The Carry-on
What to pack was covered in another post, but the carry-on deserves a small post all to itself. "Why?" you might ask. Well, there are two factors that especially impact new cruisers.
The first factor is that rooms often aren't ready when you first board. Turn around day is extremely busy for the staff of a ship. They have to off-load the previous passengers, restock and clean the entire ship, and load all of the new passengers on before pushing away from the dock. What does this have to do with your carry-on? Well, you won't probably won't be able to get to your room, so anything you bring on the ship will need to be carried around until your room is ready.
The second factor is that luggage often isn't delivered to your room until hours after you embark. That means that you won't have access to anything in your larger luggage for quite a while.
The take-away from this is that you'll want anything that you can't do without for a few hours packed into your carry-on. Medications are the most important item. Beyond things you genuinely can't do without, there are items that you'll want to use in those first few hours of your cruise. A few items might include:
- Swimsuit (if you don't wear it when boarding)
- Book or e-reader
- Sun lotion
- Phone charger
- Cash (especially if you are funding your on-board account using cash)
- One change of clothes (e.g. t-shirt, shorts, underwear)
- Cruise and travel documentation
Everyone enjoys their vacation differently, so if you're planning to run straight for the gym when you board, you might want your running shoes. Think about what you'd like those first few hours aboard to look like and plan your carry-on based on that.
Try not to over pack, though. You will need to lug this stuff around with you, after all. Most of the time, a backpack will easily accommodate what you need.