Our family enjoys cruising, and over the years I’ve collected some of my favorite tips, ideas, and must-have items to pack when taking a cruise. If you’re planning a cruise with kids, here are some things to consider before boarding the cruise ship of your choice.
Cruise cabins are small, and cruise bathrooms are even smaller.
If you’ve ever been in an RV, you’ll be prepared for the compact, efficient use of space you’ll find in cruise ship cabins. We’ve sailed on multiple cruise lines over the years, and in each case, table and countertop space in the bathroom was extremely limited.
Here’s a photo of my sons enjoying some ice cream in our cabin aboard the Norwegian Pearl. Believe it or not, this little room actually sleeps four! What looks like a double bed is actually two twin beds. There’s a trundle bed underneath that which pops up to fit between both twin beds, and there’s a drop-down bunk bed on the wall. Compare the above photo to the next photo, which shows all of our beds turned down for the evening:
Yes, the cabin is wall-to-wall beds when all four beds are open! As you may imagine, with four people and four suitcases in this room, the space starts to feel even smaller. It’s very important to set up one location to hold all of your important items — everything from key cards to wallets to phones and more. Four people will likely never find enough room on the cabin’s small vanity and table for all of their important gear.
An over-the-door shoe holder with clear pockets takes up very little space in your luggage, but it’s invaluable for holding toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair accessories, makeup, cell phones, key cards, excursion tickets, and anything you’d normally toss on a table at the end of the day. These fold up compactly, and they give you so much visible, accessible space. We hang ours over the bathroom door, and each member of our family gets their own column on the organizer.
A beach flag gives your family a visible meeting point.
When your ship is in port, it’s highly likely you’ll want to hit the beach. Whether you’re headed to a public beach or staking out a spot on your ship’s private island, there may be at least 3,000 other cruisers hitting the sand at the same time you are! Our sons were just three and five years old when we first took them on a cruise, and we wanted to give them a visual sight point that they could reference if they were ever separated from us.
Years ago, we purchased a beach flag, and it has been invaluable to us on every cruise we’ve taken. It’s got a collapsible fiberglass pole, and it fits in a carry-on suitcase. Our beach flag deserves its own passport by now, as it’s been to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Mexico, the Caymans, and other tropical destinations! Not only is the flag wonderful for the kids to use as a reference point, it’s great for us adults too, as it helps us locate our towels and lounge chairs after we come in from swimming in the ocean.
While the flag we own is no longer being made, here’s a similar one on Amazon featuring a flamingo design! This style of flag is known as a “feather flag” or “swooper flag,” and you can find additional styles and sizes on Amazon.
Another idea? On a cruise to Norwegian’s private island, Great Stirrup Cay, I saw a family that brought a tall, inflatable palm tree that they set up to use as their beach meeting point!
Purchase inflatable toys before your trip.
Speaking of inflatables, if your kids would enjoy having inflatable tubes, rafts, or beach balls to play with in the ocean, buy them at a discount before your trip and bring them in your luggage. Depending on which port you’re in, tube rental can be pricey, and we’ve also been to port destinations that ran out of rental tubes. These things are nearly flat when deflated, and they take up next to no room in your luggage.
Taking an excursion? Consider this.
Your cruise line will offer many excursion opportunities as add-ons to your trip. Typically, excursions cost a little more when you book directly through the cruise line versus booking your own excursions in port. We have gone horseback riding in the surf, parasailing, and even taken a Mayan ruins tour.
We have done excursions both on our own and through the cruise lines, but here’s why you may want to spend a little more to book through your cruise line: If for any reason you are late returning to the ship, the ship will wait in port for you if you are part of a ship-sponsored excursion or tour. If you’ve gone out on your own and do not get back to port in time, the ship will not wait for you..!
If you’re headed to a destination that’s within walking distance of your port, it’s likely that you can get back on time on your own. However, some excursions may take you 30-60 minutes away from the ship’s port, and you may be at the mercy of local taxis and water transportation whose sense of urgency may not be the same as yours.
On our trip to the Bahamas, we booked a private island day through Norwegian Cruise Line and spent the day enjoying all kinds of island activities. At the end of our day, the island’s water taxi arrived to pick us up 45 minutes later than planned. We nervous Americans told our boat captain that we were getting very close to sailing time. He smiled and waved his hand nonchalantly, saying “Ahh, you’re on Bahamas time now!”
We would definitely have missed the boat (quite literally!) had we not booked that excursion through Norwegian. Happily, our ship was still waiting for us in port, as well as for all of the other Norwegian guests who were on the same private beach excursion.
Local currency makes a great souvenir.
Our children have collected everything from Bahamian dollars to pesos to Caymanian coins on past cruises. If you buy something in port, just ask for your change in local currency. Jamaica was particularly funny, because at the time of our visit, 110 Jamaican dollars equaled one US dollar! My youngest son said to his brother, “We should start a business here! We would already be rich!”
Consider hurricane season! Really.
We have cruised during hurricane season on multiple occasions. While there is a chance that your cruise may be cancelled or rerouted, cruising at this time of the year is less expensive than sailing during peak times. Only once was our cruise rerouted due to a hurricane.
In 2012, we had booked a cruise to the Bahamas, but the islands sustained some damage from a hurricane that year. When we boarded the ship, an announcement was made that we were now headed to Cozumel, Mexico! It ended up being a blessing in disguise, because we went somewhere new and had a wonderful time. We’ve since cruised to Cozumel again — this time, by choice.
Don’t forget to pack power, time, safety, and air.
These are the four items we never cruise without:
- A power strip. Most cruise cabins we’ve sailed in have had one single outlet in the bathroom and a pair of outlets near the table. I travel with a phone, laptop, and tablet myself, not to mention all of my family’s devices. Otherwise, we’d constantly be playing “musical outlets.”
(UPDATE: As of 10/30/17, I have been informed that Norwegian is no longer allowing power strips on their ships, as they have upgraded their cabins to have three electrical outlets and three USB outlets. They will make an exception if you use a CPAP machine.)
- A travel alarm clock and a watch. The only clock in our cabin aboard the Norwegian Pearl was an LCD display on the room’s phone, which isn’t visible in the dark. We also found that there are very few clocks in public areas of the ship, and the time on your cellphone does not always display accurately once you’re in international waters. (We’ve been on cruises where my cellphone showed a time 4-6 hours ahead of the actual time.) I rarely wear a watch when I’m not traveling, but I always do on a cruise.
- A small first aid kit. While your ship will likely have a medical station aboard, prepare for some sticker shock if you visit it. On our second cruise, my son cut his finger on one of the railings. We stopped by the medical station, and they offered us a Band-Aid — for $30.00. It turns out that $30.00 was the minimum charge for any kind of medical attention. Luckily, we had some in our luggage, but now we always make sure to pack a first-aid kit when we cruise.
- Travel-size air freshener spray. With four people in a ship’s cabin, things can get stuffy — especially if you are staying in an interior cabin with no windows or balcony. Add four people sharing the same bathroom for days and days, and… well, you get the idea. You will not regret packing this, but you may regret not packing it.
Whether you’re taking your first cruise or are a regular cruiser, I hope these tips help you plan your next vacation at sea! We love cruising with our children, and we’ve found that cruising has been a wonderful way to see parts of the world that we may not have planned an entire trip around. Norwegian Cruise Lines sails to many popular Caribbean destinations, as well as to their own private islands. I’ve found that I enjoy the private islands immensely, as those island days just seem to linger on at an unhurried, leisurely pace.
I also find it so relaxing to sit on the deck while the ship is at sea and see the water meeting the sky in every direction. You truly get a sense of just how big our world is when the ocean is the only thing you can see for miles and miles. Happy cruising!
sea says
Thanks for these tips! My extended family is taking a cruise together this summer, and it’s our first. These suggestions will be incredibly helpful for us, since I really have no idea what to expect.
Although your article isn’t specifically about getting the best price available for your ship, one thing I figured out for our particular cruise: they seem to charge per person, no matter how many people are in the room! And a 4 person cabin is actually the same size as a 2 person cabin, just with a pull-out sofa instead of a regular sofa. Rather than have 4 of us in one cabin, I re-booked to have 2 cabins (an interior one for the two youngest people), and it worked out to about the same price! I’m sure each boat and cabin class is different, but I found it helpful to go online and study up on the deck and cabin lay-outs. I’m sure an experienced travel agent would be helpful with this, too.
Coupon Maven says
You’re welcome! What you’ve said is true — you are charged per person, and with the exception of suites, the cabins are all about the same size — you just pack more people into it :)
That said, it does pay to research because different sailings have different prices. For example, the non-discounted rate for four in the room for our recent cruise was $690 per person for a 5-night cruise with NCL = $2760 for four. Two people in the same room would have been $1180 each ($2360 per room) so we would have paid $4720 for two rooms. We’ve cruised enough together that we’ve gotten used to being space-crunched, and the money saved can go toward shore excursions and Norwegian’s sushi bar :D
We have found though that some years, the price of two cabins has been really close to one family-packed cabin. It really depends on the sailing you’re on. Some years, we have had two cabins with all the kids in one and my husband and I in the adjoining room. (Oh, the joys of having TWO bathrooms for our family!) Like you said, it really is worth researching it and seeing what’s available. We have gotten Castaway Club rates from cruising multiple times on NCL too, and it’s nice to be on their mailing list in case cruises come out with discounted rates when the ships aren’t quite full.
With our daughter living on her own now, we are back to traveling as a foursome, and we opted to all stay together to save some money. We have found that we are night owls on cruises and spend very little time in our cabin anyway.
I think you will enjoy cruising! The first time we tried it, I did not enjoy it as much — I was completely unprepared for how small the cabins are, but it sounds like you’ve done your homework on that already. :)
It IS fun to wake up and find that you’ve arrived at yet another country or island. Each day in port, the NCL ships change the ship’s flag to the flag of the country you’re in. Every time they changed the flag, our boys wanted to go up to the top deck and take a photo of another country they’d been to :)
Our family has also found that we really enjoy cruise dining — the constant, round-the-clock availability of ice cream, food and desserts is something to behold. I will never forget seeing one of my kids walk through the buffet and exit with a plate of cookies… and bacon!
I am always happy to talk cruises. I’m not sure where you’re headed, but another tip would be to bring cash in US dollars for things you may want to do or buy in ports. It’s good everywhere we’ve been in the Caribbean.
Donna Y says
I really enjoy your travel posts and I think the beach flag idea is so smart. I am an adult and I am stealing that idea for my husband =)
I have a question as we have looked at cruising with Norwegian or Disney. Is it true you have to pay for the restaurants on the ship for Norwegian? I like the Freestyle dining idea but I am concerned about costs. Is any food free other than a buffet?
Coupon Maven says
Norwegian has a lot of dining options, and it’s true that many of them are for-pay (additional over the price of your cruise – usually $15 to $30 per person depending where you go.) They do have dining packages too if you want to eat at multiple pay restaurants throughout your cruise. There are several sit-down restaurants that are free too, though, and we usually eat at those the majority of the time. (On the Pearl, these are Summer Palace, Indigo, Blue Lagoon, O’Sheehans, Lotus Garden, Topsiders.)
We usually pick one “fancy” night out at something like Cagney’s Steakhouse or the Teppanyaki hibachi restaurant and then eat at the included sit-down restaurants or buffets on the other days. At the sushi bar, you can pretty much get seated and eat without a reservation, but you pay per piece of sushi.
Unlike some other cruises, Norwegian’s Freestyle dining means you don’t get an assigned restaurant location and time on each day of your cruise. You can eat wherever and whenever you want, aside from the pay restaurants that you may need a reservation for. This is really nice if you’re traveling with friends or family and all suddenly decide to go eat at the same time.
The one thing I would recommend is paying attention to the dining times. On our last cruise, we missed every single sit-down breakfast seating, because they serve from 7am-9am! We rarely got out of bed before 9:00, so the buffet was the only other option.
Carole says
I see commercials often for 5 and 7 night cruises in the $199-$299 price range. What you paid seems like a lot more than I have seen advertised. Did you upgrade your stateroom for an additional price, though your room looks so small!
Coupon Maven says
Those advertised prices do not include port fees and tax, and I included ours above. Depending on the cruise, we have paid up to $300 per person in port fees and taxes. When you see those prices on TV, remember to add another $200-$300 per person in fees :) I believe Disney is the only line that advertises their prices with the fees included.
We did not upgrade our room — the room in our photos is the one we stayed in. The inside cabins with no balcony, window, or porthole are the least expensive on the ship.
Carole says
Oh wow. I did not know that at all. Well that does change things, and here I was thinking cruising was very inexpensive!
Coupon Maven says
We actually think cruising is pretty reasonable when you consider that all of your meals are covered, and they’re all-you-can-eat! The food on a cruise is part of the attraction. Your entertainment is largely covered. Did you know you can watch first-run movies on the ship, free? We -love- going back to our cabin at night and seeing what is rolling on the in-room TV. Some cruise lines show the movies in the larger, shipboard theater too, so that’s another perk.
Consider too that you are traveling to different countries, and sometimes multiple different countries, on the same cruise. It’s a lot of fun to wake up and have somewhere new to explore! Instead of moving all your luggage from destination to destination, you’re on a floating hotel that moves you around. Depending where you go, your port activities may be reasonable too. On our first trip to Cozumel, we took a tour to the San Gervasio Mayan ruins, and after doing the peso-to-dollars conversion, it cost us about $7 per person to go, and it was amazing to see.
MJ says
Great ideas, as usual, Jill! We have cruised before, but now I am definitely going to pack a shoe organizer for the back of the door!
Coupon Maven says
You won’t regret it. It takes up so little room in a suitcase, but it is an enormous help to keep things organized! We use it for things like eyeglasses too, as when we have four beds open, there are no end tables to set them on at night. You will wonder how you cruised without one!
maggie says
Get on the mailing list for sure. We got an offer a few years ago for kids sailing free. We have 4 kids and they were all under 18 at the time, so they were free!! Of course,we used the savings to upgrade to a suite and it was amazing.
Another tip ~ order room service breakfast for the morning you have to get off the boat. It takes a long time for our family to get out the door so we would have completely missed breakfast.
J says
I cruised with the family over summer. I packed a flat-folding drying rack that was so useful for wet swimwear. One thing I will bring next time is a collapsible bucket that will fit in the shower. Even though I thought I planned for seven nights, laundry still found a way into my vacation, and the bathroom sink was the size of a cereal bowl.
Coupon Maven says
Your “cereal bowl” comment made me laugh — because it’s true! :)
SmartShopper says
If sailing on Carnival cruises, a tip I can offer is bring your own travel size liquid pouch (or pod) of laundry detergent. Carnival offers self service laundry rooms. Don’t pay the high vending machine prices that they charge for laundry soap. Just pack your own! This could help you save on luggage fees too–pack each persons’ clothing in their own carry on luggage. If you plan well, you could wash a load half way thru the cruise and the family could wear the cleaned clothing again.
Coupon Maven says
This is a great tip! You never know when you might need to do laundry on the ship, even if it’s just washing something out in the “tiny” cabin sink. As you said, for a longer cruise, you could get by packing half the things you need & planning to do laundry midway through the trip.
yamiagemini says
You write the best travel tips/stories! Some of the cabin description reminds me of sacrifices I make when I am camping ….which over the years I have a camping kit that one could survive a good month on! I call it my survival of the fittest kit. But it’s taken me many years to refine that tote of goodies to EXACTLY what I need.
Coupon Maven says
Oh, thank you! We love to travel, and I think the more experience you have with a specific activity — whether it’s camping, cruising, or another excursion, the more you think “I should have brought X, or we really didn’t need to bring Y.”
We LOVE camping too, and I have a plastic tote in the garage that could probably rival yours :) In fact, that’s how I store things for anything we do regularly. I have a camping tote, a theme park tote, a cruise tote — that way, when we come home, I put everything that’s specific to that activity in its own tote, store it on a shelf in the garage, and it’s right there the next time we go on a similar trip. It’s so much easier than trying to locate all of these random things in the (often-hectic!) days leading up to a trip. :)
yamiagemini says
Jill do you have any input on drinks (adult beverages) or how that works?
Coupon Maven says
They’re expensive :) I don’t drink, but I know NCL has unlimited drink packages, both soft and harder. With the packages, everyone in your cabin must also subscribe to it (so not just one person gets the package and shares with everyone.) The package that includes alcoholic drinks is $89 per person per day (!)
maggie says
That reminds me of a story a friend told me. She and some extended family took a cruise together and they all bought the drink packages. She tried to get her moneys worth but that meant about 8-10 drinks per day! We’ve been friends over 12 years and I rarely see her drink at all so she only lasted 2 days on her ” drink plan” before she decided she felt awful on her amazing vacation. She could still get non alcoholic fruity drinks and coffee drinks though and try to use her drink money:. In some cases it would make more sense to pay cash and just have a glass of wine at dinner.
Coupon Maven says
WOW. I’ve not done the drink package, but 8-10 drinks a day… someone might run the risk of not -remembering- the trip :) Unless that’s the goal, I think you’re probably better off just paying per drink.
Karen says
Could you show some more photos of your beach flag? I am looking on Ebay for the one you have and really want one like that. It’s really an amazing idea.
Coupon Maven says
Of course! Our flag came from One Step Ahead, which unfortunately is now out of business. I looked all over online for a similar flag before writing this post. I believe we paid $14.95 for it.
I was hoping the weather would cooperate so I could set it up outside to take photos, but as it’s still raining today, I took some inside the house:
Here’s what the flag looks like in its bag.
Inside the bag is the flag, a collapsible tent-style fiberglass pole, and a hollow steel spike. To set it up outdoors, you press the spike into the ground and insert the pole.
The flag’s bag has an instruction panel sewn into the top, but it’s pretty easy to put together.
One you assemble the pole, you slide it inside the green part of the flag. The top curved part of the flag has a flexible plastic insert at the top that holds the flag open. This is sewn into the flag.
Once the pole is in, you can stand the flag up and stick it into the ground spike. This flag is over 9 feet tall, so I can’t fully assemble the pole as it’s already hitting the ceiling at 8 feet, but you get the idea :)
Collapsed, this flag will fit diagonally in a 21″ carry-on roller suitcase. I usually put a rubber band around the corners of the bag to hold it in this shape before closing the suitcase up.
Hope this helps you find one!
Renee says
I saw this and had another idea. You see those swoosher flags everywhere now at stores and restaurants. There is a new coffee place in town with a swoosher flag that says “GRAND OPENING.” Guess who made a deal to buy it from them in a couple months when they don’t need it anymore? It will be GRAND OPENING at the beach for us! =) =) Love this idea Jill!