So you’ve managed to get a contract on a cruise ship – congratulations! You’ll probably have the details of how you’ll manage to meet up with the ship, but what they forget to include in the information pack is how and what to bring with you. You won’t always be wearing your costume- I mean, uniform… and you’ll be living there for months. You will essentially need to have everything with you. I used to overpack, so I tried really hard to only pack the essentials for my first contract. It was a bad idea. I ended up having to get another box shipped to me. Although, to cut myself some slack, I was going from needing a winter coat and winter boots to the Bahamas, so it was very tough to pack for that contract.
Here are some of the necessities:
Clothes – you will want to have comfortable clothes for your off times, but also enough clothes that you’ll want to go to the crew bar in. Lots of underwear & lots of socks – doing laundry sucks (unless you’re a higher ranking officer and you get your laundry done for you). I found having layers was helpful – sweatshirts and light sweaters helped.
Gym clothes if you’re into that.
Flip flops, shoes for going out in addition to the shoes you’ll need for your job.
Small purse and backpack for going out and off the ship.
Hat
Sunglasses
Toiletries – you don’t need enough for the entire contract because you’ll probably get a chance to shop, but if you have particular brands, bring them with you. Moisturizer is key because the water on the ship is often desalinated so it’s very drying.
Don’t forget to bring sunscreen!
A blanket or small duvet if you a) have space or b) need a different blanket (it’s pretty thin).
Eye mask and ear plugs. You’re welcome.
A few snacks to keep on hand (all packaged, nothing with milk – think granola bars or packaged crackers or cookies)
Stationary items (a notepad, pen, etc.)
Clock
Photos from home
Magnets (for sticking schedules or photos on the magnetic surfaces in your cabin)
Febreeze
Laundry bag
Laundry detergent (can buy there, but if you have space).
An external hard drive for your laptop, full of movies & music, so you can swap TV shows and movies with others – I watched a ton of stuff in my downtime instead of going out on my 3rd contract.
Laptop, ipad and phone, all with your chargers. Kindle is handy too, but I am old school and brought some books. There was a library where you could exchange too, which was helpful.
Did I leave anything out? Have you worked on a ship before? Comment below. If you want to learn more about what working on a cruise ship is REALLY like, click here!