Five ‘must-have’ cruise travel accessories I swear by | Cruise | Travel

If there’s one thing you need for a cruise, it’s a full suitcase packed with enough options for multiple outfit changes every day. Swimsuits for the pool, casual wear for a stroll along the deck, sportswear for a game of basketball or a sprint around the running track, smart casual for the evenings and maybe even a tuxedo or cocktail dress for formal nights on board.

It all adds up, and if you’re flying to the embarkation port, that’s a lot of clothes to cram into a 23kg hold luggage limit – especially if you’re on board for more than 7 days. Then add the fact that cruise cabins aren’t always the most spacious, with bathrooms in particular often quite small, and you can have a real issue storing everything once on board.

Having just come back from my 16th cruise, a 12-day trip on Celebrity Ascent around Italy, Greece and Turkey, there are five items I swear by to maximise space and minimise clutter.

1. Magnetic hooks

The most bizarre-sounding of the three, but surprisingly the one I find the most useful. Most cruise cabin walls are made of steel which means they are magnetic, so packing heavy-duty magnetic hooks are popular hack for maximising stateroom space.

While the strength can vary, so you won’t be hanging your best dress from one, they’re incredibly useful for light coats, handbags, hats, pool cover-ups, lanyards for your room key cards, and more.

Best of all, they’re affordable and don’t take up much room in your hold or cabin baggage, and can be used once you’re back home too. I’ve got a couple on my fridge.

2. Compression packing cubes

While not cruise-specific, these come in particularly handy when luggage comes at a premium. Now I’m an overpacker by nature, but being on a 12-day cruise with multiple formal nights meant I had to think about efficiency. Enter the Narwey packing cubes set from Amazon.

The two large and two small cubes are perfect for separating clothes like T-shirts, vest tops and shorts, while the tube bag is great for underwear and socks. Plus the spare drawstring bag doubles up as a shoe bag or is also great for dirty laundry. I hung mine on the magnetic hooks all week for easy access.

Once you’ve packed each cube to its limit, you zip it shut, and it compresses into a much flatter profile, meaning even more space to use up in your suitcase.

3. Hanging toiletries bag

Unless you splurge for a suite, bathrooms on cruise ships are notoriously small with limited shelf space. If, like me, you like to have all your products out on display in easy reach, it can be tricky to cram it all in.

But with this matching Narwey wash bag, hung from the back of the bathroom door (or from the wall using your new magnetic hooks), everything is on show without taking up valuable counter space. And it comes in lovely matching colours to the packing cubes to satisfy your packing aesthetic needs.

4. Cable organising case

This is the first trip I’ve used a travel cable organiser, but what a difference. Plugs are often limited in staterooms, and with a phone, laptop, smartwatch and travel fan to charge on an almost daily basis, plus that of my travel companion, they can often be wires everywhere.

This keeps everything contained, so you won’t misplace anything during your stay, and means you won’t have to dig through the bottom of your hand luggage for a charger when your flight home is delayed.

5. A trusty cabin bag

Not one of my usual travel staples, but for this trip, I bought a new cabin bag. I don’t usually reach for a wheeled holdall as my day bag, but this trip completely changed my mind.

It fit perfectly under the plane seat as my free cabin bag, yet having wheels meant I didn’t have to lug a heavy shoulder bag packed with books and chargers through the airport terminal.

If you want that ultimate mix of effortless rolling and underseat convenience, grab this Linea Wheelie Bag for your next flight.