Cruising for Christmas

Cruising for Christmas

Are you going on a cruise this Christmas? Maybe you are giving a cruise as a gift to your spouse or loved one? Do you have a friend who goes cruising often? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to be sure to keep reading. I am going to give you some awesome suggestions for gifts, big and small for those cruising this Christmas. 

My husband and I went on a cruise with our family for the first time back in September. We were given the cruise as a gift from our church for my husband’s 5th anniversary of being the youth pastor at the church. Unfortunately, we ran into some problems on the cruise. One of the engines failed, so we were unable to get to normal cruise speed and missed going to the planned ports. Instead, we were diverted to an unexpected overnight stay in Nassau while they tried fixing the ship. Needless to say, they were unable to fix it. The boat rocked to the point where everyone was feeling pretty woozy for the first half of the trip. 

We still had a great time getting to disconnect from everyday life. Carnival wound up giving us half of our money back to go towards another cruise plus some onboard credits. Some of the items below are ones we actually took on our cruise and the others are items that I received after the fact that I plan to take on our next cruise that is booked for May 2020! I am already stoked about it!

Attire

On a cruise, you will find that you will need a mix of clothing. The Captain’s Dinner is rather fancy, other evenings are more relaxed but still dressier than what you would wear while lounging around the boat. Having the right variety of clothing and shoes is a must! A few of the shoes I plan to pack up for my next trip are from Vivobarefoot, Arcopedic, and Trentorp Clogs. 

The Captain’s Dinner for men requires a dress shirt and slacks but if you are going to dress up that much, you might as well go all out with a suit and tie to match your spouse’s decked-out attire. The Dark Knot has a wide variety of ties and pocket squares. Find out what your better half is wearing and match it up!! 

Music

Load up your phone or iPod with a good selection of music before boarding the ship. There will be times when you want to just enjoy some “me time” on the boat. Maybe you want to be able to go to sleep but your spouse (or child) snores. Instead of having to find a chair on the deck to sleep on, pack some Acoustic Sheep Headphones. They are made of basically a headband that has wireless headphones built-in to allow for listening to music in comfort while sleeping. 

While out on the deck, you may choose to block out the noise around you. Bring along the JBL Everest 110GA with you so you can pop them in your ears and escape the craziness of the ship!

Photos

If you are like me, taking a boatload of pictures will be on your to-do list. Bring along the Polaroid Pop to snag some fantastic photos.

Cruising is a time to put yourself in a no-stress zone. When using your phone, there is no need to worry about receiving the “no more storage” error signs popping up and then having to delete out pictures just so you have room for more. So, carrying along a Seagate hard drive will make life less stressful. You can take ALL the pictures you want!

You can carry your laptop and any other important accessories in the KeySmart Backpack. It works with a Tile locator so you can easily find it if you leave it laying somewhere. 

If you bring along your laptop to dump photos on, make sure before you leave home, you clear off your computer to have the most memory space you can have. I am telling you, you are going to want to take A LOT of pictures on the cruise. Connect your laptop to Amber Personal Hybrid Cloud. It serves as a personal and private home network cloud. With end-to-end encryption and automatic software updates, your memories are safe. What makes it even more amazing is that you choose who and when to share your photos with from anywhere in the world!

Don’t let your phone go dead! You will want to be spending a lot of time outside of your room. Just bring along a Zendure portable battery pack and charge your phone anytime, anywhere. You don’t want to miss photo ops simply because your phone is dead!

Excursions

Always be sure to book your excursions through the cruise line. I am SO glad we did. We were able to have our excursion canceled and reimbursed since it was booked through the cruise line. Make sure you plan ahead and pack any proper accessories you may want for the fun day at port. 

If you plan to go fishing, the water is already pretty clear but why not make it even more fun by adding the GoFish Camera to your fishing line. It allows you to capture what is going on under the water!! How awesome is THAT? 

If you plan to spend the day on a beach, hydration is key. Carry all your supplies in the Yeti Camino Carryall. It is made from a waterproof, ultra-durable, and easy-to-clean material which is perfect for cruising! The Yeti Rambler Jr. is great for children on the boat or while at port. There is no need to worry about drinking bad water when they fill it up prior to leaving the ship. We found this to be a vital accessory to bring for my six-year-old daughter who was always thirsty on the boat. She could easily tote it around on the boat without us having to stop what we were doing to continually go to the dining area. 

If you plan to go snorkeling and want to bring your own gear, we found that Packbands are great to use to hold your gear on the outside of a backpack or hang from a hook on the cruise ship walls. 

Stay tuned about our next cruise in May 2020! 

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