Ready, Set, Sail: 7 Essentials You Can’t Cruise Without, Plus 3 to Reconsider

Before going on my first solo cruise, I perused several different travel blogs and watched countless YouTube videos. Each of them touted some variation of “10 Unusual Things to Pack for your Cruise” or “5 Must Have Cruise Items Everyone Forgets”. Being the sucker I am, I was swayed by several of their arguments and purchased an assortment of recommended items that turned out to be a waste of money. Now it’s time for my own “top 10” cruise packing list with 3 useless things I bought because influencers told me to, and 7 items I wish I had brought on my cruise instead.

The Duds

1. Magnetic hooks

Cruise cabins are notoriously cramped, so space saving solutions seem like a clear win. The walls of the narrow cabins are made of metal, so a handful of thoughtfully placed magnetic hooks could amplify the amount of storage space available. Online posts claim that storage in the cabins will be limited and having those extra hooks would help keep things neat and tidy. I purchased this 6-pack of small magnetic hooks, but never even attempted to attach them to my cabin walls.  As a solo traveler I found the number of hooks, drawers, and shelves available in my room to be more than sufficient. Perhaps if you are someone who does a lot of outfit changes during the day or are traveling with more than one person they could be helpful, but for me there was really no need for extra storage space.

2. Lanyards

Numerous cruise videos feature passengers bedecked in colorful, festive lanyards, holding the most prized cruise possession – the cruise card. Your cruise card functions as your room key, credit card, and identify card throughout the cruise, so it makes sense to keep it nearby at all times. Since you don’t need your ID, passport, or credit card on board, storing your purse/wallet in the cabin safe and just relying on your cruise card provides peace of mind.

I envisioned myself using the lanyard, but once I was on board I realized that in addition to my key card I also required (in order of priority) 1) lip balm, 2) my cell phone, 3) the slip of paper with my room number on it because I kept forgetting. There was no way of stuffing all these items into the lanyard, so I ended up carrying my purse around with me. Even when I had outfits with pockets, I had visions of items tumbling out of my pockets and dramatically rolling in slow motion over the side of the ship, never to be seen again. My lanyard remained unused in my cabin, but perhaps a person with deeper pockets and a mind less prone to extremes would find value in keeping their cruise card secured handily around their neck.

3. Motion sickness medicine

I’ve been on several small boats for tours around Greek Islands, New England, and while scuba diving off the Florida Keys. Although relatively short durations, these rides got rather bumpy as we plowed through cresting waves at high speeds. I also dabbled in crew for a year, frequently teetering in a rocking skiff on the Allegheny River in the wake of passing pleasure boats and barges. In all these instances, I’ve never been remotely seasick.

Despite ample evidence that I do not get seasick, I envisioned the potential misery that awaited me on this cruise. At sea for hours on end, I grip the porcelain throne for balance as I violently heave with seasickness. I am in too much misery to be repulsed by my face slumped on the well-used toilet seat, with only 1-ply toilet paper to wipe my spittle.  This over dramatization was likely fueled by having recently watched the satirical dark comedy, Triangle of Sadness (IYKYK).

Rather than take my chances, I decided to invest in some sea sickness medicine. There are a few different options out there but the one I saw recommended most was Bonine. Just to have some redundancy in case the Bonine didn’t work for me, I got got some Dramamine as well. This drug causes drowsiness, and I figured if I was really seasick then at night I would take the Dramamine and maybe that would even help me get a better night’s sleep.

On the cruise, my room was on the 13th floor and somewhat in the middle of the ship. While we were at sea I could feel a tiny bit of rocking, but for the most part I adapted to this very quickly and had absolutely no ill effects whatsoever. Even sitting on my balcony watching the horizon bob between the waves I felt totally fine. This is an item that I ended up not using at all, however, it was relatively cheap so if you aren’t sure if you get seasick or not it still seems worth taking along.

The Regretful Omissions

1. SPF lip balm

Lip balm is basically my number one priority in life, so I did have several tubes of it on hand. However, none of them included SPF. My delicate February lips were not prepared to be blasted by the UV rays of the Bahamas and immediately got sunburned. They started peeling early on and annoyed me for the entire rest of the trip. I generally avoid SPF sunscreen because the last one I used tasted disgusting, but perpetually looking like a flaky croissant is not a great alterative either.

Since the cruise, I have conducted a small experiment and purchased 2 types of SPF-sunscreen. These Carmex Minis (SPF 15) taste great and when put to the test on a desert hiking trip in Idaho prevented sunburnt lips. The drawback with these is that I did struggle with the variability in consistency based on temperature. In the morning it was stiff and required solid pressure to get it out of the tube, but a few hours into the warming day it transformed to a near liquid. On numerous occasions I applied the morning-level of pressure to the tube and ended up with a gooey explosion.

I’ve now purchased some Burt’s Bees with SPF 15 as an alternative. It doesn’t have the terrible sunscreen taste and seems to have a more stable composition, but I have yet to put it to the test in a sunny environment.

2. Conditioner

The in-shower dispensers on the cruise ship provided body wash and shampoo, but no conditioner. Thankfully I scrounged a little bit of conditioner from my travel toiletry bag, but I was running dangerously low by the end of the cruise. I’d recommend double checking what types of toiletries your cruise ship stocks in the bathroom prepare accordingly.

3. Hair clips

While watching sunsets from my balcony and dancing on the top deck during the White Party, my eyes were constantly stabbed by rogue whisps of hair. At the end of the night my front hair stands had a slight crunch to them from being repeatedly dunked in my fruity ocean cocktails. An item that I have about a million of in my house but inconveniently found none of in my travel toiletry bag was little hair clips. I underestimated how windy it would be at sea out on the balcony or on the top decks. My hair was constantly flapping around, whipping me in the eyes, and otherwise getting into a knotted, tangled mess. I was not here for a fashion show, so I would rather have had numerous clips in my hair to hold down all the flyways than deal with the annoyance.

4. Tissues

I go through almost as many tissues as I do lip balms. At home, I have a tissue box in every room of my house, but on the cruise there were none to be found. I resorted to using scratchy toilet paper, which detracted from the luxurious, relaxing cruise vibe.  It would be very easy to toss a couple packs of travel tissues into your bag – your nose will thank you later.

5. Small cross-body bag/fanny pack

With my lip balm, cruise card, and cell phone, I had too much to fit in a lanyard, but not enough to fill up my purse. I wish I had brought a much smaller, simplistic fanny-pack or cross-body bag to carry just these few items without the bulk of a whole purse. On shore excursion days it would also have been nice to shove that smaller bag inside my backpack. This would keep all my necessities together nicely and I could pull them out separately from my swimsuit, towel, and other excursion accoutrement.

6. Extra reusable water bottles

I wasn’t planning on getting wasted on my cruise, so I didn’t opt for a drink package. The downside to this is that nonalcoholic drinks also were also not included. I had access to a limited selection of nonalcoholic drinks like water, watery juice, and coffee, but only from the buffet. In the buffet beverage area there was a water dispensing station with a clear label admonishing passengers against using the station to fill up their own personal water bottles. Approximately 100% of passengers on this cruise did exactly that, including me, because there was no free water available to me anywhere else on the ship.

To stay remotely hydrated I had to repeatedly walk up several flights of stairs to the buffet just to get water. I did have my reusable water bottle with me, but I wish I had a much bigger bottle or several regular sized ones so I could fill them up all at once and then have enough water to last me throughout the day. The upside to this was I got a lot of steps and flights of stairs in over the course of the cruise. All those extra steps helped make up for the gluttonous food I was eating every day.

7. Shorts on beach days

I planned to spend my day on MSC’s tiny private island lounging on the beach, so I, and many other passengers, wore just my swimsuit off the ship. From my online research, the best beach on the island is Bimini Beach as it is furthest from the ship and tends to be the least crowded. Wearing just my swimsuit was a real rookie mistake. The island’s particular blend of sea salt and sand in the moist ocean-sprayed air coated my skin like fine sandpaper. With each step towards Bimini Beach my legs brushed together, scraping another layer of skin cells away from my inner thighs. By the time I got to the beach I had a slightly bloody, brush burned crotch (no photo, sorry).

I spent the day dreading the walk back to the ship. At the end of the day I slowly waddled my way back to the ship with my towel in between my legs to provide me a moment of respite. I had plenty of comfy shorts on the ship and this whole ordeal could have been avoided by either actually wearing shorts off the boat or having some sort of thigh chafing protection to go along with my swimsuit.

Are there any fad products you’ve purchased to take on vacation but ended up being duds? What items would you never leave home without?

What else are you curious about?