What We Actually Pack for a Cruise: The Little Things That Make a Big Difference

What We Actually Pack for a Cruise: Medicine, Snacks, Chargers & the Little Things That Make a Big Difference

There are the obvious things everyone thinks about when packing for a cruise.

Clothes. Swimsuits. Sunscreen. Passports. Shoes.

Then there are the things we've learned to pack because at some point during a previous trip, we really wished we had them.

After enough cruises, we've developed our own little collection of medicines, snacks, drink mixes, chargers, nightlights, and other random items that come with us almost every time.

None of them are particularly exciting.

But when it's 11:00 at night and you have heartburn, Ollie needs medicine, your phone is at 8%, or you're four hours into an excursion and everyone is hungry?

Suddenly that boring little thing you threw in the suitcase becomes the greatest packing decision you've ever made.

This isn't meant to be the ultimate cruise-packing list. These are simply the things our family actually packs and why they've earned permanent spots in our luggage.

A quick note: These are the medicines and products our family chooses to bring based on our own needs and experiences. This isn't medical advice. Always follow medication directions, age restrictions, and guidance from your own healthcare provider.

Our Little Cruise Pharmacy

One of the first things we pack is what has basically become our cruise pharmacy.

We keep most of it together in a hard-sided zippered case.

It's nothing fancy, but having everything in one place makes a huge difference. We don't want stomach medicine in my suitcase, children's medicine buried in Ollie's bag, and headache medicine somewhere in Hellen's luggage.

If someone asks:

"Where are the Tums?"

There's one answer:

The blue case.

We try to cover the normal minor problems that could make an otherwise great vacation miserable.

That usually means bringing things like Pepto-Bismol or another stomach-relief medicine, anti-diarrheal medicine, anti-gas medicine, Tums, allergy medicine such as Claritin or Zyrtec, ibuprofen for Hellen and me, children's ibuprofen for Ollie, Excedrin, cough drops, and motion-sickness medicine.

Obviously, we hope we don't need most of it.

That's actually the ideal outcome.

We Don't Usually Get Seasick—But We Pack for It Anyway

None of us typically struggles with motion sickness on cruises.

But typically and never aren't the same thing.

We've been on rough enough water—and taken enough small boats on excursions—to know that sometimes your stomach decides it has other plans.

So we bring motion-sickness pills and patches.

For us, they're mostly preventative and backup items.

If the ship starts moving more than expected or we're heading out on a smaller excursion boat, we like knowing we already have something familiar with us rather than trying to find it after someone starts feeling sick.

Hopefully it all comes home unopened.

That's one item I'm perfectly happy to pack for absolutely no reason.

Tums Have Earned a Permanent Spot

If there's one thing I personally don't want to cruise without, it's Tums.

My diet at home is pretty consistent.

My diet on a cruise?

Let's just say Cruise Mark and Home Mark apparently have different nutritional standards.

Suddenly I'm eating different foods, richer foods, desserts, later dinners, larger meals, and things I don't normally eat every day.

My stomach notices.

I tend to get more heartburn when we cruise simply because my diet changes so much, so having something I already use at home is much easier than trying to find it onboard.

That's really the philosophy behind most of our medicine kit.

We're not preparing for every possible medical emergency.

We're trying to avoid spending part of our vacation searching for basic over-the-counter products we could have easily packed at home.

The Least Glamorous Cruise Tip: Fiber

Let's talk about something that doesn't appear very often in the glossy cruise brochures.

Staying regular.

At home, we eat fairly healthy and get quite a bit of fiber.

Then we board a cruise ship.

Different foods.

Different meal times.

More restaurant meals.

More desserts.

Less of our normal routine.

Your digestive system can basically look at the first day's menu and say:

"I'll see you when we get home."

So this time we're bringing both Fiber One bars and fiber gummies.

The bars give us an easy snack with some additional fiber. The gummies are convenient when we don't necessarily want another bar but still want to keep our fiber intake a little closer to normal.

We're not pretending either replaces fruits, vegetables, whole grains, or the foods we normally eat at home.

They're just convenient backups.

And we're not trying to suddenly consume enormous amounts of fiber either. We stick reasonably close to what our bodies are accustomed to and make sure we're drinking plenty of water.

It's probably not going to become our most-shared cruise tip.

But after enough vacations, I've learned something:

A happy digestive system is a seriously underrated cruise amenity.

Why We Pack Drink Mixes

If you've read about why we almost never buy cruise packages, this one probably isn't surprising.

We bring our own drink mixes.

For this trip, we're bringing several zero-sugar fruit-flavored packets, including tropical flavors, along with a liquid electrolyte drink enhancer.

Water is perfectly fine.

But after drinking water all day, sometimes you just want it to taste like something.

A tiny packet takes almost no room in our luggage, and we can throw it into a bottle or glass of water whenever we want something different.

It also fits perfectly with the way we cruise.

We don't buy a beverage package just because we might want something besides water.

We bring inexpensive options we already like and then buy individual drinks when we actually want them.

We Even Pack Our Caffeine

We love coffee.

But strangely enough, we don't always drink much coffee when we're cruising.

Sometimes we'll purchase a coffee package depending on the cruise line and what we want from that particular trip. Other times, we don't.

What we don't want is to discover at 9:00 in the morning that our bodies are wondering where the caffeine went.

So we bring caffeinated drink-mix packets.

It's an incredibly easy backup.

Mix one with water in the morning, get some caffeine, and continue with the day.

Because apparently there's one package we definitely don't want on vacation:

the caffeine-withdrawal-headache package.

Excursion Snacks: Something We've Learned the Hungry Way

One of the biggest lessons we've learned from excursions is simple:

When permitted, bring snacks.

Some excursions are much longer than you expect.

Sometimes lunch is included.

Sometimes it isn't.

Sometimes food is technically included, but there's absolutely nothing Ollie wants to eat.

And sometimes you ate breakfast at 7:00 a.m., it's now 1:30 p.m., and everyone in the family has quietly stopped enjoying one another's company.

That's when the emergency snack comes out.

For this cruise, we're packing a mixture of protein bars, protein chips, dried fruit, and Fiber One bars.

Everyone Gets Their Own Protein Bars

We've learned that there's no point packing six protein bars if nobody actually likes them.

So we bring different ones.

Some are bars Ollie likes, and some are bars I like.

We're bringing options such as Quest, Built, and other protein bars so we have something quick to throw into a backpack before leaving the ship.

They're convenient, individually packaged, and don't require refrigeration.

They also give us something with a decent amount of protein instead of relying entirely on whatever snack food happens to be available during an excursion.

Protein Chips Give Us Something Salty

Not every snack needs to be sweet.

We're also bringing protein chips, including flavors like nacho cheese and chili lime.

They're useful when we want something salty and crunchy without simply packing a suitcase full of regular chips.

Are we going to sit on a Caribbean beach carefully analyzing the macronutrient profile of our chips?

No.

We're still on vacation.

But if there's an easy option we already like that provides some additional protein, we'll take it.

Yes, We Know the Dried Fruit Has Sugar

We're also bringing a variety of dried fruit.

That includes things like mango, strawberries, cranberries, coconut, and banana chips.

And we'll save someone the trouble of emailing us:

Yes, we know some of it has added sugar.

We're not pretending sweetened dried mango is nutritionally identical to fresh mango.

But we're also not trying to achieve nutritional perfection while sitting in an airport or spending six hours away from the ship.

Our thinking is pretty simple.

Dried fruit doesn't need refrigeration.

It's easy to pack.

It travels well.

We'll actually eat it.

And we'd rather bring some dried fruit than fill the entire snack bag with chocolate and candy.

It still gives us some nutritional value and variety, even if some of the options contain more added sugar than we'd normally choose at home.

Vacation doesn't have to mean perfect nutrition or terrible nutrition. There's a lot of room in between.

One important consideration is that destinations have different rules about taking food ashore, particularly fruit and agricultural products. We check the rules for our ports rather than assuming everything we pack can leave the ship with us.

Our Tiny Motion-Activated Nightlights

These might be one of my favorite little cruise items.

We bring two magnetic, motion-activated Wyze nightlights.

They're fantastic.

Cruise cabins can get incredibly dark at night, particularly when the curtains are completely closed.

That's great when you're trying to sleep.

It's less great when someone wakes up at 2:00 a.m. and needs to find the bathroom.

Without a nightlight, your options are basically:

Turn on the cabin lights and wake everyone up.

Or navigate through a completely dark cabin filled with furniture, shoes, luggage, and whatever Ollie left on the floor.

Neither is ideal.

The motion-activated lights give us just enough illumination to see where we're going without lighting up the entire room.

And because they're magnetic, they're especially convenient in a cruise cabin where many surfaces are metal.

Tiny item. Huge improvement.

Our USB Chargers Come Everywhere

Three people can accumulate an impressive number of electronics.

Phones.

Watches.

Headphones.

Tablets.

Portable devices.

And somehow they all need charging at exactly the same time.

We pack multi-port USB chargers with both USB and USB-C connections.

Instead of fighting over individual outlets, we can plug several devices into one charging hub.

We also like bringing a European-style plug adapter/charger when appropriate.

Cruise cabins will sometimes have a European outlet that we otherwise wouldn't use. Being able to turn that outlet into additional USB charging capacity gives us another useful place to charge electronics without taking over the limited standard outlets.

Just make sure anything you bring complies with the current rules for your particular cruise line. Electrical-device restrictions can vary, especially with power strips, extension cords, and surge-protected devices.

The Hard Case Might Be the Most Important Part

The medicine itself matters, but I really like having the hard case.

It keeps everything together.

We can pull the entire thing out of the suitcase and put it somewhere accessible in the cabin.

When someone needs something, we aren't digging through multiple bags.

Medicine, stomach remedies, allergy tablets, cough drops, Tums, and the other little necessities all have one home.

It's one of those organizational things that doesn't sound important until you're trying to find Pepto-Bismol in a dark cabin.

None of This Is Exciting—Until You Need It

Nobody gets excited about packing Tums.

Nobody posts a vacation selfie holding fiber gummies.

And I don't expect our USB chargers to become one of Ollie's favorite memories from the cruise.

But these are the things we've accumulated after enough trips to understand what makes our family more comfortable.

Our medicine case means we have familiar products when someone doesn't feel well.

Our motion-sickness medicine is there if the ocean decides not to cooperate.

Our Tums handle the consequences of Cruise Mark's nutritional decisions.

Our fiber bars and fiber gummies help keep my digestive routine from completely disappearing.

Our snacks mean we aren't completely dependent on excursion food.

Our protein bars and chips give us some better options when we're hungry.

Our dried fruit gives us something sweet that's easy to travel with.

Our drink mixes give us variety without buying a beverage package.

Our caffeinated packets help us avoid caffeine headaches.

Our nightlights keep us from destroying a shin on cruise-cabin furniture at 2:00 a.m.

And our USB chargers prevent perhaps the greatest crisis a modern family can experience at sea:

Three people. Three dying devices. One outlet.

Our Rule for the Little Stuff

Will we use everything we're packing?

Hopefully not.

I'd be perfectly happy to unpack the motion-sickness medicine at home without ever opening it.

But that's become one of our basic cruise-packing rules:

Bring the small things that are inexpensive and easy to pack at home but suddenly feel priceless when you need them at sea.

After enough cruises, we've realized those little things can make a surprisingly big difference.

And if we return home with an empty bottle of Tums and an empty bag of fiber gummies?

Well...

Apparently the main dining room was really good.