What are the best cruise cabin hacks for 2025? — featuring Life Well Cruised

0:00 Most cruise cabins are smaller and more compact than the average hotel room. In this video, you'll learn new cabin hacks, tips, and secrets to add storage, stay organized, add comfort, and even save money. And most of these things should be done on day one between muster station check-in and bedtime.

0:22 [Music] Hi there, I'm Elana from the website lifewwellcruise.com. Welcome or welcome back to my channel. Now, I have been cruise ship cabin hacking since my kids were young. The truth is, when the kids were younger, we used to be four people in a small inside cabin. So, we really

0:42 had to make use of every single square inch of space in that room. But the reality is that some things have changed and so have my tips. Now, cruise ships are newer and they are using new technology and even some of the older ships. Well, there are some things that are now available that weren't in the

1:04 past. Now, whether you are a new cruiser or a seasoned cruiser, this video is full of the cruise tips that work now, as well as some new hacks that I have recently learned and tried out. Now, before I get started, I did want to mention that if you like this video, if you find it helpful, informative, or

1:20 enjoyable in any way, then please do give this video a big thumbs up. I really do appreciate it. And please subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already. Let's get started. Number one, cabin attendant requests and communication. Now, this is something really important. It remains important

1:36 to this day because your cabin attendant is more than just housekeeping. However, the technology has changed a little bit and there are some different ways that you're going to want to communicate. So, firstly, you want to make sure that you're meeting your cabin attendant sometime after you've entered your cabin

1:52 and before dinner time. This is going to be very important because this initial meeting is going to allow you to ask for certain things that you really want to request on the first day of your cruise. So, what are some of the things that you can request? And by the way, this is going to be different for everyone, but

2:10 some of the things include an ice bucket. Now, sometimes you're going to find an ice bucket already there in your cabin. If you'd like that to be filled daily, simply ask for that. And if you don't see the ice bucket, you can still ask for it because they will bring it. But likewise, if you're never going to

2:25 use that ice bucket, ask them to remove it because it does actually take up a little bit of room on your desk and there isn't that much space. Now, the other thing that you can ask for is hangers. Now, if you don't mind getting the hangers that are like that laundry style, just those wire metal hangers,

2:42 you definitely can ask for them and they'll bring them to you later. So, that's typically what we do. But lately, we've actually started to bring uh these in part. I guess a lot of people just recommended it and said, "You know what? Instead of waiting, you can have these right away." So, I bring, you know,

2:59 about 15 or so of these. And one of the things that I do like is I bring a lot of dresses with straps. So these little portable hangers do have space and I also use them in hotels. So if I am ever traveling like on a land trip, these are handy as well. Ask for extra pillows, extra towels. And if you think that you

3:20 might need a mattress topper, ask for that as well. Sometimes the beds might be a little bit hard. So, if this is something that you want, ask right away as the quantities are often limited. Ask for items to be taken away. So, not only can cabin attendants bring you things, but there are some items that we

3:39 typically ask to be taken away. And some of that is at any bar items. So, whether it's snack foods that are sometimes left there, water bottles that can be, you know, even $5 or more, anything that's in the fridge, we want that removed. But what we do is we actually do try to fill

3:58 our fridge ourselves, at least during the cruise. This is especially true if we do have a drink package that includes water bottles. We'll bring back six or more water bottles to keep in the fridge so that we always have one cold and ready whether it's during the night or heading out on an excursion. Now, I have

4:15 never asked for this, but I have heard that in some cases, this can be available. If you are somebody who uses a kettle, in particular, if you're cruising like from the UK, often times this is available with your cabin attendant. Request a fan. Now, this can be extremely limited, so I definitely

4:33 wouldn't count on it. If you need a fan, I would 100% bring it from home. I'll show you later some of the cruise essentials that I actually bring, but on some cruise lines, portable fans may be available. Just don't get upset if your cabin attendant isn't able to provide you one. Robes and slippers. Now, I

4:53 always request a robe, and most cruise lines are able to give you one. There are a couple of cruise lines that only give robes after a certain level of loyalty or with a certain type of cabin, but most of the cruise lines are going to be able to provide you those. So, I usually request them, but I have heard

5:11 from some passengers that they're also requesting slippers, and you never know. I think that this is something pretty handy to have in your cabin. Please let me know if you've requested and received them down in the comments below. Storage, space saving, and clothing hacks. Now, something that we do right

5:28 away is we unpack everything as soon as we get it. Now, I love to use packing cubes. And the reason that we use packing cubes is that we can place our packing cubes right into the drawers, right into the shelves. And truthfully, this has been a gamecher because now it takes us much less time to unpack. And a

5:48 little tip, we still use in our family different colors of packing cubes and I suggest you do too. Now, personally, I've been loving compression cubes lately. And this size, by the way, is what I use for, you know, bras and underwear and that kind of thing. It just seems like it's really the right

6:07 size. And again, this is compressed. So, this is perfect when we are traveling and packing, but then when it's in my drawer, I can leave it expanded to its regular size, and it really makes its own makeshift basket. Now, like I mentioned, I like to hang everything to minimize wrinkles. But something that

6:25 you can do is also bring Downey Wrinkle Release. Or if you don't want to bring Downy Wrinkle Release, the other thing you could do is make your own, all you need is a small little bottle and a fabric softener sheet. And you can just fill that with water and that will make your own DIY solution. Now, just to let

6:44 you know, you're not allowed to bring a steamer or a clothing iron on a cruise. So having something to release the wrinkles is very practical. Now I do have a little tip and something that I found out recently when we were on Norwegian Encore last year. There were some people that told me that when you

7:01 cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line, you can ask the cabin attendant for an iron and an ironing board. And I actually did that and obviously I couldn't keep it in my cabin. But when I did need it a time or two during my cruise, I asked and I was able to get one. And when I've sailed on Princess Cruises and Carnival,

7:19 there's been a self-service laundry room where I was able to find an iron and an ironing board as well. Use vertical hanging shelves. Now, personally, I am not using these. However, if you have a long cruise or if you're sailing with a family of four, these can be very handy and practical. Foldable boxes. Now,

7:38 these can be found at the dollar store. I don't think there's a better place to find them in different sizes. And you can keep these right inside the closet. You can keep shoes in them if you like or flip-flops in them. You can keep cruise essentials. You can keep your snorkeling gear. You can find small

7:55 boxes as well that can help you to organize your drawers. Now, something a lot of first-time cruisers don't know and don't do is you want to store your luggage because cabins are small, so you don't want your luggage taking up space. What you'll want to do is put one piece of luggage into the other and slide that

8:15 right under the bed. And by the way, another little tip when it comes to clothing is if you've worn clothing for your travel days and maybe it was comfy clothing or maybe you have a jacket, if you've flown from somewhere where it's cold and you're not going to be wearing it during your cruise, leave that stored

8:32 inside your luggage so it doesn't take up any of that precious drawer and shelf space. Now, I wanted to share with you something new. I always bring a popup hamper. I swear by it. If you haven't tried it yet, don't knock it till you try it. But I recently found something new that some people had suggested and

8:49 this is a hamper that actually has two sides. So really good especially if you plan on doing any laundry during your cruise because of course you can fold everything. But the other thing that people are using this two-sided hamper for is if you have children and you want toys on one side or if you're putting

9:07 this in the closet and you're keeping items. Now, the nice thing is that it folds up flat if you want to put it straight in your luggage this way. Or you can also twist this and store it in your luggage like this. All right, let's talk about bathroom and laundry hacks. And I want to show you

9:27 something new. I think this might be the most genius find that I found probably in the last year or so. So, this is a toothbrush holder. And look, it's got a suction. So, what you do is you're going to actually put this suction straight on your mirror and then of course it's going to stay sanitary because it does

9:44 have this little cover. Now, if you've ever been on a cruise before, you know that the space in the cabin, the shelves, the counter space is very small. So, you definitely want space saving items for there and probably for hotels as well. So, here are a couple of things to try. Now, I have a couple of

10:01 different hanging toiletry bags. This is my original hanging toiletry bag. I still love it. This is actually in size large. I usually use the medium size. I find that that's a good size for me. Still love that one. But I just tried this one. So, for anybody going on maybe shorter cruises, you're doing a 5-day

10:19 cruise or if you've ever found that the other one is a little bit large, you don't need to bring that. This is a smaller one. So, it is perfect, especially for travel size containers. And a little tip that I learned from a viewer is that instead of packing it up like this in your luggage, you can

10:36 actually also unfold it and pack it flat. Now, a little mini travel item that I swear by and I love to use is this little travel razor. Comes in its own container. And by the way, along with the new hanging toiletry bag, I also purchased these other accessories. They had a little set of three. So, I

10:55 really like these. And this is good for cosmetics or maybe shaving items as well. Bring your own hand soap, shampoo, and conditioner. Now, this is going to differ depending on the cruise ship that you're on. So, do a little bit of research before you go, but you're going to find that sometimes you're just not

11:11 even going to have a separate shampoo and conditioner. Sometimes it's going to be a twoin one. I've even seen a three in one before. So, in that case, I definitely bring my own travel size toiletries. But something that a lot of people do if you don't have a liquid soap dispenser in your bathroom or if

11:27 you're sensitive a little bit is bring their own hand soap bottle as well. Now, another really good tip that I learned recently from a viewer is to bring your own doggy or pet bags. You know those poop bags? But basically, the idea of that is you're going to bring that to put it as a liner in your bathroom for

11:46 the garbage pail because there's usually no liner there at all. And what people have shared is if you are somebody who uses like personal wipes or anything like that, you'll want to place them in that doggy or poop bag as you cannot flush these items in your cabin toilet and your cabin attendant is going to be

12:06 very grateful. The dish soap and sponge trick. Now, if you are bringing your own reusable coffee mugs, I like to do that and this way I can fill up my coffee in the morning time, whether it's from room service or even from one of the cafes. But if you're bringing anything like that, you are going to want to have a

12:24 little bit of dish soap with you. Now, what you'll want to do is at home, take a sponge, just an average kitchen sponge. You're going to put a little bit of Dawn or other dish soap on there. You're going to let that dry and then you're going to cut it up into six or four. Let it dry and then place those

12:41 little sponges in a ziplo. Now, just throw that in your luggage. But when you need to wash something during your cruise, you're going to have it. Now, speaking of washing, you can actually hand wash a few items right in your bathroom. But the thing that a lot of people are doing, especially for longer

12:58 cruises or if you have kids, is bringing a scrubber. Now, I recently bought this to try it out because it had been recommended. So, if you're wondering, how can I do laundry on a cruise? This is definitely a way. So, you're going to put your clothing in here, especially gymwear, anything like that that really

13:14 needs to be scrubbed a little bit more or undergarments. And what you'll feel, I guess you you can't see it here maybe that well, but on the inside, it's that there are these little I guess agitators, if you will. And so once this is filled up and you seal this, you're just going to kind of push down on those

13:34 agitators and you're actually going to be able to wash your clothes effectively. Now, make sure that you do bring a laundry soap sheet to place in here. But you're just going to fill that up with water, do a little bit of a wash, rinse that out, add new water, and your laundry is done. And by the way,

13:50 when you want to dry your items, you want to get rid of any of the excess moisture by using a towel in the bathroom. But after that, you can hang up your items to dry either in the bathroom, in the shower. You're going to have a little clothing line or in my opinion, the clothes are going to dry

14:06 much better if you dry them in the cabin. Now, speaking of drying items in your cabin, let's talk about magnet hooks and clips, and then we're going to talk about the command zone. Now, if you've cruised before, you know that cabin walls are almost always metal. And I know if you're a firsttime cruiser,

14:25 this is probably newer information for you. Let me know. By the way, if you're a firsttime cruiser, please say firsttime cruiser down in the comments below. But yes, cabin walls are metal. So, what you can do is you can bring small magnet hooks and you could add extra vertical storage to your cabin.

14:44 Now, if you think that these haven't worked for you, it's because there's a trick. You have to get the heavy duty ones. Now, I always suggest getting something that's 50 lb or more. And truthfully, I get the ones that are like 80 or 100 lb because they work best. Now, I place magnet hooks strategically

15:01 around the cabin. So, I'm going to have a couple of magnet hooks that are near the balcony door if I do have a balcony cabin. And those are going to be the hooks that are great for drying off the bathing suits or cover ups because they're going to be where the sunshine is coming in. Now, I also place a couple

15:17 of magnet hooks right near the front door, and that's because I usually wear a lanyard on a cruise. I tend to lose my cruise card, so I'm not embarrassed to say that I actually make sure that I hang up my lanyard with my cruise card. I just put it right there as we come in, just like your keys if you're coming

15:35 into a house. Now, I also keep magnet hooks on my wall for any cross body bags or purses. We also want to hang up any of our hats to keep their shape and to keep those items out of the way and off the shelves so we have more room for clothing. Now, we do also use magnet clips for the paperwork. Now, what is

15:53 some of the paperwork that you might have in your cabin? Well, this can include daily cruise planners. And by the way, these days, your cruise planner is usually available on the app. So, you don't have to have a printed cruise planner if you don't want to. But if you do want to have one, you can ask your

16:08 cabin attendant for this. So, this is another request that you can ask for. The other thing is sometimes you're going to get some invitations or you're going to have printed shore excursion tickets. So, all of that can go right up on the wall on what I like to call the command zone, which is the area at the

16:26 vanity or desk. Now, something that I like to do is on my wall, I like to print out the cruise itinerary so that we know where are we going on every day of our cruise. And I'll also print out a cruise outfit planner because I actually plan my cruise outfits from dayto-day and it just makes it a little bit

16:44 easier. Now, just to let you know, those are just a couple of the pages that are included in the Life Wall cruise ultimate cruise planner. And I will show you this is another one that we also sometimes keep on the wall or I can make a little binder or a little doang. This is port of call information. So, you'll

16:59 have all of the different things even you can look up when you're researching the places to see, the things to do, etc. So, all of that is included in the Lifeell Cruise Ultimate Cruise Planner. Now, if you're wondering what is the Life Well Cruise Ultimate Cruise Planner, this is a 47page downloadable

17:16 printable cruise planner that you could use to keep organized from the time that you book your cruise all the way through embarcation and unfortunately disembarkcation. Now, it includes cruise packing list, cruise outfit planning forms, cruise shore excursion planning forms, budget planning forms, and more.

17:32 And the great thing is that this is a digital planner, so you can print out only the pages that you want for as many cruises as you go on. Now, I will leave all of the information about the Life Cruise Ultimate Cruise Planner down below in the description of this video in case you do want to check it out.

17:47 Now, I almost forgot to mention a little tip when it comes to laundry. If you don't want to bring that laundry hamper, I still swear by it, but if you don't want to, you can definitely store your laundry like in your luggage. Some people what they like to do is just keep it open under the bed. So, you can put

18:04 it there. And the other thing that I did when I forgot my laundry hamper on a Virgin Voyages cruise um in the summertime is I happen to have a little drawstring bag with me that we got on a shore excursion. So I actually use that to keep my laundry in as well. And there are some different laundry bags that you

18:24 can purchase if you like. Now going back to the desk or vanity, there is something that I started to do recently and this is keep a little pouch with money in it. So basically ones and fives or small bills and this is there because when you order room service, you want to have a few dollars handy to tip the

18:42 person who is delivering the room service. Now, I started to do this because something that I had found is that I would keep my money in the safe and when it was 7 or 7:30 in the morning, I didn't want to go looking for the money. So, I just keep a few dollars there. Now, along with that, in your top

18:59 drawer, don't forget to bring some pens and some highlighters. You never know when you need them. And place any of the items that you're using regularly, even if it's something like AirPods, place those there as well. The charger zone. Now, even today, most cruise cabins just don't have enough electric outlets and

19:18 USB outlets. So, we always bring a non surge protected power cube on our cruises. Now, there have been some changes recently on a couple of cruise lines, in particular, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, where you're not able to bring that specific power cube. However, you are able to bring a USBon charging

19:36 hub. I will leave those recommendations down below in the description of this video. have a snack drawer. Now, if you do want to bring snacks on a cruise, you can think about non-p perishable items. So, bags of chips, uh, chocolate bars, candy gum, that kind of thing. Now, I recently learned something from a viewer

19:55 and they said, cuz chips can get a little bit squished if you put them right into your suitcase to pack these things in a shoe box instead, which I thought was a really smart thing. But I also recently saw something on a plane that I was on. I was actually um on a flight and there were a couple of people

20:14 that were sitting next to me. They were doing a cruise. I think it might have been like on a lure of the seas with Royal Caribbean, a Mediterranean cruise while we were doing our Virgin cruise. And in any case, they had this little snack box. I think they call it a snackle box that they had with them.

20:33 Very, very cool. So, they were using this on the airplane and they had filled up these little containers with like jujubs and Swedish berries and M&M's and, you know, pretzels and that kind of thing. But the neat thing was they told me they had filled it all up. They had seen this hack online and they planned

20:52 on bringing this on their cruise and when they were having some like in cabin movie nights and that kind of thing, they had their snack box ready. Comfort essentials. Now, I mentioned earlier that you can ask your cabin attendant for a fan, but it is not guaranteed. So, personally, I bring this fan. This is

21:09 actually a flat fan, and it just stays charged for a long time. So, it really is a very good one. I love this one. But the other one that a lot of people are loving these days is this magnetic fan. And you can just put this right onto the wall next to your bed if you want. So, that is pretty cool. Now, by the way,

21:28 I'm going to leave these as well as any of the other items that I mentioned in today's video in the description below the video title as well as in a pinned comment. Furniture transformation and storage hacks. So, firstly, something that you should know is you can reconfigure some of your cabin if you

21:47 really need to. Now, what I'm talking about is if you are two people in the cabin and you prefer the beds to be apart, you can do that. If you prefer them to be together, you can do that as well. Just ask your cabin attendant. But usually when you do book your cabin, they're going to ask you this. So, swap

22:03 a chair for a stool. Now, if you're in a cabin, like on Virgin Voyages, you're going to have a little stool to use at your vanity or desk. Now, if you're going to be sitting a little bit longer, that's not going to be great on your back. So, don't hesitate to just switch those pieces out. Now, I have even heard

22:22 of people asking their cabin attendant if instead of a stool, even on other cruise lines, if they could find them a chair, and they have. Look around your room for hidden storage. Now, one of the places that I have found hidden storage is underneath the foot of the bed. It depends on the cruise line, but

22:39 sometimes there are drawers at the foot of the bed. So, you can find that extra storage. Or look under the couch, you may find drawers. Now, on the walls, you may find some almost hidden storage or cupboards. And don't forget to look behind the mirrors because sometimes that's another place where there are

22:56 small hidden shelves. Now, if you're in an inside cabin, I do have a little bit of a hack to get some additional daylight. And this is to turn on your TV at night. Make sure that it's without any volume, but turn it to the bridge cam. And then in this way, at night time, of course, it's going to be dark

23:13 because you're sailing through the night, but as the sun comes up, well, it's going to get brighter as well. Now, if you're somebody who doesn't like the light, I'm going to share with you a trick that some people are doing. On some newer cruise ships, there are motion sensor lights that are under the

23:28 furniture. Now, some people love them. I am one of them, but some people don't. If the little lights bother you in different places around the cabin, bring a roll of painters tape and cover up those little lights. But don't forget to remove them when you do vacate your cabin. Now, if you need more light,

23:47 bring a motion sensor light. Now, this is something that we usually bring. And a big reason is that if you get up during the middle of the night and you walk towards the bathroom, well, you can actually end up stubbing your toe and in particular at the bathroom because the bathroom is usually just, you know, a

24:04 couple of inches higher than the rest of your cabin. So, place that motion sensor light on the ceiling right outside that door. Or alternatively, you can head to the dollar store where you can find some battery operated tea lightss that you can keep on a shelf inside the washroom.

24:20 Balcony safety and security. Never open up your balcony door and the front door of your cabin at the same time because you're going to actually have a wind tunnel effect. And there are some people who have had their fingers banged very badly. So, don't do that. Now, if you are sailing with children, look for the

24:35 safety lock on your balcony door. And this way, when you're inside the cabin and you don't want the children to open it, you can make sure that is locked and secure. Balcony furniture. Now, if you have two chairs on your balcony and you might be three or four people, as long as you have the room on your balcony,

24:51 sometimes you're not going to, but if you have the room, ask your cabin attendant if they can bring an extra chair for you. Communication and technology. Now, these days, cruise ships have an app, so you could use that to communicate sometimes with housekeeping if you like, which is a lot

25:07 faster than actually having to wait for the cabin attendant. But otherwise, what you can do is write a little sticky note. I always bring sticky notes and pens. And you can write a little sticky note for your cabin attendant as well. But you can also use your phone. Now, the other thing is have a whiteboard.

25:24 And if you want to leave some notes even to the people in your cabin, if you're going old school and you're not texting during your cruise, you can definitely do that. And what some people do is they actually put their whiteboard right on their cabin door. And with this, you can actually leave a note for somebody else

25:40 in your party to let them know where you are and where you'd like to meet them. But the other thing that you can do is actually even write a question for other people that are passing by on the cruise. And you might find that they will answer. Cabin door decorations. Now, if you want to make sure that you

25:57 can always find your cabin or maybe you're sailing with somebody who actually just needs a little bit of a reminder, then what you can do these days is just on Amazon, you can buy these themed magnet door decoration in cabin comfort. Download Netflix movies or even YouTube videos before you go on

26:15 your cruise. Now, sometimes the TV channels that are on, you know, a cruise ship just aren't that great. So then you can pick and choose the movies ahead of time and don't rely on cruise ship Wi-Fi to download them because it can be very slow and expensive. Now the other thing you might want to bring is

26:31 noiseancelling headphones. Now I recently bought these for the airplane. They are really good. They were on sale. I'll leave them linked down below in the description of this video in case they're on sale. It's a great time to get them. And another thing that a lot of people do is bring a white noise

26:47 machine. Now, if some of the sounds on a cruise ship might bother you, sometimes there might be the sound of an anchor if you have a cabin that's towards the front, or maybe the sound of an engine if you're towards the back, or maybe the sound of the pool if you're right under the pool deck. So, this little white

27:03 noise machine can be handy. Now, I mentioned comfort. So, a couple of things that we do to be a little bit more comfortable is we bring our own refillable water bottles, unless we have a drink package that includes water. But we always want to make sure that we do have water in the cabin, especially for

27:19 at night time. And I also bring a refillable coffee mug cuz sometimes I do like to have a tall cup. Money-saving cabin hacks. Now, this is all in the type of cabin that you choose. If you're four people, consider doing four people all in one cabin. Oftent times, this is going to be the cheapest option if you

27:38 don't think you're going to be in your cabin much. But if you do think that you're going to spend a little bit more time in your cabin or maybe you have teenagers or something like that, consider getting two cabins that are either side by side or even better one cabin straight in front that's an

27:53 interior cabin and the other cabin that is a balcony. And this way you can spend less on that interior cabin and everybody can come into the balcony cabin to enjoy those wonderful views. Take advantage of the free room service if your cruise ship has it. Now, a few cruise lines still have free room

28:10 service available. So, if you have that during certain times on your cruise, definitely take advantage of it. And if you have continental breakfast that is free, use that also and take advantage of it. And especially if you have a balcony, a great cabin tip is to make sure that you actually plan to use that

28:28 balcony. And one of the ways is to order room service breakfast in the morning. Do the room service math. If you are actually planning to order room service, sometimes there's going to be a delivery charge on some cruise lines. As an example, on Celebrity, I believe it's a $12 delivery charge. But what you can do

28:47 is group orders so that if you're going to be paying that delivery charge anyway, you might as well be ordering all of the different items that you want. Now, you might be wondering, what else can you ask your cabin attendant for? So, I'm going to leave a video right after this one with a list of

29:02 about 25 different out ofthe-box things that you can ask from your cabin steward. Now, I am going to leave all of the items that I mentioned in today's video down below in the description of this video along with other cruise essentials. And I will leave the LifeWalk Cruise ultimate cruise planner

29:19 as well in case you do want to check it out. Now, I hope that you enjoyed this video. If you did, please do give it a big thumbs up. I really do appreciate it and please subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already. Bye for now and happy cruising.