining, but we could hear the low static. Pretty sad, but we slept like Angels on night 2 & 3!

 

[chrissyt27]

I regret not taking a digital clock. I was always looking at my watch, but it would have been much more helpful with a clock that you could see at night. I also recommend a beach bag. It was helpful on Cast Away Cay and also our trips to the pool and Rainforest.

chrissy

 

[ganurse]

iI should have brought things to keep thing protected other than my beach bag