What You Should Pack on Your Next Caribbean Cruise
You have booked your cruise … but now comes the hard part. What do you pack for a Caribbean Cruise?
While getting ready for a cruise is exciting it can also be very overwhelming.
The biggest question is what you should pack for a Caribbean cruise. You definitely want to be prepared, but you don’t want to overpack. This post will break it down into sections to hopefully give you an idea of what you need to pack and what you don’t need to pack.
Most important: Cruise documents, Passports, Birth Certificates, Visas – any and all required documentation to allow you on the ship ~ Do Not Get Packed in Suitcase!
This post contains affiliate links which means if you click and buy that I may make a commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Check the Weather for When You Are Going!
While the Caribbean is generally warm, you should always check the weather for the destinations you are visiting. Especially in the winter months, they can have a cold snap and that packing list will need to adjust to fall / winter attire.
I know it is hard to believe, but I have been to the Bahamas with 40-degree temperatures. This list assumes for the most part that the weather will be in 70’s-90’s.
Most Important thing NOT to pack in your Suitcase.
Most important: Cruise documents, Passports, Birth Certificates, Visas – any and all required documentation to allow you on the ship ~ Do Not Get Packed in Suitcase
Without these items you may not be able to board the cruise vessel.
Sunny Days – What to Wear on your Caribbean Cruise
When you are going to the Caribbean you plan to wear your bathing suit 24-7, well that is great in thinking, however, most cruise lines will ask that you not wear a bathing suit into the dining rooms this includes the buffet areas.
Therefore, you will want to have a coverup with you to throw on over a bathing suit to run into the buffet area while enjoying the pool decks.
Some of the more luxurious cruise lines may offer a robe in the cabin. Which is great when you want to lounge on your balcony in the mornings and evenings or to go from your room to the pool or spa decks without having to put on an additional bathing suit cover up.
Beach wear swim shirts are great to help protect against sand rashes, and especially for children that enjoy sitting at the wave break. The long sleeve ones are perfect for those that plan to do tubing to help keep the rubber from rubbing on your arms.
Make sure you check with the cruise line as to what dress code they have for daytime inside, daytime poolside, and then evening attire.
Sunglasses are necessary for eye protection. You may want to consider leaving your expensive sunglasses on the ship and bring a pair that if the ocean claims them, you are only out a few dollars.
Light weight and breathable shorts and shirts will be your friend when traveling in the Caribbean on warm days.
Water Shoes
Water shoes are necessary. While the water in the Caribbean is gorgeous, the ground going into the water may not be. You may have a shelly beach, rocky beach area, and worse you could have an area that has a lot of sea urchins.
Sea Urchins are not friends to your feet. They have little spines that you will be pulling out for hours if you accidentally step on one or brush one with your feet.
You will want your water shoes to be close toed and have a good sole; this way they can double for an excursion that requires closed-toed shoes. For example, ziplining or horseback riding both require closed toe shoes but are normally in combination at beach time. Since you will not want to wear your tennis shoes to the beach, water shoes are a great alternative.
Flip Flops
Flip flops and sandals are definite when doing the Caribbean. So, make sure you pack at least one pair. The cruise decks can get extremely hot, so you will want something to slip on / off your feet as you go from your pool chair to the pools or hot tubs.
This is especially important for children leaving the pool, you may want to bring flip flops or crocs, something easy for the child to slip on / off their feet.
What Every Day Wear Do You Need to Pack?
When packing the daily wearable clothes for the Caribbean, you will want to pack your breathable, light weight, wrinkle free shirts, and shorts. A small bottle of wrinkle free downy works great too, to help reduce wrinkles in clothing if you do not want to spend the time ironing.
Casual attire is just that, casual attire. If you perspire, you may want to bring extra clothing for daily wear. The humidity and heat may leave you wanting to change your clothes more than once a day.
Consider bringing a light jacket, sweater, or sweatshirt for evenings outside on the deck or for the inside venues when it is very cool due to the air conditioning.
Cruise lines do not allow you to bring an iron or a steamer; however, there is typically an iron provided on each floor.
If you are purchasing new clothing, I highly recommend buying materials that pack well and aid in the wrinkle free process.
Dinner Attire
Depending on your cruise line you have booked for your vacation, they may have a dress code for dinner.
You will want to make sure you bring the proper dinner attire with you. With that said, typically a nice sundress for women and pants and collared shirt for men will get you into a dining room on a cruise ship.
However, some cruise lines do require formal dress attire for formal nights. And resort style dress for other nights. Other more relaxed cruise lines will request you wear resort casual but will let you in with shorts and a top.
Most of the cruise lines do not allow bathing suits in the dining rooms.
If you are more of a casual dresser, that is fine too, you will want to make sure you check the minimum requirements for the dining rooms on the vessel you have selected. If you don’t pass the cut for the dining room there is typically a buffet, or room service available.
Do I Have to Dress Up for Dinner?
Dressing for dinner can be a great way to change your mood and the atmosphere. To dress like you are going out for a night in the town, you are going out for a night on the ship. Dressing in formal attire can spark that excitement of a fun enjoyable experience.
If traveling with a family, the dress up nights are a great time to take the family photos, post card photos and holiday card photos. I tend to think my grandchildren behave better when dressed for the formal nights in the dinging room.
The formal nights on cruises can be that time to pull out that fancy dress that has been collecting dust, or the tuxedo that you knew you would wear someday, or that kilt that has been hiding waiting for the right opportunity.
Well, here it is! Get all dolled up, wearing your finest clothing, book a spa appointment and have your hair done, and sport your best jewels.
The opportunity is there – now is your time to enjoy it!
Seasickness is Not Fun – Be Prepared!
This is one thing that always has a mixed review. Do you get seasick patches from your doctor, or over the counter or just get some Dramamine or do neither.
Once you get seasick you are normally not getting over it until you can get your feet back on land.
If using the patch – Put the patch on prior to embarking on your cruise.
If you have paid a substantial amount for your trip and you only get this vacation, I would argue that you should be better safe than sorry. Being seasick is no fun for you or your companions.
Now Dramamine tends to work fine, but typically will leave you tired. Again, might not be the way you want to spend time on your vacation – groggy and exhausted.
There are pressure point wrist bands I have seen people use – these have come with mixed reviews if they do help or not.
If you opt not to use anything and begin to feel ill, you can always visit the ship’s doctor for seasick medicine, eat some green apples and layout in the air and hope your feet will reach land sooner than later.
Toiletries
Most cruise lines offer shampoo, body wash and a bar of soap as part of the toiletries in the room.
You should double check on the cruise line website to verify.
Always pack a medicine kit for your trip. The standard items as band-aids, antibiotic ointment, cold medicine, headache medicine, antacids, anti-diarrhea medications, and cortisone cream.
Some cruise lines will not sell any medication in the stores. The islands you are visiting may have the medications but at a higher rate than you would pay in the states.
Another item that goes overlooked when packing but worth mentioning is ChapStick. When you are on the cruise not only are you exposed to sun, but also wind. Chapstick will help protect your lips from sun / wind damage.
Prescription medication should be hand carried and not placed in your check bags. Even when cruising you can check your bag. It is not very often, but it can happen that your suitcase does not make the ship or it is placed in the wrong cabin. It could take a few days to locate your luggage so always hand carry a bag with your medications.
Electronics
For your electronics you can bring cruise approved, USB Fan, Extension cord without surge protected, multi-Chargers, and earbuds.
Cruise Day is Here:
What Do I do With My Luggage?
Ok First thing first – Put your Room tag on any checked bags.
Pro cruiser tip – Go ahead and print an extra luggage tag – leave it on the inside of your bag. If your baggage tag falls off during the relocation of your luggage. The cruise staff will be able to get you your bag.
When boarding a cruise ship, have the option of checking your luggage or carrying it on the ship.
When trying to decide if you want to check your luggage or carry it on the ship, you should consider what time you are boarding the ship. If you are boarding the ship early, you may want to check your luggage.
How much luggage you are carrying. If you are carrying a lot of luggage, even if you just have 1 large suitcase and 1 small one, you will need to consider where you plan to hang out until your room is available.
If you plan to hang out on the lido deck, just imagine how many people have those same plans. It will make for a crowded area and are you going to leave your bag while you jump in the pool?
Here it makes more sense to use the free drop off and let the baggage handlers load and deliver your luggage to the room.
Otherwise, you have to wait until later in the day when you will have access to your room to drop off your luggage.
The Downfall for Checking Your Bags.
If it is a full ship, there may be a delay in your luggage arriving at your room until later in the evening. Sometimes suitcase delivery is delayed the first day of the sailing, the dining rooms are very lenient in the dress codes, understanding that some people may not have received their luggage.
Choose a Late Arrival if You want to Carry On Your Luggage
By selecting a later check in – you will have access to your cabin when you get on board and therefore can carry as much you would like on the ship.
This is where your carry-on bag comes in handy.
Your luggage could get lost, though it is not very common, on occasion you will hear an announcement asking you to check your cabin in the event a bag was delivered to you by accident. If you hear that announcement, you may rest assured, someone’s bag has not shown up.
Never pack Valuables, documents, cash, or illegal substances in your checked luggage.
If you are overly concerned about your luggage missing, you may want to consider adding air tags to the luggage so you can track your suitcase.
What Should go in Carry On Bag When I Pack for the Caribbean Cruise?
As previously mentioned above, you should carry on medications that you are going to need for the trip.
You will want to carry an outfit in the event your luggage is delayed getting to you. I normally carry a small toiletry bag just in case my luggage would get lost. A bathing suit so you can jump right into the pool and enjoy the sun. Sunscreen too!
You should include Jewelry and any valuables in your carry-on bag.
If your cruise line allows you to bring sodas, water, wine, champagne you will want to carry this on.
The good news, cabins are normally ready by early afternoon, so you only have a small amount of time to lug around the extras.
There are Several Types of Bags to Consider for Port Days!
Planning for the day at the beach means carrying stuff with you. You can use a beach bag, a waterproof bag, or a security waterproof bag. Security bags have become a hot item. These bags lock and tie to the beach chair you’re using or renting.
Waterproof bags are always a good idea in the Caribbean as a quick afternoon shower is very common during the warm summer weather.
There are so many options regarding what kind of bag to pack for your trip. You must consider what activities you will be engaging in while at the beach.
If you plan to be in the water the majority of the time, you may consider a waterproof phone case that you could add your cash, and your identifications into it to keep them with you while in the water.
This also protects your phone from water damage and allows you to capture those water filled moments. Choosing a waterproof phone case allows you to only leave non-valuable items unwatched on the beach.
If you plan to do a hiking excursion you may choose a lightweight backpack. If you plan to do a lot of shopping, you may want to just carry a crossbody bag or an old-style fanny pack.
What’s in Your Port Day Bag?
Beach and pool towels are available from the cruise line, so there is no need to pack one in your suitcase.
When leaving the ship for the day, grab your beach towel from the room or from the staff just before exiting the ship. When you return, you give them the dirty sandy towel as you reboard the ship. This will keep the sand out of your room.
Sunscreen
Sunscreen is a must when visiting the Caribbean, Bahamas, and or Mexico. If you plan to spend time outside, you should consider the type of sunscreen you are using.
If you plan to spend time in and out of the water, you should review the recommendation of the sunscreen for reapplication. Several locations now require Reef safe sunscreen.
This will help reduce the damage to the reefs. You will want to make sure you bring enough sunscreen with you as it is very expensive to purchase once in the islands.
Bug Spray
You should wear Bug spray when going into tropical areas. Mosquitos carry diseases and you should protect yourself against these bugs. Mosquitoes carry Malaria, Zika, West Nile viruses among other diseases. To reduce the number of bottles you are carrying you can elect the bug wipes to save space in your luggage.
Hat’s
A hat is a very usable item while traveling in the Caribbean. Anything to help keep the sun off your face and the sun out of your eyes. You will need to consider packing the hat into your suitcase so you may elect for a more foldable type of material to reduce waste of space in your suit case.
If you are bringing a more formed hat and plan to pack in the suitcase, consider filling the open head space with your undergarments, socks and maybe even t-shirts. This will use all considered space in the suitcase.
Extra items to consider:
Space in the cruise ship cabin is exceedingly small and depending on your stateroom cabinet and drawer space may be limited.
To increase your storage space, you could bring magnetic hooks and a shoe organizer to hang with magnets on your wall to help hold the extras. These have been great for holding eyewear, sunscreen, bug spray, paperback books, excursion tickets, and straws. I have also used the lower shoe compartments for shoes, imagine that.
These hooks can also be used on the ceiling of your room this method will hold more weight, you can use to hang beach bag, bookbag, hats etc.
After you unpack – push your suitcase under your bed leaving open and accessible to toss dirty clothes while you vacation.
Insulated Cup
If you have or do not have the drink package, insulated cups are great to have on board. If you are ordering a drink you can just transfer the drink to your insulated cup and keep it cold longer than the plastic cups the cruise ship provides.
Free Drinks – water, tea and lemonade, then this is perfect you just fill it up and off you go. Saving you multiple trips back to the machines since the cups provided are so small.
Insulated cup will travel much nicer when you have a sling holder.
Reusable Straw
Straws are not provided with nonalcoholic drinks, and several cruise lines have switched to candy straws for their alcohol drinks, flavors of strawberry, lime and chocolate to name a few.
If you like straws, the best thing to bring is a few reusable straws. Silicone ones work great, you can roll them inside your insulated cup when packing.
Chair clips / rubber bands towel holder –
These are great while cruising to hold your towel in place from the wind.
You can get clips that will be held at the top of your towel to the chair, or you can get the rubber bands that are made for the sun lounger chairs. I prefer the rubber band style, less space when packing.
Don’t even bother packing these –
There are some items that cruise ships will not allow. These items are clothing irons, clothes steamer, Surge protected extension cords, music speakers, illegal drugs, alcohol and torch lighters. So to save you and the staff from the frustration – leave these items at home!
Most important – cruise documents, passports, Birth certificates, visas – any and all required documentation to allow you on the ship ~ Do Not Get Packed in Suitcase!
Check out my other blogs about the Bahamas!
