10 Things to Bring on Your First Cruise (and 5 That Get Taken at Security)

A cruise cabin has two outlets, steel walls, no bathroom counter and a closet built for one carry-on. Pack for that room, not for a hotel.

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Most packing advice for cruises is a list of things you already own. This is not that. Every item below earns its place because of something specific about the room you are about to live in: a standard Royal Caribbean stateroom has roughly two usable power outlets, walls and ceiling made of steel, a bathroom with no counter space to speak of, and a closet sized for one carry-on per person.

Pack for that room and a small cabin feels organised. Pack for a hotel room and you will spend a week stepping over an open suitcase because there is nowhere to put it.

We start with what to leave home, because that list is shorter, it is the one that causes arguments at the pier, and two of the items on it are the reason three items on the other list exist.

Five things that get taken off you at security

Royal Caribbean screens every bag at embarkation, the same way an airport does. Prohibited items are removed there and then. Some are held and returned on the last night, some are not returned at all, and either way you are standing at the terminal having a conversation you did not plan on.

• Power strips, surge protectors and extension cords. Royal Caribbean prohibits extension cords, power strips and multi-plug outlets outright. This is the single most confiscated item in cruising, because it is exactly what a reasonable person packs after hearing there are only two outlets. It is a fire-safety rule on a ship wired differently from your house, and there is no arguing it at the pier.
• Clothing irons and garment steamers. Also prohibited, also fire safety. There is a self-service launderette on most ships and a paid pressing service on all of them.
• Beer, spirits and boxed wine. Wine and champagne have an allowance, covered below. Everything else does not. Bottles bought ashore are held and handed back on the last night.
• Marijuana and CBD, in any form. Prohibited regardless of a medical authorisation or the law in your home state, because the ship operates under its own flag and US federal law. This one catches people out every single week.
• Your hair dryer. Not prohibited, just pointless. There is one in the stateroom already, and it is the single most common thing people pack and never take out of the bag.

The bottle rule, and the part back-to-back cruisers miss

You may bring one sealed 750 ml bottle of wine or champagne per guest of drinking age, carried aboard on embarkation day. Boxed wine does not count and is not allowed. Drink it in your stateroom and it costs you nothing; open it in a bar or a dining room and there is a corkage fee.

Here is the part almost nobody knows, and it only applies to people reading a site like this one. On consecutive sailings, the allowance is per sailing, not per trip. A two-leg back-to-back means two bottles, boarded one at a time. You bring the first on day one and the second on turnaround day, when you re-board with the other in-transit guests.

You may also bring up to twelve standard cans, bottles or cartons of non-alcoholic drinks per stateroom on boarding day. If there is a specific fizzy drink you are loyal to, this is how it gets aboard.

Ten things worth the space

In the order you will wish you had them.

1. A USB charging block

Two outlets, and one of them is usually behind the desk lamp. A multi-port USB wall cube turns one outlet into four and is the legal answer to the problem a power strip would have solved. Royal Caribbean's own policy permits device and USB chargers carrying a recognised US or European conformity mark, so buy one that has the certification printed on it rather than the cheapest brick in the search results.

2. Magnetic hooks

Stateroom walls and ceilings are steel. A handful of strong magnetic hooks gives you hanging space for hats, wet swimwear, lanyards and the daily programme, which otherwise live on the only chair. This is the item people come back from a first cruise evangelising about.

3. An over-the-door organiser

Cruise bathrooms have a sink and almost no flat surface beside it. A clear over-the-door organiser hung on the bathroom or closet door holds toiletries, sunscreen, medicines and chargers where you can see them. Clear pockets matter more than you would think: two people sharing a windowless bathroom do not want to rummage.

4. A lanyard with a card holder

Your SeaPass card is your room key, your ID at the gangway and your payment method for everything aboard. Swimwear has no pockets. A retractable lanyard with a waterproof holder means you stop patting yourself down every time you leave the cabin. Check whether your card arrives pre-punched; if not, a hole punch at guest services solves it.

5. Packing cubes

The closet is built for one carry-on per person and the drawers are shallow. Packing cubes let you unpack by moving four blocks into a drawer instead of restacking loose clothes, and on a back-to-back with a cabin change they turn a repack into a five-minute job.

6. One dining-room outfit

Main dining rooms ask for something a step up from shorts in the evening, and formal nights are a suggestion rather than a rule on most sailings. One collared shirt or one versatile dress covers every evening of a week. An Oxford shirt, a long cardigan that works over anything, or a simple swing dress each do the job without eating the closet. Do not pack a formal wardrobe for a first cruise until you have seen what people actually wear.

7. A luggage scale

This one is not for the ship. It is for the flight to the port, and for the flight home after the shops in St Thomas. A digital luggage scale in a side pocket costs less than one overweight-bag fee, and the fee is what you are actually buying insurance against.

8. A waterproof phone pouch

Tender boats get spray, beaches get waves and a snorkel stop is exactly where a phone goes swimming. A waterproof phone pouch lets you keep taking photographs through it. Test it at home with a dry paper towel inside before you trust it with a phone.

9. Water shoes

Several of the best beach days in the Caribbean are on rocky or coral-strewn entries, and ship pool decks get hot enough to matter. Quick-dry aqua socks pack flat and stop a good shore day ending early.

10. Reef-safe sunscreen

Several Caribbean destinations restrict sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate, and the shop at the pier knows you have no alternative. A mineral sunscreen bought before you sail avoids both the rule and the captive-audience price. Buy more than you think: a week in the tropics goes through it faster than a week anywhere else.

What we would skip

Towels, for the pool or the beach, because the ship supplies them and will swap a used one for a fresh one all day. A full formal outfit on a first sailing, until you have seen the room. A second pair of dress shoes. And an itinerary printed at home, because the daily programme arrives in your stateroom every evening and the app has the same thing.

The honest summary: a cruise cabin rewards packing light and packing specifically. The ten items above exist because of the room, not because they are nice to own.

Pearl Waverly. Former Crown & Anchor concierge. Knows which muster station has the shortest line.  ·  The legtolegcruises.com Logbook is independent editorial and is not affiliated with Royal Caribbean International or Club Royale. Offers, fares, and program rules vary and change often; confirm every detail with Royal Caribbean before you book.