What to Pack for a Cruise

Taking a cruise can be a lot of fun. Whether it's a transatlantic vacation, or a trip to the Arctic, traveling by cruise ship is a luxurious means of seeing the world. Since the early 1900s, people have been using ocean liners as a way to see new places and conduct business. With the advent of commercial flight, cruising has become an almost obsolete method of destination travel, but it continues to promise a level of comfort, fun, service, and excitement that air travel does not.

While the Titanic is no longer in service, ships like it are still sailing strong, providing a travel experience that's more about seeing the world at one's leisure than getting somewhere. As millions of people look for an exciting escape from a fast-paced daily life, cruise ship vacations continue to grow in popularity in the U.S. and worldwide.

In this free video series, learn how to prepare for a cruise aboard a luxury ocean liner. Enjoy a safe, worry-free vacation; get tips on what to bring and how to pack, dining etiquette, tipping, budgeting for your trip, ship safety, food options…and cautions, shopping at exotic ports of call, and more. Bon voyage!

"Hi! My name is Melissa Schenk on behalf of expertvillage.com today we’re going to be discussing cruise traveling tips. Now when you’re going cruising you have to, one decide whether you’re going to a warm destination or a cooler destination and if you’re going to a cooler spot somewhere like Alaska you’re going to have to pack a little bit more heavier. So let’s talk about some packing tips and techniques, now once you’ve pull out all the things you think you want to pack lay them out on your bed and try to coordinate your clothes so that you don’t have to take all of them you can mix and match. A good idea to think about is well is prepare a checklist for yourself, you can make it out for you all kinds of different things on there and then you can assess whether it is or not do you need all of the things on your list? Now if you think you might have missed something you can also go onto the internet and type in packing tips and I’m sure you’ll find some interesting list there that maybe you’ll pick up something that you’ve missed. Now whiles you’re assessing everything on your bed and thinking about your luggage, what kind of luggage are you going to take? Less is actually more, the less that you can get away with is probably the best especially if you’re going to a warmer destination. Couple of things to definitely think about when cruising though, always take a sweater even if you’re going to a warmer spot always take a sweater with you especially if you’re going to go for a walk on the deck at night it does tend to get quiet cool even in those warmer spots as I mentioned like Hawaii or the Caribbean. Something else to always keep in mind if you’re going swimming for instance wearing a white shirt, bring a white shirt with you. If you’re going out say snorkeling you don’t want to get sunburn so when you come in put the white shirt on and you won’t burn definitely you don’t want to ruin your vacation that way. Couple of other things to think about, definitely take something for formal night, now think about the weight in your luggage. If ladies you’re going to take something a little bit heavier like this beaded dress for instance it is quiet weighty, usually there are about two formal nights so you might want two dresses or something again you can mix and match. Now as I mentioned this is a weightier dress you might want to maybe not take something beaded but maybe something that doesn’t wrinkle cause you’re also going to want to think about wrinkling and how to avoid that as well. So the least amount of clothes you can bring and the least amount of wrinkles will definitely help you out. Couple of last things to take and think about, definitely take a calculator you’re going to want to keep track of your expenses and also to add up tipping in different parts of the countries and one final thing to think about that you might have missed drinking straws. Let’s say you’re going to Mexico pack a couple of extra drinking straws because if you go into the port of call and you’re drinking perhaps a can of pop or something there might be some bacteria on the outside of the pop. Just a few things to think about when you’re packing."