What are the best cruise hacks for 2026? — featuring Life Well Cruised

0:00 These are all unique cruise tips, tricks, and hacks that will save you time, money, or aggravation. Now, some of these are newly being used by cruisers this year, while others are so little known that they are still bestkept secrets. [music] Hi there, I'm Elana from the website lifewellcruise.com. Welcome or welcome

0:24 back to my channel. Now, I love some good cruise tips and hacks, and I promise you this video will not disappoint. I have new cruise hacks that people are using right now and that I've tried out myself over the last few months, and I did want to include a few tried and trueue cruise tips that still

0:45 hold true today, especially for anybody who is a new cruiser. Now, before I get started, I did want to mention that if you like this video, if you find it helpful, informative, or 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

1:00 if you haven't done so already. Let's get started. Now, since I have quite a few of these, I am going to give them to you like rapid fire style. I did want to keep them organized to a certain extent, but I will tell you that they're in no particular order. These hacks will get you better service. Give $2 bills to the

1:23 bartenders or anyone that you might want to give a small tip to. Now, this is something that has been mentioned again and again where people claim that if they give a $2 bill to a crew member that they are a little bit more remembered. And anecdotally, many crew members have actually come into the

1:43 comments on my videos and on Tik Toks and said that they actually really do appreciate this. Now, what about if you don't have any $2 bills? Well, like it or not, this might be a little bit controversial, but when it comes to bartenders, tipping an extra dollar, or even if you find a bartender that you

2:03 really happen to like early on in the cruise, if you give them a little bit of a larger tip, even a $10 or a $20, there is a good chance that when you go back to that bar, they are going to remember you and give you better service. And this one is absolutely free. Just being nice actually works. Saying the crew

2:25 member's name, saying thank you, saying hello, how is your day? That in itself, even without any additional money, will usually get you better service. Plus, it is a nice thing to do. All right, moving on to something very practical that many people swear by, and I thought this was

2:45 a really good idea. When you get to your cabin on the first day of your cruise, take a photo of your cabin number, basically your door, and make that the wallpaper on your phone. And this way, if you lose your phone, if you leave it anywhere on the cruise ship, you can more easily get this back. Now, please

3:03 let me know if you've ever done this on a cruise and if it has worked. Look for alternative breakfast options. Now, we often talk about different places that you can eat on board as an alternative um on imbarcation day for lunch, but we don't usually talk about breakfast on a cruise, but there are often better

3:23 places than the buffet. Now, if you're going on a Royal Caribbean cruise and they have a Johnny Rockets, check there for breakfast because although lunch and dinner basically all day, there is an extra cost to eating there, they do have a great Americanstyle breakfast that is absolutely free. Now, if you're on a

3:40 Princess cruise, check out the International Cafe. Now, a lot of firsttime cruisers don't realize that this is actually included, and it is very good. And if you're on a Carnival cruise, check out options like Blue Iguanas that has, I think, one of the best breakfasts at sea. They've got a

3:58 breakfast burrito that I absolutely love. And of course, we cannot forget about the main dining room, which is available for free on most cruise lines. And on C days, there are many cruise lines that have a fabulous Caday brunch that combines both a breakfast and a lunch menu. And for anybody who is going

4:17 on Virgin Voyages, do not forget to check out the Wake or Razledazzle. I like the Wake personally for a fabulous breakfast. And this is going to let you skip the galley and have a really nice special breakfast instead. Room service. Now, most cruise lines do have room service that is available for free, at

4:39 least for breakfast. And these days, it seems like cruise lines want to keep this a little bit quiet. But this is something that you can take advantage of. So, make sure that you do take a look at what is available, including the continental breakfast. Now, one of the great things about doing this is your

4:58 breakfast can actually serve as a wakeup call. And even if you don't want to have your full breakfast in your cabin, just order some coffee and maybe some fruit and a Danish. And a lot of like experienced cruisers are going to call this pre-re. Now, another tip when it comes to room

5:15 service is take a look at what is available the menu on the app, but you can also call and you can also fill out that breakfast card. But something that we've noticed over the years, and this is even recently, is that if you call, there may be other items that are available, not on the app, not on the

5:35 card, that they can actually give you. So, some examples include like a fruit plate, even if you don't see that on the menu, and even chicken nuggets. Now, a little tip. When you order room service, you may want to give a tip to the person who is delivering uh your items. So, what I like to do is keep a few $1 bills

5:55 or $2 bills if you want to do that. I keep those in a top drawer so I don't have to go scrging around early in the morning when my delivery arrives. Cabin tips and hacks. First of all, when it comes to choosing your cabin, do not sleep on those inside cabins if you do want to save money and if you want to

6:14 sleep better. Now, these are a few cruise cabin hacks that people are using today and absolutely swear by. Now, I think a lot of people know about the magnets and I had to include this because it really is a great one. You can add vertical storage by getting some heavyduty magnets. They are available on

6:31 Amazon. I have some suggestions of different cruise essentials. I'll leave that list down in the description below. But that really does work. Now, beside that, a very inexpensive hack is buy glow sticks. And you can get these at the dollar store, a package of 10 or so, and you can put a single glow stick in

6:50 your bathroom on the shelf every single night. And that'll just give you a little bit of light if you only want that. Bring a fan to have some air that circulates in your cabin. And these days there are magnetic fans that can actually uh hold onto the wall or you can get one of those flat fans.

7:06 Personally, I like these that you could just keep on your night table. Bring zip locks on your cruise. Now, you can use these in your cabin. Absolutely. I promise you, one of the places that you can use a Ziploc is that you can put your passport, your keys, jewelry, just other items into your safe, but put it

7:25 first into your Ziploc bag so that when you do vacate your cabin, nothing is left behind. If you have connecting rooms, bring a doors stopper to keep that door open. Have laundry, of course you do. You can bring a popup hamper, but what many people shared is they like to bring scented kitchen bags and this

7:45 way they put their laundry in there and at the end of the cruise you can just pack that up or maybe even better is use a vacuum seal bag to actually condense all of that laundry in your packing on the way home or what I've used is a good compression packing cube. bring a travel adapter with you because you could use

8:05 that European plug and get some extra electric outlets and USB outlets. I am going to leave a couple of my favorites along with any discount codes that I may have. I'm going to leave that down in the description below. Now, let's talk about non-sur protected power cubes. There are a couple of cruise lines,

8:21 Royal Caribbean and Celebrity in particular, that are no longer allowing any non-surge protected power cubes that have electric outlets. But what you can bring are multi-usb hubs. And a very good tip is to bring an extra long cable so that you can charge your phone. Plug it in at your desk

8:44 because for whatever reason a lot of times USB outlets are like at the desk and not next to the bed, especially if you're not on one of the newer ships. So if you bring one of those really long cables, you are going to find that helpful. Now, by the way, if you're planning a cruise and you are trying to

9:00 stay organized and make sure that you do not forget a thing, I do have the Lifewell Cruise Ultimate Cruise Planner. Now, the Lifewell Cruise Ultimate Cruise Planner is a 47page downloadable printable planner that you could use to keep you organized from the time that you book your cruise all the way through

9:15 imbarcation and through disembarkcation of your cruise. Now, it includes cruise packing list, cruise shore excursion planning forms, cruise budget planning forms, and more. And the best thing is that since it is a downloadable planner, you could print out only the pages that you want for as many cruises as you go

9:32 on. Now, I am going to leave all of the information about the Lifwell Cruise Ultimate Cruise Planner down below in the description of this video in case you want to check it out. Save money on drinks. Now, a lot of people do know that you are able to bring a bottle of wine or a bottle of champagne per person

9:48 on most cruise lines as long as you bring it on imbarcation day and you bring it in your carry-on bag. But what if you bring champagne? What happens after you open that up? Well, I've always found that after a day gets flat. So, what a viewer shared is that they bring a champagne stopper, which I think

10:07 is absolutely brilliant. I did find it on Amazon and I am going to be bringing it on my next cruise cuz the hack that I use is I make my own mimosas in the morning. Yes, I just order room service orange juice and then I have my champagne or my procco and I make my very own drink and it really is kind of

10:28 the perfect way to start off my day on a cruise. Coffee lover, bring your own coffee flavored syrup. This way you can get the regular coffee from the buffet without having to pay big bucks for the specialty coffee. In a couple of minutes, I have some awesome convenience tips that are completely new. But first,

10:50 I did want to stay on money saving tips for just a moment. One of the great tips that was shared, and I think this is a little bit of an old school tip, but it really does still work today and probably we don't talk about it enough, but is opening up a highinterest savings account and just putting money into that

11:08 every single month. And this way when you find a great cruise or when you're ready for your cruise or you have to pay your final payment, you actually have the money and it's been working at least a little bit for you. Use Norwegian Cruise Lines or really any other cruise line that has this. Use their credit

11:23 card if you're eligible and make your purchases there and then pay it off every single month. When do you do that? You'll actually earn things like onboard credit or an upgrade to your cabin. And if you're using a credit card anyway, this is basically like free money. Become a cruise line shareholder. If you

11:43 love a certain cruise line or group, you can buy 100 shares of that cruise line. And then this way, whenever you go on a cruise, for instance, if you own Carnival stock, you can go on a Princess Cruise, on a Holland America cruise, a Kunard cruise, and you can get a benefit every single time you cruise. Now, in

12:02 our experience, on a 7-day cruise, it is typically a $100 onboard credit. Book your next cruise on board your cruise. Now, this is a good one because you are going to get extra bonuses like onboard credit that you could use on the cruise that you are on now or towards a future cruise, which is very helpful. And I

12:21 have something unofficial that some people have shared and it's not an absolute. So please let me know if you have found this, but if you book a future cruise or just even put a next cruise deposit on a Royal Caribbean cruise on imbarcation day, many people say that they have gotten a free bottle

12:39 of champagne. Now again, this is unofficial, so please let me know if you've ever heard of this or if this has happened to you. Look for pre- cruise deals on Wi-Fi, drink packages, specialty dining. It is not going to be cheaper when you get on board your cruise, but you may save 20 to even 50%

12:59 by booking this in advance. Repric your cruise often. If you've booked your cruise early, which typically is the best price, and you also get your best choice of cabin, etc. If you've booked that several months or maybe a year early, your final payment is usually only going to be due somewhere around 3

13:17 to four months uh before your cruise. What you'll want to do is make sure that you periodically check that price because if the price has gone down, the cruise line usually will honor that lower price. Use a travel agent. Now, this is one still that many people think is going to cost

13:36 them extra, but a travel agent can actually be such a big help when you book your cruise and can save you money and you can get some extra perks. Now, a lot of times people do ask, "What travel agent do I recommend?" Well, we personally use MEI Travel. They are our travel agent partner. And when it comes

13:57 to MEI Travel, they are a no fee travel agency. And this is not the case with all travel agencies, but this is with MEI Travel. So, when you do book with them, you can know that you're not paying more than booking directly with the cruise line. But they do have access to promotional pricing and extra perks

14:15 that you wouldn't get if you went directly through the cruise line. Now, one of the things that I like best about dealing with MEI Travel is the fact that when it comes to monitoring the price, if it does decrease, they actually have a technology where they do that for you. And if the price decreases, they will

14:32 automatically refund the difference to you or contact you about it, which is absolutely amazing. Now, what I like to do is go on their website and just sometimes shop around, but I also have a travel agent that I deal with directly, so you can just shoot them an email. There is a quotation form so somebody

14:49 can give you a call back if you like. I am going to leave the information for MEI Travel linked down below in the description of this video. And if you're on my email list, by the way, I'll also leave um my email newsletter down below that comes with a free packing list if you want. But I often do include some of

15:10 the really good deals um that are shared with me or that I found on MEI Travel. I do include those in my weekly newsletter as well. All right, I have a few quick ones for convenience and ease and then we're going to get into some of those bigger ones even that will help for disembarkcation day. Now, I know this is

15:29 going to sound funny to some, but I think it's an amazing tip. If you're somebody who goes down and gets coffee for yourself and somebody else in the cabin, or maybe you pick up soda and you bring it back to the cabin for like two or more people, you can actually bring a little sort of cup holder. You can bring

15:46 the cardboard ones that you get from Starbucks or McDonald's or anything like that. But I have seen, and I have not tried this out yet, so I will. Um, but there is a product on Amazon that you can actually pick up and you can bring several cups in it and it doesn't take any extra space. So, I think it's

16:02 brilliant. Um, the Tik Tok that I saw about this was somebody who was on a Disney cruise and on Disney by the way um your soda is included. So, they would basically go up um to the pool deck area, get soda for like four people to bring it back to the cabin with those cups and they were able to carry it with

16:21 this holder. Bring zip locks so that you can go to the buffet and you can pick up some snacks for later. Now, this can include things like cheese and crackers. It can include cookies, which is one of the most popular ones. And if you want, you can bring, you know, a small flat Tupperware style container so that you

16:39 can bring some snacks back to your cabin for later as well. Now, if you have children, you could pick up cereal boxes from the buffet and you can bring them back to your cabin, not only for a snack, but think about when you get off the cruise ship um in a port and maybe before lunch or maybe you're trying to

16:56 stretch out lunch so that you can come back to the ship at 1 or 2:00 and eat lunch on the ship instead. You can actually bring some snacks from the ship, but they do typically need to be packaged and non-p perishable. So, those cereal boxes are absolutely perfect. Now, also in the buffet, something that

17:15 you can and possibly should pick up, especially if you have kids, is pick up the milk containers that are available in the morning. Usually, there's regular milk, chocolate milk, and they're in containers. Put a couple of those in your little mini fridge. And this way at nighttime if somebody wants to have like

17:33 a little milk and cookie snack, and this is, by the way, if you're an adult and you like milk and cookies, this is perfect, too. But just bring that back to your cabin and you can store that in your mini fridge. Speaking of your mini fridge, ask your cabin attendant on day one of your cruise to empty out your

17:49 mini fridge if there are any items in there. Typically, if you've got items in there, they're going to cost you money. There's no reason to even keep them in there unless you want to be tempted. Now, also speaking of the mini fridge, if you have a drink package that includes water bottles or cans of water,

18:06 um, or even maybe energy drinks, things like this, as long as these are not opened, uh, go and pick these up at one of the bars and store a few extra in your cabin mini fridge. Bring snacks from home. Now, you do not need to bring any extra food on a cruise ship. There really is a lot. But if you like certain

18:26 things, like I'm talking about real snack foods. So, you know, maybe you like M&M's, maybe you like chips or Pringles or, you know, little nibs, licorice and stuff like that, Twizzlers. Um, bring that from home because that is going to cost a lot of money if you buy that at the little like store on the

18:43 ship. And you can just leave this in a cupboard in your cabin. Ice cream hacks. Now, I have to tell you, I scoured Tik Tok for these and there are some good ones. So, first of all, consider bringing waffle cones because there is um free soft ice cream that is available on I think every single cruise ship, but

19:01 they're going to have like the plain ice cream cones. If you like a waffle cone, you can bring those. Now, another tip is use a cup instead of the cone cuz you're actually going to get more ice cream. Now, if you are somebody who likes um not necessarily milkshakes, but maybe likes soda floats, a tip that somebody

19:19 shared was bring cans of root beer on your cruise ship. And many cruise ships are going to allow you to bring up to 12 cans of soda per person. So, if you don't have a drink package, this is great. But you can actually make a root beer float with the soft ice cream on a cruise. Now, do you like mocha latte

19:38 coffees? Well, get coffee from the buffet and then you can get some soft chocolate ice cream and put a little bit in there for a sweet coffee treat. An orange creamsicle milkshake. Doesn't that sound good? Save over some of the orange juice that is only available in the buffet in the morning time or

19:58 through room service, by the way, but in the morning time. Later on, you're going to have those kind of flavored juices that are really kind of like a drink. It's not the same thing. So, you want to save that orange juice and then you want to get that vanilla ice cream soft serve

20:12 later on. Combine that together. And apparently that actually tastes like a creamsicle. Now, please do let me know if you've tried any of these or even if you have any other ice cream or food hacks. Let me know down in the comments below. Food hacks. Order an entire pizza. Now, obviously, you have to check

20:28 if this is possible. And maybe at certain busy times of the day, this might not be, but on Royal Caribbean at Sarrentos, they can often make you an entire pizza. You might have to wait a few minutes, but they can do this. And on other cruise lines, it doesn't hurt to ask. Now, I should have shared this

20:44 one a little bit earlier, but if you are picking up any snacks from the buffet and you don't want to bring, you know, a Tupperware container, what you can do instead is you can put your items on your plate. And then what you can do is you could take either a plastic shower cap. They sell these on Amazon or you

21:02 can pick up a few at the dollar store or a plate cover that you can also get some of these at the dollar store and you can just cover your plate and this way you can bring it anywhere on the ship. You can bring it, you know, down to your cabin and you don't worry about things falling off or, you know, anybody

21:19 sneezing on it. Dining hacks. Eat in the main dining room most of the time and then just pick and choose your specialty dining unless you do have a package. But how do you check the main dining? Well, you want to take a look at the menus and see when are some of the best items that

21:35 for you that you like a lot. Maybe it's beef Wellington. Um maybe it's like a surf and turf night or something like that. You'll want to check that. And oftentimes that is going to be available on the cruise line app or you can check right outside any of the dining rooms. Now, if you are going to the dining

21:51 room, but you kind of want like a specialty dining experience a little bit. Um, when it comes to the food, if you look at the main dining room menu, you're going to see that there's often like the filammen or some of the other um items that are available at specialty restaurants, for instance, lobster. And

22:09 that will be available for sometimes like about 20 to $25. So, it's not, you know, cheap, but it is going to be less expensive than going to that restaurant. And then you still get all of the service that you'd get in the main dining room, but with the meal from the specialty restaurant at a cheaper price.

22:27 Want better service in the main dining room? Skip the anytime or walk-in dining and instead opt for early or late dining. And if you pick the earliest time available, sometimes it's as early as 5:15 or 5:30. Typically, that's going to be the quietest dining and that's often going to be some of your best

22:48 service. Now, if you do not want to be around families, do not pick the 6 or 6:30 time slot. Instead, opt for the 8 or the 8:30 time slot where you're less likely to have young children. Want to stay out of the chaos of the main dining room. Skip the main dining room on the first night of the cruise and make that

23:08 the night that you opt for a specialty restaurant. Now, you have a couple of cruise lines that actually are going to have specials if you book your first night at a specialty restaurant. So, keep an eye on the emails that you get from your cruise line, but Carnival in particular does give you a free bottle

23:27 of wine if you eat at a specialty restaurant on the first night. Debbarcation or last day cruise tips and hacks. Now, I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. I should have done this at the end, but I cannot wait to share a couple of these with you because I've used a couple of these and if I could, I

23:42 would use one of these that I just found out about. So, first, unless you are in a rush to get off the ship the last day of the cruise, just stay until about 9:30 to a/4 to 10 when they basically kind of just kick you off. You still have to vacate your cabin by about 8 in the morning, but you can actually go to

24:02 the dining room if it's open or just eat somewhere else that's casually and just have a more relaxing time. You don't have to like rush right off the cruise ship. But the other thing is if you have a late flight, use Resort Pass. Now, I am not sponsored for this video by Resort Pass, but I used it. I thought it

24:21 was great. But I do have a little bit of feedback on it and something that I would do differently. Now, Resort Pass is um a service basically that you could book a day hotel and you could use it for several hours um on the day that you're leaving and it's going to be cheaper of course than booking the

24:38 actual hotel. Now, what we did is we booked a day room and it was, you know, pretty inexpensive. It was less than $100 or so and we could use all of the facilities, the pool, etc. And we also had the room that we could change in, we could work if we wanted to. But being honest, I never used the room except to

24:56 change. And I could have just changed in a washroom. Now, I say this because you could book a hotel and only do like the pool pass for the day, and it could be as little as like $25 um per person. So, do price that out if it's better to book the room, which is not per person if I'm not mistaken, or

25:15 the actual like day pass for the pool. But you can actually get some better resorts, if you will, by doing only the pool pass and they will still store your luggage. If you are going on an Alaska cruise and if your cruise ends in Seattle, this is one of the best tips that I've ever heard. And honestly, I

25:35 never have seen anybody talk about this. I because it must be pretty new. It is a port valet service. And basically what happens is your luggage can be brought from the ship and waiting for you like at the airport when you're basically checking in for your flight. Now it is not available on all um air carriers but

25:56 it is available for domestic travel from Seattle in particular with American Airlines uh with Delta with Southwest and it is available through most cruise lines. Now, you do have to actually go on the Port Valley website and you have to register. So, there is a little bit of things to do, but this can really be

26:15 a timesaver for the last day of your cruise. And especially if you have a later flight, it could allow you to explore Seattle and not have to be lugging your luggage with you. Disembarkcation day excursion. As an alternative, if you have a later flight, don't wait around at the airport all

26:33 day. What you can do is you can book an excursion through your cruise line or even through like a third party like Shore Excursions Group which are amazing. But you could do this and this way your luggage can be stored in your shuttle or Coach Bus. Cruise packing hacks. Pack less. That's an obvious

26:50 thing. But how can you pack less? Use the ship's laundry service. Depending on the cruise ship, you may have a selfservice [snorts] laundry room. Uh the only thing you want to do is make sure first of all research your cruise ship. See if this is available. And if it is, make sure that

27:07 you do bring your own laundry detergent and fabric softener. Now, even if your cruise ship doesn't have self-service laundry, there's a good chance that they do have some sort of laundry service. And oftent times they are going to have a laundry special. Now, typically we've seen this about mid cruise, but in our

27:25 experience, if you ask your cabinet attendant or guest services, you can sometimes get this laundry special even before it is officially offered. Loyalty perk. Many people shared that people are not using their laundry perk, which is often part of your loyalty perks. This is usually free that you could either

27:47 get a bag of laundry or certain items laundered or pressed. And oftentimes people completely miss out. So, make sure even if you've only gone on a cruise line as little as like three or five times, sometimes this is a perk that you're actually entitled to. Port day tip or hack. Now, if you get off the

28:04 cruise ship, maybe you go to the beach or you go to a pool and you're wondering, "How do I keep my beach bag or my backpack secure when I'm in the water?" Well, one person shared, I think, a brilliant tip. She brings along a small cable lock that she just weaves through the zipper and she attaches this

28:23 right to her chair. Now, another tip to make the most of your port day is instead of getting off early in the morning is consider getting off after lunch when a lot of people are going to be returning. And this is especially good if you're going somewhere where the beach is really close by, as you'll

28:41 often find some lounge chairs that have now freed up. Stay on the cruise ship rather than getting off the ship in port. Now, a lot of people do this more than they used to, but still, I think this is a good tip if you want to really enjoy some of those amenities on the cruise ship. Maybe you have water slides

28:58 and other things that you want to take advantage of that there usually will be some long lines. So, you could do that. Now, what if you want a quieter day on the ship? That is a really good thing to do, too. Just stay on the ship. But if you stay on the ship on a port day, you can often book massages and other spa

29:16 treatments for a less expensive price. And this includes even if you're getting your hair done or maybe a manicure or pedicure. So, save those for the port days. And maybe consider even booking a thermal spa pass, even if it's a day pass. And instead of spending money on the excursion, it's often going to be

29:34 less expensive to do that day pass and you may even enjoy it more. Unexpected item to pack. Keep a poncho or a rain jacket that's very light. Just always keep that in your luggage because if you go on a cruise, you know, every few months or every year or so, this is an item you don't want to reby. You may not

29:55 actually use it, but if you do need it, you're going to be happy to have it. Now, I've got a couple of quick ones, especially for new cruisers. Store your luggage under your bed. I know that is not necessarily obvious, but that is where your luggage can go in kind of a little bit of a cramped cabin. And also,

30:12 make sure that you bring an old hotel card or something like that because you're going to want to put that into the little power slot that is um at the entry of your cabin. That is the only way that your lights are going to stay on and your electricity. And this way it frees up your cruise card so that you

30:29 can have that with you when you leave the cabin. And don't ever get locked out by mistake. Now, I am going to leave all of the information that I talked about in today's video down below in the description of this video, from cruise essentials to the cruise planner to the travel agent recommendation. So, you

30:44 will find that in a pinned comment and in the description. Now, I'd love to hear from you. Please let me know any of your cruise tips, hacks that you have been using or that you've heard of that you love. Let me know down in the comments below and let's make this an awesome resource for other cruisers.