Up next in 10
11 Things You Should ALWAYS Bring On Your Cruise
7K views
Jan 28, 2025
Avoid making these 11 easy to make cruise packing mistakes when you cruise, and always make sure these are packed. Start planning to ensure you do not leave these important, but often overlooked, cruise packing mistakes. I look at 11 key items that I have learnt of the now 81 cruises I have done that are important to pack and take on a cruise. These are packing mistakes that I see and hear people regretting after the event. It is easy to overlook these items as they are not all that obvious. Be ready and avoid these common cruise packing mistakes. SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY: Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise WATCH THESE POPULAR RECENT VIDEOS: 10 Cabins to Avoid: https://youtu.be/PgTGLma919A European River Cruise Watch-Outs: https://youtu.be/oqhz54wStyk 5 Cruises To Avoid: https://youtu.be/CNiPzK4IRWA Alaska Cruise Need-to-Knows: https://youtu.be/Tn7dpNw5kSI Things Cruise Lines Don’t Want You to Know: https://youtu.be/cs5UKha9ALc Rules Passengers Break Most: https://youtu.be/djZLZ3XV_f0 Things You Can’t Do On A Cruise Any More: https://youtu.be/zas6F4wMD0Q Should You Pay Cruise Gratuities: https://youtu.be/QBYzqxXjEXQ Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 78 cruises at time of making this video.
View Video Transcript
0:00
what are the 11 worse things to forget
0:02
to pack for your cruise I'm Gary
0:05
beverage this is another of my cruising
0:07
tips of Chavez I want to take a look at
0:09
11 things that would just be terrible
0:11
really bad if you didn't pack them on
0:13
your cruise starting with this one the
0:16
obvious ones there's three absolute
0:18
obvious things that you need to pack and
0:20
you probably could get away with your
0:22
whole cruise if you only packed these
0:23
three things first of all your passport
0:26
now certainly you could argue that on
0:28
some cruises you don't really need your
0:29
passport so for example there are what's
0:31
known as closed-loop cruises these are
0:34
cruises that sell out of the US and they
0:36
go from the same port and come back to
0:38
the same port certainly the time
0:39
recording the regulator said that you
0:41
didn't specifically need a passport
0:42
however I'd really recommend that you
0:44
travel with a parcel because if you have
0:46
any issues or whatever having a possible
0:48
it's going to make it so much easier for
0:50
getting back or repatriating if you need
0:53
to the possible needs to have normally
0:54
at least six months before it expires if
0:56
you're going to use a passport and for
0:58
your partner to be accepted
0:59
so certainly passport of course you
1:00
could get away with some other form of
1:02
ID if that's appropriate to get on your
1:04
cruise the second thing that you need is
1:06
a credit card that's where it's so very
1:08
important because cruise lines generally
1:11
won't take debit cards or they require
1:13
to deposit a lot of cash to cover any
1:15
onboard expenses so credit card is what
1:17
most cruise lines require of course you
1:19
can then think about taking debit cards
1:21
or whatever else and then the third
1:23
thing that you need is an e tickets
1:25
increasingly what's happening is Cruise
1:26
Lines require you to have checked in
1:28
online and have an e-ticket which they
1:29
scan when you board normally if you
1:32
don't have it you can fight about
1:33
getting around it but those are
1:34
certainly the three absolute essential
1:36
things if you have those three things
1:37
you could probably go on your cruise and
1:39
everything else you can just sort out
1:41
with either your passport your money or
1:43
the fact that you're on board the second
1:45
thing that I recommend you take though
1:47
is some sort of government photo ID so
1:50
obviously got your passport but I don't
1:52
like taking my passport out and about
1:53
with me and you'll find in some ports
1:56
you required when you go out on an
1:58
excursion or self exploring to have some
2:00
sort of photo ID with you some
2:02
government-issued photo ID with you I
2:04
don't like that I've taken my passport
2:06
out I like to take my government photo
2:08
driving license because if I lose that
2:10
it's it's less traumatic and less
2:12
problematic
2:13
replacing it that than it is a passport
2:15
so some sort of government ID it's
2:17
really a good idea to have that with you
2:19
means you can then leave your passport
2:20
also in some itineraries you'll find
2:21
that the crews nature keeps your
2:23
passport and that's because they're
2:25
going through lots of different
2:26
immigration places so they keep it to be
2:29
able to process that so having some sort
2:30
of ID is gonna be really helpful when
2:32
you're heading out and port it's good to
2:34
have ID with you in case you get into
2:35
trouble or problems you have some sort
2:37
of ID the third thing that I would
2:39
recommend you never leave behind if
2:42
you're going to cruise is your mobile
2:44
phone for all sorts of reasons one of
2:46
them is actually quite a practical
2:47
reason and that's because many cruise
2:49
lines have shifted to use apps online
2:52
some sort of interactive stuff and they
2:54
will normally give you access to use all
2:56
of their apps where you will manage your
2:58
account you can book restaurants you can
3:01
book excursions you can check your bill
3:03
you can do all sorts of things on your
3:05
mobile phone so actually having that
3:07
becomes a fundamental part of the way
3:09
that you do your actual cruising so
3:11
that's very important you might not use
3:13
it for anything else but you'll find
3:14
increasingly as cruise lines move more
3:16
wanted technology that's very important
3:18
obviously you have the other things if
3:19
there's an emergency or you want to stay
3:21
in touch or whatever you've got your
3:23
mobile phone also the thing that I find
3:25
a mobile fun really helpful for is of
3:27
course recently using it as a camera to
3:29
save you taking out bulky camera
3:31
equipment but also you'll find there's
3:33
lots and lots of apps you can have on
3:35
there that help you so if you going self
3:36
exploring you can do things like look at
3:39
the hop-on hop-off bus timetable
3:40
you can order boobers or taxis you can
3:43
do a translate so for example I have
3:45
actually seen a Japanese tourist who has
3:47
a little translation a voice translation
3:49
app on their phone and when they're
3:51
traveling they talking to it it
3:52
translates it into the language allow
3:54
the person talks back and it converts it
3:56
back into Japanese so there's lots of
3:58
Technology things you can have a
3:59
currency converter to check when you're
4:01
thinking buying something is that a good
4:03
price or not so lots and lots of apps on
4:05
your phone to make your whole travel
4:07
experience much easier guides all sorts
4:09
of things so mobile phone from that
4:12
perspective really really helpful even
4:13
if you don't use for its prime thing
4:15
which is making calls or using the
4:16
Internet the next thing that you should
4:18
absolutely not travel without are things
4:21
are fall into the medical category
4:22
there's the obvious one which is
4:23
prescription drugs if you do take
4:25
prescription dry
4:26
you need to take those take plenty of
4:28
those to cover yourself good idea to
4:31
take copies of the description or copies
4:33
of the bottle if you have any issues to
4:35
show the doctor or whatever but also
4:37
there's a couple of other things related
4:38
to medical that I strongly recommend you
4:40
take I always take a little personalized
4:42
first-aid kit going to the medical
4:44
center can be very expensive you can't
4:46
buy a lot of the over-the-counter things
4:48
on the ship
4:49
if you then in a country we don't know
4:50
sell the language or whatever trying to
4:52
navigate around the pharmacy can be very
4:54
difficult so what I was just a little
4:56
first aid kit well you might if there's
4:57
like headache pills seasickness tablets
4:59
anti Dyer real things for mouth ulcers
5:02
all kind of stuff like that but you
5:04
might need also you might have some
5:07
plasters in there you know if you cut
5:08
yourself or whatever you've got plasters
5:10
and they said all the sort of daily bits
5:12
and pieces just little niggles that you
5:14
might have because it could become quite
5:15
expensive and difficult to replace those
5:18
or find those and certainly if you have
5:20
to go to the medical center so a really
5:21
good idea to have a little personalized
5:23
medical kit are though key things of
5:25
course things like sunscreen insect
5:27
repellent all stuff like that that you
5:29
might need depending on the location one
5:31
of the things that quite a few ladies
5:33
have told me is they always make sure
5:35
they take is that they're taking plenty
5:36
of them in hygiene products because they
5:38
can sometimes be very difficult to get
5:39
on the ship or you can't get the exact
5:41
product or brand or whatever that you
5:43
want so think about those kind of things
5:45
and make sure that you've got those the
5:47
next thing I've actually made as a whole
5:48
separate topic and this is really really
5:50
important is on cruise ships there is no
5:53
dentist so if you do have a medical
5:54
issue on cruise ships in the ocean
5:56
cruise ships do you have a medical
5:59
center so you can go and get things
6:00
sorted out however if you have a dental
6:03
problem
6:04
there's no dentist onboard and they
6:05
can't help you for all sorts of and gets
6:08
legal reasons and being sued or what air
6:09
and expertise so actually if you have a
6:11
problem with your teeth it could be a
6:12
real problem till you've got something
6:14
with lots of CDA so I always take one of
6:16
those little patch up kits you can buy
6:18
them in a drugstore in a pharmacy and
6:19
you can do things like put back crowns
6:21
or or fill a filling or broken tooth and
6:24
a couple of times I've either been
6:26
traveling with friends or my partner or
6:28
myself we're part of a tooth cracked off
6:30
or a crowns worn off and be able to
6:32
patch it up until we got to a port we
6:34
can actually arrange to see sort of an
6:35
emergency dentists or sometimes even
6:37
till you get back so one of the key key
6:39
is that dental repair kit I know so many
6:42
people that it has been an absolute boon
6:44
for the other thing that I would
6:46
strongly recommend that you make sure
6:47
your pack is some sort of backup of all
6:50
your critical documents now these will
6:52
do that is to take a picture and sort on
6:54
your phone and your photos or scan it in
6:56
and have it in the cloud things I would
6:58
recommend you have is that your passport
7:00
copies of your medical insurance perhaps
7:03
even a copy of your photo ID perhaps
7:06
some of your emergency contacts
7:08
basically key documents that if you were
7:10
stranded or you needed them you can show
7:13
a couple your passport or travel
7:15
insurance so have a little folder
7:17
somewhere on your phone a little album
7:19
where you keep that sort of stuff
7:21
hopefully you never have to use it but
7:22
if you do need to use it you're going to
7:24
be so so pleased that's all so perhaps
7:25
we could store stuff like a copy of your
7:27
prescription or photographs of the
7:29
bottles that your prescription drugs
7:31
come in the next area that I personally
7:34
have found have been really helpful is
7:37
when it comes to glasses and I wear
7:39
glasses for reading and I'm very clumsy
7:41
and I'm always sitting on them breaking
7:43
then whatever so I always make sure I've
7:45
taken a backup here so it might be very
7:47
simple is inexpensive reading glasses
7:49
that you can just buy in a pharmacy I
7:51
actually have an old pair glasses I take
7:53
with me because I have lost glasses and
7:55
if you do need glasses it's really
7:58
really difficult to replace them really
7:59
quickly if it's reading glasses you can
8:01
perhaps find those more inexpensive ones
8:04
that are easy to do so I would always
8:05
take a backup of your actual glasses the
8:09
other thing I would always take is a
8:10
backup for sunglasses this is something
8:13
that I learned at the hardware on a
8:14
recent cruise in Asia I'd actually
8:17
dropped my glasses and they fell into
8:19
the river and they disappeared and then
8:21
because he was going lots of remote
8:23
places I've had a really really hard to
8:24
actually replace my sunglasses because I
8:27
was actually on a river cruise boat so
8:28
they didn't have a shop there so I
8:30
actually found it was really helpful to
8:32
have a backup pair of sunglasses
8:33
the only sunglasses I could find with
8:35
some you know knockoff ones a little
8:36
market and I realize they're going to be
8:38
really bad for my eyes so having backup
8:41
for glass is really important
8:42
particularly going somewhere sunny but
8:43
really those prescription ones really
8:45
really critical the next area is around
8:48
adapters and charges you know we rely so
8:49
much on technology these days so you
8:53
you can have your phone or your camera
8:55
or all sorts of bits and pieces that
8:57
need charging one of the things to think
8:59
about is not only make sure that you've
9:01
got all the different charges because as
9:02
we know as phones upgrade they have
9:04
different charges even the family might
9:06
need different plug in things the good
9:08
news is many many cruise ships both
9:09
ocean and river are increasing having
9:11
USB charges so you don't have to worry
9:13
as much about the different charger
9:15
types but assume that you don't have the
9:17
USB charges and you're going to need all
9:18
the different plugs very importantly the
9:20
adapters to go with those most cruise
9:23
ships are actually built in Europe
9:25
however they tend to have more us-style
9:28
plugs well then we'll have mostly
9:30
us-style plugs maybe some euro plugs so
9:32
make sure you've got adapter so I like
9:34
to take the adapters that actually you
9:36
can set for different regions so you'd
9:39
have to think too much about I need us
9:40
Stalin and you're a star also one of
9:43
things you might want to do it although
9:44
cruise lines are clamping down on that
9:45
is don't assume that you have lots of
9:47
plug-in points so see whether your
9:50
cruise line allows you to bring some
9:51
sort of extension cord very important to
9:53
that do not allow extension cords with
9:54
surge protectors and some of them were
9:55
restricting my left any onboard so
9:57
double-check that but certainly take
9:58
lots of adapters and plugs so you don't
10:00
sand you find your phone's run out where
10:02
your cameras run out or your tablets run
10:03
out and that could describe you crazy
10:06
the other worst thing to forget to pack
10:08
is appropriate clothing there's probably
10:10
three critical things that you should
10:12
think about first of all dress codes so
10:13
depending on the cruise line you're on
10:15
you want to make sure that you've bought
10:16
appropriate clothes so if you're on a
10:17
very formal cruise like a Cunard for
10:20
example where they have formal night
10:21
today you have to wear jackets or or you
10:24
have to wear tuxedos or fancy glitzy
10:27
gowns to get into the dining room
10:29
make sure you brought that of course if
10:30
you're going on a cruise which has a
10:31
much more relaxed approach you'd only be
10:33
taking all your tuxedos and ball gowns
10:35
so appropriate clothing to the dress
10:37
code the second thing is your monitor
10:39
clothing linked to the parties so
10:41
different cruise lines have different
10:43
parties they might be red white a blue
10:44
party a white party or some other themed
10:47
parties so make sure that you've checked
10:49
out and you've taken appropriate plating
10:50
so you can really get into the swing of
10:51
things the third area of appropriate
10:54
clothing is you want to make sure that
10:55
based on the excursions or where you're
10:56
going to you've got the right clothing
10:58
so you don't want to head off to Alaska
10:59
to do and it can be rainy and you've got
11:01
any clothes that are layered to keep you
11:04
warm or
11:05
prove out as so that you can stay dry
11:08
you don't head off because you're going
11:09
on excursions and you don't have the
11:11
walking boots or whatever it is just
11:13
make sure that you've got a proba
11:14
clothing to the region and the sort of
11:16
excursions you're doing the next thing
11:18
that I respond directly when you're pack
11:19
is think about extraordin
11:21
if you're heading out there's probably
11:23
bits and pieces that you want to take on
11:24
a shore excursion and make sure you've
11:27
got a bag particular bag that is
11:28
relatively secure so some sort of
11:30
rucksack but one that's not easy for
11:31
pickpockets to do so it's got lots of
11:34
zips inside or if you're heading off and
11:36
you're gonna be on the beach you take
11:38
some valuables you know your phone or
11:40
money to the beach perhaps one of those
11:41
little waterproof bags that you know
11:44
where when you're in the sea or you can
11:46
sort of what I like to just bury them in
11:47
the sound when I have to the sea so it's
11:49
quite hard for people to lift so
11:50
something that you can take cut off an
11:52
excursion now obviously some cruise
11:54
lines will also give you little hold or
11:56
bags as well that you can use so take
11:58
some that you can use on your excursions
12:00
that's a real plus another thing that I
12:02
think is a terrible thing not to Pat is
12:04
think about your nighttime sleeping
12:05
experience some people goes far because
12:08
they're really fussy about their pillow
12:09
they take their own pillow you don't as
12:11
you need to that many cruise lines will
12:12
give you a choice of pillow so if it's a
12:14
feather pillow or whatever that you need
12:16
you can only find they can sort that out
12:17
for you but it for example you might
12:19
want to take a shades or earplugs or or
12:23
a white noise machine or whatever you
12:25
know is good for giving you a great
12:27
night's sleep because you never quite
12:29
know what it's gonna be like so for
12:30
example you could be going a cruise into
12:32
northern Europe where the Sun never goes
12:34
down so it's light all the time and if
12:36
you're the sort of person that likes to
12:38
sleep in its dark and you've got about
12:39
in a cabin or an ocean view cabin you
12:41
might be really grateful you've brought
12:42
some ice shades for that or whatever it
12:45
is so whatever the things are there to
12:47
help you sleep well at night that's
12:49
something that I strongly recommend it
12:51
that you pack I have loads more videos
12:53
of packing advice cruisin advice so why
12:57
don't you watch another one of those
12:59
right now
#Backpacks & Utility Bags
#Cruises & Charters
#Luggage & Travel Accessories
#Packaging
#Travel & Transportation
#Travel Guides & Travelogues