13 years 2 months ago

Working on a cruise ship is totally different environment than working on land. First thing you need to know is that most of the time you will be on duty.

Working on a cruise ship is totally different environment than working on land. First thing you need to know is that most of the time you will be on duty. Second, the cabins are smaller than you can imagine, so you should pack only essential items that you will need. Third, don’t forget that you will buy plenty souvenirs from places you visit, gifts, and new clothes, especially if you visit ports in the U.S.A. We suggest you pack only one big luggage (most of us who have done more contracts, bring one and come back home with two pieces of luggage). Fourth, don’t forget that most of the time you will wear company uniform. You will be wearing your personal clothes only on your time off. Here are some of the most important items you will need to pack:
- Alarm clock ( make sure it is a loud one and has options to program it for more than    one wake-up time).
- At least 7-10 pairs of underwear.
- 7-15 pairs of socks or pantyhose (for the ladies).
- 7-10 white T-shirts (to wear under your uniform).
- Photo camera.
- Cell phone.
- Pictures of your loved ones ( we highly recommend the digital frames which you can find in a electronic store because you can download more pictures of your loved ones and set the switch time. This will help with the space, not have to buy frames for every picture, and they use batteries, so it is not expensive to replace. If you are a fan of real pictures, then we recommend you get yourself light frames or find magnets so you can attach them next to your bed).
- Laptop ( most of the ships have Internet and you can find free WiFi in most of the ports you will visit).
- Bed sheet and pillow case ( ships provide this, but even though they have been washed and cleaned, you don’t know who used them last).
- 2 pairs of pajamas.
- 2 pairs of Jeans.
- One dressy outfit (for special occasions or going out in the port).
- Pair of sport shoes and a pair of dress shoes.
- Shirts and T-shirts.
- Swim suite and flip flops.
- Beach, face, shower, and hand towel.
- Baseball cap or hat.
- Wrist watch (not expensive one though).
- Vitamins.
- Padlock (most of the cabins have safe locker where you can keep your valuables).
- Toiletries (perfume, shaving cream, hair gel, razor, tooth brush, gels, deodorant, etc).
- Small pack of detergent for washing your clothes (you can buy this from outside, but at least one small pack will be handy until you find a supermarket).

What not to bring
- Cigarettes ( if you are a smoker you don’t need a lot of packs because the cigarettes on board are much cheaper than back home, but bring enough to last you few days until you find your place on the ship and manage to head to the gift shops).
- Iron or other heating devices are strictly forbidden on any of the cruise ships due to high risk of fire (hair irons with low voltage for the ladies are not a high risk and you can bring one, but you can always buy one on one of the ports, so might want to hold on that one as well).
- Alcohol (on most of the ships you are allowed to bring alcohol in the cabins, but it is forbidden to bring alcohol from outside. You can buy alcohol from the crew bar or the gift shops on board).
- Knifes or any kind of weapons.
- Medicine unless subscribed by doctor. Every ship has medical facility and they have usual medicine and drugs (the regular Advil, Tylenol, or any other over the counter precautionary drug is allowed).

If your ship goes in Alaska, Antarctica, Norway, Iceland, or any other low temperature places (these places are cold during the summer, too) don’t forget to bring few pieces of warm clothes.
We hope that this advice will help you to can pack all of these items in one bag. Don’t forget that you are there to work most of the times very long hours – between 10-14 hours/day and 7 days/week.

You may also be interested in the following article Cruise ship crew cabins