Hi, I'm Gary Bembridge of Tips For Travellers. I'm going to take a look at 21
really unusual, unexpected and slightly strange things that you absolutely
should pack for your next cruise vacation.
First of all highlighter pens. Highlighter pens are fantastic for highlighting the
various things within the daily program that you may want to do. It simplifies
huge amounts of information down to the things that are really important to you.
The second thing is a multi USB charger strip and a multi power strip. The reason
for that is, many cruise cabins have very few plug sockets. So you find nowadays
when we have phones and tablets and cameras, all sorts of things that we want
to charge, it becomes incredibly difficult to charge them. So taking one
of those strips where you can plug in multi USB things you can charge all
your tablets and phones (and everyone in the cabin's tablets and phones)
if you have a strip where you can charge everything that you need to
charge. Next is a beach towel clip or a bulldog clip. These are really helpful
because you can clip them onto your towels so they don't blow away when you're
sunbathing on deck or at the beach. And also you may find if your curtains don't
quite fit properly in your cabin you can also clip your curtains together, and
lock out light. Next little sample sizes of laundry detergent. Although there are
laundries, you normally have to buy the actual detergent that goes in those. So
grab a couple of those little sample size packs. It's one less thing that you
have to pay for. The fifth thing is your own personal first-aid kit. It can cost
you a lot of money if you have to go and grab them out pharmacies in the port or
you have to go to the medical center. So pack a little kit and then put things
like seasick tablets, headache tablets, anti-diorrehea, plasters, ointment, mouth
ulser gel - everything that you might use at home. Take a look in your medicine
cabinet or in your bathroom at home and look at all the things that you use - even if
they're infrequent. It'll be really helpful and it will save you potentially
money and stress. My next tip which is linked to that and is make sure that you
also take with you a dental repair kit. On board the ship while there are medical
centers, there is no dentist on board. So if you have a tooth crack, filling come
out or a crown come off, having your own little tooth repair kit will be an
absolute boon. You can buy those at pharmacy
or at drugstores. A lot of people say you should pack one of these over the door
shoe organizers, especially if you've got a small cabin. The series of pockets in them,
which can be up to 24 pockets, are great for storing everything from Sun
cream, sunglasses, all sorts of bits and pieces so it keeps your cabin nicely
organized as it's where you can store and find things very easily. Pack a couple of
water bottles, particularly ones that are not transparent so you can't see through
them. A lot of people swear by them. They go out with water and sometimes come
back with something other than water inside them! I'm not saying that's the
right thing to do as many cruise lines don't like you bringing alcohol back
on board. But a lot of people do go out with a water bottle come back with it
full of other stuff, because those things are not necessary screened for what's
inside the water bottle. Pack either a small folding umbrella or one of those
plastic rain ponchos because you never know when it's gonna get wet and when you're
going to need it. As they are pretty small, it's easy to put in your pocket or your rucksack and take
it with you out and about and it rains, or on deck and when
you're out on excursions. I always like to pack eye shades and earplugs. You never
know what the situation is going to be in your cabin and whether there might be a
little bit noise that disturbs you when you're sleeping or the sunlight coming
in that you find troublesome. So it's always handy to have as insurance some
eye shades and ear plugs. My eleventh suggestion is to pack some small magnets.
The reason for those is most of the walls in many cabins are metal, so they
become really handy for using as an organization space. You can put up
reminders to yourself or the daily program, tickets for excursions. It comes
a really handy way again of using all the space in your cabin, and making sure that
you can find things very easily. Antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer.
They're really important to keep your hands free and clear and to help make sure
that you try and avoid catching the norovirus. Particularly when you head out
on an excursion they become really handy if you have to use the restrooms or you're
touching lots of grubby services to make sure that you keep your hands nice and
clean and free of bugs. Many people also link to that are small
tissue packs which if they do need to go to the bathroom and there is no paper
there for them to use. Another great thing to take are a pair of portable
speakers which you can then connect by bluetooth to your iPhone or tablet or
your computer, and you can take a listen to music. The television
channels are not always that interesting and the great and advantage of course if
you take a little speakers is you can listen to the music that you like.
The fourteenth tip is to take room freshner. This is not something that's
provided. If you're sharing a cabin with one or more people, having a little room
freshener (perhaps kept in the bathroom) may spare blushes and be nicer
smelling for everybody. Now one of the most important things of all: take your
own pillow. Why? I've always found that I never sleep as well as I do when I have
my own pillow. The great thing about when you go on a cruise, particularly if
you're driving to the cruise, is you have lots of space to take your own pillow. It
will be a absolute boon to sleep on your own pillow. Many people also swear by
bringing duct tape. People talk about duct tape as being a basic to
fix all sorts of problems. So whether your cabin has got problems like doors or
cabinets rattling because you've got rough seas or you've broken something and
you need to tape it up. So a lot of people just pack a roll of duct tape in
their case and they say it becomes the Mr. Fixit all for all sorts of problems
you may encounter on board. My seventeen tip is to make sure that your phone or
your tablet or your computer is packed full with entertainment. So download
movies or shows from things like Netflix or Amazon Prime, or if you're coming from
places like the UK you've got catch-up services like BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub
to actually download shows onto your device. Of course you can also pre-
load them with various books to read. My eighteenth tip is to bring a waterproof
container that you can keep your iPhone in or your
smartphone in when you head out into the beach or you're near water. Also the
advantage is you can also put things like some spare cash or other documents
that you may want with you. It protects them obviously from water and
from sand on the beach, and also it means that they are kept in one place and
safe. One of the things that a lot of people pack is a lanyard, which they can
then can attach their cruise card to. The cruise card of course is very
important as it unlocks your cabin door, it's a security pass for when you leave the
ship and come back onto the ship. It's also what you hand over when you're
paying for things. So it's really important that you want to keep it safe
and so a lot of people bring a lanyard so they can attach their card to
it, or they can slip their card into it. One of the things that a lot of people
like to do, despite the fact that there's so much choice onboard, is to take their
own favorite tea or instant coffee. One of things that I really miss,
for example, is decaffeinated coffee and I find it quite hard to find
on a board a ship so often so I take my own favorite decaf coffee with me so that I
can make sure that I can have coffee that I want. If you have tea making
facilities in your room and you want to have your favorite little cup of tea or
cup of coffee you have that with you. It's a great little suggestion. Another
great thing to pack are those brightly colored little post-it notes, you know those
little sticky notes. They become really helpful for leaving notes around the
cabin for your roommates or your family telling them where you've gone, what time
to meet and perhaps leaving messages for your cabin steward of things to do if you haven't
seen them like if you want extra towels.
So there you have it that's twenty-one
unusual, strange and slightly bizarre you may think things to pack. If you have
other things that you absolutely love taking and they're a little bit unusual or
different and you strongly recommend then please leave a comment and let other people
know what those things are. One of things I would really love it if you did if you like
the video is to give it a "like" and a thumbs up. But very important please
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