Before our first cruise (which was the Disney Fantasy), I searched the internet for a foolproof packing list. I wanted to know about everything and anything we would need for our 7-night sailing. The idea of being stranded in the middle of the ocean without a Target in sight FREAKED me out. I wanted to prepare for all the things that could go wrong. You wanna know what happened? We over-packed by a lot.
One thing to take into consideration is the size of the staterooms on your ship and how much space you’re realistically going to have during your sailing. A Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah is only about 284 sq feet. Even though DCL offers creative storage solutions in their staterooms, keep in mind the size when you’re packing. Especially if you’re fitting four in a room!
I want to share with you all the things I learned, all the things I bought, and also point out all the things we did not need. Hence, this packing list. I am going to let you know now that I am not a parent, nor have I taken a cruise while responsible for a tiny human. So, that portion of this list will not be updated until I am in your shoes (if that is what you are looking for).
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Embarkation
The first day of your cruise is definitely something you need to prepare and pack a bag for. When you arrive at the port, they’re going to take what we’ll call your “checked bags” and have them in your room when it is ready. However, that can be anywhere from a couple to a few hours from the time you board the ship. I highly recommend packing a tote or backpack to have on you for the day! That way you have what you need while exploring the ship, eating from the unlimited buffet, taking advantage of the uncrowded pools or scoping out the kid’s clubs while they have open-house. Here’s what I recommend bringing with you in your “carry-on”:
- Travel Documents – passports or other accepted identification for all travelers (including children)
- Valid photo ID for adults
- Your Disney Cruise Line reservation confirmation and Online Check-In Port Arrival Form (I make sure I have both of these things starred in my email ontop of having them printed)
- Signed document (required form linked) for minors traveling with a parent (if one parent isn’t present, there is a shared custody situation, or another family member like a grandparent is traveling with the child)
- Any other travel information you need like confirmation for flights, rental cars or hotel stays before and after your cruise
- Proof of travel insurance if you have any for this trip
- Cell phones with chargers (download Disney Cruise Line’s Navigator app before arriving at the port)
- Necessary medications (just gonna drop the restricted items and marijuana policy here because I see this question asked a lot)
- Credit cards & cash (don’t forget your redemption card if you’re a Disney Visa cardholder)
- Glasses, contacts & sunglasses
- Sunscreen
- Tote bag or backpack
- Hat
- Essentials for baby/toddlers (if needed)
- Change of clothes
- Swimsuit & water shoes (if you rock Teva’s like me)
- MagicBand+ for all travelers (optional because you’ll have your Key to the World Card once you check-in at the port)
Clothing
One thing that helped me pack (I’m a visual person) was outlining what each day on our cruise was going to look like. This helped me imagine what each day what look like and think about what I could need for what we had planned.
Here’s an example:
| DAY 1 – EMBARKATION |
| TRAVEL TO PORT CANAVERAL – BOARD SHIP |
| EAT LUNCH, SWIM, ETC?? |
| DINNER: A NICER CASUAL OUTFIT |
| DAY 2 – DAY AT SEA |
| CASUAL/COMFY OUTFIT FOR DAY AT SEA |
| DINNER AT 5:45 PM BUT DINNER @ REMY FOR 7:50: FORMAL |
| DAY 3 – COZUMEL, MEXICO |
| BEST OF COZUMEL – HONEY, CHOCOLATE, & TEQUILA EXCURSION: ATHLETIC |
| DINNER: NICER CASUAL |
| DAY 4 – GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN |
| EXPLORE PORT & WALK 7 MILE BEACH: ATHLETIC |
| TEQUILA & MARGARITA TASTING ON SHIP @ 4 PM: DRESS FOR DINNER |
| DINNER: NICER CASUAL |
| DAY 5 – FALMOUTH, JAMAICA |
| BAMBOO RAFTING ON MARTHA BRAE RIVER: ATHLETIC WITH WATER SHOES |
| DINNER: NICER CASUAL |
| DAY 6 – DAY AT SEA |
| COMFY CLOTHES FOR RELAXING |
| SWIMSUIT & SWIM COVER FOR POOL |
| DINNER: NICER CASUAL |
| DAY 7 – CASTAWAY CAY, BAHAMAS |
| SWIMSUIT, BEACH HAT & SWIM COVER |
| CASUAL CLOTHES TO CHANGE INTO |
| ATHLETIC CLOTHES FOR RENTING BIKES? |
| DAY 8 – DEBARKATION |
| TRAVEL DAY: COMFY CLOTHES |
Doing it this way helped me mentally map out our trip and plan my outfits. My husband loved this idea because since I’m the planner in our relationship, he just needed to pull up the Google sheet to see what we were doing each day! A win-win for everyone involved.
If that doesn’t help you, don’t worry I have a normal list.
CLOTHING:
- Comfortable outfits: whatever your go-to is on an everyday basis, bring it!
- Clothes for dinner: I call these my “real people” clothes or “nicer casual” outfits because I normally wear athletic apparel daily. You can go as casual or as fancy as you’d like! It’s your vacation.
- Formal: if you have a reservation at one of the adult only fine-dining restaurants or if you’re on a longer sailing and want to go all out for formal night too!
- Pajamas
- Sweatshirt (it gets chilly at night on upper decks & they crank the AC on the ship)
- Sweatpants (you’ll thank me later when you can get comfy in some lounge pants & catch a film or show in one of the theaters)
- Swimsuit
- Swimsuit cover
- Sun cover with SPF protection (I ordered this one for myself for our last cruise & loved it. I ordered this one for my husband)
- Undergarments & socks
- Athletic clothes
- Hat (sun hat, baseball hat, or hat/gloves for Alaskan or Canadian cruises)
- Light or heavy jacket (depending on where you’re sailing to)
- Rain jacket or poncho (HIGHLY recommend this poncho for both DCL & Disney parks)
- Holiday attire (costume for Halloween on the High Seas, Christmas sweater for Very Merrytime Cruises, etc)
- Pirate-themed attire for Pirate Night (if your sailing has one)
- Super hero costumes (if your cruise has a Marvel Day at Sea)
FOOTWEAR:
- Comfortable walking shoes for excursions (Again, I rock my Teva’s, this pair specifically)
- Shoes that compliment your formal wear
- Water shoes (you really gotta get yourself some Teva’s)
- Sandals, flip flops, basically pack your favorite shoes to relax in
- Boots or rubber soled shoes for Alaskan or Canadian cruises
ACCESSORIES:
- Jewlery, watch, etc.
- Day bag, backpack or tote (for your first day on the ship & for the beach)
- I want to tell you to bring a travel-sized umbrella, but if you’re bringing a poncho, both might be excessive
- Wet dry bag (I cannot stress this enough for the beach/excursions & these ones were perfect for us.)
- Reusable water bottles (I recommend one per person)
- Lanyard for your Key to the World Card (I brought this & never used it)
- Fanny pack (if you don’t use a fanny pack, the perfect time to start is now, especially with these waterproof ones for the beach/excursions)
Personal Items
I’m gonna be pretty broad about this topic because, in theory, you should know what personal items you need on a daily basis to survive so I don’t need to overwhelm you with a long list. Here are some things you may not have thought about though:
TOILETRY BAG: I have my tried & true Vera Bradley hanging caddy from college that I bring everywhere, and it was perfect for our last cruise because I was able to hang it in my closet. This thing is over a decade old and still has plenty of life left, so I highly recommend it. My husband has a toiletry bag that’s similar to this one that is his go-to! It fits on the shelf in the stateroom bathroom.
SQUATTY POTTY: If you know, you know. I have no shame in the GI issues game. I will scream from the roof tops my love for squatty potty. However, a squatty potty is not travel friendly so we found this travel sized toilet stool that is AMAZING! It’s the perfect size for the stateroom bathroom and I even bring it for my Walt Disney resort stays too! It folds up super easy. Fair warning: it’s not the lightest item to have in your suitcase so pay attention to what’s going in your suitcase with it because you definitely don’t want a bag fee at the airport!
DO NOT forget sunscreen and lip balm that has SPF. Especially when sailing in the Caribbean, the sun is a lot stronger near the equator!
Before throwing your favorite blow dryer and blow-out brush in your bag, check out this link so you can make sure your hair tools are a safe voltage!
In addition to your favorite shampoo and deodorant, don’t forget to bring things like Q-tips, nail trimmers, tweezers, or anything else that you may not use daily but don’t want to be caught without! Especially since you might need them on a day you’re in the middle of the ocean…
Motion Sickness Necessities
I am giving this it’s own little section because this was the thing that I looked up the most. I looked through Facebook groups, Reddit threads, basically anything and everything to get advice. I can’t even look at my phone in the car for 5 seconds without getting nauseous so this was a huge concern of mine.
Fear not! Dane and I tested out a few things and we found what works best. Of course, everyone’s body is different but this is what we used everyday:
- We used these motion-sick patches around the clock! I already knew they worked because I’ve used them at Walt Disney World because simulator rides do me dirty. So I knew we had a head start with these bad boys.
- Bonine. Superior to Dramamine in my opinion. Make sure to remember when you took your last dose so you can have it in your system the entire time. Take your first dose a couple of hours before boarding the ship to give yourself a head start.
- The Frida Mom bracelets for motion sickness are our go-to because they’re clear, so you can’t even tell if you have anything on in pictures! The last thing I wanted was to get all dressed up for dinner and then have a blue athletic band on to ruin my outfit.
Electronics
I already mentioned a couple of these for your “carry-on” bag, but:
- Cellphones
- Chargers
- Tablet or laptop (optional & you will need to buy a wifi subscription for your sailing)
- Camera (optional)
- MagicBand+ & charger
- Portable charger (we use Fuel Rods because you can change them out using kiosks in Walt Disney World for fully charged ones)
- Headphones, earbuds, AirPods, etc.
- Travel adapters (international travel)
- E-book (I download my books ahead of time if I know I’m not going to buy wifi)
Extra Tips
One of my favorite things to plan for before cruising with DCL is decorating our door! Your stateroom door is metal (mostly all the doors and walls are metal), so you can decorate your door with magnets! I use Canva to design graphics, print them out, laminate them, and then stick magnets to the back! Decorating your door is not only a ton of fun but there’s also a very functional reasoning behind it. If you’ve never seen a long hallway on a cruise ship, you need to know that it’s like a fun house. It’s a never-ending hallway with doors that look exactly the same. It’s very easy to get lost on your way back to your stateroom after you’ve had a couple of drinks too many. So it’s not only fun, but a great way to help you find your way back to home.
The walls in the staterooms are also metal! We pack these magnetic metal hooks to place on the walls to utilize more space. They’re great for hanging wet bathing suits, hanging hats, empty bags you’re not using, etc!
If you are traveling with children, pack some shelf stable snacks! Even though you’ll be overwhelmed by the endless food options on the ship, it’s better to play it safe if you know your little traveler favors certain foods. If this is not the case, take FULL ADVANTAGE of the never ending food options. We’ve already paid for it so we go hard. Never ending shrimp cocktail is one of the many things I get very excited about when sailing!
If you plan on doing laundry during your sailing, bring a collapsable laundry hamper and detergent. We skip pods because they’re overpriced (in my opinion) and can make a mess if they pop in your suitcase. I always pack detergent sheets instead.
You’ll need to use your Key to the World card to turn on the lights in your room. A hack for it is to bring an old gift card or something similar that you can leave in the slot. That way you don’t have to worry about leaving your Key to the World card behind. I found it easy and less stressful to be able to have my card with me at all times.
The top deck is very windy and we’ve seen people lose their towels to the sea. We bought towel clips that hold your towel to the lounge chairs. 10/10 recommend.
There are not a lot of outlets in your stateroom, especially on the original fleets. I got these charger blocks that have four ports each for chargers. It helps to have these when you need to charge your phone AND MagicBands for a family of four.
If you have a Stanley for a reusable water bottle, bring this carrier. It’s a game changer to be able to carry your Stanley on your shoulder and have your hands free.
Speaking of drinks, this is more of an airport tip, but getting a cup holder for our suitcase helped take a lot of the stress out of navigating the airport with our post-flight Starbucks order. If you’ve ever spilled your drink in the middle of the airport because you’re overstimulated and you don’t have enough hands, you need it. If you haven’t, get it to avoid that experience.
The biggest tip of all is to book your next Disney vacation with me as your travel agent so that I can share these tips and more with you every step of the way 🙂 My planning services are 100% free because my commission is already worked into your Disney vacation package, so taking the stress out of your next vacation comes at no cost to you because Disney picks up my tab! If you’re interested in working together, fill out my form for a free customized quote!
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