Frequent Cruiser Hacks #2; Getting the Hang of Things

Frequent Cruiser Hacks #2; Getting the Hang of Things

The cramped quarters in cruise ship staterooms is particularly exacerbated by a lack of horizontal surfaces to lay things upon.  Therefore, taking advantage of vertical spaces is essential.

Nowhere is this lack of horizontal space more evident than in the bathroom.  There is very little space to spread out toothbrushes, tooth paste, hair brushes, shavers, medications and "products".  Fortunately, most people have discovered the handy travel toiletry kits that can hang from a hook on a wall that keeps all that organized.  The only trouble is that these cruise ship bathrooms have no extra hooks.  There are towel racks on the wall that serve their intended purpose, and hanging toiletry bags from them just gets in the way of using the towels.  The same goes for the hooks on the inside of the bathroom door, essential for bathrobes.  But there is an easy and inexpensive solution to this.  Pack some heavy duty 3M Command Adhesive hangers and a few alcohol wipes.  It is usually easy to find a spot on the wall between the door and mirror where one of these hangers can position a hanging toiletry bag in a perfect position for access and usability.  These hangers are perfect because they can be removed without damaging the wall.  Just make sure the tape has a chance to set before hanging any weight from them.

Another essential frequent cruisers hack is to bring magnetic clips that can be used to hang up the daily schedule, excursion tickets, invitations and coupons from the walls of your cabin.  The walls in most ocean going cruise ships are steel, and therefore magnets can stick to them easily.  This gets these items off the tiny desk, but easily accessible and easy to organize.  One notable exception to this  rule is I have recently encountered aluminum and composite walls in some Viking River cruise ships. For these, suction cup clips can be used on the mirrors and other smooth surfaces.  But don't hang anything breakable from suction cups because they are known to lose their suction and drop off unexpectedly.

Don't forget you will have to deal with dirty laundry, and there is nothing worse than a room with dirty laundry strewn all over the floor and furniture.  Your steward won't be able to effectively clean you room if you have dirty laundry strewn all over.  Make sure to pack a mesh laundry bag that can be hung in the closet.  It'll take up very little room, and will come in handy for carrying that laundry to the launderette on the ship, which may be several hundreds of feet down the hallway.

The final item to place in your cruise ship hacker bag is a 15-20' length of nylon parachute cord and a package of clothes pins.  There is usually a portable clothes line in the tiny shower, but things take forever to dry there, and you can't use the shower if you're trying to dry clothes there.  If you have a veranda or balcony, it is a simple matter to tie the parachute cord from the top of the balcony divider support posts to create an outdoors clothes line.  In tropical climates, things dry remarkably quickly outside in the breeze of the moving ship. This is especially true of gym outfits and swim suits. But there are two caveats to using an outdoors clothesline.  One- there can be very strong breezes around a cruise ship, so make liberal use of clothes pins and check on your line frequently.  Two- be considerate of neighbors and don't string your clothes line where it can be seen from other balconies, and don't leave anything hanging while in a port of call. Nobody wants to see your things hanging outside.

This final hack doesn't require packing anything.  Most staterooms have a mini fridge and those generate a little bit of heat, so if you want to quickly dry small items like a pair of underwear or socks, just lay them out on the top of the mini-fridge, and they will be dry in an hour or so.