Preparing To Cruise

It won't be long before we are cruising again. It's been a while and I am going over some of the things we need to remember to take along.

1. Need to check our take along med kit. In it I have Tylenol, Ibuprofen, cold tablets, Bonine for motion sickness, a small Vick's rub, antiseptic spray, and bandaids. I need to refresh some of that as it's been a while since we've added to it. If you do nothing else, pack some bandaids. Walking a lot more than usual will ensure some blisters no matter how good your shoes. I also pack a couple of large square stick on bandaids as well. There was a time when I skinned my knee and the only thing the ship's medical office could give me was huge gauze pads and some tape.

2. Bob will be gathering all our documents--passport, boarding passes, etc. You still need to print out some for boarding purposes and now most cruise companies have you print out your luggage tags. I hate the new way of doing that. The old tags were easier to just loop on a handle. Now we take a small stapler so that we can staple the luggage tags on just before we go to the ship. It's also a good idea to make a copy of your passport to tuck away in case your passport is lost or stolen.

3. Digging out our adapter comes next. While the ships have both North American and European outlets, an adapter will let you plug in a few extra electronics to charge. Just remember that you can't plug a hair dryer or curling iron into the adapter--unless of course you like to see sparks and smell smoke and do without it for the rest of your cruise. Don't ask me how I know.

4.  I'll need to buy some packages of peanut butter or cheese crackers. They come four or six in a package and because they are pre-packaged, you can take them with you on an excursion just in case it goes a little longer than you planned and there is no stop for a snack or food. Fresh fruit is usually not allowed to be taken from the ship to shore so you can't count on grabbing an apple or banana from the buffet at breakfast.

5. A couple of ziploc bags are always a handy thing to pack. If you should happen to need an ice pack it will be convenient to have the bag to use. A gallon sized bag can hold a wet bathing suit in case you need to pack before your suit dries. A quart sized bag will help protect your phone on the beach from water and/or sand.

6. Open the file I have with my cruise packing list in it and print it out. Long ago I decided to put together a list of things we usually take. Sometimes I add to it. Other times I delete some things. A lot depends upon where we are going and what cruise line we are sailing with. It does save a little sanity and panic over what I might be forgetting.

Okay, now I need to get busy and start gathering it all together. The dining room table is where it all accumulates. When it's all there, we can decide what suitcases to use or go over the pile of clothes and things and decide what we can cut back on. Even though we've traveled a lot there is still that little voice that says, "Don't forget." As long as that little voice speaks up before we are on our way, it's a good thing.