My first Caribbean cruise, I hauled a checked bag the size of a mini fridge through the terminal and spent the next seven nights not opening half of it.
It cost me a bag fee each way, a long stand at the carousel on the way home, and the slow understanding that a person in 80-degree weather doesn’t need much.
I’ve booked a lot of these since.
A week in the Caribbean now goes in one carry-on and a small backpack, and I haven’t missed anything yet.
This list is what survived the cutting.
Papers first, then the things the ship will take off you, then clothes, then the few small items that turn a steel box at sea into a room.
If you’re new to all this, our first time cruise tips cover what packing can’t, and if you’re still choosing a route, Eastern, Western or Southern Caribbean will change which shoes you want.
Start With the Papers, Not the Clothes
Nobody has ever been turned away at the pier over a forgotten shirt.
Paperwork is another matter.
If your ship leaves from and comes back to the same US port, that’s a closed-loop cruise, and a US citizen can usually board with a certified birth certificate plus a government photo ID.
Kids under 16 need only the birth certificate.
A cruise line is free to ask for more than the government does, so read what your own booking confirmation demands before you trust this paragraph.
I take a passport anyway, every time.
Miss the ship in Nassau or get hurt on a zip line in Roatan and you’re flying home from a foreign airport, and that flight wants a passport.
Sorting out an emergency one is a rotten way to spend what was supposed to be a beach day.
Take a phone photo of every document.
Then put the real ones in your carry-on, never in a checked bag.
Checked bags at a cruise terminal get handed to a porter, and you don’t see them again until they turn up at your cabin door, sometimes well after dinner.
What the Ship Will Take Away From You
Every line has a list, and the items on it aren’t the ones people expect.
Start with anything that presses clothes.
Royal Caribbean bans irons and garment steamers, and Carnival bans them too.
A curling iron or a flat iron is fine on both, so your hair will be treated better than your shirts.
Power strips go one way on Carnival and the other way on Royal, so go by the line you actually booked.
Royal bans extension cords, power strips and multi-plug outlets outright.
Regular device chargers and USB chargers are fine, and a USB hub without surge protection handles a lot of devices off one plug.
Carnival allows power strips, multi-outlet adapters and extension cords as long as there’s no surge protection built in, and it will hold anything it decides is unsafe until the last morning.
Read the box before you pack it.
The words “surge protector” on the side are what get it pulled.
Wine is the other rule nobody reads.
Royal allows one sealed 750 ml bottle per legal-age guest, and boxed wine is out.
Carnival allows one sealed 750 ml bottle per guest 21 or older, in your hand luggage on boarding day, with no beer and no hard liquor, and it charges $15 a bottle if you open it in the dining room or a bar.
Our Can I Bring It on a Cruise? checker handles the stranger items, and it’s faster than scrolling fine print while you stand over an open suitcase.
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Get Your Guide Now$15.99Seven Days of Clothes in 80-Degree Heat
In November and December the Caribbean sits in the high 70s to low 80s.
That’s shorts weather, and once you accept it the rest of the decision gets small.
That’s the whole week.
Two swimsuits because one is always wet.
Four shirts because you can wear one twice and nobody on a ship is keeping track.
Pick fabrics that forgive you, since nothing with a plug will be pressing them in the cabin.
Knits, quick-dry synthetics, anything that shakes out.
I hang the next day’s shirt in the bathroom during a hot shower and call that ironing.
If something truly has to be crisp, the ship’s laundry will do it for a fee.
Bring one light long-sleeve layer.
Ships keep their theaters and dining rooms cold enough to hang meat in, and you’ll be the only comfortable person at the show.
Shoes are where the weight hides.
Sandals that can get wet, a pair you can walk a cobbled port in, and whatever goes with dinner.
That’s three, and the fourth pair is how my old bag got to be the size of a mini fridge.
Roll everything, put the shoes in first, and stop when the bag is full.
A full bag isn’t a sign you need a bigger bag.
The Dressy Nights Are Fewer Than You Think
People pack for formal night as if it were the whole trip.
On a seven-night Royal Caribbean sailing it’s two formal nights, one smart casual and four casual.
Carnival runs one or two on a seven-day trip.
So that’s one outfit, worn twice, and nobody at the next table will know.
A dress that doesn’t wrinkle, or a button-up and dark pants, will get you through any dining room on the ship.
Our cruise dress code tool shows what your line expects night by night, and the lines differ enough that it’s worth a look.
You can also skip it.
I’ve spent more than one formal night eating pizza in shorts on a back deck while the tuxedos lined up for photos, and the ship did not sink.
Sunscreen Is the One Thing to Buy Carefully
Some islands care what’s in your bottle.
The US Virgin Islands ban sunscreen with oxybenzone, octinoxate and octocrylene, which rules out a good share of the drugstore shelf.
Mineral sunscreens made with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide are exempt.
Aruba bans the import and sale of sunscreen containing oxybenzone as well.
So I buy mineral at home and stop thinking about it.
It costs a little more and it leaves you faintly ghostly for a while.
Buying it at the port costs more again, and the shop by the pier knows exactly what you forgot.
If you’re flying to the ship with only a carry-on, the liquids rule still applies at the airport, so go with travel-size tubes and pack two.
A long-sleeve swim shirt and a hat mean less skin to cover and fewer tubes to carry.
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The Bag You Take Off the Ship
Port days are when things go wrong, so the small bag matters more than the big one.
Mine holds the ship card, a photo ID, a picture of my passport, water, sunscreen, a hat, a folded rain shell and small US bills.
The bus from the pier to the good beach is usually a fraction of what the taxi line charges, and the driver doesn’t want your $50.
Ask about beach towels before you pack one, because many ships lend them and then charge you if one goes missing.
Your phone may grab local time off a tower the minute you step ashore.
The ship runs on ship time, which is printed on the daily schedule and doesn’t care what your phone thinks.
Set an alarm by ship time for one hour before all-aboard.
It’s the closest thing to jet lag you’ll get on this trip, and it’s the one that sails without you.
Your Cabin Is Steel. Use That.
Cruise cabins are tiny, and the walls are mostly steel under the paint, which means a few dollars’ worth of magnetic hooks adds the closet space the room forgot.
Day bag, hats, lanyard, wet swimsuit.
Test a spot before you trust it with anything heavy, since some panels are veneer and the magnet will slide straight to the floor.
Leave your own hair dryer behind, at least on Royal, where there’s one in the stateroom.
Outlets are scarce in most cabins, and that’s why the USB hub earns its spot.
One phone, one battery pack and one camera, all off a single plug, and nobody has to pick whose gets charged tonight.
If You’re Sailing Before December
Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30.
It peaks around September 10, and most of the activity falls between mid-August and mid-October.
Those off-season fares look that good for a reason.
Early November can still throw showers at you, so a thin rain jacket goes in the bag no matter what the forecast says.
It folds to nothing and doubles as your layer in the freezing theater.
Pack a little for the boat, too.
Ships reroute around storms, which can turn a beach stop into an extra day at sea, and you’ll want a book and something to do besides stand in the buffet line.
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Get Your Guide Now$15.99What to Leave Home
The iron.
The steamer.
The big hair dryer.
Any shoe past the third pair.
The “just in case” outfit, which has never once been the one I needed.
Good jewelry you’d grieve over if it went down the gap in a beach chair on Grand Cayman.
The full-size shampoo, because a week isn’t long and your hair will survive.
A carry-on also gets you something nobody talks about.
On the last morning you can walk off with your own bag, while everybody who left a suitcase outside their door the night before is in the terminal hunting for it.
If you want this as a checklist built around your dates and ports, our packing list generator will make one in about a minute.
Then look at what a cruise really costs beyond the fare, because the money you saved on bag fees is about to meet the drinks package.
Forget something and the ship has a store that will be thrilled to see you.
Related read: The Caribbean Travel Guide — Instant PDF + Kindle download. Secure checkout by Stripe
