What should smart cruise passengers pack for Carnival? — featuring LifeWithUsTV (Carnival)
In this video: Top 40 Things SMART Cruise Passengers Always PACK!
LifeWithUsTV · 4 years ago
What is a sign-and-sail card?
Your sign-and-sail card is your shipboard identity and payment method. It's a cashless system linked to either cash or your debit/credit card (though the hosts recommend against using debit due to security holds). You'll use it to access your cabin, make purchases, and prove your identity when boarding the ship.
What this video answers
What is a sign-and-sail card?
Why do I need a waterproof phone case if I'm not planning to swim?
Should I pack formal wear even if I don't normally dress up?
What's the benefit of bringing my own wine instead of buying on the ship?
LifeWithUsTV hosts Lynette and Stanley walk through 40 items they recommend for cruise passengers, split into two categories: essentials you absolutely need and personal favorites that enhance your experience. The video focuses specifically on Carnival cruises and aims to cut through generic packing lists by showing you real items the hosts actually use and trust.
This guide suits first-time cruisers who feel overwhelmed by what to pack, experienced travelers looking to optimize their packing routine, and anyone who wants practical, tested recommendations rather than generic advice. Whether you're sailing for three days or a week, the video covers items for various shipboard activities—from pool days and formal dinners to port excursions and cabin time.
Key Moments
Essential Items and Personal Favorites Highlighted
A surge-protecting power strip with multiple outlets, since cabin outlets are limited
Waterproof phone case with neck strap and card slots for secure water access
Lanyard for your sign-and-sail card (your shipboard spending and access pass)
Sea Bands or dramamine to prevent seasickness before it starts
Sunscreen in two formulas—spray and darkening-skin-safe lotion options
A waterproof fanny pack with triple-sealed ziplocs for keeping valuables dry while swimming
Formal night attire, even if you're not traditionally dressy—it's a fun ship tradition
Refillable tumblers that keep drinks cold for hours, perfect for the lido deck
Towel clips to prevent wind from blowing towels off your balcony or lounge chair
What You Should Know Before Packing for Your Cruise
Bring a printed boarding pass in addition to the digital version, since some terminals won't accept phone-only copies
Pack cash in small bills for tips; crew members may claim they can't make change on larger denominations
Include your passport and driver's license (or birth certificate and driver's license)—don't bring a passport with a bent corner
Bring multiple phone chargers; you'll need at least two or three for extended trips
Pack medicine in a lockable organizer case with compartments to keep medications secure and organized
Wear a wristwatch or bring an inexpensive one so you're never late returning to the ship from port excursions
Water shoes and slides are comfortable for walking the ship and going on beach excursions; invest in ones with good soles
Bring wine on board in your luggage to avoid steep onboard markups; uncork it before boarding to avoid corking fees
Pack canned beverages like soda if you have a favorite brand—it's cheaper than buying on the ship
Use resealable bags for damp swimwear or water shoes to prevent mildew and wet luggage
Frequently Asked Questions About Cruise Packing
What is a sign-and-sail card?
Your sign-and-sail card is your shipboard identity and payment method. It's a cashless system linked to either cash or your debit/credit card (though the hosts recommend against using debit due to security holds). You'll use it to access your cabin, make purchases, and prove your identity when boarding the ship.
Why do I need a waterproof phone case if I'm not planning to swim?
Beyond water protection, a waterproof case serves double duty as a secure wallet. You can store money, credit cards, and your ID inside while lounging by the pool, so you never have to worry about theft or water damage to important documents.
Should I pack formal wear even if I don't normally dress up?
Yes. Formal nights are a ship tradition, and the hosts recommend treating it as a fun reason to get dressed up—even if you only participate once during your cruise. It's a different experience from everyday life and creates memorable moments with fellow cruisers.
What's the benefit of bringing my own wine instead of buying on the ship?
Wine on Carnival cruises is significantly marked up. You're allowed to bring your own bottle onboard for personal consumption. If you uncork it before boarding, you won't face an additional corking fee if you want to open it in your cabin.
Do I really need a wristwatch if I have my phone?
Yes. On port days, you need to be back at the ship by a strict cutoff time, and your phone battery might die. A dedicated watch—ideally an inexpensive one so you won't panic if it gets wet or damaged—ensures you always know the time without draining your phone.
This video cuts through the clutter of generic cruise packing lists by focusing on items the hosts have actually used and tested themselves. They explain the *why* behind each recommendation, which helps you decide whether each item is truly necessary for your trip style. What makes it especially useful is the split between essentials (items you genuinely can't do without) and personal favorites (nice-to-haves that enhance comfort), so you can prioritize based on luggage space. Lynette and Stanley's friendly banter and specific product recommendations—from surge protectors to locking medicine cases—give you real examples to search for, and their transparency about things like debit card security holds and corking fees shows they're thinking about your wallet. If you're booking a Carnival cruise, watching this before you pack will save you money and last-minute shopping trips.
Years on the front lines of helicopter tour coordination — not as a travel blogger, but as the person responsible for making every guest experience go right. Managed 2,000+ cruise guests weekly as Shore Excursions staff aboard the Pride of America in Hawaii
Personally coordinated with helicopter tour operators to confirm age, weight, and safety requirements.
📬 Mailing: Lifewithustv, P.O. BOX 9595, Henrico, VA 23228
DISCLAIMER
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to any song(s) used. It is strictly used for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement intended.
Video transcript for “Top 40 Things SMART Cruise Passengers Always PACK!” Accessibility
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welcome back life with us tv your girl lynette and it's your boy stanley all right on today's video we're going to talk about the top 40 things that every cruiser should consider packing for the next carnival cruise yes if you're like us you're so sick and tired of going down these random lists seeing things
that you should pack shouldn't pack we're just going to lay it all out there for you on today's video we're going to give you our essentials the things that you just absolutely have to have and then we're also going to talk about some of our personal favorites the first thing that smart cruisers pack
is a 9 surge protecting power strip as you can see these will work every time because you're going to need more than a few plugs that they provide on the crew so make sure you pick you up one of these number two waterproof phone case yes man they come on amazon pack one pack two whatever you
need they got it comes with the neck strap don't even play yourself just go ahead and do it dual purposes yes boom yeah because in this you can put your money your credit cards your license and all that stuff in there so none of that can be wet when you get in the pool or you want your
skirt the third thing that smart cruisers always pack that's essential is your lanyard man for your sign and sale car when you get on the ship very essential so you can take this job and put around your neck and you ain't gotta worry about losing your car man what is a sign of sale card because i
get this question every time assigned a sale card is basically your onboard spending account on board it is a cashless system so once you get on board you can either fund your card via cash or with your debit or credit card i speak highly against doing your debit card yeah because of the
holes that they put on it but that's basically what a sinusoidal card is it's your access to everything on board yup the fourth thing that smart cruisers always packing you definitely don't want to forget is your shaves man i'm telling you because that sun out there on that water
hearts are nice man so yeah get you some shades absolutely number five good old sea bands y'all know this is my go-to or dramamine if you want to go the municipal route do that but i would rather use these and you'll have that groggy feeling and just case you don't know what it is it's
prevent you from getting seasick yeah number six sunscreen man so we got two different kinds this is the spray con and this is the kind you just wipe on this is the kind that you use when you have darker skin it does not leave a purple or white cast on your skin i will put a link down below it's
pricey but we gotta do really yeah because we don't want y'all to be out there getting sunburned new number seven phone charger yeah or two or three because you don't ever want to be without that self-explanatory self-explanatory yes number eight is a passport and driver's license or
your birth certificate and driver's license you need to see the two of those pairs to get on the ship man so you definitely want to make sure you pack that and don't don't come up in there with the burst of it with the feed on it please don't that's for your mama and now that's it
[Laughter] number nine please print your boarding pass yeah man some terminals don't give you a problem with it being electronically on your phone some of them do just print them for god's sake just do that yes number 10 of the smart things that smart cruisers pack is luggage tags man and we love
these ones in particular because they have these bands here so yeah it just screws right on in like this you good to go they are not gonna tear rip nothing yeah so they can handle your bag any kind of way they want to yup your stuff gonna make it number eleven y'all seen me talk about this before but
it is your medicine case and i told you i have one and it's linked in my amazon store where you build it yourself it has a locking system where you put it in label close it up lock yes indeed your stuff is not going anywhere this has 10 different compartments so that you can pack like 10 different
medications depending on what you want to do yeah man got your medicine cabinet in your pocket boom or pocketbook i have two one for travel one for everyday use yup number 12 man is a wrist wash because you definitely especially if you go on excursions you want to make sure you get back to the
chip on time yeah you definitely want to have that rich watch which i got my apple watch on now but i'm gonna have a cheaper watch yeah cheaper watch when i go on the trip number 13 please bring cash for tips and preferably the smaller bills the better because they will try to act like they
can't make change if you bring a bigger bill yeah cash yes number 14 man a first aid kit you definitely don't want to forget that because you just don't know if you're gonna have an accident while you're on there i know they got the medic on the ship and everything but that caused yeah but if
you know you get a little cut on your hand band-aid boom you're good to go number 15 for the men and for the women a hat my husband goes voluntarily bald during the summers can you imagine not having a hat on your head i use it more to keep the sun off of my neck and off of my face
when especially when i'm lounging around yeah good old sun hat ain't never hurt nobody yes sir number 16 man this one can be easily forgotten about yeah you can go around the ship and like dang i forgot my belt so make sure that you get your belt it's essential man especially on my formula yeah
number 17 [Music] bonnet yeah we all get into their rut where's me like that's the one thing we always forget just pack yourself your travel bonnet and keep it in your toiletry bag that's what i do yeah so if you didn't know by now i'm about to tell you i'm also a travel agent so if you need
someone to book your cruise or you got a little group cruise going on i'm your girl yes www code fun travel that'll be all linked below and also i'm getting this question a lot i've already booked my cruise but i still need help i can take over your booking under certain circumstances just email me at
codefuntravel gmail.com i got you yes indeed so these items that we just did with 17 of our essential items now we transitioning over to our personal phase that these are the things that we use to enhance our crews all right number 18 water shoes and slides yes man so majority time this is what i'm walking
around with on this ship because they they are so comfortable and easy to walk around they might and they're easy to do excursions and these yeah the good kind with the good soles on them yeah excursions all day yup number 19 a light jacket like a windbreaker jacket maybe a jean jacket at night it gets
pretty windy and it gets really cool and i'm one of those people that i get cold my arms gets cold really quickly so boom do that number 20 man we recommend is poo-pourri or we call it mahogany tiki wood from bath and body works yeah uh for the time that you need to go and drop the kids
off at the pool and you want to keep it nice and fresh at the pool you won't do that mine it should have been an essential yeah number 21 a waterproof fanny pack if you're like me i'm a water baby i love to be in the water but i don't trust nobody with my stuff so i take everything that i love
be with me so this water um this fanny pack comes with the velcro and when i say it's strong it's strong not only that it has the triple ziploc technology so one sealed spoon sealed boom again sealed so once you seal all three of these they go down like an accordion like this then this
ain't no water getting in that out egg no more in the water and put it around your waist secure your stuff you're good to go number 22 a cameraman so you can make sure you can either record or take pictures of your memories which you can use a house camera or you can use your your phone so
that to us enhances our trip absolutely because we get to bring back the memories man to you yes and our family to you number 23 your formal night attire i know some people don't like to do it anymore but if you're anything like us we'd be looking for an excuse to get real bad and boujee
so yeah i recommend that just do it like it's a fun event just just go with it have a good time be do do what the cruisers did yeah that time to get a little sexy man thanks good emma huh yeah number 24 man beach bag man those are perfect when you go on excursions man especially beach
excursions i bought this in freeport y'all five bucks yup buy another one when i go next month number 25 if you bring your wine on board as we like to bring it on board because who has time to pay for something you can bring on board um your wine your corkscrew bring that on board so that you don't have to pay the
corking fee yes indeed and i recommend just going ahead and uncorking it before you bring your bottle anywhere because they've been still trying to charge people who got tired of it yeah item number 26 uh and this is more for the queen is a swimsuit cover-up man because you know you might not want the assets out there
all the whole time you out there on the beach about the pool man so yeah it gets you a nice fumble cover up man she got some nice ones yeah i didn't want to take them off of her but yeah she got some ice stop talking please yeah like let the assets hang out baby [Laughter] number 27 a backpack this comes in handy
when we go on excursions because this one right here folds up and it's like this big in your luggage but it's a full sized thing man and it is when i say durable it has it don't took us to jamaica i've had it since 2018. and and she's still kicking still kidding number 28 man uh downey wrinkle release
now i know that they do have uh majority of the ships do have the um laundry room where you can iron your clothes but some ships do not have it it's only very few of them that don't yeah but we always recommend bringing the uh well our personal favorite is bringing our wrinkle release yeah just in case yeah
but i got time for them right to be wrangled number 29 refillable bottles or tumblers shout out to dre shannon tv yeah man because y'all seen these a thousand times we love this cup i love these cups the stuff stays cold like if you go to sleep wake up next day it's still cold yeah
ice and everything number 30 man power bank yes yes this should be essential but it's not essential but we bring it just in case our phone goes dead at the wrong time we can recharge that bad boy up so we do recommend this but this is our personal phrase one of our first weeks absolutely number 31
believe it or not a lot of people go on cruises and they don't get into the water i'm not that person but don't forget your swimming trunks if you're anything like us i love my baby but i am the person that plans and does everything and he's the person that says where we're going again
yeah and i forgot my swimming trunks are plenty of times and have to pay the high price to buy some new ones yes yeah number 32 man bathing suit yeah which i don't got to tell you that because you don't know forget your babysitter yeah yeah so you like getting the water baby suit as well 33 personal fave we love to
be able to bring on our canned beverages yeah i'm a sprite zero kind of girl you can't find it everywhere so i'm bringing my 12 count uh spray zero yes indeed number 34 yeah i know our personal fave is towel clips y'all know it can get very windy out there and it can blow your skid off your balcony off the back
of your chair while you're sitting out on the lido deck so we that should be essential but these are something that could then definitely enhance your crew yeah and you can find these at the dollar tree right number 35 resealable bags and the way that i use them is just in case my swimwear or our
water shoes or something like that isn't completely dry by the time we go to pack our skit up throw them in the in the bag seal them up and that way you don't have to worry about all your stuff just being in a sour mushy mess number 36 man is a laundry bag which this is the one that we have
or a papa a pop-up hamper and the reason we love this is because we take off our dirty clothes and put it in here and then once we get ready to leave but we got some extra clothes that are dirty we just put it in there and take it and draw string them up like that and put it back in our bag man and it keeps
everything nice and separate yep and i'm if i like this too because it also has a little little handle like this where you can put it on yours like this right here money yeah so we especially do that part when we're in resorts yeah but we don't want to look we don't want to beat them people leaving the cruise ship
look like that yeah what the hell is y'all doing man number 37 this is a this is this is mine this is his portable speakers yeah mine got to have the bluetooth speakers it's not essential but for us it really is we love having some tunes while we in our room and these are that's the cabin
this we're those people on the beach yeah beach cabin number 38 take you some reusable straws man they come in handy because you know them them paper straws they have on the crease candy they're gross yes yeah yeah yeah yeah that's that's the life right there that you reusable number 39
should be essential but it's our personal fave it is life lifestyle man baby when you can get the travel size ones clean that room clean that room spray all that skin down yes indeed then open your balcony because you won't kill yourself yeah number 40 y'all that's our personal fave is taking some
dish liquid mash so that the end of the day you can wash your tumblers and your straws man because i know you're not gonna drink out of that all week long right and don't watch this get up yeah yeah that right there down below you will see links to our amazon store that goes in detail of the
things you saw here but also i have a downloadable um packing list as well that is extensive make sure you head over there it's going to give you everything you need to pack boom boom boom it's interactive boom boom boom all right y'all you enjoyed this video you want to check out this video of the
12 things to not pack on your carnival cruise and we're going to catch you in the next video peace
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