1.    Take a battery alarm clock. Or your cell phone will work well for this if it has an alarm. Your cabin phone does have a wake up call built in but if there's a power surge it can disconnect your wake up call and cause you to oversleep.

2.    Suit cases fit nicely under the beds thereby not taking up your cabin space and you can usually fit 6 suitcases under a bed.

3.    If you don't have a suite then you will only have a shower, no tub, and bathrooms on ships are tight so be prepared.

4.    Because of the large number of cabins, be careful of flushing or running water in your bathroom while someone is in the shower, water can get reallly hot, really fast

5.    DO NOT FLUSH THE TOILET WHILE SITTING ON IT YOU WILL HAVE THE WORLDS LARGEST HICKIE.  NO I HAVE NOT DONE THIS PERSONALLY FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT KNOW ME AND ARE LAUGHING AT THIS POING.

6.    The beach towels in your room are assigned to you when you board so if you lose them, you will be charged for theM ($22 apiece) They are yours for the entire trip. There are ways around this but it's not consistent. Also, if you take your towel to the pool, try adding a flashy pin or something on it. This keeps people from trying to take your towels. This is for beach towels only. The Lido deck rents extras and then you get the charge reversed when you turn it back in.  Take your own and no problem in my opnion.

7.    Make sure that your packed bags on outside your door between 8pm and 12am the night before the end of your trip if you expect them to be picked up. If not, you're on your own with them the next morning. (Check each ship for slight time differences on this)  BUT ALSO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CLOTHES OUT FOR THE NEXT DAY BECAUSE SOMEONE WILL LAUGH AT YOU IF YOU ARE NOT DRESSED.

8.    Hang some items to prevent taking up so much of your drawer space.  If you need extra hangers the steward may have some but don’t rely on this so I usually hang some things in a garment bag and just hang the whole darn bag in the closet.  John and I have never had a storage space problem and I think I pack everything but the kitchen sink sometimes.

9.    There are showers in the fitness/spa area free and larger than the cabin ones and usually not crowded.  I personally don’t do this because I have a thing about community showers.  I take Lysol for the beds showers and toilets as it is.  Not just cruising but hotels as well.

10.                       In your shower there is a pull out clothes line you can hang wet bathing suits on, you may want to bring clothes pins

11.                       Muster drill directions are on the back of your cabin door.  YOU MUST ATTEND THIS

12.                       Watch for uneven areas in your cabin area (like stepping out onto the balcony)

13.                       Lock money or valuable that won't fit in safe in your locked suit cases under bed