Squeezing an SUV into a VW Beetle or How to Get What You Pack into Your Stateroom

How small is a cruise ship stateroom?

Well, the average U.S. hotel room is 300 square feet.¹

College dorm room? Around 180.²

And the ship stateroom? Sadly, about 175.¹

Smaller than a dorm room.

When you consider how much you’re going to pack into that room—play clothes, formal clothes, travel clothes, electronics, and so on—you can’t help but wonder, how is that going to work?

Luckily, the cruise lines have managed to work a fair amount of storage space into that bite-sized room that’s going to be your floating home for a week. Some ships have more than others, but here are some tips for finding a spot for all that you’ve got:

Off the door and into the closet. Carnival recently made waves with some restrictions on over-the-door shoe organizers. You can get around this by bringing the kind that fit inside the closet (it has hooks on the top that hang from the bar). Yeah, it eats into your space for hanging clothes, but you’d be surprised how much extra storage this adds. Three of these (one for clothing and two for shoes/knickknacks) fit very comfortably in Princess’ large closets and even (though snugly) in the smaller Royal Caribbean ones.

This organizer is perfect for shirts and
underwear and folds into a compact package
for your suitcase. Get it at
Target or Walmart.

Look under the bed. There’s a lot of space down there. When closet and drawer space is tight, consider keeping half of your clothes in your suitcases stored under the bed. About midway through the trip, I do a swap—take the clean clothes out of the suitcase and onto the shelves, and store the dirty ones back under the bed.

Climbing the walls. You don’t need to take up space on your night table—your walls function as a note-holding device. Just throw a few magnets in your suitcase before leaving home.

Bare the frig. On embarkation day, ask your room steward to take all those high-priced drinks and snacks that you won’t touch out of the frig, and use it for the wine or water you bring, or snacks from the buffet. Some cruise lines are now just providing an empty frig.

Safe and sound. Don’t forget about the safe—in addition to wallets, keys and jewelry, it’s also a great place to store smartphones, smaller tablets and anything else you’re not likely to use as you cruise.

Pack your smarts. If you’re flying to the cruise, you’ve got built-in over-packing protection—it’s called baggage cost. But if you’re driving to the port, there’s nothing stopping you from stuffing your bags—except self-control. What’s worked for me—uh, sort of—is to pack, and then repack, saying over and over in my head, “am I really going to wear this?” I pull out a few things…and then still take too much.

¹nbcnews.com

²WSJ, 8/12

Packing It In

I love to cruise. But boy, do I hate to pack.              
 

Fighting the urge to take too much. Afraid to take too little. What if it’s really hot? Or we get rain? Did we decide on a beach? Are we doing formal night? And on and on.
 
After 16 cruises, I’m sorry to report that it’s only gotten a tad easier. If you’re like me and look forward to packing as much as a root canal, you may appreciate a few tips, accumulated from many trips of taking the right—and wrong—things along:
 
List your to-dos. It works at work and it works at home. Simple but invaluable. My cruise to-do list has on it things like: book a hotel for the night before, online check-in, print up luggage tags, turn off the water, stop the newspaper and mail, tell the neighbor we’ll be gone, forward the landline to the cell.
 
Digitally document. If you do a lot of cruising like we do, it really helps to put your packing list on the computer. You can easily add and subtract over time. We print up the lists and cross off each item as it makes it into the suitcase. This just about guarantees you won’t forget anything.
 
Pack early and often. The next best way to make sure you don’t forget anything is to start early. Pull things aside that you’re taking and either load them into the suitcase or put them in a box or crate for packing later.
 
Forget cotton. Alas, I don’t follow my own advice. Warmth and cotton were made for each other. But I pay for it; I spend weeks ironing my stuff. Only to pull it out of the suitcase wrinkled as a prune. And do the whole thing again the next trip.
 
Don’t leave home without it. Some little extras we always take are top of the list—a big portable digital clock so we can see the time from everywhere in the stateroom, walkie-talkies, stainless steel coffee mugs, little reading light and water tumblers.

Stashing Your Stuff

Not as much of a torture but a challenge just the same is finding a place to put all this stuff once you get on board:
 
Do like Russian nesting dolls. When you put your suitcases under the bed, put the small one inside the big one. That frees up space under the bed.
 
Dealing with dirty wear. Once the laundry gets to a certain point, I take the small suitcase out of the big one and store the laundry in the big suitcase. That frees up closet space. All this moving around can feel like a shell game, but how else to pack it all into the little hovel they call a stateroom?
 
Closet help. We bring a shoe organizer—the kind that hangs from the bar in the closet. It provides handy storage for those small things—batteries, charging cables, sunglasses—oh, and shoes, too.
 
Have any great packing/unpacking tips of your own? Let us know!

 

Setting Off in Calm Seas

It may be counterintuitive, but going on vacation is stressful. There’s so much to remember, so much to do. And if it’s your first cruise, not knowing what to expect can ratchet this up a notch. But here are a few tips to ensure smooth sailing before your ship leaves the pier.

See when you need to show up at the port. This will vary by cruise line and port; check your cruise documents or the cruise line’s website. Usually, you have to be at the ship at least 60 minutes before departure.

Research the port and pier. You might want to see where in the port your ship will be and if anything’s going on there you should know about. For example, Ft. Lauderdale’s Port Everglades has been undergoing major construction for quite a while, and some of Princess and Celebrity’s ships are at the far end of the port. Which can mean a very slow trip and you’ll need to build in extra time. Here are links to the major Florida ports: PortMiami, Port Tampa Bay, Port Canaveral.

Plot out your path. The best way to avoid panic to the port is planning: where to stay the night before, how long you need to get to the port and where you’re going to park. Check out forums like the one on cruisecritic.com for ideas on where to stay. And know the route to the port in advance. Our first trip, we put the port street into the GPS and ended up on a road with the right name--but in the wrong town. By the time we discovered what went wrong and made it to the port, we were one of the last on the ship.

Bring seasickness medicine. That’s the surest way to not need it. 

Pack the right stuff in your carryon. When you get to the port, you’ll have to relinquish your

luggage, except your carryon. So, you should keep anything you’ll need for the next few hours in your carryon (the luggage may not show up in your cabin for hours—sometimes as late as 6 p.m.). Keep in mind, though, that if you’re planning on getting onboard before about 1 p.m. (when the cabins are usually ready to receive you), you’ll be stuck carrying around that carryon while you’re going to lunch or checking out the ship. You might consider one with wheels.

Don’t leave home without it. Before you leave your home, make sure you have your passport and driver’s license with you. Then check again. Have both, as well as the boarding passes you printed up after online check-in within easy reach because you’ll need it when you get to the port.

Securely fasten luggage tags on each of your bags. You need to print these up at home, and staple or tape them closed around luggage handles. (We bring a small stapler with us and do it just before leaving for the port. Or, you can always ask to borrow one from the hotel front desk.)

If you’re taking Celebrity and do the online check-in enough in advance, you can order luggage tags on their website. Color-coded stickers will come in the mail, and you can easily fasten them with their own adhesive.

Don’t bother eating on your way to the port; lunch is waiting. Enjoy the hunger—it’s the last time you’ll feel it. Then when you get onboard, you can enjoy a leisurely first meal in the buffet. Some ships have the dining room and other restaurants open, too.

Set aside some ones for the luggage guys. Tipping the guys at the port who take your luggage is not just customary—it’s essential. If you don’t, you should have a back-up plan for your luggage, like prayer.

Breathe deeply and relax. You’re on vacation!

Musing’s Tip: They won’t provide info, but they’re fun just the same—follow these webcam links to live feeds from the ports: Port Canaveral, Port Everglades, PortMiami

Cruising Alaska 101

This week, I’m going to switch gears and talk about Alaska. With most of the country in a deep freeze, probably the idea of Alaska as a destination is not top of mind right now. But if you’ve been thinking about it at all for coming warmer months, better act now. The season is short and cruises fill up fast.

Cruising in Alaska is not a topic where I have a lot of experience; admittedly, I’ve only done it once. But, I thought it would be worth devoting a posting or two to sharing what we learned to help if you’re planning one.

Which Cruise Line?

The biggest decision we were faced with once we committed to abandoning our therapeutic Caribbean trip for the more exciting Alaska one was: which cruise line?

We decided to go with Princess, which was reputed to be the reigning cruise line in Alaska. One key reason is that the cruise line has been doing it for a long time. And while we didn’t take advantage, Princess has a number of wilderness lodges and cruise-tours that allow you to see more of the state. Holland America is the other cruise line that is particularly strong in Alaska, with many of its own cruise-tour offerings.

Tracy Arm or Glacier Bay?

Glacier Bay at Memorial Day

The next major decision was, Tracy Arm or Glacier Bay? We spent weeks researching these two itinerary choices and in the end, it was a cruiser’s comment in Cruise Critic that nailed it for me. He had said something to the effect of “I’ve been to Glacier Bay and now I can die happy.”



Glacier Bay's blue-ice glacier

Now while that’s rather dramatic, I believe we made the right choice. It provided unparalleled scenery that’s given me a new perspective on our 49^th state. Another reason to consider Princess: it’s one of the few cruise lines with coveted permission to travel through the spectacular park.
 

When to Go?
The books and travel agents told us:

Spring—if you want less rain and clearer view of the mountains
Summer—if you want more wildlife
Fall—if you want fewer crowds

My advice is to forget it all—go when you want. I say that because we chose spring and had rain or overcast skies for six out of seven days.

How to Get it All in One Suitcase?
We live in Florida, so when we Caribbean cruise, we just drive to Ft. Lauderdale. That means we can pack just about anything. It was a whole different ball game going to Alaska. The more we read about what to bring, the more we wondered, how the dickens do we get all that in one, 50-pound suitcase? Here are a few tips to tackle that what-do-I-pack dilemma:

·       Jeans at dinner. Really. Surprisingly, the Alaska cruise was more casual than the ones in the Caribbean and I was astounded to find folks showing up in the main dining room on casual nights in jeans (at least on Princess). After a few days, I joined them. If the cruise line didn’t like it, it didn’t let on

 

·       It’s what’s outside the ship that counts. Here’s another big difference between Alaska and Caribbean cruises: you’re in Alaska to see the scenery and wildlife. Invest in cameras, binoculars and comfortable clothing

·       Think simple, basic and warm. You can skip the bathing suit, cover-up and flip-flops. The suntan lotion and sun hats. All you need are jeans, shirts and a coat. A few nice outfits for formal nights and if you want to get out of those jeans once in a while. And that’s pretty much it

The Alaska cruise got us out of our comfort zone and I'll be forever pleased we did it. If you’re on the fence, I urge you to give it a try because it will be a unique, truly memorable experience. The scenery is otherworldly, the ports are Hollywood-cute and the shopping is a blast (salmon jerky, anyone?). But, just so you don’t get shocked—there’s a Del Sol and Diamond International in Juneau!