Top 25+ Cruise Essentials You’ll Actually Use: What to Pack (and What to Skip)
Are you a first-time cruiser wondering what to pack for a cruise? Or maybe you’re looking to revamp your packing list before your next adventure? Or are you trying to limit the amount of stuff to bring with you due to limited space? If any of these sound like you, we’ve got the essentials you really need for your upcoming cruise.
Not sure what to pack for a cruise? You’re not alone. Packing can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re not sure what to expect. Luckily, we have been on a handful of cruises, and we’re here to share our packing essentials.
Regardless of your cruise line choice, each of these items will come in handy. Here’s our top 25+ items to pack for your cruise.
IDs, Travel Documents, and Other Essentials
Passport and/or IDs
When you’re figuring out what to pack for a cruise, your ID and travel documents should be at the very top of your list. Without these, you will be unable to board the ship. We highly recommend bringing a passport if you have one, especially if you plan to get off the ship during port days.
You never know what could happen (delays, traffic, injury, etc.) that could prevent you from boarding the ship in time, but your passport can save the day and ensure your ability for unexpected issues. Having the right documents in place will give you the peace of mind and security you need for a smooth cruise experience.
Birth Certificate and ID
If you do not have a passport, some cruise lines, such as Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC, and Celebrity, accept a birth certificate and a photo ID, such as a driver’s license, for itineraries that begin and end in the United States. Determine which bucket you fit in, gather those items, and check this incredibly important step off of your packing list!
Credit Cards and Cash
If you didn’t prepay your gratuities, these will typically be charged to your room account (linked to the credit card on file) after each night of your cruise — at least, that’s how Royal Caribbean handles it. Even if you did prepay gratuities, bringing extra cash, especially in smaller bills, was such a huge tip we learned ahead of cruising.
It’s handy for tipping during port excursions, rewarding exceptional service from waitstaff at meals, room service deliveries, and your stateroom attendant for going above and beyond. Planning ahead with cash made our experience much smoother!
Travel Insurance
You never know when things could go wrong. Whether it’s stubbing your toe, breaking a bone, or a major medical emergency, securing some type of travel insurance provides you peace of mind. We personally use Allianz and have never had any issues with them!
TallSavvy Tip: Keep all your important documents in a small personal safe or a waterproof travel organizer to avoid any mishaps.
What to Pack for a Cruise: Clothes, Shoes & Accessories You’ll Actually Use
When thinking about what to pack for a cruise, we always recommend starting with the basics: comfy clothes, swimwear, and versatile shoes. Let’s break it down.
Casual Clothes
If you’re anything like us, we LOVE to be comfy on vacation, especially on longer cruises where you have multiple sea days. We tended to pack more comfy clothes (t-shirts and shorts) more than anything because of how often we would be in t-shirts than fancy clothes.
Swimwear
We usually pack 2–3 swimsuits to save space in our luggage. I used to pack at least FIVE swimsuits (because options, ya know?), but when you’re limited on space, I picked my best three swimsuits and left the rest. Wear swimsuit #1 on day one, then it will be dry by the time you want to wear it again on day three or four. The guys could get away with just two swimtrunks (at least my husband did!).
Shoes and Accessories
For all the ladies, pick out shoes that will go with multiple outfits. Unfortunately shoes take up SO much space in luggage, so I always try to bring only three pairs of shoes if possible — usually one pair of tennis shoes, one pair of sandals/heels, and one pair of flip flops or sandals for beach days or walking around the ship on sea days.
For the guys, they are surprisingly more picky about shoes! My husband brought two pairs of tennis shoes (Yeezys and OnClouds), his boots for fancier dinners, and a pair of slip-on shoes for walking around the room and ship. For accessories, bring as much or as little jewelry as you’d like (or have room for)!
Theme Night Clothes
Most cruises have theme nights, but they usually don’t provide the themes until closer to your cruise. If you’re interested in participating in the theme nights, be sure to check how many different themes there are. It’s such a fun way to spark conversation with others and see all the different types of clothes people wear on theme nights (some people go ALL out!).
It is absolutely not mandatory to participate in the theme nights though. On our most recent seven-day cruise with Royal Caribbean, we had five theme nights: Caribbean, Formal/Dress Your Best (twice), White, and Casual (twice).
Here’s some examples of what we wore for the theme nights to give you some ideas:
Caribbean Night: My husband wore his finest Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts, and I wore a Caribbean-themed dress that was SO comfortable and received many compliments from guests and crew.
Dress Your Best/Formal: “Dress your best” can mean different things to everyone, and that’s part of the fun! On our cruise, we saw a mix of styles. There were lots of dresses and heels for the ladies and business casual for the men. Some women even went all out in true formal gowns, and let me tell you, I HYPED them up because they looked amazing and took dressing your best to the next level!
We kept it more low-key but still polished, as I wore a jumpsuit with cute sandals, while my husband went with khaki pants and a button-down collared shirt. Ultimately, dressing your best is all about what makes you feel confident and comfortable!
White: It was our honeymoon cruise (which I HIGHLY recommend you do if you’re on the fence of where to go for your honeymoon), so of course I had plenty of white dresses to wear. I chose my favorite one and my husband wore a white Magellan fishing shirt.
Casual: Queue all the comfy clothes! Shorts, t-shirts, tennis shoes, matching PJs (if that’s your thing).
TallSavvy Tip: Use packing cubes to organize your clothes by day/s and try everything on BEFORE packing — it takes the question of “what am I wearing today?” out of the question, so less stress!
Personal Items & Toiletries
When deciding what to pack for a cruise, don’t forget toiletries like shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and makeup remover. Let’s get into the deets!
Toiletries
Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, makeup remover… you name it, and you should probably pack it! Although the cruiselines almost always provide these essentials, I know I always prefer to bring travel sized bottles and fill them up with my products I use at home. If you don’t have a preference, no need to bring any shampoo or conditioner!
Hair Products
Hair straighteners, blow dryers, and even Dysons are allowed on cruiseships. There is a misconception that they are not, but I have always brought my straightener on every cruise and never had any issues. There is often a hair dryer in the room already, but if you prefer to bring your own, by all means — do it!
Sunscreen
I cannot stress this enough — pack MORE than you think you need. Often times, you’re reapplying sunscreen multiple times a day, especially in the Caribbean port destinations, and will run out of sunscreen faster than you think. We were so grateful we did — plus, the sunscreen onboard is much more expensive than the price you’d pay at home, so better safe than sorry. Also, some cruiselines and/or destinations require you to use reef-safe sunscreen. It would be worth looking into depending on the destination you are traveling to!
OTC Medications
If you have a headache, the only place where you can get Tylenol is the infirmary on the ship, which is a pretty penny to pay. Cannot stress this enough — bring your own OTC medicine and first-aid kit, especially motion sickness medicine or patches. Literally any medicine you think you’d even possibly need, bring it just in case to avoid a trip to the infirmary.
Miscellaneous Items
Packing Poopouri was LITERALLY a lifesaver, especially when that cruise food hits (sorry, not sorry — it’s the truth!). Liquid IV for those hangovers you may have after a few too many drinks the day before. Shout Wipes for accidental stains or spills on your outfit.
TallSavvyTip: Think of cruise ships as mini floating cities… what you forget might be available onboard, but often at a premium price. Bring your must-have items to save money, avoid inconvenience, and ensure you’re fully prepared for everything from sunny days to unexpected headaches!
Personal Items & Toiletries
Over-The-Door Shoe Organizer
Those staterooms are somewhat limited on space for all your things, depending on which room classification you book, so an over the door shoe organizer is the perfect addition to use for your miscellaneous items such as sunscreen, meds, snacks, undergarments, hats, and many other items!
Extension Cords (but special ones)
The cruise staterooms have very minimal plugs to use for charging your phone, so we bring multiple extension cords to ensure we can charge our devices all at the same time. However, Royal Caribbean has announced very strict guidelines on the types of extension cords they allow.
As of December 2024, you cannot bring an extension cord that has a physical cord or multiple three-prong plug-ins. The only ones they will let you bring on are ones that only have a singular three-prong plug-in and multiple USB/Type C inserts for cords. They are very strict about this, and it’s worth looking into for other cruise lines.
We just know from personal experience that Royal confiscates MANY extension cords that do not comply. Ours that was approved is here, so you can see which one is a guarantee YES!
Portable Mini Fan
Often more times than not, the staterooms can take quite a bit of time to cool off when you first arrive. A portable mini fan is one of the best purchases you can bring onto the cruise to help cool your room down while you’re unpacking. Plus, we are high maintenance and cannot sleep without a fan, so this is a nonnegotiable for us.
Day Bag/Beach Bag
When you’re ready to go for your port day, you need a bag to carry all your things in, like your passports, change of clothes, extra pair of shoes, sunglasses, sunscreen, print-outs of your excursion confirmations, among other things! We loved this beach bag (and not just because it was leopard print), but it fit EVERYTHING we needed with an ample amount of room.
Lanyards for SeaPass
This is such a simple thing, but lanyards (especially the ones that have a detachable feature) make such a big difference and ease of knowing where your room key is. Plus, when you have the drinking package on Royal, they have to have your SeaPass (or respective pass for other cruise lines) every time you order a drink. It’s definitely worth bringing one to avoid digging for your card in your purse or pocket every time.
Portable Chargers
We brought two portable chargers, one for each of us, and they were lifesavers during port days. Since we were taking so many pictures and videos, our phone batteries would decrease very quickly. Because we had one for each of us, or one with multiple plugs, we could continue to capture priceless memories with peace of mind knowing our phones weren’t going to die (just be sure to charge them beforehand!).
Snorkel Gear
You can totally bring snorkel gear instead of renting some at a port (for triple the price of buying). There’s no guarantee you’d see much action around the port area, but if you’re able to venture out, it’s always nice to have these handy in case you’re feeling frisky and want to take a swim and snorkel on your own without paying the price of an excursion.
TallSavvyTip: The little things make such a huge difference on your cruise experience. I think I listed all our miscellaneous essentials, but I’d love to hear if you have any others we should add to this list!
Honorable Mentions
One of the most helpful things we’ve learned about what to pack for a cruise is that it’s not just about clothes and toiletries — it’s also the little extras that make life onboard easier. Here’s a list of our honorable mentions that make our cruise more enjoyable and personalized.
DUCKS!
If you didn’t know, ducks are one of the main things cruising is known for. Many guests bring little ducks to hide, or they make it their goal to find as many ducks as possible when on the cruise. Hiding cruise ducks is one of our favorite things to do when we cruise. For our honeymoon cruise, we hid Mr. and Mrs. ducks and they were such a hit!
Whiteboard & Pens
We had never done this before, but for our most recent cruise, we brought a magnetic whiteboard and pens and hung it up outside of our door. We would write questions and leave a pen for guests to answer the question. It made going back to our room so exciting because we were interested to see the kinds of responses we received. Some of them were prettyyyy interesting…
Magnetic Hooks
Since the walls are made of metal, magnetic hooks were the perfect addition to our room and help save space. We hung our hats, swimsuits, and SeaPass on the hooks, but you can use them for hanging whatever you’d like!
Final Thoughts
Packing for your cruise shouldn’t be stressful or full of anxiety hoping you didn’t miss anything. Hopefully this guide gave you confidence in knowing what to pack for a cruise so you can relax, feel prepared, and enjoy your vacation to the fullest.
From one anxious person to another, I hope this packing checklist helps you ensure you have everything you need for a wonderful and memorable cruise. After all, you will be on vacation, so every day will be a good day, regardless of the items you may or may not have forgotten about!
Did I Miss Anything?
If you’re an experienced cruiser, I’d love to hear your favorite packing tips! Drop them in the comments below, and let’s help first-timers set sail stress-free.
And if you’re still unsure what to pack for a cruise, drop a comment or check out our Amazon Cruise Essentials list for our go-to recommendations!
Bon Voyage and Happy Packing!
About TallSavvyTravels: We’re Kayla and Preston — the married duo behind Tall & Savvy Travels. We’re not full-time travelers or travel agents, just two real people who love to explore, plan, and share what’s actually worth your time. From Caribbean beaches and all-inclusives to cruise ports and travel hiccups, we bring you honest takes based on firsthand experience. No fluff or filters. If we love it, we’ll tell you why. If we wouldn’t do it again, you’ll hear that too. Because your time, hard-earned money and PTO matters, and we’re all about helping you travel smarter.
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