Packing lists are mostly about clothes, which is the part nobody gets wrong. What people actually regret is a consistent, small set of items — and one structural decision about which bag things go in.
The one decision that matters
Pack your hand luggage as though the suitcase will not arrive. Not because it usually happens, but because the cost is so asymmetric: getting this right costs you ten minutes, and getting it wrong costs you the first two days of the trip.
In the bag that stays with you:
- All medication, in original labelled packaging, with enough for several days beyond the trip.
- Documents — passport, insurance policy number, booking confirmations, and a photograph of each stored offline on your phone.
- One change of clothes and basic toiletries.
- Chargers, including the phone one. A dead phone abroad with no charger is a genuine problem.
- Glasses and any prescription, plus a spare pair if you depend on them.
- Anything valuable or irreplaceable. Insurance single-item limits are lower than most people's cameras.
On a cruise this applies twice over. Your main luggage is taken at the terminal and may not reach the cabin until the evening — so the day bag needs to cover embarkation afternoon, not just a delayed flight.
The fifteen things people wish they had brought
- A power strip without surge protection. Cabins and older hotels are short of sockets. Surge-protected strips are confiscated on most ships as a fire risk — the plain kind is fine.
- A universal adapter with USB ports, so one socket charges four things.
- A refillable water bottle. Free in Iceland, saves money everywhere, and gets you through hot port days.
- Shoes with a stiff sole. The most useful item on any cobbled European day. Thin soles are what make an hour on cobbles exhausting.
- A second pair of shoes, so one can dry.
- A light waterproof layer, even in summer, even in the Mediterranean.
- Magnetic hooks for a cruise cabin. Steel walls, nowhere to hang anything.
- A small torch. Unfamiliar rooms at night, and ports where the lighting stops early.
- Motion sickness remedies, bought at home rather than at the ship's shop.
- A day bag that closes properly. Open totes are the pickpocket's preference in every crowded European square.
- Sun protection you will actually reapply — a stick or spray, because bottles stay in the room.
- Any medication for stomach upsets, which are always needed at 2am when nothing is open.
- A printed copy of key bookings. Phones run out of battery at exactly the wrong moment.
- Laundry soap sheets or a small bottle, which turn a one-week wardrobe into a two-week one.
- Earplugs. Cabins near the anchor, rooms facing a square, and early-morning deck cleaning are all solved by a fifty-pence item.
What to leave behind
- Formal wear you have not checked the need for. Dress codes on mainstream cruise lines have relaxed considerably. Read your line's actual policy rather than the folklore.
- More than two pairs of shoes. They are the heaviest thing in the case and the least used.
- Full-size toiletries. Almost everything is buyable at the destination, usually more cheaply than the excess baggage fee.
- A hairdryer. Present in essentially every hotel room and cruise cabin.
- Clothes for the trip you imagine rather than the trip you booked. The single largest source of dead weight is the outfit for the evening that does not happen.
The rules that catch people out
Cruise lines prohibit, and will confiscate: surge-protected power strips, irons and steamers, candles, and in most cases alcohol brought aboard beyond a small allowance of wine. Confiscated items are usually returned at the end of the cruise, which is no help during it.
Airlines and liquids: the 100ml rule still applies at most airports despite new scanner technology rolling out unevenly. Assume the old rule unless you have confirmed otherwise for your specific airport, in both directions.
Medication across borders: some common prescriptions are controlled substances in other countries — notably certain painkillers and stimulants in Japan and parts of the Gulf. If you take anything prescribed, check the destination's rules and carry the prescription.
The short version
- Pack hand luggage as though the suitcase will not arrive. Medication, documents, chargers, one change of clothes.
- On a cruise, that bag also has to cover embarkation afternoon.
- Stiff-soled shoes, a plain power strip, magnetic hooks and earplugs are the four most-missed items.
- Leave the formal wear unless you have checked the actual dress code.
- Check your prescriptions against the destination's controlled-substance rules.