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What To Pack For A Disney Cruise – Top Hacks and Tips

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What should be on your Disney Cruise Packing List? One of the most common questions I hear is “What Should we pack for a Disney cruise?”

Having been on many Disney and even some cruises with other lines, I have mastered the fine art of packing for a cruise.

There are just some items that will make things even more enjoyable and easier if you pack them to take on your Disney cruise. Our guide makes Disney Cruise Packing easy!

Disney Cruise Packing

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Here we share our Disney cruise packing tips and hacks for some great items to pack and take on board.

What To Pack for a Disney Cruise
Disney Cruise Packing Tips
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Disney Cruise Packing Hacks and Tips (1)
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It’s helpful to start with knowing what the storage options are in a Disney Cruise Stateroom. They are well designed so that there is a lot of space to store things.

Here is a video that shows the smallest of the Disney Cruise Staterooms. This is a Standard Inside Stateroom on Disney Wonder so this has the least amount of storage available, but as you can see it is still good.

So that you can get an idea of exactly what a Standard Inside Stateroom is like on the Disney Wonder and Magic, I have made this video for you:

This isn’t shown on the video, but most suitcases will fit under your Disney Cruise Stateroom bed.

Packing Cubes – You Must Pack These on a Cruise

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Packing cubes are, for me, essential to packing and organizing for any Disney trip. It is so much easier to pack certain items together for each family member so you know where they are as soon as you get your luggage delivered to your stateroom!

No more trying to find a pair of socks at the bottom of a suitcase.

Packing cubes also make packing at the end of your cruise much easier.

This set is also nice as it comes with a laundry bag, but you can also use the plastic laundry bag that will be left in your stateroom.

4 Set Packing Cubes – Travel Organizers with Laundry Bag

If you only take one tip from this article let it be getting a set of Packing Cubes. They really do make life so much easier!

Join this Disney Cruise Group for Tips. Secrets and Exclusive Giveaways!

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Charger For Multiple Devices

We all know how many things you have to charge these days. However, Disney doesn’t seem to have caught up with this and does not provide enough wall sockets.

The solution? We bought one of these chargers which means you can charge almost any USB devices quickly using only one socket.

We use it at home all the time now too and are very happy with it.

Extension cords and surge protectors are not permitted on a Disney cruise. This is a great solution to that socket shortage problem.

Cruise Power Strip with USB Outlets – Non Surge Protection & Ship Approved

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The desk is the place with the power points, but as you can see from this picture, there really aren’t enough! A Power Strip really helps.

Sea Bands

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No one wants to talk about it but sometimes sailing can mean feeling seasick. With the modern, very stable Disney ships it is unlikely you will experience it, but if you do you will want to be prepared. We have sailed in storms and very close to hurricanes and no one in our family has ever felt seasick. However, just in case we do pack sea bands!

Sea-Band Adult Wristband

If you want to follow the more traditional route then pack Dramamine Motion Sickness Relief – Check Current Prices

You might also want to read How To Avoid Getting Sick on a Cruise

 Cooling Towel

This Frogg Toggs Chilly Pad Cooling Towel is a must if you are sailing to warmer climates!

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It gets hot on a cruise! We found this Frogg Toggs Chilly Pad Cooling Towel

invaluable for keeping cool on our latest Disney cruise. We wet them with cold water and took it everywhere with us to cool us down.

It was particularly welcome on Disney’s Private Island Castaway Cay as it was a very hot humid day.

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We only bought one as we were trying them out. However, we liked them so much ordered more when we got back and will use them in the Disney parks as well. They are easy to wash and dry out easily.

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Travel Coffee Mug

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The same idea as the water bottle of course but here you can carry hot beverages. Disney has free coffee on the pool deck. It’s not the greatest, but if you need your caffeine fix it does the job.

The Disney cruise ships also have a very large selection of teas available at the drinks dispenser so the mug is useful for this too.

Check Current Pricing

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Sometimes it is so good to get a premium coffee from the Cove Cafe!

Travel Shoe Organizer

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The Disney cruise staterooms are well designed but one thing we do have difficulty finding a place for is shoes. You can solve this with a shoe organizer.

We know that some people like to take an Over the Door Hanging Organizer toiletries.

However, you need to know that over the door organizers are now PROHIBITED on Disney cruise lines. We take the shoe organizer and hang it in the closet.

Do not hang things over the door or you will be charged $100 if there is any damage.

Check Current Prices – Shoe Organizer

Water Bottle With Spray

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A great feature of a Disney cruise is that there is free soda, ice, and water available 24/7. The not so great feature is that you have to go to the pool deck to get it.

To save you trips up to the pool deck numerous times a day it is a great idea to take your own water bottle.

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It also comes in very handy for shore excursions – no need to purchase the water bottle packages sold on the ship. The water is safe to drink on all Disney ships. You don’t have to spend extra money on buying bottled water.

It is a good idea to get a bottle combined with a spray (unless your child insists on using this feature rather too much)! The weather can be humid and hot and it is nice to have a water spray available. It is a great idea to take this to Castaway Cay with you so that you can cool down on the beach!

Check Current Pricing

Clothes Pegs

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You will have a lot of wet swimming gear on a cruise! There are 2 retractable washing lines over the bath in the stateroom but you will soon fill these up!

If you have some spare space in your suitcase take some washing line pegs and you will find you can fit a lot more on those lines.

Soft Grip Pegs

See also What Not To Forget on A Disney Cruise

Disney dream verandah stateroom bathroom

This picture shows the retractable washing line over the bath.

Travel Laundry Detergent and Dryer Sheets

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One way to save on the amount of luggage you take on your cruise is to accept that you will do some laundry during the vacation. Disney makes this easy as there are washers and dryers on many of the stateroom decks.

We always prefer to take our own laundry detergent such as Tide Pods Free and Gentle Detergent

to save costs and also to save on the chances of being allergic to the cruise washing powder.

The pods are easy to put in your luggage. You also don’t run the risk of getting washing powder all over your suitcase if it spills!

These Travelon Laundry Soap Sheets, 50-Count

is a great idea as they take up almost no space and can work for quick washes in the sink.

It is also a good idea to take some Dryer Sheets

not only to use in the tumble dryer but you can also use them in your laundry bag and suitcase to keep them smelling fresh.

Lanyard

Your Key to the World is your key to everything on your Disney cruise. It is used for charging everything in the cashless world on board, as well as being your room key. So it is important to keep it safe.

Of course, you can just keep your key in your pocket. However, we find we change clothes frequently in the day and always seemed to be wondering where we had put our key!

It is just easier to keep them in a lanyard – we then have a rule that everyone’s lanyard is hung up in the stateroom as soon as we walk in.

My daughter is the only one who refuses – and she is the one always at Guest Services picking up a new key!

If you are a member of the Castaway Cay Club you will be given a lanyard as you board. However, we like to take our own as these are not very high quality. It can be fun of course to have some Disney themed ones.

Check Current Prices

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The adult pool on Disney Fantasy is an amazing place to relax.

Clothes Hangers

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There is plenty of hanging space in a Disney cruise stateroom but there never seem to be enough hangers.

It is a good idea if you have space to take some plastic ones yourself so you don’t have to compete for who gets to hang up all their clothes!

Light-Weight Plastic Hangers

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Nightlight

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Staterooms on a cruise are dark. If you have a child who has difficulty with this then you may want to bring your own nightlight.

An alternative is to prop the bathroom door open with a towel and leave the light on. However, we think having this Disney Frozen themed night light will be a whole lot more popular with the kids!

Projectables Disney Frozen LED Plug-In Night Light

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Highlighter Pen

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This sounds like such a simple item but it is something we find so useful. We know that you have the Disney Cruise Navigator App now and we use this a lot. But we still prefer each evening to look at the paper edition of the Navigator and mark out with a highlight pen the things that we want to do for the following day.

We like to have different colors so each family member can have their own.

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Join my Disney Cruise Group for Tips and Free Giveaways!

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EBook Reader

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Yes we know it isn’t essential but it is so nice to have. There is so much to do on a Disney cruise, but you will want to find some time for relaxation. We now just bring our Kindle. It saves on packing heavy books as well as allowing us to access the internet and email.

Kindle Fire, 7″ Display, Wi-Fi, 8 GB

Pirate Costume And Accessories

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Every Disney cruise has a Pirate Night. It is a lot of fun to channel your inner Jack Sparrow. They do sell pirate costumes for the kids on board.

However, they are priced pretty high so you may want to be prepared and take something pirate-themed with you. Not everyone dresses up but it is a whole lot of fun if you do!

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You can find inexpensive accessories right up to deluxe pirate costumes for all members of the family.

Disney Pirate Costume Ideas

 

Magnetic White Board

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A whiteboard is really useful to put on your stateroom door so that you can leave messages for the rest of your party. There is now the Disney Cruise App which allows you to text on board which is very useful but not everyone either has or wants to carry their phone around with them all the time. It’s sometimes just a good idea to go back to the no technology option and use a whiteboard!

White Magnetic Marker Board

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Do you have any tips and hacks for packing for a Disney cruise?

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Friday 11th of December 2015

Very helpful tips. I haven't thought about the need of all those stuff. It's great to be prepared and to know what I need to pack for a Disney cruise. Thanks for sharing!!

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