Question: Hi, I’m going on my first cruise with Royal Caribbean this September. I will bring my big family members, including grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts. The ship will start to sail from Cape Canaveral, go to the Bahamas and return within three days. Is there anything I should expect and what should I bring?

Answer: On this three day cruise trip, you can wear your favorite casual clothes all day until 6 pm. You can take your swimwear, sandals, beach shoes, shorts on-board. You are going to have a warm sunny day, so don’t forget to bring your sunglasses, lotions and sun screen, a big hat or cap. There will be a gym on board, so if you want to work out, take your outfit also. A book, music player, camera, sneakers, personal toiletries are some other options you can bring along your cruise journey.

Some basic stuff like, towels; including beach and pool towels, soap, hair shampoo and hair dryer are already provided in the cabin. If you need specific brands, you should bring them by yourself. However, tooth paste, mouth wash, floss and lotions are not provided.

This is the interesting part. After 6 pm, they will request you to wear formal attire if you want to hang around in public areas, like bars, dining rooms, show rooms, casino, restaurants, etc. If you don’t know how formal it looks like, try to think what an employee wears in a bank. It’s a shirt with a collar, slacks, blouse, skirt and others. If you want to spend your night in the pool areas or spas, you are still able to wear shorts and swim wear.

Actually you can find this formal night on most cruises. Most people wear their best stuff on this event. Usually you will find that a man wears a tuxedo while woman wears a long dress, but you will also find some men just in suits and ties and women in nice dresses but not gowns. This is the best moment for you to take pictures and you will have a chance to take pictures with the cruise’s Captain. If you decide not to dress up, don’t worry, you will still able to enter dining room or any other places.

It’s better for you to bring your own camera. Cruise lines charge quite expensive for a photo shoot. It’s about $15 to $25 per photo. So don’t forget to grab your camera, and take many pictures as possible, especially on the formal nights. You probably will be asked by other passengers to help them taking pictures. I hope you don’t mind doing this because you will need their help to take your pictures as well.

Please pay attention on the luggage you will use. The cabin has a limited space, so you might want to put your luggage under the beds. It is recommended to use a soft sided luggage. You will find a difficulty putting your luggage under the beds if it’s a hard sided luggage.

Your luggage will come several hours later after you board. So you better bring a carry-on bag to pack your clothes, in case you want to change your clothes or you want to go to the gym or pool as soon as you’re boarding. This carry-on bag will also be useful when you are about to end your cruise trip. You will be asked to put your luggage outside your cabin at 2 am on the last evening. They will take all these passenger’s luggage to the lower deck for offloading process in the next morning. This is where your carry-on bag will be functioning, to put your toiletries or your sleeping clothes.

Bring a six pack of bottled water or soft drinks if possible. You can put them inside your carry-on bag. Why? Some cruise lines will charge you for some beverages on the ship and you will them inside your cabin.

If you bring you electronic stuff, like cell phone, mp3 player, handy cam, pocket camera and so on you will need an extension cord. Most of times you will find out that the plugs in the cabin are not in the best place. Maybe you will need a walkie-talkie set to stay in touch around the ship since you will travel with a lot of family members.