travel iron for cruise ship

Are Travel Irons On Cruise Ships Really Forbidden? Know Your Best Options.

By: Author Tyler Bowman

Posted on Last updated: April 20, 2024

Categories Amenities , LEARN , ONBOARD EXPERIENCE

When you have packed several days or weeks of clothes into your cruise luggage , keeping your clothes looking presentable and (relatively) wrinkle-free can be challenging. Thankfully, there are several options available to all cruisers.

Generally, travel irons on cruise ships are prohibited. And you won’t find any cruise-approved steamers either. These items present a potential fire hazard. While using a travel iron in your cabin is prohibited, you have other cruise ship laundry options that can address your needs.

There is no reason you can’t wear impeccably wrinkle-free clothing throughout your cruise ship stay. Keep reading to learn about your options.

Can You Bring Travel Irons On Cruise Ships?

Travel irons are one of many restricted items for use on cruise ships because irons present a potential fire hazard. As you can imagine, an iron left unattended in a stateroom could be a serious recipe for disaster that cruise lines want to avoid at all costs.

We know only one cruise line that potentially permits passengers to bring travel irons on the ship: Marella Cruises(owned by Tui Cruises). Marella permits guests to bring travel irons onto the ship, but it reserves the right to confiscate any irons determined to be a safety hazard. Confiscated items will be returned at the end of your cruise.

Even though you are largely prohibited from packing your travel iron, you don’t have to resign yourself to a vacation filled with wrinkled clothes. Depending on the cruise line, you will have several options available. Some cruise lines provide self-service laundry facilities, which, in addition to a laundry room with washers and dryers, will contain irons and ironing boards for passenger use. While the washers and dryers usually have a charge, the ironing equipment typically does not.

Most cruise lines also offer professional ship laundry services, such as dry-cleaning and pressing, to ensure your clothes return to you in perfect condition. These services usually come at an extra expense.

Can You Bring A Steamer On A Cruise Ship?

Most cruise lines treat clothes steamers like they treat travel irons: They are prohibited. They will be confiscated if found.

Alternatives To Using A Travel Iron Or Clothes Steamer On A Cruise

Wrinkle-free or wrinkle-resistant clothing.

One of the best ways to eliminate the need for clothing irons is to bring only the type of clothing that does not require ironing. This type of clothing exists, and many wrinkle-resistant fabrics are on the market.

Several clothing manufacturers produce travel clothing made of wrinkle-resistant fabric to ensure no ironing is needed. However, these clothes generally perform best when placed in a dryer, and you may not have easy access to a dryer on a cruise ship.

Suppose travel clothing is not your style—it tends to be casual and somewhat unfashionable. In that case, you can opt for normal clothing made of wrinkle-resistant fabric. Some of the best fabrics for these purposes include polyester, nylon, acrylic, and olefin.

Suppose you prefer natural fabrics such as cotton or linen. In that case, you can find these fabrics blended with synthetics that are far less prone to creasing and wrinkling, especially if you opt for a knit or stretch fabric instead of a non-stretch woven material.

Wrinkle-Release Spray

Wrinkle-releasing sprays such as Downy Release are an excellent way to de-wrinkle your clothing before wearing it. While this chemical method may not be as effective as ironing, it will still serve its purpose to a large degree.

Advanced Dry-Cleaning

Alternatively, you can have your clothing dry-cleaned before packing and request that they do a heavy starching on the fabrics. Leave these clothing items in their dry-cleaning bags, roll them up while still in the bags, and then pack them carefully. This packing method will ensure that the clothes are as crease-free as possible when you unpack them in your stateroom.

Shower Steam

The old steamy shower trick is another option that can be extremely effective. The best way to steam your clothing without a steamer is to run the shower at the highest temperature for around two minutes. Next, hang the clothing in the shower and leave the room while ensuring that you close it up properly to keep in as much heat and steam as possible.

Typically, cruise lines permit hair dryers and other hair tools like flat irons on board. Thus, a hair straightener can be an alternative to a travel iron and is especially useful for items such as collars and cuffs on shirts.

A hairdryer can be used similarly to quickly eliminate creases or wrinkles from your clothing. You can use the hairdryer after applying a wrinkle-release spray to enhance the effect of both methods. (Tip: Your cruise cabin will likely have a hair dryer .)

Travel Irons on Cruise Ships | photo of crumpled blue casual dress

Packing To Prevent Wrinkled Clothing

You can also use several time-tested packing hacks to prevent or minimize wrinkles.

A hard-shelled suitcase is another brilliant idea for keeping clothes free of wrinkles when traveling. Soft suitcases squash the clothes inside them, causing pressure creases and wrinkles.

Do not overpack your suitcases, as this pressure will also cause wrinkles in your clothing. When folding your clothes, fold them in bundles for fewer small folds. Start by folding your smaller items in the middle; then, fold your larger items over them until you have a neat bundle of folded clothing.

Packing cubes can be purchased at many stores. These smart devices will help prevent wrinkles while saving space in your luggage.

Regarding formal items, stuff the bodices and shoulders with tissue paper to help them retain their stiffness and reduce the chances of wrinkles or creases.

Most importantly, remember to unpack and hang your clothing as soon as possible once you have entered your stateroom. The more time your clothes spend in your luggage, the higher the chance they are wrinkled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do royal caribbean cruises have irons.

Due to safety concerns, Royal Caribbean does not provide irons in cruise ship cabins. However, pressing services are available through the ship’s laundry facilities.

Are there irons on Carnival Cruise?

Carnival does not provide irons in cruise ship cabins. However, most Carnival ships have self-service launderettes with an iron and an ironing board.

Can you bring a curling iron on a cruise?

Most major cruise lines permit common grooming items such as curling irons. However, if they are being used in an unsafe manner, they may be confiscated until the end of the cruise. (For example, Leaving the curling iron on when you exit the cabin.)

While most cruise lines prohibit bringing any form of iron or steamer onto the ship, there are, fortunately, several ways to ensure your clothing remains wrinkle-free throughout your cruise. Besides the range of methods you can employ to ensure your clothes remain wrinkle-free, you can also use the laundry services and the launderettes on board.

Keep up with the latest cruise tips and insights! Follow us on Pinterest:

How to Keep Clothes Wrinkle-Free on a Cruise: Expert Tips

Wrinkle-free clothing can be a challenge on cruise vacations, especially when traditional irons are prohibited due to safety regulations. Whether you’re prepping for formal evenings or simply prefer a sharp look throughout your voyage, mastering wrinkle-free solutions is essential.

Iron Restrictions on Cruise Ships

No Irons in Staterooms: Cruise ships universally restrict traditional irons in staterooms due to fire hazards. Instead, they often provide alternative options for guests’ convenience.

How to Keep Clothes Wrinkle-Free on a Cruise: Expert Tips

Cruise Line Policies on Irons

Carnival Cruise: Irons aren’t available in rooms; self-service laundries offer ironing facilities.
Royal Caribbean: Lacks self-service laundry but provides paid dry cleaning and pressing services.
Celebrity Cruises: No self-service laundromats or irons; laundry and pressing services available for a fee.
Norwegian Cruises: A rarity providing irons upon request, available through Guest Services for temporary use.

Travel Iron Restrictions and Alternatives

Prohibited Travel Irons: Bringing travel irons on board is universally banned due to safety concerns. They risk confiscation by ship security during luggage scans.

Packing for Wrinkle-Free Clothing

Fabric Selection: Opt for wrinkle-resistant fabrics like synthetic blends (acrylic, nylon, polyester) that demand less care and resist wrinkles better than natural fibers like cotton or silk.

Pre-Packing Prep: Iron clothes thoroughly before packing, ensuring complete dryness to minimize wrinkling during transit.

Dry Cleaning Strategy: Prioritize dry cleaning, requesting heavier starching for better wrinkle resistance, and roll these items for minimal creasing in transit.

Tissue Paper and Plastic Bags: Use tissue paper and plastic bags to lessen friction and prevent wrinkles, especially for more delicate clothing items.

Suitcase Selection: Choose a hard-shell suitcase of appropriate size to prevent clothes from shifting and creasing during travel.

Unpacking Strategies

Immediate Hanging: Upon arrival in your cabin, hang clothes immediately to prevent wrinkles, requesting additional hangers if needed.

Wrinkle Removal Techniques

Self-Service Laundries: Utilize onboard self-service laundry rooms for ironing facilities, avoiding peak times like formal evenings.

Dry Cleaning Services: Cruise lines often provide pressing services for a nominal fee, but anticipate a wait for returned items.

Wrinkle-Release Sprays: Consider investing in wrinkle-release sprays like Downy Release for swift wrinkle removal on cotton, linen, and silk items.

Hairdryer Method: Use a hairdryer on a cool setting to flatten wrinkles, especially when no ironing facilities are available.

Shower Steam: Take advantage of steam by hanging clothes in the bathroom during showers to ease out wrinkles.

Hair Straightener Hack: Hair straighteners can work on specific wrinkles in easily accessible areas, like collars or hems, ensuring they’re not too hot to prevent fabric damage.

FAQs and Prohibited Items Recap

Cruise Ship Irons: Irrespective of the cruise line, most ships don’t provide irons in guest rooms due to safety concerns.

Travel Iron Prohibition: Attempting to bring a travel iron onboard leads to confiscation by ship security during luggage scans.

Certainly! Here are some frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Are there irons available in cruise ship rooms?
No, most cruise ships do not provide irons in guest rooms due to safety concerns regarding fire hazards.

2 . Can I bring a travel iron on a cruise ship?

Travel irons are typically prohibited on cruise ships due to safety regulations. They pose a fire hazard and are subject to confiscation if found during luggage scans.

3 . What happens if I try to bring an iron on board?

If a travel iron is discovered during security scans, it will likely be confiscated and returned at the end of the voyage upon disembarkation.

4. How can I keep my clothes wrinkle-free without an iron?

Opt for wrinkle-resistant fabrics, pack clothes carefully, utilize wrinkle-release sprays, use alternative methods like hairdryers or steam, and take advantage of onboard dry cleaning or pressing services.

5. Do any cruise lines offer self-service laundry with irons?

Some cruise lines provide self-service laundries equipped with irons and ironing boards for guest use, while others offer dry cleaning and pressing services for wrinkle removal.

6. Are there alternatives to irons for removing wrinkles on a cruise?

Yes, besides irons, consider using wrinkle-release sprays, hairdryers, steam from showers, or even hair straighteners (with caution) for specific wrinkle removal.

7. How can I prevent clothes from wrinkling during travel?

Choose wrinkle-resistant fabrics, pack with tissue paper to minimize friction, opt for a hard-shell suitcase of the appropriate size, and hang clothes immediately upon arrival in the cabin.

8. Which cruise line is an exception in allowing travel irons?

Marella Cruises operated by TUI might allow passengers to bring travel irons onboard, subject to inspection. However, they could be confiscated until the end of the trip if deemed hazardous.

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Can I Take A Travel Iron On My Cruise?

by · Published 14th February 2022 · Updated 14th February 2022

You’re going on a cruise, you are taking formal gear that has been screwed up in your suitcase for over 24 hours, of course you need an iron… why wouldn’t you? Sadly most cruise lines do not allow travel irons to be packed and taken on board. Check out this post to find out the rules for each cruise line and who allows travel irons.

Let’s face it, irons are not particularly safe and you are on a cruise ship, the last place you want a fire to break out….It only takes one careless person to leave the iron on after all. But rules are changing, some cruise lines are changing the rules and allowing irons. Newer ships have automatic electric shutoffs in the cabins meaning irons could not be left on when no one was in the room. This could be the reason why things are changing…

Azamara do not allow travel irons onboard. But each floor has a self service laundry with irons and boards free of charge.

CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES

Carnival States: For our guest’s safety we do not allows irons in staterooms. However each ship has at least 2 self-service launderettes located on the stateroom decks. There are two or three washers and dryers, and one iron and ironing board in each launderette.

CELEBRITY CRUISES

Celebrity States: Candles, Incense, Coffee Makers, Clothes Irons , Travel Steamers & Hot Plates. (Items that generate heat or produce an open flame. This includes heating pads, clothing irons, hotplates, candles, incense and any other item that may create a fire hazard.

COSTA CRUISES

Travel irons are NOT allowed on Costa Cruises.

Cunard States: Irons are available in our laundrettes. Please do not pack your own iron as this will not be permitted on board.

Disney States: Electric irons and Steamers are forbidden (all ships offer self-service laundry facilities equipped with irons and ironing boards)

Fred Olsen States: Travel irons are not permitted on any of our cruise ships. All of our ships (with the exception of Borealis) have at least one fully equipped Laundry Room, complete with self service washing machines filled with with detergent and softener. Just collect a token from Guest Services (there is a small fee of £2 for this service) and pop it in the machine. Also in the Laundry Rooms are tumble driers, irons and ironing boards.

HOLLAND AMERICA LINE

Travel irons are NOT allowed on Holland America.

MARELLA/TUI CRUISES

You may take a travel iron on the ship, however if the device is determined to pose a hazard they will be removed and returned on the last day of the cruise prior to disembarkation. There’s also a laundry service onboard the ships where you can pay for your clothes to be pressed on-demand. If you’ve chosen a cabin with premier service, you get a free pressing service for the formal night.

Travel irons are NOT allowed on MSC.

NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINES

Norwegian States: Guests are not permitted to bring and use their own irons or steamers onboard. Norwegian Cruise Line carries a limited number of irons and ironing boards which can be loaned to guests for a few hours at a time. They can be requested through housekeeping or Guest Services Desk. Irons and steamers would both be taken from guests at embarkation and returned at the end of the sailing.

P&O CRUISES

P&O Do not allow travel irons onboard. But each floor has a self service laundry with irons and boards free of charge.

PRINCESS CRUISES

Princess Cruises: do not allow travel irons to be packed. However there are irons available in the onboard laundry rooms.

ROYAL CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL

RCI States: Irons and clothes steamers are prohibited items and should not be brought with you on your vacation. RCI do offer a wash and press laundry service, but it can be quite expensive.

VIKING CRUISES

Travel irons are not allowed onboard. Irons are available in the complimentary self-service launderettes

VIRGIN VOYAGES

Clothing irons are a no go on board, but if you need to bring flat iron for your hair, that’s ok.

So in conclusion at the moment (current FEB 2022) the only cruise line that currently allows travel irons to come onboard is Marella/TUI. We actually took an iron onboard with us and guess what, we didn’t use it once! You may think you will need it but if you pack properly you can avoid it.

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Do Cruise Ships Provide Irons and Ironing Boards to Guests? (by cruise line)

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Cruises have some differences between resort or hotel vacations. A big one is that cruise ships will not have an iron or ironing board in your stateroom. In fact, because irons and steamers are fire hazards, they are on a list of prohibited items that you cannot bring onboard your cruise .

On my first cruise, I wondered how people kept there cruise outfits looking good and wrinkle free . In this post, I share which cruise lines and cruise ships have self-serve laundry options and irons for guests to use. As well, I’ve included alternatives to ironing, if your cruise ship doesn’t have this option.

Are There Irons on Cruise Ships?

Since they are a fire hazard, cruise ships do not provide irons or ironing boards in passenger cabins. However, depending on the cruise line, you may have a small self serve laundromat available to use onboard or be able to request to borrow an iron and ironing board from housekeeping.

All cruise ships have laundry and pressing services available for a fee. If you’re going on a longer cruise, keep an eye out for laundry specials offered during the second half of your cruise.

This post contains affiliate links which means if you click and buy that I may make a commission, at no cost to you. Please see my disclosure policy for details.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Cruise Lines with Self Serve Laundry Facilities & Irons

Laundromat machines and irons princess cruise

Some cruise ships have small laundromats on certain decks where you can use washing and drying machines, as well as an iron and ironing board. Unfortunately, not all major cruise lines have self serve laundry options available.

Here’s a list of cruise lines that currently offer self serve laundry facilities to guests.

A self service landromat is available on Azamara, with machines and detergent offered free of charge.

Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival cruise ships have self service laundry machines available for a small fee. You can purchase laundry detergent as well. For those that need it, irons and ironing boards are available free of charge.

Cunard cruise ships have small laundromats on board where guests can use the washing machines, dryers as well as irons and ironing boards free of charge. Laundry detergent is complimentary as well.

Disney Cruise Line

Self serve laundromats are available on Disney cruise ships. There is a small fee to use the machines and purchase laundry detergent.

Holland America Line

Holland America has self service laundry facilities available on certain ships (mostly older). There is a small fee to use machines, however irons and ironing boards are complimentary.

You may want to take a look at the laundry packages available with HAL, as they are a pretty good value.

Princess Cruises

Princess Cruises have self serve laundrettes available on their cruise ships. Washers, dryers and laundry detergent have a small fee. Irons and ironing boards are free to use within the laundry rooms, available on several passenger decks.

Oceania Cruises

Laundry facilities are provided on Oceania cruise ships. There is a nominal fee to use washers and dryers. Irons and ironing boards are complementary.

Viking Cruises

Self serve laundry facilities are available free of charge on Viking ocean cruises, including the use of irons and ironing boards.

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Can You Borrow an Iron from Housekeeping on a Cruise?

Going on a Norwegian cruise ? According to their website , Norwegian Cruise Line has a limited number of irons and ironing boards available on their cruise ships which can be loaned to guests to use in their cruise cabin .

More about Norwegian Cruise Line:

What to Wear on a Norwegian Cruise (day & evening)

Norwegian Cruise Line Beverage Packages: What’s Included

Norwegian Cruise Line’s Free at Sea Perks Explained

Cruise Laundry and Pressing Service

Most cruise lines offer a laundry and pressing service for a fee. Items are usually priced individually, ranging from about 2$-10$ per clothing item. Some cruise lines offer a laundry special where items are not priced individually (ie. $30 a filled bag).

For formal nights , I often use the service and have suits, dress shirts and cocktail dresses pressed. Since formal or chic evenings are often the second night of the cruise, make sure you send your items to press as soon as possible on embarkation day, to get them back on time.

Free or Discounted Laundry Services (Loyalty Programs)

If you are part of the cruise line’s loyalty program, you may have free or discounted laundry services. For example, Princess Cruises has free laundry services (including laundry and pressing) for Elite Captain Circle members. Celebrity Captain’s Club members get a discount depending on their loyalty level, with top tiers receiving free laundry and pressing throughout the cruise.

Frequently Asked Questions – Irons & Steamers

Can You Bring a Clothes Steamer on a Cruise?

Clothes steamers, like irons, are usually prohibited and should not be taken onboard your cruise ship.

Wondering what else isn’t allowed or necessary to bring? Here’s a list of things not to pack for a cruise .

Can You Sneak an Iron on a Cruise?

While you may be able to “sneak” anything onto a cruise ship, trying to bring an iron on board just isn’t a good idea. There is very little that is more dangerous on a cruise ship than a fire, so cruise lines take this seriously. Please don’t put others at risk by attempting this.

What Happens if You Bring an Iron or Steamer on a Cruise?

If you bring an iron or steamer on your cruise, it will be taken and confiscated until the end of the cruise. After disembarking your cruise ship, there will be a small table where you can pick up any confiscated items. It seems that although many people are aware that irons are not allowed on a cruise, clothing steamers might be a surprise.

Read next: 10 Things Not to Pack for a Cruise

Dealing with Wrinkles from Packing

Downy wrinkle release.

One of the must-have cruise accessories that I always pack, is Downy Wrinkle Release . A small travel size bottle will do.

While it doesn’t get clothes as crisp looking as pressing or ironing, if you’ve ironed your clothing before you pack, this should work to “release” the wrinkles.

My trick is to hang the item and use some shower steam after a spray of the wrinkle release spray. Holding the item and tugging gently after the spray is a crucial step as well.

Recommended: Downy Wrinkle Release (travel size)

Using the steam from your shower may just be enough to get wrinkles out of clothing. Some people use a hair dryer after to help decrease items.

Use a Hair Straightener

Did you know that although you cannot bring an iron on a cruise, hair straighteners are allowed? Although I haven’t done it, I’ve heard of many ladies using a little hair straightener trick to iron out a stubborn wrinkle in a pinch.

Related: Do Cruise Ships Provide Hair Dryers? (should you bring your own)

Prevent Wrinkles in clothing with these tips: How to Pack Wrinkle Free for a Cruise

Hand Washing on a Cruise

Even if a cruise ship doesn’t have self serve laundry facilities, you can still wash some clothing items in your cabin. For intimates, bathing suits, items with stains, or even items you want to wear again, simply wash in your cruise stateroom bathroom sink.

There may not always be a clothesline in the bathroom shower, but using magnetic hooks to hang items on the cabin wall is a good solution.

Magnet hooks

Magnet hooks are an experienced cruiser’s “secret”. Most cruise cabin walls are metal, so heavy duty magnet hooks are a great way to organize your stateroom .

Recommended: Magnetic hooks (heavy duty ones that work)

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Final Thoughts

Since everyone is in the same boat (cruise pun intended), don’t overstress if your clothes aren’t as neatly ironed as they may be at home. However, you can often use an iron at the self serve laundry facilities on some cruise ships or send your items to the laundry and pressing service.

Many cruisers also use some handy cruise essentials (downy wrinkle release and magnet hooks) to loosen wrinkles that tend to occur from packing.

Have you used the laundromats or laundry services when cruising? Please share your tips and experiences in the comments below.

Happy Cruising!

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I washed my clothes the last night of the cruise on carnival Magic. The self serve machines worked well and I didn’t have to do laundry when I arrived home.

Sounds great!

How To Iron On A Cruise Ship

Published: December 22, 2023

Modified: December 28, 2023

by Lois Benn

Travel Tips

Introduction

Going on a cruise is an exciting and relaxing experience. You get to explore stunning destinations, indulge in delectable cuisine, and enjoy a wide range of onboard activities. However, one challenge that many cruise ship passengers face is keeping their clothes looking neat and wrinkle-free throughout their vacation. While most cruise ships offer laundry services, the cost can add up quickly. That’s why it’s important to know how to iron your clothes on a cruise ship.

Ironing on a cruise ship can be a bit different compared to doing it at home. You need to be aware of the rules and regulations regarding ironing onboard, as well as the limited resources available. However, with a little preparation and creativity, you can still achieve that crisp, polished look without any hassle.

In this article, we will guide you through the process of ironing on a cruise ship. We will discuss the essential ironing supplies to pack, how to find the ironing facilities onboard, safety tips, and even alternative methods for removing wrinkles. By following these tips, you’ll be able to maintain a well-groomed appearance and make a positive impression during your cruise.

Why Ironing on a Cruise Ship is Different

Ironing on a cruise ship comes with its own set of challenges and considerations. Unlike ironing at home, where you have all the necessary tools and space at your disposal, cruise ship ironing requires some adjustments. Here are a few reasons why ironing on a cruise ship is different:

Space Constraints: Cruise ship cabins are notoriously compact, and finding a suitable area to set up your ironing board can be a challenge. You need to be creative and make the most of the space available.
Shared Facilities: Most cruise ships have designated areas with ironing facilities where passengers can use irons and ironing boards. These facilities are often shared among multiple guests, so you may need to plan your ironing time accordingly to avoid long waiting times.
Ironing Regulations: Due to safety concerns, cruise ships have specific regulations in place regarding the use of irons onboard. Some ships prohibit the use of traditional irons altogether and provide alternative methods for removing wrinkles. It’s essential to familiarize yourself with these regulations before embarking on your cruise.
Packaging Restrictions: As most people are aware, cruise ships have strict rules when it comes to packing, including limitations on bringing irons and other appliances that may pose a safety risk. This means you need to choose your ironing tools wisely and ensure they comply with the cruise ship’s guidelines.

Understanding these differences and being prepared can help you navigate the ironing process more effectively and make your cruise experience more comfortable. In the next sections, we will explore the essential ironing supplies to pack, how to find the ironing facilities onboard, and offer some useful tips for safe ironing on a cruise ship.

Packing Essential Ironing Supplies

When it comes to ironing on a cruise ship, it’s crucial to pack the right supplies to ensure a smooth and efficient process. Here are some essential items to include in your packing list:

Travel-Friendly Iron: Instead of bringing a full-sized iron, opt for a compact and lightweight travel iron. These irons are designed with portability in mind and often come with foldable handles or a dual voltage feature, making them suitable for international travel.
Wrinkle-Release Spray: A wrinkle-release spray can be a lifesaver when you need a quick fix for removing minor wrinkles from your clothes. Simply spray it on your garments, gently tug and smooth the fabric, and let it air dry. It’s a convenient alternative to ironing, especially when you have limited time or resources.
Dryer Sheets: Packing a few dryer sheets can help reduce static and keep your clothes smelling fresh. Rubbing a dryer sheet over wrinkled areas can also help relax the fabric and make it easier to smooth out.
Portable Steamer: If your cruise ship allows it, a portable steamer can be a valuable addition to your ironing arsenal. These handheld devices produce steam that effectively removes wrinkles from clothing. They are compact, easy to use, and don’t require an ironing board.
Ironing Mat or Board Cover: In case the cruise ship’s ironing facilities don’t provide a sufficient or clean surface, consider bringing a small ironing mat or a board cover. These handy accessories can protect your clothes and provide a stable surface for ironing.
Hangers: While not directly related to ironing, packing a few extra hangers can come in handy for hanging your garments after ironing. It helps prevent wrinkles from forming again while allowing your clothes to air out and dry.

Remember to check your cruise ship’s guidelines regarding packing restrictions and prohibited items before bringing any ironing supplies. It’s important to comply with their rules to ensure a safe and hassle-free experience.

Now that you have the essential ironing supplies packed, let’s move on to discovering the ironing facilities available on most cruise ships.

Finding the Ironing Facilities on the Cruise Ship

Most cruise ships provide ironing facilities for their passengers, but the location and availability may vary. Here are some tips to help you find the ironing facilities on your cruise ship:

Check the Ship’s Deck Plans: The cruise ship’s deck plans, which you can usually find on their website or in informational brochures, will highlight the locations of laundry rooms or ironing areas. Take note of these areas and familiarize yourself with their proximity to your cabin.
Inquire at Guest Services: If you’re having trouble locating the ironing facilities, a quick visit to the ship’s guest services desk can provide you with the information you need. The staff will be able to guide you to the nearest laundry room or provide alternative options for ironing.
Use the Ship’s App or Informational Guide: Many cruise ships offer smartphone apps or informational guides that contain deck plans and essential information about onboard amenities. These resources can be a valuable tool to find the ironing facilities and other services available on the ship.
Plan Your Ironing Schedule: As ironing facilities are shared among passengers, it’s a good idea to plan your ironing schedule during less busy times to minimize waiting. Early mornings and late evenings are usually quieter periods, allowing you to take advantage of the facilities with shorter wait times.

Keep in mind that ironing facilities on cruise ships are equipped with limited resources, such as a certain number of irons and ironing boards. It’s important to exercise patience and be considerate of other passengers’ needs as you navigate these shared spaces.

Once you have found the ironing facilities, it’s essential to follow some safety tips to ensure a smooth and accident-free ironing experience on the cruise ship. Let’s explore these tips in the next section.

Tips for Safe Ironing on a Cruise Ship

Ironing on a cruise ship requires a bit of caution and adherence to safety guidelines. Here are some tips to ensure a safe ironing experience:

Read the Instructions: Before using the iron provided in the ship’s facilities or your own travel iron, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with its operation and safety instructions. This will ensure you understand how to use the iron properly and minimize the risk of accidents.
Use Ironing Facilities with Caution: If using the ship’s ironing facilities, always exercise caution and be aware of your surroundings. Avoid leaving the iron unattended and make sure to use the provided ironing board or mat for stability.
Keep Children and Pets Away: If you’re ironing in your cabin, make sure to keep children and pets away from the iron and ironing area. Children may be curious and accidentally touch hot surfaces, leading to burns or injuries.
Handle Hot Surfaces Carefully: When handling the iron, be cautious of hot surfaces and avoid touching them with bare skin. Use the handle or designated areas for gripping to prevent burns.
Avoid Overloading Power Outlets: If you’re using your own travel iron, ensure that you don’t overload power outlets with multiple devices. Additionally, check that the power source’s voltage matches the voltage requirements of your iron to avoid damage or safety hazards.
Let the Iron Cool Down: After use, allow the iron to cool down completely before packing it away to prevent any accidental burns or damage to your belongings.

By following these safety tips, you can minimize the risk of accidents and ensure a worry-free ironing experience on the cruise ship.

If ironing is not your preferred method or the cruise ship’s regulations prohibit its use, don’t worry! There are alternative methods for removing wrinkles that you can easily utilize. Let’s explore these methods in the next section.

Alternative Methods for Removing Wrinkles on a Cruise Ship

If ironing is not an option or you prefer alternative methods for removing wrinkles on a cruise ship, there are several effective techniques you can try. Here are some alternatives:

Wrinkle-Release Spray: As mentioned earlier, wrinkle-release sprays can work wonders in smoothing out minor wrinkles. Simply spray the product onto your garment, gently tug and smooth the fabric, and let it air dry. Wrinkle-release sprays are convenient and can be a great option when ironing facilities are limited.
Steamy Showers: Hang wrinkled garments in the bathroom while you take a hot shower. The steam created in the bathroom can help relax the fabric, making it easier to smooth out the wrinkles. After your shower, give the garment a quick tug to further remove any remaining wrinkles.
Garment Steamer: If you have space in your luggage, consider bringing a portable garment steamer. These devices produce steam that can effectively remove wrinkles from clothes. They are easy to use, don’t require an ironing board, and can be a convenient alternative to traditional ironing.
Hang Clothes Properly: One of the simplest ways to prevent wrinkles is to pack your clothes properly and hang them up as soon as you get to your cabin. Use hangers or hooks available in your cabin to hang garments and allow them to air out and naturally relax. This method helps minimize the need for ironing or steaming.
Use a Hairdryer: In a pinch, you can use a hairdryer to blast wrinkles away. Set the hairdryer on a medium or high heat setting and hold it a few inches away from the garment. Gently tug and smooth the fabric while directing the warm air over the wrinkles to help them disappear.

These alternative methods can be effective in removing wrinkles and maintaining a presentable appearance while on a cruise ship. Experiment with different techniques to find the one that works best for you and the specific garment you’re dealing with.

Before you know it, you’ll have mastered the art of wrinkle removal on a cruise ship, ensuring your clothes always look sharp and presentable. As a result, you’ll feel confident and ready to make the most of your cruise vacation.

Ironing on a cruise ship may require some adjustments, but with the right preparation and knowledge, you can keep your clothes looking neat and wrinkle-free throughout your vacation. By packing essential ironing supplies such as a travel-friendly iron, wrinkle-release spray, and portable steamer, you’ll be well-equipped to handle any wrinkled garments.

Remember to familiarize yourself with your ship’s ironing facilities, whether through the deck plans, guest services, or onboard resources. By doing so, you can locate the ironing areas and plan your ironing schedule to avoid long waiting times.

While ironing is a common method for removing wrinkles, it’s also important to consider alternative techniques. Wrinkle-release sprays, steamy showers, garment steamers, and proper garment hanging can all help keep your clothes wrinkle-free without the need for ironing.

By practicing safe ironing techniques, such as reading instructions, handling hot surfaces carefully, and keeping children and pets away from the iron, you can ensure a safe and accident-free ironing experience on a cruise ship.

In the end, the goal is to maintain a polished and well-groomed appearance during your cruise without spending excessive money on laundry services. With the tips and techniques discussed in this article, you’ll be able to navigate the world of ironing on a cruise ship with ease, allowing you to enjoy your vacation while looking your best.

So, pack your ironing supplies, locate the ironing facilities, implement safe ironing practices, and explore alternative wrinkle removal methods. With these tools and tips at your disposal, you’ll be ready to conquer any wrinkles that come your way and make the most of your cruise adventure!

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Can You Bring a Travel Iron on a Cruise Ship?

By Anna Duncan

Traveling is an enjoyable experience for many. When it comes to packing for a cruise trip, you want to make sure that you are prepared with all the essential items that you’ll need on your trip.

One common question asked by travelers is whether they can bring their own travel iron on a cruise ship.

The short answer is yes, but there are some restrictions you should be aware of before packing your iron in your luggage. The number one rule when it comes to bringing a travel iron on board a cruise ship is to check with the individual cruise line prior to boarding as each company has its own policies and regulations regarding carry-on items.

In general, it is not recommended to bring a traditional-sized or full-sized iron on board since most cruise lines do not allow them due to fire safety concerns. However, many companies do allow smaller travel-sized irons that are less than 1,500 watts and come with an automatic shut-off feature for added safety.

If you do decide to bring your own travel iron on board a cruise ship, it’s important to know that the majority of ships provide their passengers with access to laundry services where they can use commercial-grade irons and other laundry equipment.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, while some cruise lines may allow travelers to bring their own travel iron onboard as part of their carry-on luggage, it’s important for travelers to check the individual policies of the cruise line before doing so. Additionally, most ships offer access to laundry services where travelers can use commercial-grade irons and other equipment.

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How to Prevent Wrinkled Clothes on a Cruise

By: Author Carrie Ann Karstunen

Posted on Published: April 22, 2019 - Last updated: September 7, 2022

How to Prevent Wrinkled Clothes on a Cruise

Did you know cruise ships don’t have irons in the staterooms? Because of fire safety rules on board, not only is there no iron provided, but you can’t pack your own travel iron or steamer. So how do you prevent wrinkled clothes on a cruise?

If you’re like me and can’t stand wrinkled clothing, I have lots of tips to make your cruise wardrobe look freshly-pressed.

When it comes to travel, I’m about as well-seasoned as you can get. I’ve taken lots of cruises, was a flight attendant for years, and I’ve logged millions of miles traveling around the world with my clothes crammed in a suitcase.

Here are my best tips to prevent wrinkled clothes on a cruise!

Disclaimer: I may receive a small commission when you make a purchase from a link on this site, at no added charge to you. For more info, please read my Disclosure Policy .

Choose wrinkle-resistant fabrics

Many clothing companies that specialize in travel clothing use wrinkle-resistant fabrics. If your style is casual, these items might be a good option for you. Although wrinkle-resistant clothing tends to look its best right out of the dryer, creases from packing can be removed quickly using my de-wrinkling tips .

If travel clothing isn’t your style, you can purchase (or shop your closet for) items to pack that are made from synthetics such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, or olefin.

Watch out for rayon, because it tends to wrinkle! Lyocell (sometimes called Tencel) is similar to rayon but is much more wrinkle-resistant.

If you (like me) prefer to wear natural fibers, you’ll have to work a little harder to get your cruise outfits looking good after you unpack. But it is doable, I promise!

Cotton or linen blended with a synthetic will be a bit easier to get looking good, especially if you choose a knit or stretch fabric instead of non-stretch woven material.

Iron or steam your clothes at home first

Make sure that your clothing is wrinkle-free before you put it in your suitcase. A quick pass with an iron or steamer at home will save you time when you’re on your cruise. No one wants to waste hours of their hard-earned vacation ironing!

Whether you iron or steam the wrinkles out, be sure the clothes are completely dry and cool to the touch before you pack them. This will prevent wrinkles or creases from setting while your garments are in your luggage.

Use a hard shell suitcase (or put items that tend to wrinkle in your carry-on suitcase)

If you’re flying to your embarkation city, be careful where you pack your most wrinkle-prone items.

Have you ever seen what an airplane’s baggage hold looks like when it’s full? Suitcases are stacked on top of one another, so there’s a good chance that your suitcase will have hundreds of pounds of pressure sitting on top of it for the duration of your flight.

Samsonite Framelock Hardside Expandable with Spinner Wheels, Dark Grey, Checked-Large 28-Inch

Hard-sided suitcases without expandable panels are your best bet to protect your clothes from becoming creased. Zippered expandable panels made of heavy-duty fabric will compress under pressure. A well-made solid case can withstand the weight of whatever ends up on top of it, not affecting what’s inside.

If you don’t have hard shell luggage, place the items that you’re most concerned about wrinkling in your carry-on suitcase. As long as your suitcase fits easily in the overhead compartment, you won’t have to worry about your clothing getting squashed.

Learn more: What to Pack in Your Cruise Carry On Bag

Pack your suitcase the right way

1. don’t overpack.

Have you ever had to sit on your suitcase to close it? I’ve been guilty of this in the past! I blame it on my shoe obsession.

Pressure can create wrinkles , and if you pack that tightly, you’re going to have a problem!

Use a packing list and stick to it. If you’re flying, you’ll have baggage restrictions, so edit your choices until they fit comfortably in the luggage that you’re taking.

I like to keep to a basic color scheme so I can mix and match layering pieces that I’ll wear several times, instead of packing individual outfits for each day.

Tip: Are you struggling to pare down your shoe choices for your cruise? Think metallics and neutral colors. A pair of metallic or neutral sandals, a light tennis shoe or slip-on with a rubber sole, and a neutral pair of dress shoes for dancing and formal nights are all you really need.

2. Fold your clothes in bundles

Bundles? I hear you thinking right now, “What on earth is she talking about?” Bear with me, and this will change how you pack forever.

When you fold each individual item and stack them on top of one another, every fold can become a crease when pressure is applied. However, if you fold items around one another, you’ll avoid making any tight creases at all. You’ll end up with far fewer wrinkles in your clothes when you unpack.

An easy way to do this is to start with something that’s fairly firm and doesn’t tend to wrinkle, like a pair of jeans.

Fold your jeans as you normally would. Lay your next item flat, and smooth out any wrinkles. Place your jeans in the center of that item, and fold it up and around your jeans.

Lay your next item flat, put your bundle on top of it, and fold the flat item around your bundle. Continue with your clothing until you’ve folded your last item around the bundle, then place your completed bundle in your suitcase.

I like to alternate larger and smaller items, so that the larger garments hold the smaller ones in place. If you save your largest piece for last, it will help keep everything together.

3. Use packing cubes

When I first heard about packing cubes I was very confused. Why would I need to put bags inside of my bags? Let me tell you, now that I’ve tried them, I love these things!

Not only do packing cubes help organize your suitcase by keeping similar items together, but they also allow you to fit more inside. The cubes lightly compress clothing so it takes up less space.

These are great for clothes that you don’t care about wrinkling, like pajamas. I also use them to organize my socks, underwear, knit camisoles, leggings, workout clothing, swimwear, or any other items that I never iron.

Tip: When you’re unpacking your suitcase, put your packing cubes directly in the dresser drawers or on the shelves in your stateroom closet. The mesh panels make it easy to see what’s in each cube.

Packing cubes are also helpful to corral small electronics, chargers, and other accessories.

Are you wondering what other travel accessories are helpful for cruisers? Check out my list of the best cruise accessories you need to pack.

4. Stuff shoulders and bodices of formal items with tissue paper

If your cruise line has formal nights, you’ll likely need to pack some dressy clothing. Protect any parts of these clothes that could crush under pressure, like the shoulders of a suit jacket or dress, or the bodice of a formal gown. Ball up some tissue paper, and stuff these sections to help them keep their shape.

Hang your clothes immediately

When your luggage arrives at your stateroom on embarkation day, the last thing that most people want to do is unpack! But, the longer your clothes are squashed in your suitcase, the more creased they can become.

Tip: There are never enough hangers in stateroom closets! When your steward when visits your room for the initial introduction, ask for extra hangers. (Find out more about what your room steward can and can’t do for you in Eight Things That Will Surprise New Cruisers ).

Hang your clothes as soon as you can, and you’ll have the added benefit of more room in your cabin! Those bulky suitcases can slip right under the bed.

Pack wrinkle release spray

When wrinkle release spray first came on the market, I ran right out and bought a bottle. I used to spend a full day each week ironing in-between loads of laundry for my family, so I was super excited for this miracle product!

To be honest, it didn’t take the place of my iron (I actually bought a commercial steamer that saves me hours on laundry day).

But, wrinkle-release spray does a pretty good job getting wrinkles out of some fabrics. I have the best luck when using it on jersey and piqué knits, like t-shirts, polos, and casual knit dresses.

Wrinkle release spray won’t make your clothing look as crisp as an iron does, but I always take it when I travel to remove the worst of the wrinkles.

Simply spray your garment lightly, tug the wrinkles out, and hang to dry.

Since it has a light scent, it’s also great if you pack light for your cruise and want to re-wear some of your clothing during your voyage.

If you’re flying to your embarkation city and not checking any luggage, get a travel-sized bottle for each person you’re traveling with.

Use the shower trick

We all know that the steam from a hot shower can help de-wrinkle clothing . But did you know that you can get your stateroom shower REALLY hot to make steamier steam? You can!

If you look carefully at the temperature knob when you’re running the shower, you’ll notice that you can turn it up only to a certain point. Then it gets stuck, even though it looks like it can be turned more.

In most cruise showers, if you push the knob towards the wall and keep turning, you can get the shower water super hot.

After you’ve all finished showering, turn the water to its hottest setting and let it run, just for two minutes. Then hang any clothing that needs extra attention on the retractable clothing line in the bathroom. Close the bathroom door, and let the steam work its magic while you go off and do something else.

Some cruise ships have anti-theft hangers that you can only use in the closet, so I like to use my beach towel clips to hang my clothes on the line to steam.

Beach Towel Clips, ECROCY Jumbo Towel Clips for Chairs on Cruise, 8 Pack Large Clips Clamps,Clothes Pegs,Beach Towel Holder to Keep Your Towel from Blowing Away,Heavy Duty and in Bright Colors

Use an iron in the self-service laundry room

Many cruise lines have self-service laundry rooms on board. Along with the washers and dryers, they will have a few irons and ironing boards set up for passengers to use at no charge. The irons are on timers to prevent the risk of fire.

Some lines have a laundry room on each floor, but some have only one or two for the entire ship. Keep this in mind when you’re planning to use the laundry room to iron, because they can get busy!

I try to avoid ironing on sea day afternoons or right before dinner, especially on formal evenings. I’ve noticed that the tiny laundry rooms can get crowded at those times.

If you’re unsure if your ship has a laundry room, check the deck map online or ask your room steward once you’re on the ship.

Learn more: Laundry on a Cruise: Everything You Need to Know

Pay for pressing or dry cleaning service

Most cruise lines have an onboard laundry service, for a fee (some lines offer free laundry service for passengers with elite loyalty status). Many will press your clothing for a small charge per item. Some cruise lines also offer dry cleaning service .

Just remember that the turnaround time on cruise laundry services can be several days. This might not be practical for a short cruise, but if you’re on a longer sailing it could be a time-saver.

Tip: Many cruise lines that offer laundry service will offer a midweek special on a bag of clothes. You can save quite a bit of money compared to the per-item rate. Ask your room steward at the beginning of your cruise to find out if and when they’ll be running the special.

Try the hair straightener trick

Although cruise lines won’t let you take most heat-producing items on board, a notable exception is a hair straightener ! Double-check your specific cruise line’s list of prohibited items before you travel, because they do tend to change.

If you need to get a crease out of a shirt tail or collar, or a wrinkle out of the hem of your skirt, a hair straightener will do it very quickly! Just be sure that you don’t have a lot of styling product residue on your straightener before you use it on your clothing.

Hair straighteners can get HOT (mine goes up to 455 degrees F). Be careful when using it on synthetic fabrics. Just like an iron that’s too hot, it can scorch or melt synthetics. Make sure to start on a lower heat setting and only turn the heat up if you need to.

You may also like: Nine Things You Need to Check Before Your Cruise

Do you have any other tips for avoiding wrinkled clothes on a cruise? How do you keep your cruise outfits wrinkle-free? Let me know in the comments below!

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Jeri Stodola

Tuesday 21st of July 2020

To remove wrinkles, I dampen a hand towel and put it in a dryer with the wrinkled clothes for a few minutes. Bring hangars so you can hang the clothes up right away.

Jeri, that's a great tip for cruise lines that have self-service laundry rooms (not all do). I've found that trick works best for getting wrinkles out of lightweight knits like tees and jersey dresses. Thanks for the comment! ?

Ironing Expert

How to Iron Clothes on a Cruise Ship: A Step-by-Step Guide

Embarking on a cruise vacation is exciting, but it often comes with the small challenge of keeping your clothes wrinkle-free. Since safety regulations on most cruise ships restrict passengers from using personal irons in their cabins, it’s essential to know how to iron clothes on a cruise ship using the tools they provide. This article will guide you through preparing to iron your clothes effectively.

Step 1: Understanding Your Cruise Ship’s Ironing Policy

Before you set sail, it’s crucial to familiarize yourself with your cruise ship’s ironing policy . The use of personal irons or steamers is generally prohibited on board due to the significant fire risk they pose in the confined space of a cabin. As a safety precaution, cruise ships are equipped with designated ironing rooms.

These facilities are often free to use and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The ironing rooms are typically outfitted with professional-grade irons and ironing boards, providing a safe and suitable environment for you to take care of your garments.

These communal ironing rooms can be found on various decks, ensuring convenience for passengers staying in different sections of the ship. Their locations are strategically chosen for easy access while keeping them isolated from high-traffic areas to minimize risk. To locate the ironing room, you can refer to the ship’s map, ask the cabin crew, or visit the guest services desk, where staff can provide you with detailed information about the ironing facilities, including their hours of operation.

It’s also wise to inquire about peak times so you can plan your ironing during quieter periods. Most passengers will want to iron their formal attire right before dinner or special events, leading to longer wait times. Knowing the ebb and flow of the ironing room can save you time and hassle.

Additionally, the guest services might offer helpful tips on the best times to use the facilities, or they may be able to reserve a time slot for you, ensuring that you have access when you need it most.

Lastly, remember to ask about the availability of ironing accessories. While the room will certainly have an iron and board, you may need to bring or request additional items such as a water jug for filling the iron’s reservoir or a protective cloth for delicate fabrics.

By understanding these policies and preparing accordingly, you can ensure that your clothes are pressed and presentable throughout your cruise.

Step 2: Gathering What You Need

After locating the ironing room, gather the clothes that need ironing along with any other ironing aids you prefer, such as a water spritzer or fabric freshener. Although the ironing room will have the essentials, you might want to bring your own accessories to enhance the ironing experience.

For more articles like this one click here – How to Iron: Easy Guide to Mastering the Art of Ironing

Ironing Your Clothes

With preparation out of the way, it’s time to tackle the actual ironing. This section will provide you with detailed steps to ensure your clothes are ironed perfectly and safely.

Step 1: Setting Up the Ironing Station

Proper setup of the ironing station is the first step towards ensuring a smooth ironing experience. Upon entering the ironing room, identify a free ironing board and iron.

Start by adjusting the height of the ironing board. It should be at a level where you can press down on your garments without having to bend over, thus preventing any back strain. The ideal height is typically at hip level, allowing you to iron comfortably while leveraging your body weight.

Next, inspect the iron to ensure it is clean and free of any residue that could transfer to your clothing. Fill the water reservoir to the indicated maximum line if you plan to use steam. It’s important not to overfill the iron as this could lead to water leaks and potential fabric damage. With the iron filled, plug it into the nearest outlet, ensuring the cord does not create a tripping hazard in the walking area.

Now, turn on the iron and select the appropriate fabric setting. Irons on cruise ships usually come with a guide or label indicating which settings are best for different types of fabrics. If you’re ironing a cotton shirt, for example, you’ll want to use a higher heat setting than for a delicate silk blouse.

When in doubt, err on the side of caution and choose a lower setting to avoid any potential damage. While the iron heats up, use this time to organize your garments by fabric type, starting with those requiring the lowest temperature. This will save you time as you won’t have to adjust the settings as frequently.

Allow the iron a few minutes to reach the desired temperature. Most modern irons will have an indicator light that turns off when the set temperature is reached.

If the iron has been left on a high setting by the previous user, it might be hot already, so always test the iron on a small, inconspicuous area of the garment or a pressing cloth first to ensure it doesn’t scorch the fabric.

As you wait for the iron to warm up, lay out your garments on a nearby table or hanging area. Smooth out any folded creases and prepare any ironing aids you might use, such as starch or a spray bottle of water. This proactive approach will streamline your ironing process, allowing you to move from one item to the next without interruption.

Step 2: The Ironing Process

Mastering the ironing process on a cruise ship is all about technique and order. Start by sorting your clothing according to the heat required—begin with delicate items like silk or polyester, which need a low heat setting, and progress to cotton and linen, which can withstand higher heat.

Drape the first garment you’re ironing over the board, positioning it so the part you’re ironing is flat against the surface while the rest of the garment hangs freely, avoiding additional wrinkles.

For a shirt, for example, start with the collar. Pop it to lay flat on the board, apply the iron with gentle pressure, and move it from the points of the collar inwards.

This avoids creasing the edge. Next, move on to the cuffs, ironing the inside first and then the outside. When ironing sleeves, lay them flat and iron from the shoulder down to the cuff, being careful to iron out any creases at the seams.

With the smaller parts done, you can proceed to larger sections. Begin with the back of the shirt, ironing from the top downwards, and then each front panel.

When ironing around buttons, never iron over them as this can damage both the buttons and the iron; instead, carefully work around them. For pants, start at the top and work your way down each leg, aligning any creases or pleats as you go.

During the ironing process, ensure the iron’s temperature is always appropriate for the current garment. If you need to increase the temperature for a thicker fabric, allow the iron to heat up before continuing.

Conversely, if you switch back to a delicate fabric, let the iron cool down or test it on a pressing cloth to avoid burns. Always keep the iron moving to prevent scorching, and if a garment is particularly wrinkled, you can use a light spray of water to help relax the fibers before ironing.

After each garment is ironed, immediately hang it up or lay it flat to cool down. This will help set the press and ensure that your clothes remain wrinkle-free. With patience and attention to detail, your clothing will look crisp and fresh, ready for any cruise ship event or excursion.

Step 3: Dealing with Stubborn Wrinkles

Stubborn wrinkles can be a challenge, but with the right technique, they can be smoothed out. If you come across a persistent crease, the steam function on the iron can be your best ally. When using steam, it’s important to keep the iron moving and avoid leaving it in one spot for too long, which could overly dampen or even damage the fabric.

Begin by holding the iron a few inches away from the fabric surface and press the steam button in short bursts to gently moisten and heat the fibers. This helps relax the fabric and makes it easier to smooth out the wrinkles.

Once you’ve steamed the area, lay the garment flat on the ironing board and iron over the wrinkled section using gentle pressure.

Use the nose of the iron to get into tight spaces or around buttons and seams. For deep-set creases, you may need to repeat the steaming process a couple of times. Remember to always check the fabric care label to ensure that steam is safe to use on the material you’re ironing.

For delicate fabrics such as silk, chiffon, or sheer materials, direct contact with the iron could cause heat marks or even burns.

In such cases, hover the iron just above the fabric surface and use the steam function to relax the wrinkles. You can also use a pressing cloth between the iron and the fabric for an added layer of protection. The pressing cloth helps distribute the heat more evenly and prevents direct contact with the delicate fibers.

It’s also helpful to iron delicate items inside out to protect the outer surface from shine and iron marks. And if you’re working with a fabric that’s prone to water spots, like silk or wool, be cautious with the amount of steam you apply. Use the lowest steam setting and always test on an inconspicuous area first.

After steaming and ironing out the wrinkles, let the fabric cool and dry completely before wearing or storing it. This will set the smoothness you’ve achieved and prevent new wrinkles from forming.

With these careful steps, even the most stubborn wrinkles can be coaxed out, leaving you with garments that look professionally pressed and ready to wear.

Step 4: Finishing Up

After you’ve ironed your garments, immediately hang them on hangers or fold them neatly to maintain their crisp appearance. Leave the ironing room tidy for the next passenger, unplugging the iron and emptying any remaining water.

FAQs: How to Iron Clothes on a Cruise Ship

Here are some frequently asked questions …

What if my cruise doesn’t have an ironing room?

If there is no ironing room, inquire about laundry services that may include ironing. Alternatively, you can pack wrinkle-resistant clothing or use wrinkle release sprays.

How do I iron without an ironing board?

If you find yourself needing to iron and there is no ironing board, use a flat, heat-resistant surface covered with a towel as an alternative. Ensure it is a stable setup before you begin.

Conclusion: How to Iron Clothes on a Cruise Ship

Ironing on a cruise ship doesn’t have to be a daunting task. By following these steps, you can ensure that your clothes are pressed and presentable for any occasion, from formal dinners to casual outings. Always adhere to the ship’s safety guidelines and treat the ironing room with respect for the benefit of all passengers.

Can I bring an iron or clothes steamer onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship?

Irons and clothes steamers are prohibited items and should not be brought with you on your vacation.

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Carnival Cruise Lines

Can I take a travel iron on my cruise

By john636 , October 19, 2009 in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Snorkel2Much

It's not allowed, and your room steward will turn you in even if it makes it through baggage screening. Plenty of free ironing boards and irons available in the passenger self laundry areas, just dont wait until 2 hours before elegant night dinner (or whatever it's called this month)

If you know its not allowed and a fire hazard, why would you be asking still about taking one??

Carnival has irons in the laundry rooms.

What about little portable steamers? They hold about 3 oz. of water...very small and compact. :confused:

Steam Irons are ok......I used mine all week long and left it out in plain view. If you really need more than a steam Iron you can go to the laundry rooms and get a regular iron.

Those little steamers are okay - just not an iron or a steam iron as someone said you can take - NO. Steamers YES - any kind of an iron NO

I have found if I hang the wrinkled clothing on the bathroom door and really steam up the bathroom...the wrinkles fall right out. You don't have to do it long either.

I usually steam them the night before I wear them and by the next day..they are dry and wrinkle free!!

I have found if I hang the wrinkled clothing on the bathroom door and really steam up the bathroom...the wrinkles fall right out. You don't have to do it long either. I usually steam them the night before I wear them and by the next day..they are dry and wrinkle free!!

Don't wait too long you can set off the smoke detector. :o

Regular irons are in the same category as candles, flame throwers, liquid nitrogen rockets, BBQ grills, or any other thing that if left unattended in your cabin could potentially set the ship on fire.

From their website:

Safety Precautions due to "Safety Precautions", the following items are not permitted onboard:

Heating Pads

Irons are a fire hazard.

how hot is the shower water? will it steam up good?

i've never used a steamer. Will it work on jeans and t-shirts?

minnesotalady

Thank you for your comments as I was thinking the same thing.

spencercoop

The water is very hot!

Sorta and maybe! I know that is not a good answer. Bought one and took it on a cruise. DH and I said, what a waste of money and space. Worked sorta good. The iron they have in the laundry areas work better, best time to go is after midnight. You can sing & dance while you press things off. I always throw a load of laundry in on the 3rd & 6th day at that time. Gosh looked good from pressing and all the wash was done. I buy a cloth laundry bag from the dollar store. You can throw the clothes you need to press over one arm, the laundry bag over the other and carry two cocktails with you. Your ready at anytime while others are waiting for the irons and washers during busy times.;)

Yes, we do bring a "steamer". But if you think a day ahead, hang your wrinkled stuff in the bathroom while showering, and let it dry for the day.

Holy smokes you're organized. :eek:

salty dingo

You can take it, but you have to cut the electrical cord off first.

cruiselover 43

Can I wash my clothes while on board?

Self-Service Launderettes:

Each ship has at least 2 self-service launderettes located on the stateroom decks.

There are two or three washers and dryers, and one iron and ironing board in each launderette. The cost is $3.00 per washer load and $3.00 per dryer load. Vending machines dispense small boxes of detergent and water softener at $1.00 per box.

Note: Due to local environmental requirements, the washing machines in the guest' launderette will be closed in port, per each ports specific requirements; the dryers and irons will be available for guest use.

CruisnMom007

I take my steamer and pack the Downey wrinkle release!

I get the whole reason for not having Irons.....but I have seen some pretty bad burns and I have heard for fires from people leaving curling irons and those straighteners on too!

I have never used it on jeans, but it works pretty good on lighter fabrics.

I am a Downy Wrinkle Release diva too. I think between the steamer and the Downy, I will be ok. :D

If I travel and take jeans, I usually take them to the cleaners and have them light startched. They will not wrinkle if you tried too. lol

Regular irons are in the same category as candles, flame throwers, liquid nitrogen rockets , BBQ grills, or any other thing that if left unattended in your cabin could potentially set the ship on fire.

That was hilarious! :D But right on the money!

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

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These Are the Only 6 Outfits You Need to Pack for a Cruise, According to a Carry-on Only Traveler

Follow this foolproof list for a stress-free packing experience — and a lighter suitcase.

Travel + Leisure / Madison Woiten

If you took one step through my one-bedroom Los Angeles apartment, “minimalist” might be the last word that comes to mind. With each nook and cranny piled up with heaps of products I’ve set aside for article reviews, TikTok unboxings , and honestly who even knows what else at this point, my living space is definitely eventful , you could say. But when it comes to packing for any trip, I’m the ultimate minimalist. I’d love to say it’s because I’m a naturally sensible person — but really it’s because I despise schlepping more than anything on the planet. Therefore, the more practical I can be with one medium-sized suitcase (and a tote), the better.

My packing skills were put to the test last month when I set sail on the brand new Carnival Firenze ship. Hopping on board for an eight-day press trip from Long Beach, Calif., to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, I knew I’d need to pack for warm weather at the stops, but cold weather at sea. I’d need to avoid structured, bulky pieces, while stuffing in as much thin (yet durable) material as I possibly could. I’d also need to take into account the dressy nights that may call for more accessories. I wasn’t taking my portable steamer , so I’d need pieces that wouldn’t wrinkle easily.

And what did I learn? It can be done! I relied heavily on two-piece sets from Amazon . They’re comfy, stylish, and budget-friendly. Below are the only six outfits I needed to get through my trip—along with some accessories to elevate the looks.

Anrabess Knit Sweater Pullover Crop Top + Pants

The key to cruising is looking stylish while staying comfy. You’re eating a lot and lounging, but you’re also seeing a lot of people, so you don’t want to look like you just rolled out of bed. This two-piece set is not only made with cozy knit fabric, but it has a loose fit that allowed me to make a few extra stops at the breakfast buffet without having to undo any buttons. This look took me from morning until the time I showered and changed for dinner.

I’ve been on a pink kick lately, but the set comes in 26 additional colors, so saying you have options is an understatement. If you’re after that same elevated casual aesthetic but you want to stay a bit warmer, the same brand offers a two-piece sweatsuit with an oversized zip-up sweatshirt. Sizes for both sets go from XS to XXL.

Verdusa Loose Bell Sleeve Pleated Crop Top and Wide Leg Pants Set

There were two fancy or “cocktail attire” nights on the ship, and this was one of my go-tos. The two-piece set checked all the boxes. It was extremely easy to pack, universally stylish (I think it’s a win for everyone), has an elastic waistband which I’m always a fan of, and it looked luxe with an under $35 price tag. I received the most compliments in this outfit, and because I wore it so early in the trip, it made a great first impression. Cropped tops can be intimidating, but I felt covered enough with the high-waisted bottoms. If you want to avoid revealing midriff while sticking to a similar print, I recommend the Reaseral Off Shoulder Printed Long Sleeve Wide Leg Pants Set . The top is loose-fitting and the bottom features an elastic waistband.

Floerns Crop Tube Top and Split Long Skirt Set

For the Cabo portion of my trip, I wanted something cropped, cute and solid-colored so I could throw my hair up in a bun and let my makeup and accessories make the statement. We spent the day on a yacht, and my Cabo look was my favorite of the entire trip. The actual outfit I wore was the Peixoto Women’s Louisa Crop Top and its accompanying Peixoto Women’s Valentina Skirt , but the combo is on the more pricey side. I was able to find something similar at a much more accessible price point, sold as a set .

The option I’ve listed is lightweight with a thinner material, which is essential for packing and will come in handy when you’re in hot temps (a la Cabo). It also comes with pockets and two long slits up the sides. I especially like the solid-colored skirt option because you can mix and match with other tops, like the Miracmoda Off Shoulder Ruched Tie Back Crop Top that comes in 22 colors and sizes small to XXL.

Artfree Womens Loungewear Set

To say I’m obsessed with this two-piece set is an understatement. I wear it all the time. I’m impressed with the high-quality material, fit, comfortability and overall aesthetic. It’s a stylish, luxurious ensemble at a remarkable price point. It can be dressed up with heels for a big night, it can be dressed down with flip flops for eating and lounging. It’s also great for mixing and matching. I’d often slip the pants on for breakfast or lunch on the ship, and pair them with a casual cropped tee like the Artfish Women’s Fitted Casual Crop Top , or the MakeMeChic Women’s Summer Crop Top Twist Front T-Shirt .

There are several shades to choose from with my beloved set, but I’m partial to the Barbie pink. I get so many compliments. If you’re a bold color girlie like me, you can also try one of the Kaimimei Linen Long Sleeve + Flare Pleated Wide Leg Pants Sets . They’re styled similarly to the outfit I wore, but with slightly more lightweight material and a greater selection of color options.

Wimsihal Women’s Square Neck Casual Party Mini Dress

This was the It-item that made me an Amazon loyalist. The flirty, fun, timeless party dress goes with me everywhere—and it made a splash (pun intended) during our first dinner at sea. It truly is the ultimate LBD. It’s short enough to show a little leg, but long enough to avoid feeling uncomfortable. It also offers a little skin reveal in all the right places.

When I tell you I take this with me when I want an instant confidence boost, I mean it. It’s the easiest piece to accessorize, and I absolutely live for the elastic stretch. I’m a curvy girlie, so zippers and tight fitting material are my worst enemies. None of that is present here. I also love the versatile short sleeves. They can be worn as is or off the shoulder. If you want to go for a similar style but change up the length, I also love the SweatyRocks V-Neck Short Romper and the Cegerne Short Sleeve Wide Leg Pant Jumpsuit .

Ceci Erlich Scallop Slip Midi Dress

Anthropologie

My cherished Anthropologie maxi floral dress that I wore to the second formal night on the ship is sadly no longer in stock, but I found a stylish replacement that checks all the boxes of the former. This harmonious array of color was designed exclusively for Anthropologie, and it features an easy tie in the back. This is a dream for me, someone who despises buttons and zippers. It’s easy to slip on, with a long slit on the side to conservatively show a little leg.

If you want to stick to the floral theme of the original dress, I also love Anthropologie’s Hutch Sleeveless V-Neck Cutout Midi Dress . It’s similarly easy to slip into and it fits the cocktail theme I was going for with the first. I love a sleek all-black moment, but I’m also drawn to color, so a comfy yet classy dress like this one is an ultimate win. The tiny cutout offers a peek of skin without revealing too much.

Best Accessories for Outfits on a Cruise

Bronax pillow slippers for women and men.

If you want to know my true can’t-leave-home-without pick, it’s a pair of these thick cushion slides. Not only are they extremely comfortable (truly, like walking on clouds), they serve many purposes. I wore them casually on the ship with my Anrabess Knit Sweater Pullover Crop Top + Pants for breakfast and lunch.

I also wore these Amazon number-one best-sellers with my Hue Women’s Mini Crew Socks as I headed down to morning yoga (a refreshing way to kick off my day on the boat). At night, when I made my midnight rounds to the ship’s 24-hour ice cream stand, I’d slip these on with my cozy Artfree Women’s Loungewear Set , and call it a day. Obviously my black pair is the most versatile, but they come in 15 colors to choose from, so a fun pop of color isn’t out of reach!

Vetaste Women's Braided Heeled Sandals

If there’s any piece of shoe advice I can offer on a cruise, it’s this: Do not overdo it. All you need are a reliable pair of slippers or sandals (see above) and a versatile pair of open-toe heels you can dress up or down. You’ll be lounging most of the time anyway, so you really only need a heel for the nice dinners. I lived in these Bottega Veneta-inspired sandals . They’re comfy, stylish and went with everything I brought on the trip, including my evening wear Wimsihal Women’s Square Neck Casual Party Mini Dress and Verdusa Loose Bell Sleeve Pleated Crop Top and Wide Leg Pants Set .

Limeeke One Piece Solid Ribbed Bathing Suit

I spent more time in loungewear than I did in the actual water, so I didn’t find it necessary to overpack swimwear. The key was finding a flattering piece I could wear with anything. This affordable one-piece features ribbed detail, soft material, stretch and comfort. It also offers fun colors to choose from, and a stylish low back. The suit pairs perfectly with my Peixoto Women’s Valentina Skirt and the bottoms from my Artfree Womens Loungewear Set .

Dulcet Project Leather Tote Bag for Women

When it comes to handbags or clutches on a cruise, all you need are two items. You need a durable, neutral everyday bag you can take with you everywhere, and a clutch (more on that later) for the cocktail attire nights. This leather tote bag features an adjustable strap that can conveniently transform into different styles.

During the day, I plopped my laptop into this bad boy and carried it around the ship, along with my Feisedy Vintage Square 70s Flat Aviator Sunglasses , cell phone, makeup touch-ups and other daytime necessities. Then at night, this bag doubled as a chic tote I could take to dinner, wearing my Artfree Women’s Loungewear Set or my Wimsihal Women’s Square Neck Casual Party Mini Dress .

Menurra Acrylic Evening Glitter Cocktail Clutch Bag

This glamorous acrylic clutch was my saving grace for the cocktail attire nights. Not only did the unique square shape spark conversation from guests, but the marble and glitter details spiced up any outfit, especially the Verdusa Loose Bell Sleeve Pleated Crop Top and Wide Leg Pants Set , and the Ceci Erlich Scallop Slip Midi Dress . Easy to clasp and carry, this dressy accessory was a no-brainer for the fancier evenings.

If the boxed shape isn’t your style, I also love the more lightweight Verdusa Women's Satin Evening Handbag . With seven colors to choose from, there’s the option to go neutral or bold and bright, depending on your outfit. The material is soft and the space fits all the essentials.

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Are You Allowed To Pack Hot Hair Tools For A Cruise?

Between the dining room clothing rules and shore excursion days, you'll want to present yourself well when going on a cruise. Though cruises are known to be fun and relaxed, they're also a chance to dress up and put your best foot forward.

For some cruisers, this includes taking care of their hair while at sea. After taking a dip in the pool or sweating it out at the onboard gym, you may need to grab some hot hair tools to get your mane back in shape — think a blow dryer, curling iron, and straightener. But are these gadgets actually allowed on cruise ships?

Generally, hair styling tools are permitted on cruises, so you won't have to worry about sporting frizzy, unruly locks for the duration of your trip. This is true for cruises operated by Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises, and Carnival, among others. However, note that other heated appliances are usually banned, and the rules can vary depending on the cruise line and your hair tool model.

Should you bring hair styling tools on a cruise?

As long as your cruise ship allows hot hair tools, it's a personal choice whether you pack your blow dryer and styling irons or leave them at home. However, it's good to know that many cruise cabins provide blow dryers that are designed to function on the ship, meaning you might not need to pack your own. They're often similar to the blow dryers you'll find in a typical hotel, so if you're picky about things like how quickly your hair dries or diffusers and other attachments, you may want to bring your own dryer from home. Otherwise, leave your hair dryer behind when packing for your cruise .

As for straighteners and other styling tools, don't expect your room to come already stocked. If you regularly rely on your straightening or curling iron, it doesn't hurt to bring it along during your cruise vacation, though keep in mind that perfectly polished hair might not survive the onboard activities anyway. If you plan to lounge on the humid pool deck or dance for hours in the nightclub, expect your mane to get a little messy.

Finally, be aware that many cruises are equipped with salons where you can pay a professional to style your hair. If you only need your tresses tamed with hot tools once or twice during the trip, this can be a convenient (and slightly indulgent) alternative to packing your own gear.

Precautions to keep in mind when using hot hair tools on a cruise

Even if your cruise line permits electric hair tools, using them might not be as straightforward as it is in your own bathroom. First, confirm that your cabin's outlets are compatible with your appliance before plugging it in. You may need a converter or adapter to safely use your hair tool. Even if your blow dryer or hair iron fits the outlets, it may not work, or it may work in some outlets and not in others (especially on older vessels).

Sometimes, fire alarms on cruise ships can be triggered by hot tools, even if there's no smoke in sight. If this happens, promptly turn off your device and speak with a staff member to ensure it's safe to use the gadget.

Finally, always unplug blow dryers, curlers, and straighteners when they're not in use, and keep them away from any water that may make its way into your cabin. This seems like a no-brainer, but given that a cruise ship can be a scary spot to be during a bad storm (especially if the ship floods and water seeps in the windows), it's better to not take any chances.

Carnival Firenze cruise ship review: A guide to Carnival's second 'Italian Style' vessel

Editor's note: TPG's Ashley Kosciolek accepted a free trip to sail on Carnival Firenze for the ship's naming ceremony and inaugural cruise. The views expressed below are entirely hers and were not subject to review by the cruise line.

When Carnival Cruise Line first announced it was adopting ships from sister cruise line Costa Cruises for a product it now calls " Fun Italian Style ," I wondered, given Carnival's usual vibe, if it was possible for the ships to feel even a little bit authentic. Would they be fun or refined? Luxurious or tacky? Carnival Firenze is all of those things — and that's exactly how Carnival passengers like it.

When you step on board, you're welcomed into what feels like an Italian theme park. It's an alternate universe's version of Italy, where you're likely to hear "That's Amore" in some form daily, take part in a street festival that features a gelato-eating contest and watch as waiters in ruffle-sleeved costumes perform in the dining room to Justin Bieber songs while a giant fig leaf-clad version of Michelangelo's David holds court over the whole scene, awash in colored strobe lights.

It's chaotic and a lot to take in, but somehow it works. Passengers can have their photos taken with a Vespa-style scooter and grab Italian-themed burgers and meatball sandwiches at new iterations of some of Carnival's most popular eateries. A giant replica of Donatello's Marzocco towers above the Piazza del Duomo atrium that serves as the location of Carnival Firenze's massive welcome party. During the event, officers and crew scatter around the atrium's three-deck balcony and wave signs that say "Ciao" and "Benvenuti." The high-energy party starts a sailing off on the right foot.

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Juxtapose the over-the-top Italian elements with elegant design choices — such as a pool deck that features charming bar facades designed to evoke Italian architecture, well-designed cabins and service that's off-the-charts friendly — and you've got Carnival Firenze.

Want to learn more about what to expect during a sailing on this new-to-Carnival ship? Here's my review of Carnival Firenze with everything you need to know.

Carnival Firenze overview

Carnival Firenze debuted as Costa Firenze, the second ship in Costa Cruises' Venezia Class (similar to Carnival's Vista Class) , in 2021. The 4,126-passenger, 135,156-ton ship was originally designed for the Chinese cruise market, meaning it houses more casino and retail space than the average North American cruise ship. Plus, its pools are smaller than most, with tons of shaded areas around them — a nice touch for anyone who doesn't want to bake in the sun.

In early 2024, the ship transferred to the Carnival fleet and underwent a two-month refurbishment to tweak some of the public spaces and add Carnival's trademark blue wave paint scheme on the hull. Notably, the ship is keeping its yellow Costa smokestack, which is emblazoned with a giant letter "C," and won't be outfitted with Carnival's signature red, white and blue whale tail funnel.

On board, a large number of your fellow passengers will be West Coasters who often drive to the departure port in Long Beach, California. You'll also find Carnival stalwarts who don't mind making the trip from farther afield to sail on the new ship.

Unfortunately, the vessel often seemed crowded, with 4,200 passengers on my sailing — about 1,000 people fewer than maximum capacity. I can't imagine how it would have felt if my sailing were full.

As is the case on other Carnival vessels, the food provides excellent value for money, with the number of included options far exceeding the number of specialty restaurants that charge extra. Cuisines run the gamut from Italian and Asian to seafood and steak, and despite some longer-than-average wait times in the dining room, the service is friendly and generally efficient.

Cabins are furnished in neutral colors and laid out in ways that make sense, with comfortable convertible beds; closets that feature several layouts with drawers, hanging bars and collapsible shelving; bathrooms with plenty of storage space; and a plethora of electrical outlets for charging.

Carnival Firenze is full of activities, including trivia, movies and games. The spa, salon and fitness center offer ways to care for your mind and body, and top-deck waterslides and a ropes course provide opportunities for adventuresome travelers to find their adrenaline fix.

The Italian vibe carries through everything you do on board. It will either make you smile or roll your eyes. Regardless, it's a lot of fun.

What I love about Carnival Firenze

The design elements.

I wasn't sure what to expect on Carnival Firenze, but what I found immediately upon boarding was a grand three-deck atrium, Piazza del Duomo, that's both over the top and beautiful. In the center is a bar, from the middle of which rises a faux marble pillar with a replica of Donatello's Marzocco golden lion statue on the top. Your eyes can't help but follow it up toward the ceiling, which is painted to look like a blue sky with fluffy white clouds.

As you move between decks, you'll spy Italian-style art in the stairwells and elevator banks. Walls in the cabin hallways are printed with snippets from photos of famous Italian statues; photos of Florentine landmarks like the Duomo serve as headboards in non-suite cabins.

But the most impressive element of the ship's design is the Lido Pool area, which is set up to resemble a courtyard with the pool in the center and several Italian building facades overlooking it. Those facades, which are equipped with wrought-iron balconies, house everything from bars and board game areas to a deli, Guy's Burger Joint (with an Italian twist) and a combination Mexican-Italian burrito and taco bar, as well as the ship's JavaBlue Cafe . It's the first time I've ever visited a cruise pool area and not felt like I was on a ship.

The artwork

During my first night on Carnival Firenze, as I was walking from my cabin down to dinner, I stopped in my tracks and burst out laughing. The aft stairwells on the ship are bedecked with floor-to-ceiling prints that seem innocuous at first, but as you look more closely, you can pick out some exceptionally odd characters. In this particular case, it was two young women who clearly tested the limits of their drink package.

Throughout the rest of my sailing, I made sure to study each print carefully, turning up a creepy crone who needs dental work and some pasties, a woman pulling a centaur's hair, another woman choking on plants and a sad dog standing on top of the table in a chaotic version of "The Last Supper" as Jesus nonchalantly looks on.

Similarly amusing art was positioned on several walls in the ship's two main dining rooms. At Rococo, the bar that serves the Lido Pool, you'll find the walls plastered with late Baroque-style art featuring subjects that have been embellished with modern twists like sunglasses and pithy text. Women in frilly dresses are overlaid with exclamations like "Don't rush me," "Dogs before dudes" and "Swag."

I wasn't a fan of some of the cheesiness on board (see below), but it's clear that both passengers and crew were excited to be there. From the second we were welcomed aboard with a raucous atrium party, the crew was smiling and friendly, and my fellow cruisers were always ready to strike up a conversation.

Every waiter asked how my day was, and my room steward greeted me by name whenever he saw me in the hall. The crew at JavaBlue went out of their way to make sure my coffee order was right each morning, and the genuine cheerfulness didn't go unnoticed.

What I don't love about Carnival Firenze

Flow can be a problem on Carnival Firenze, with galley placement cutting off access from one end of Deck 3 to the other. Passengers traversing the lower decks often have to walk up a deck, over and back down to get where they're going.

The Lido Marketplace buffet is also a problem at peak dining times. The main walkways through the venue feel narrow, making it difficult for two-way traffic to flow through the space, especially for people using wheelchairs, scooters or walkers.

In some spots, the layout was simply confusing. For example, the Tuscan Lounge has two entrances — a primary one that allows traffic to naturally flow from one venue to the next and a hidden secondary one that most people only find by accident, usually after taking a wrong turn.

The fig leaf

Although I'm a fan of much of the art on Carnival Firenze, one piece in particular disappoints me. In the Michelangelo Restaurant, one of the two main dining rooms on board, a giant copy of Michelangelo's David stands on the landing of the grand staircase that connects the restaurant's two decks.

Previously housed on Carnival Pride, the statue was relocated to Carnival Firenze. It still dons a carefully fashioned fig leaf that was made and attached to cover its groin area after a bunch of pearl-clutching Karens complained about having to see — gasp! — a piece of art that's been around for more than five centuries.

Festa Italiana

Festa Italiana is a big, loud, cheesy Italian-themed street festival-type celebration that's held one night during each Carnival Firenze voyage. The Lido Pool area is strung with red, white and green flags, and the event, which lasts more than two hours, kicks off with a talented violin trio.

Following that, the cruise director moves into what the line calls a "traditional" opening ceremony, involving members of the Playlist Productions cast in cartoonish-looking versions of Italian dress parading around the deck. They perform several times throughout the night, alternating with activities like gelato-eating contests, Italian lessons (where the audience learns a couple of phrases that they scream back and forth at one another) and competitions where participants have to maneuver, blindfolded, around terra cotta pots.

The night ends with a DJ, who plays music (think: interesting mashups like "Funiculi Funicula" and Lady Gaga's "Rain on Me") while servers walk around with trays of Italian sausage sandwiches and bites of salami and cheese pastry.

Parts of it are fun, but overall, it feels like an amalgamation of stereotypes instead of an ode to one of the world's most beautiful countries.

Carnival Firenze cabins and suites

Carnival Firenze cabins range from insides with no natural light and outsides with a window to balcony accommodations and suites, including those in La Terrazza, a special zone that offers private cabana, bar and sun deck access.

One odd cabin type to note is the ship's inside cabins with windows and portholes. Normally, they'd be considered outside cabins, but because the views are partially obstructed, the line sells them as insides. Book one of these cabins, and you can snag a room with natural light for less money.

The ship offers no solo cabins, but it does have 44 accessible accommodations sprinkled throughout all basic categories. The rooms are a mix of fully accessible (access to both sides of the bed), fully accessible single-side approach (access to one side of the bed) and ambulatory accessible (for people who can walk with assistive devices like walkers or canes).

Fully accessible rooms are stair-free, flat-threshold cabins, which offer wider (32-inch) doorways, turning space and bathrooms equipped with grab bars and shower seats.

Even the most basic of cabins offers a queen bed that converts to two twins and two nightstands with cabinet storage and reading lamps. Some also sleep up to four people with either a sofa bed or a mix of a sofa bed and a pull-down bunk.

Each room offers a vanity with a mirror, a desk, a stool or chair, a phone, a minifridge, a hair dryer and plenty of outlets. Rooms also come with ample closet space that includes shelving, drawers and bars for hanging clothes of various lengths. Inside each closet is a code-operated safe for which you can program a four-digit pin. (On the first couple of days of my voyage, I had trouble with my in-room safe. After a quick phone call to my room steward, someone arrived at my cabin within minutes to fix it.)

Bathrooms at the basic level are shower only, and they're made of cheap-looking white plastic. Each shower has a fiberglass door instead of a curtain and a single dispenser for all-in-one shower gel and shampoo. They're also equipped with a toilet, a sink, fluffy white towels and plenty of shelving for storing personal grooming items.

As cabins increase in category, they also increase in size and amenities.

Suites come with additional perks, such as priority check-in, boarding and disembarkation; preferred dinner times in the main dining room; pillow-top mattresses; two large bottles of water and bathrobes; upgraded bathroom toiletries; and extra square footage, some of which is dedicated to larger balconies and even walk-in closets.

Some bathrooms at the suite level include bathtubs in addition to shower facilities. Additionally, passengers booked in Ocean suites and La Terrazza cabins (Carnival Firenze's version of Havana Cabana cabins) have access to the exclusive Terrazza Moda sun deck with loungers, hot tubs and a bar, as well as private waiter-served breakfast each morning in the adjoining, indoor Moda Bar and Lounge.

When I sailed on Carnival Firenze, I sailed alone and stayed in a balcony cabin outfitted with a double sleeper sofa and a balcony with two metal and mesh chairs and a small drinks table. Its size was more than enough for me and another person, but it would have been tight quarters sailing with the room's maximum occupancy of four passengers.

I was particularly impressed by how comfortable the bed was and the number of outlets available for charging devices. (The only minor issue is that only one side of the bed has USB ports for phone charging at night.) One thoughtful touch was the motion-activated nightlight that turns on when it senses movement in a dark room. It's a lifesaver if you find yourself needing to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

I also enjoyed the decor, which is less over the top than on some of the older, more colorful ships in Carnival's fleet but less bland than some of its newest ships. It's a happy medium of neutral whites, light browns and beiges with soothing blue hues and floor-to-ceiling prints of some of Italy's famed landmarks.

Dislikes for me included a shower door that leaked, soaking the floor each time I turned on the water, plus "Snoozin'" door hangers that often got caught in my door when I closed it. For the latter, I would've preferred a "Do not disturb" button like many other new ships have.

Carnival Firenze's cabins require you to put something in the slot near the door in order to turn on the lights. (I used my room steward's business card.)

Speaking of room stewards, mine was fantastic, and he came once a day to clean my room between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. He always did a wonderful job, and he was quick to help when I had clothing to send out for pressing.

Carnival Firenze restaurants and bars

Carnival firenze food.

The food on Carnival Firenze is largely tasty, with lots of options, including no-fee dishes and fancy choices that cost extra.

In keeping with the ship's Italian theming, Carnival has added a twist to other vessels' favorite eateries, such as Guy's Burger Joint and BlueIguana Cantina, which appears as Mexican-Italian hybrid Tomodoro. The standard Carnival deli outpost has also been given an Italian spin.

Additionally, Cucina del Capitano, the added-fee Italian restaurant on several other Carnival ships, has been replaced on Carnival Firenze with Il Viaggio, an absolutely phenomenal take on modern, upscale Italian food.

Overall, the food offerings on the ship are a great blend of old favorites — like the Lido Marketplace buffet, Pizzeria del Capitano, the Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse, Bonsai Sushi and Bonsai Teppanyaki — and these new takes on existing restaurants.

Plus, the ship has so many places to sit outside for an alfresco bite. Check out Deck 5, near Bonsai Sushi and Bonsai Teppanyaki, for example. You can enjoy a meal with sea views to boot.

Note: Hours for most restaurants vary based on whether it's a sea day or a port day. Check the daily schedule or Carnival's Hub app for details.

Carnival Firenze has two main dining rooms: Medici Restaurant (Deck 3, mid) and Michelangelo Restaurant (decks 3 and 4, aft).

Michelangelo Restaurant is dedicated to passengers who select Your Time Dining, which lets you eat anytime between 5 and 9 p.m. (The dedicated YTD restaurant can vary by sailing, depending on how many people choose that option.) Medici Restaurant is used for set seating, with two dining times: one at 5:30 p.m. and one at 7:45 p.m.

Both serve the same menu for dinner, but only the larger Michelangelo Restaurant is open for Sea Day Brunch on sea days and breakfast (but not lunch) on port days. It also serves afternoon tea on sea days. Meanwhile, the Medici Restaurant serves a pasta bar for lunch on select sea days.

I had YTD, and I dined three times in the Michelangelo Restaurant. The first time was for brunch, where I had a vegetable omelet with a side of chef Emeril Lagasse's signature beignets. The second time was for a dinner of a simple but lovely Caprese salad and an Indian vegetarian sampler, which included spiced paneer dumplings, chana madra, peas pulao and rice. (Indian dishes are a little-known Carnival specialty.) The final time was disembarkation morning, when I enjoyed delectable vanilla French toast with maple butter and caramelized bananas.

The service was friendly but slow; I had to wait longer than expected between courses at dinner. Both breakfast and brunch were served at a perfect pace, though, with items appearing quickly and looking and tasting fresh.

Lido Marketplace is the ship's complimentary Deck 10 midship buffet that is open daily for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night snacks like cookies and other finger foods. For breakfast, you can expect cereal, an omelet station, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, cold cuts and cheeses. Lunch offers a salad bar, various hot entrees and sides, plus a selection of desserts. Dinner is similar, with salads, a carving station and hot items that might include things like Cornish game hen, rice, roasted potatoes, green beans, egg rolls, fried shrimp and Asian noodles.

Although the buffet is fine for a meal on the go, I largely avoided it due to crowds. It's a shame, too, because it's one of the prettiest buffets I've ever seen, adorned with faux vegetation lining the walkways and tables set up indoors with umbrellas and lanterns hanging over them, mimicking the feel of an outdoor bistro.

I did pop in once in a while to enjoy a cone of soft serve ice cream from the two Swirls locations, which are small alcoves with machines that also serve frozen yogurt. At one point, both sets of Swirls machines were broken, and it was a comical scene as several officers and engineers stood around them looking confused.

Elsewhere on Deck 10, near the Lido Pool, you'll find two complimentary venues, Tomodoro and Guy's Burger Joint, both with an Italian spin. Tomodoro serves as the Mexican-Italian stand-in for Carnival's popular BlueIguana Cantina. Both walk-up counters are open for lunch and dinner.

I tried both of the Italian burger options from Guy's — one with mozzarella, balsamic, tomatoes, basil and Donkey Sauce and another with pepperoni, marinara sauce, Donkey Sauce, mozzarella, provolone and Parmesan cheeses. Both were just OK, and I was sad to see that my favorite burger, the Pig Patty, was absent from the menu on this ship.

At Tomodoro, the menu lists tacos and burritos, as well as Italian meatball heroes, Sicilian chicken wraps and tortas de Milanese. The burritos were fantastic, as always, but my hot take on the changes made to both BlueIguana Cantina and Guy's Burger Joint is if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Venture aft and you'll run into Pizzeria del Capitano , which is open 19 hours a day and makes some of the best pies at sea . (Seriously.) I often waited 20 minutes on sea days, but it was well worth it. (If you don't want to stand in line, you can order pizza to be delivered to your cabin via room service for a $6 fee.) You can choose from Margherita, pepperoni, four cheese, mushroom and prosciutto. You can also order a couple of extra-fee specialty pies, such as teriyaki chicken and Korean steak barbecue.

I was pleasantly surprised by Il Mercato, Carnival's take on an Italian deli that is open from lunchtime until late. Usually, the deli is located inside Lido Marketplace, but it was moved to a quieter and less crowded area on Deck 11, just above the Lido Pool, to make room in the buffet for an added-fee chicken wing stand.

Il Mercato looks like a bit of an afterthought, given its portable-looking booth area, but the alfresco atmosphere and the food are great. The menu consists of meatball sandwiches, hot dogs and Italian sausage sandwiches. Eight options for both hot and cold sandwiches include grilled ham and cheese, a Reuben, cheese steak, tomato and mozzarella with arugula on focaccia, chicken salad, and turkey and Swiss. I tried the cheese steak with peppers and onions; despite its rather sad appearance, it was delicious and could rival just about anything found in Philadelphia.

Carnival has also done something interesting with Seafood Shack on this ship. Instead of only serving seafood, this Deck 10 venue starts as the Breakfast Shack in the morning and then turns into the Chicken Shack for lunch. Both are complimentary and serve up a variety of chicken sandwiches with fries, pasta salads and other sides. (Carnival Firenze doesn't have Shaq's Big Chicken like some of the other vessels in the fleet, so this was a nice way to utilize the space and offer a similar dining experience to passengers.)

Although I wasn't staying in a suite, I was able to try the private breakfast for La Terrazza and Ocean Suite passengers offered daily in Deck 5's Moda Bar and Lounge. If you're staying in one of those cabins and have access, trust me when I say you won't want to miss the quiche or avocado toast.

Other free food options include La Strada Grill (Deck 5 midship), Fresh Creations salad bar (Deck 15 forward on the adults-only Serenity sun deck) and room service (free continental breakfast). I didn't try any of these because La Strada is only open from noon to 2:30 p.m. on sea days, Fresh Creations was way too crowded when I stopped by and I didn't eat in my room for breakfast.

Of these three options, the most compelling menu is La Strada's. It lists a Sicilian chicken hero, roast beef on a roll, Italian sausage, smoked pulled pork and macaroni and cheese, with a choice of salads and sides.

Extra-cost food

On many of its ships, Carnival already has an Italian restaurant, Cucina del Capitano , which offers a homey ambience and family-favorite recipes from the Italian captains across the line's fleet. Oddly, the restaurant appears on neither Carnival Firenze nor sister ship Carnival Venezia (another vessel that offers the "Fun Italian Style" experience).

Instead, it has been replaced by one of my new favorites: Il Viaggio, an upscale Italian eatery with a $42 per-person cover charge, nearly double what most ships with Cucina del Capitano charge passengers to dine. Il Viaggio's decor is elegant but understated, and it opens for dinner only. It doesn't drip with red, white and green or stereotypical Italian adornments, offering a refreshing escape from other areas of the vessel where the theming is intense.

The menu, which is billed as "a culinary voyage through Italy's diverse regions — one plate at a time," includes some of the best food I've ever had on a ship. I thoroughly enjoyed the house-made burrata; the pollo parmigiana pizza, which has a crust made of chicken; the gnocchi with goat cheese and truffle oil; and the mile-high gelato pie.

For anyone looking for a decent steak dinner that won't break the bank, Fahrenheit 555 on Deck 5 is it. Not only is it one of the most consistently superb oceangoing steakhouses from ship to ship, but its cover charge of $49 per person is nominal compared to what you'd pay at a steakhouse ashore.

I ate an incredible filet mignon with onion rings, broccoli and chimichurri sauce, and it was absolutely worth the price.

Interestingly, the steakhouse was added after the ship left China. It's in what used to be a hot pot restaurant, so the vibe is decidedly Asian, featuring black counters and tables with deep red carpeting and chairs. Black latticework in part of the space adds to the ambience.

Bonsai Sushi and Bonsai Teppanyaki, positioned near one another midship on Deck 5, are both open for lunch (on sea days only) and dinner.

I had a light dinner of sushi during one night of my voyage, and it set me back just $11 ($3 for an order of edamame and $8 for a California roll).

On a different night, I opted for the teppanyaki experience, which involved a chef cracking jokes, singing songs and making flaming onion volcanoes and snakes out of rice as he cooked. Thankfully, we didn't have to try to catch flying food in our mouths. For the $42 flat-fee cover charge, each passenger receives white shrimp, pork belly yakitori, spicy tuna and a choice of either miso soup or kabuki salad to start.

From there, you choose from entrees like lobster tail, shrimp, spiced grilled chicken, grilled tofu, black cod and filet mignon or a combination of them. I chose the filet and was pleased with my decision. The meat and accompanying rice and vegetables were exceptionally flavorful.

Bonsai Teppanyaki is also open for lunch with a similar menu for $38 per person.

JavaBlue Cafe on Deck 10, just off of the Lido Pool courtyard, is one of my favorite places on any Carnival ship. In the warm Mexican weather, I wasn't always a fan of its alfresco location on Carnival Firenze — most JavaBlue locations are indoors — but I was able to grab my daily pick-me-up just the way I like it.

Although coffees at JavaBlue come with an extra charge, the price is nominal compared to Starbucks. Plus, if you ask for a punch card, you'll earn yourself a free coffee after you buy six, which isn't hard to do on a weeklong sailing.

JavaBlue also sells cupcakes, cookies, doughnuts and other pastries for a fee.

Room service is offered for a per-item fee (except for continental breakfast, which is free each morning). Door hangers are no longer offered, so you'll have to order via your cabin phone or the Hub app. The menu on the app for Carnival Firenze seemed smaller than it does on other ships, listing items like pizza and sandwiches. On a particularly busy sea day when I didn't want to wait in line at Pizzeria del Capitano, I ordered a pie to my cabin. For $6, it arrived hot, fresh and fast, and it tasted wonderful.

The places I didn't try were All Things Wings and Seafood Shack. Carnival Firenze has a new walk-up counter in the Lido Marketplace buffet that sells wings, with prices ranging from six pieces for $5 to 24 pieces for $18. You can choose from several flavors like barbecue, Parmesan garlic, chipotle honey, hot barbecue and buffalo, which increase in heat respectively. All orders come with bleu cheese dressing and celery sticks.

Seafood Shack, found on Deck 10 aft, opens at 3:30 p.m. and stays open late at the same walk-up counter where Breakfast Shack and Chicken Shack are located earlier in the day. It sells for-fee seafood bites, such as lobster rolls and crabcakes, for a la carte prices.

A small empanada counter is hidden away in the back of the Tuscan Lounge. I never saw it open, but several passengers told me it only operated at night, selling added-fee options that include shrimp sofrito, chipotle chicken with cheese, beef picadillo, and spinach and mushroom with cheese. Sweet empanadas are also available, including chocolate, banana and coconut; dulce de leche cheesecake; guava and cream cheese; and Nutella and hazelnut varieties.

Carnival Firenze bars

Unlike the version of the Heroes Tribute Bar that's tucked away in a corner on Carnival's Excel Class ships, the version on Carnival Firenze is much brighter and more centrally located on the main promenade area along Deck 5 mid. Designed to honor service men and women who sail, it has a relaxed vibe and a sports bar ambience. The seating at the bar counter is the perfect spot to watch the big games on multiple TVs.

I was a regular at the Tuscan Lounge, also centrally located on Deck 5 aft, mainly because it's where the ship's daily trivia games take place. The space features a lounge area with tables, a dance floor and a projection screen. Across the walkway that runs through the space is a bar set up with stools and nearby tables with black and white striped umbrellas.

Frizzante is one of my absolute favorite bars. There, you'll find various spritz-style drinks. I enjoyed a Frizzante Spritz (made with dry vermouth, moscato wine, triple sec and club soda) on my second night on board and kept heading back to the bar to try more cocktails. It's a terrific place to grab a pre-dinner drink if you have a reservation at neighboring Il Viaggio.

I admit that I misjudged the Amari Bar at first. Found smack in the middle of Deck 5's main thoroughfare, it serves cocktails made with, as the name suggests, amari — herbal Italian liqueurs.

For days, I didn't see it crowded, but perhaps I was merely passing by at the wrong times. By day four or five of my seven-night sailing, it was packed. I was also initially upset to learn that Amari replaced the Alchemy Bar on Carnival Firenze, but I found out later that you can still order some of the most popular Alchemy drinks, such as The Remedy and the Cucumber Sunrise, there.

I was fortunate to sit in on a mixology class at the Amari Bar and was fascinated to learn some of the finer points of mixing drinks with an eye — or a tastebud — toward balancing the flavors of each ingredient. For $30 per person, the head bartender, Drazen, will impart some of that knowledge as you belly up to the bar to try samples of what he concocts.

Rococo is a fun, partially enclosed pool bar area by the courtyard around the Lido Pool on Deck 10. In addition to the fun art mentioned previously, it also has palate-pleasing beverage selections, including fruity libations with an Italian bent like bellinis, as well as pistachio and limoncello cocktails.

Other onboard bars include the centrally located one on Deck 3 in the Piazza del Duomo. The Moda Bar and Lounge on Deck 5 evokes a high-fashion mood with an entryway that feels like a model's catwalk as stylish seating areas flank the sides; it's often the home base for karaoke. Meanwhile, the shockingly red, white and black Piano Bar 88, also on Deck 5, plays host to live piano music daily.

Heading up a few decks, the Versilia Pool Bar serves fruity, beachy drinks near the aft Versilia Pool on Deck 10. Finally, the Pergola Bar, found adjacent to Il Mercato and overlooking the opposite side of the Lido Pool, feels like a complete afterthought. It's so sterile and nondescript it's almost not worth mentioning, but I'm putting it in here because the seating area around it is lovely, featuring fake topiary-style pillars and lots of seating that makes for a great place to read.

Carnival Firenze entertainment

Carnival firenze activities.

Carnival Firenze offers a large number of daily activities on each voyage.

Passengers might choose to head to the casino (or the smoke-free casino, both on Deck 5), enjoy an alcohol tasting, participate in a sports tournament, mingle at a deck party, play miniature golf, take a dance class or attend a spa, jewelry or shopping seminar.

The Cloud 9 Spa on Deck 12 forward is equipped to perform a menu of services, including massages and facials. The connected fitness center is on the small side but features for-fee personal training and organized fitness classes, as well as equipment that's free for passengers to use. Carnival Firenze does not have a thermal suite.

The Cloud 9 Salon, found in a different area of the ship on Deck 5 mid, offers manicures, pedicures and hairstyling, haircuts and color. Be warned that you'll pay huge markups for services on board versus on land.

Looking to find a group of like-minded travelers on your sailing? Check out meetups for solo travelers, singles, people in recovery, veterans and members of the LGBTQ+ community listed in the daily program.

If you're interested in spending time outdoors working on your tan, you can do so at one of two onboard pools: the Lido Pool on Deck 10 midship and the Versilia Pool on Deck 10 aft. Both are ridiculously small for the number of people on board but have more shade than most cruise ship pools.

If you're looking for loungers in the sun and don't mind being a bit farther from the pools themselves, head up two decks to 12, where loungers are so plentiful they block part of the jogging track. (Four laps equal 1 mile.)

Oddly, the Lido Pool has no hot tubs. If you want to soak, you'll have to go to the Versilia Pool, which has two of them. The adults-only (21 and older) Solarium area on Deck 15 forward also has two hot tubs, and the La Terrazza exclusive outdoor area also has two. Neither Serenity nor La Terrazza has a pool.

Pool lifts accommodating up to 300 pounds are available for passengers with limited mobility. Lifeguards are on duty, and children's life vests are available near the Lido Pool.

If you're looking for some wholesome fun, head to Deck 11 mid, where a portable cabinet serves as both the book and board game library. The open-air space offers plenty of tables where you can set up that chess or Scrabble board. In nearby alcoves, you'll also find pingpong and foosball tables. Or, simply grab a snack or drink from the Pergola Bar or Il Mercato and take in a movie on the poolside screen.

If you're a water baby who loves thrills, head to WaterWorks, which offers waterslides and a splash area for kids on Deck 12 (the slide entrance is on Deck 15). Kids and adults who aren't afraid of heights will also enjoy the top-deck ropes course on Deck 15 mid. Just beneath it is the ship's miniature golf course.

Additional activities for youngsters take place on Deck 11 in Camp Ocean, Carnival's kids club . The kids club splits children into four groups: Turtles (up to 2 years old), Penguins (2 to 5), Stingrays (6 to 8) and Sharks (9 to 11). The camp facility connects to an enclosed outdoor playground area that's used on days when the weather is nice.

Fun pursuits on the daily schedule might include arts and crafts, themed parties, science experiments, games and story time, depending on the age group. Group babysitting is available as part of Camp Ocean's Night Owls program, which runs until 1 a.m. at a cost of $9 per child, per hour. (Daytime Camp Ocean activities are free.)

The ship also has Carnival's Dr. Seuss tie-in, featuring Bookville — a reading room inside Camp Ocean that hosts story time — and the Thing 1 and Thing 2 Birthday Brunch, which is offered at least once per voyage for an extra fee.

Tweens and teens have their own dedicated hangout spaces, too: Circle C and Club O2, both found on Deck 3 forward. Activities there are less structured, and participants can come and go as they please. An onboard arcade offers video games for a fee.

Carnival Firenze shows

The entertainment on Carnival Firenze is squarely OK. I was hoping for something new, but instead, I found shows like "Color My World" and "Dear Future Husband," both of which are already on other vessels in the fleet. Cruise ship standards, such as the "Love and Marriage Show" and adult scavenger hunt "The Quest," are fun the first time you experience them, but I was hoping for something new for Carnival's loyal and repeat guests. The titles on Firenze's proverbial marquee felt tired to me, despite the abilities of the immensely talented entertainment staff.

"Dear Future Husband" is at least relatively new. It debuted on Carnival Jubilee in late 2023 and is rolling out to more vessels. It's based on a couple who decides to have their wedding on a cruise ship, and they bring along several of their friends. They sing and dance to pop songs as they board, dress for the festivities and go through the ceremony. Afterward, a "reception" with the cast is held in an onboard lounge. (On my sailing, it was in the Tuscan Lounge.)

An out-of-this-world violin trio performed one night in the theater, but otherwise, shows were limited to a lot of comedy, usually held in the perpetually freezing Limelight Lounge. Everything, including the walls, is decked out in crushed blue velvet, and you're greeted by a creepy clown statue that still gives me nightmares.

On a positive note, I found plenty of terrific live music throughout the ship each night. Carnival has also stepped up its game lately in the magic department. On my last two Carnival sailings, a roving magician wandered from table to table during dinner to impress us with tricks that had me questioning reality.

Carnival Firenze itineraries and pricing

Carnival Firenze is offering three- to seven-night voyages from Long Beach, near Los Angeles, along the Mexican Riviera. Itineraries include such ports as Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

At the time of publication, the least expensive price for a sailing was $214 per person ($54 per person, per night) for a four-night cruise departing in November 2025.

Note: Prices are subject to change without notice and do not include crew gratuities, taxes or port fees.

What to know before you sail on Carnival Firenze

Required documents.

If you're a citizen of the U.S. on a cruise that starts and ends in the same U.S. port, you'll need a current passport, a driver's license or other government-issued photo identification along with a birth certificate to sail. Some other forms of identification, such as a passport card, are also acceptable. However, other cruises, including ones that begin in the U.S. and end in a different U.S. port, require a passport or passport card.

Passports must be valid for at least six months from the day your sailing ends. For cruises from international ports, you'll need a passport. Note: It's crucial that the name on your booking is exactly as printed on your passport or other proof of nationality. We suggest visiting Carnival's website before sailing to view the latest requirements.

Related: Which documents do you need for a cruise? From passports to printouts, here's what to take

Carnival Firenze passengers will automatically have $16 per person, per day added to their onboard accounts as service charges. Cruisers staying in suites will pay $18 per person, per day. (Children younger than 2 are exempt from gratuities.) An 18% gratuity is also added to bar and cafe purchases, spa services and the Chef's Table.

Related: Tipping on a cruise: What to know about cruise ship gratuities

Carnival Wi-Fi is generally fast and reliable. However, don't be surprised if you find yourself repeatedly and automatically disconnected, which is annoying.

Packages have increased significantly in price in recent years, and each plan is only for one device. (You can log out of one and into another with the same account, but you can't connect more than one at the same time unless you buy additional plans.)

Three package tiers are available:

Social : Access to most social media, airline websites and apps for $18 per day ($126 for a weeklong cruise)
Value : Same as Social, plus access to financial and news websites and apps for $23 per day ($161 for a week)
Premium : Everything from the Social and Value packages, plus Skype access and video calling for $25 per day ($175 for a week)

Passengers can also choose 24 hours of Premium access for $35.

Carnival claims that its packages don't allow FaceTime, iMessage or streaming from popular apps like Netflix and Hulu. However, TPG writers have had success using all of those services with the Premium package.

Related: Wi-Fi on cruise ships: 5 things to know about internet use on board

Carry-on drinks policy

Passengers can carry on one bottle of wine or Champagne per person (21 years and older), which will incur a $15 corkage fee for consumption in public areas. Each person can also bring up to 12 standard cans or cartons of nonalcoholic beverages like juice or soda. Alcohol-free drinks in plastic and glass bottles aren't allowed.

Related: Can I bring alcohol on a cruise ship? A line-by-line guide

Smoking policy

Smoking (including e-cigarettes and vapes) is allowed but only in designated outdoor areas on Deck 11 on the starboard side. Smoking is also allowed in the main casino, but it's for cigarettes only. (For passengers who don't light up, a separate nonsmoking casino is available but is much smaller.) All types of smoking are forbidden in cabins and on cabin balconies. A $500 fine will be assessed for cruisers who break the rules of the smoking policy.

Related: Is smoking allowed on cruise ships? A line-by-line guide

Carnival Firenze does not have self-service laundry rooms or pressing rooms. Instead, passengers can send out their clothing for washing, pressing and dry cleaning for a per-item fee.

Related: Everything you need to know about cruise ship laundry services

Electrical outlets

Carnival Firenze has a mix of 110-volt North American outlets, 220-volt European outlets and 220-volt Chinese/Australian outlets in its cabins, as well as plenty of USB ports. In my balcony room, I had two North American outlets, one European outlet, one Chinese/Australian outlet and two USB ports at the vanity, plus two additional USB ports under one of the bedside reading lamps. If you bring a couple of universal adapters, you'll have more than enough spots to charge all your electronics.

The currency on Carnival Firenze is the dollar. The ship also operates without cash. Passengers link credit cards to their onboard accounts or put up a set amount of cash to charge against, using their keycards as a means of making purchases. However, you might want to have some bills handy to tip your bartender, room steward, shore excursion guide, luggage porters or room service delivery folks.

Drinking age

You must be at least 21 years old to drink alcohol on Carnival Firenze.

Carnival Firenze does not have a specific daytime dress code, and people dress casually. Mexico is largely a warm-weather destination, so looking like you're going to the beach is perfectly acceptable. Pack T-shirts, shorts and bathing suits (with a cover-up to go inside on sea days or back on board on port days).

During the evenings, the official dress code is only loosely enforced. Most nights are "cruise casual," which generally involves khakis or jeans, polo shirts, sundresses and the like. Ultra casual items like cutoff jeans, men's sleeveless shirts, T-shirts and gym shorts are supposedly not permitted, but I saw plenty of them in the dining rooms during dinnertime on Carnival Firenze.

A weeklong cruise will generally schedule two formal nights — known as "elegant nights." If you're bound for the dining rooms or specialty restaurants, men should turn up in dress slacks and a dress shirt; Carnival recommends a sports coat, and a suit would not be out of place. The suggested attire for women on such nights is cocktail dresses, pantsuits, elegant skirts and blouses. If you want to avoid dressing up, seek out the casual eateries, including the Lido Marketplace, or order room service to your cabin.

Related: What to wear on a cruise: Cruise attire and cruise line dress codes

Bottom line

Despite some overly stereotypical moments that made the ship feel like a floating caricature of Italy, I had an amazing time on board this new-to-Carnival ship.

The food was excellent, the decor was gorgeous and the crew worked hard to make sure passengers had the best vacations possible.

Is Carnival Firenze gaudy and, at times, maybe even a little cringey? Yes, but I found myself taking limoncello shots and stuffing my face with pizza alongside everyone else. Embrace "Fun Italian Style" for what it is, and you're sure to have a great time on board.

Planning a Carnival cruise? Start with these stories:

The ultimate guide to Carnival Cruise Line ships and itineraries
43 Carnival Cruise Line tips, tricks and hacks to enhance your vacation at sea
Best Carnival cruise ships: Here's which ship you should sail, based on your travel style
Carnival cruise packing list: What to pack for a cruise, Fun Ship style
The 5 most desirable cabin locations on any cruise ship
The 8 worst cabin locations on any cruise ship
A quick guide to the most popular cruise lines
21 tips and tricks that will make your cruise go smoothly

photo of Icon of the Seas, taken on a long railed path approaching the stern of the ship, with people walking along dock

Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever

Seven agonizing nights aboard the Icon of the Seas

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Updated at 2:44 p.m. ET on April 6, 2024.

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MY FIRST GLIMPSE of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, from the window of an approaching Miami cab, brings on a feeling of vertigo, nausea, amazement, and distress. I shut my eyes in defense, as my brain tells my optic nerve to try again.

The ship makes no sense, vertically or horizontally. It makes no sense on sea, or on land, or in outer space. It looks like a hodgepodge of domes and minarets, tubes and canopies, like Istanbul had it been designed by idiots. Vibrant, oversignifying colors are stacked upon other such colors, decks perched over still more decks; the only comfort is a row of lifeboats ringing its perimeter. There is no imposed order, no cogent thought, and, for those who do not harbor a totalitarian sense of gigantomania, no visual mercy. This is the biggest cruise ship ever built, and I have been tasked with witnessing its inaugural voyage.

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“Author embarks on their first cruise-ship voyage” has been a staple of American essay writing for almost three decades, beginning with David Foster Wallace’s “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” which was first published in 1996 under the title “Shipping Out.” Since then, many admirable writers have widened and diversified the genre. Usually the essayist commissioned to take to the sea is in their first or second flush of youth and is ready to sharpen their wit against the hull of the offending vessel. I am 51, old and tired, having seen much of the world as a former travel journalist, and mostly what I do in both life and prose is shrug while muttering to my imaginary dachshund, “This too shall pass.” But the Icon of the Seas will not countenance a shrug. The Icon of the Seas is the Linda Loman of cruise ships, exclaiming that attention must be paid. And here I am in late January with my one piece of luggage and useless gray winter jacket and passport, zipping through the Port of Miami en route to the gangway that will separate me from the bulk of North America for more than seven days, ready to pay it in full.

The aforementioned gangway opens up directly onto a thriving mall (I will soon learn it is imperiously called the “Royal Promenade”), presently filled with yapping passengers beneath a ceiling studded with balloons ready to drop. Crew members from every part of the global South, as well as a few Balkans, are shepherding us along while pressing flutes of champagne into our hands. By a humming Starbucks, I drink as many of these as I can and prepare to find my cabin. I show my blue Suite Sky SeaPass Card (more on this later, much more) to a smiling woman from the Philippines, and she tells me to go “aft.” Which is where, now? As someone who has rarely sailed on a vessel grander than the Staten Island Ferry, I am confused. It turns out that the aft is the stern of the ship, or, for those of us who don’t know what a stern or an aft are, its ass. The nose of the ship, responsible for separating the waves before it, is also called a bow, and is marked for passengers as the FWD , or forward. The part of the contemporary sailing vessel where the malls are clustered is called the midship. I trust that you have enjoyed this nautical lesson.

I ascend via elevator to my suite on Deck 11. This is where I encounter my first terrible surprise. My suite windows and balcony do not face the ocean. Instead, they look out onto another shopping mall. This mall is the one that’s called Central Park, perhaps in homage to the Olmsted-designed bit of greenery in the middle of my hometown. Although on land I would be delighted to own a suite with Central Park views, here I am deeply depressed. To sail on a ship and not wake up to a vast blue carpet of ocean? Unthinkable.

Allow me a brief preamble here. The story you are reading was commissioned at a moment when most staterooms on the Icon were sold out. In fact, so enthralled by the prospect of this voyage were hard-core mariners that the ship’s entire inventory of guest rooms (the Icon can accommodate up to 7,600 passengers, but its inaugural journey was reduced to 5,000 or so for a less crowded experience) was almost immediately sold out. Hence, this publication was faced with the shocking prospect of paying nearly $19,000 to procure for this solitary passenger an entire suite—not including drinking expenses—all for the privilege of bringing you this article. But the suite in question doesn’t even have a view of the ocean! I sit down hard on my soft bed. Nineteen thousand dollars for this .

selfie photo of man with glasses, in background is swim-up bar with two women facing away

The viewless suite does have its pluses. In addition to all the Malin+Goetz products in my dual bathrooms, I am granted use of a dedicated Suite Deck lounge; access to Coastal Kitchen, a superior restaurant for Suites passengers; complimentary VOOM SM Surf & Stream (“the fastest Internet at Sea”) “for one device per person for the whole cruise duration”; a pair of bathrobes (one of which comes prestained with what looks like a large expectoration by the greenest lizard on Earth); and use of the Grove Suite Sun, an area on Decks 18 and 19 with food and deck chairs reserved exclusively for Suite passengers. I also get reserved seating for a performance of The Wizard of Oz , an ice-skating tribute to the periodic table, and similar provocations. The very color of my Suite Sky SeaPass Card, an oceanic blue as opposed to the cloying royal purple of the standard non-Suite passenger, will soon provoke envy and admiration. But as high as my status may be, there are those on board who have much higher status still, and I will soon learn to bow before them.

In preparation for sailing, I have “priced in,” as they say on Wall Street, the possibility that I may come from a somewhat different monde than many of the other cruisers. Without falling into stereotypes or preconceptions, I prepare myself for a friendly outspokenness on the part of my fellow seafarers that may not comply with modern DEI standards. I believe in meeting people halfway, and so the day before flying down to Miami, I visited what remains of Little Italy to purchase a popular T-shirt that reads DADDY’S LITTLE MEATBALL across the breast in the colors of the Italian flag. My wife recommended that I bring one of my many T-shirts featuring Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, as all Americans love the beagle and his friends. But I naively thought that my meatball T-shirt would be more suitable for conversation-starting. “Oh, and who is your ‘daddy’?” some might ask upon seeing it. “And how long have you been his ‘little meatball’?” And so on.

I put on my meatball T-shirt and head for one of the dining rooms to get a late lunch. In the elevator, I stick out my chest for all to read the funny legend upon it, but soon I realize that despite its burnished tricolor letters, no one takes note. More to the point, no one takes note of me. Despite my attempts at bridge building, the very sight of me (small, ethnic, without a cap bearing the name of a football team) elicits no reaction from other passengers. Most often, they will small-talk over me as if I don’t exist. This brings to mind the travails of David Foster Wallace , who felt so ostracized by his fellow passengers that he retreated to his cabin for much of his voyage. And Wallace was raised primarily in the Midwest and was a much larger, more American-looking meatball than I am. If he couldn’t talk to these people, how will I? What if I leave this ship without making any friends at all, despite my T-shirt? I am a social creature, and the prospect of seven days alone and apart is saddening. Wallace’s stateroom, at least, had a view of the ocean, a kind of cheap eternity.

Worse awaits me in the dining room. This is a large, multichandeliered room where I attended my safety training (I was shown how to put on a flotation vest; it is a very simple procedure). But the maître d’ politely refuses me entry in an English that seems to verge on another language. “I’m sorry, this is only for pendejos ,” he seems to be saying. I push back politely and he repeats himself. Pendejos ? Piranhas? There’s some kind of P-word to which I am not attuned. Meanwhile elderly passengers stream right past, powered by their limbs, walkers, and electric wheelchairs. “It is only pendejo dining today, sir.” “But I have a suite!” I say, already starting to catch on to the ship’s class system. He examines my card again. “But you are not a pendejo ,” he confirms. I am wearing a DADDY’S LITTLE MEATBALL T-shirt, I want to say to him. I am the essence of pendejo .

Eventually, I give up and head to the plebeian buffet on Deck 15, which has an aquatic-styled name I have now forgotten. Before gaining entry to this endless cornucopia of reheated food, one passes a washing station of many sinks and soap dispensers, and perhaps the most intriguing character on the entire ship. He is Mr. Washy Washy—or, according to his name tag, Nielbert of the Philippines—and he is dressed as a taco (on other occasions, I’ll see him dressed as a burger). Mr. Washy Washy performs an eponymous song in spirited, indeed flamboyant English: “Washy, washy, wash your hands, WASHY WASHY!” The dangers of norovirus and COVID on a cruise ship this size (a giant fellow ship was stricken with the former right after my voyage) makes Mr. Washy Washy an essential member of the crew. The problem lies with the food at the end of Washy’s rainbow. The buffet is groaning with what sounds like sophisticated dishes—marinated octopus, boiled egg with anchovy, chorizo, lobster claws—but every animal tastes tragically the same, as if there was only one creature available at the market, a “cruisipus” bred specifically for Royal Caribbean dining. The “vegetables” are no better. I pick up a tomato slice and look right through it. It tastes like cellophane. I sit alone, apart from the couples and parents with gaggles of children, as “We Are Family” echoes across the buffet space.

I may have failed to mention that all this time, the Icon of the Seas has not left port. As the fiery mango of the subtropical setting sun makes Miami’s condo skyline even more apocalyptic, the ship shoves off beneath a perfunctory display of fireworks. After the sun sets, in the far, dark distance, another circus-lit cruise ship ruptures the waves before us. We glance at it with pity, because it is by definition a smaller ship than our own. I am on Deck 15, outside the buffet and overlooking a bunch of pools (the Icon has seven of them), drinking a frilly drink that I got from one of the bars (the Icon has 15 of them), still too shy to speak to anyone, despite Sister Sledge’s assertion that all on the ship are somehow related.

Kim Brooks: On failing the family vacation

The ship’s passage away from Ron DeSantis’s Florida provides no frisson, no sense of developing “sea legs,” as the ship is too large to register the presence of waves unless a mighty wind adds significant chop. It is time for me to register the presence of the 5,000 passengers around me, even if they refuse to register mine. My fellow travelers have prepared for this trip with personally decorated T-shirts celebrating the importance of this voyage. The simplest ones say ICON INAUGURAL ’24 on the back and the family name on the front. Others attest to an over-the-top love of cruise ships: WARNING! MAY START TALKING ABOUT CRUISING . Still others are artisanally designed and celebrate lifetimes spent married while cruising (on ships, of course). A couple possibly in their 90s are wearing shirts whose backs feature a drawing of a cruise liner, two flamingos with ostensibly male and female characteristics, and the legend “ HUSBAND AND WIFE Cruising Partners FOR LIFE WE MAY NOT HAVE IT All Together BUT TOGETHER WE HAVE IT ALL .” (The words not in all caps have been written in cursive.) A real journalist or a more intrepid conversationalist would have gone up to the couple and asked them to explain the longevity of their marriage vis-à-vis their love of cruising. But instead I head to my mall suite, take off my meatball T-shirt, and allow the first tears of the cruise to roll down my cheeks slowly enough that I briefly fall asleep amid the moisture and salt.

photo of elaborate twisting multicolored waterslides with long stairwell to platform

I WAKE UP with a hangover. Oh God. Right. I cannot believe all of that happened last night. A name floats into my cobwebbed, nauseated brain: “Ayn Rand.” Jesus Christ.

I breakfast alone at the Coastal Kitchen. The coffee tastes fine and the eggs came out of a bird. The ship rolls slightly this morning; I can feel it in my thighs and my schlong, the parts of me that are most receptive to danger.

I had a dangerous conversation last night. After the sun set and we were at least 50 miles from shore (most modern cruise ships sail at about 23 miles an hour), I lay in bed softly hiccupping, my arms stretched out exactly like Jesus on the cross, the sound of the distant waves missing from my mall-facing suite, replaced by the hum of air-conditioning and children shouting in Spanish through the vents of my two bathrooms. I decided this passivity was unacceptable. As an immigrant, I feel duty-bound to complete the tasks I am paid for, which means reaching out and trying to understand my fellow cruisers. So I put on a normal James Perse T-shirt and headed for one of the bars on the Royal Promenade—the Schooner Bar, it was called, if memory serves correctly.

I sat at the bar for a martini and two Negronis. An old man with thick, hairy forearms drank next to me, very silent and Hemingwaylike, while a dreadlocked piano player tinkled out a series of excellent Elton John covers. To my right, a young white couple—he in floral shorts, she in a light, summery miniskirt with a fearsome diamond ring, neither of them in football regalia—chatted with an elderly couple. Do it , I commanded myself. Open your mouth. Speak! Speak without being spoken to. Initiate. A sentence fragment caught my ear from the young woman, “Cherry Hill.” This is a suburb of Philadelphia in New Jersey, and I had once been there for a reading at a synagogue. “Excuse me,” I said gently to her. “Did you just mention Cherry Hill? It’s a lovely place.”

As it turned out, the couple now lived in Fort Lauderdale (the number of Floridians on the cruise surprised me, given that Southern Florida is itself a kind of cruise ship, albeit one slowly sinking), but soon they were talking with me exclusively—the man potbellied, with a chin like a hard-boiled egg; the woman as svelte as if she were one of the many Ukrainian members of the crew—the elderly couple next to them forgotten. This felt as groundbreaking as the first time I dared to address an American in his native tongue, as a child on a bus in Queens (“On my foot you are standing, Mister”).

“I don’t want to talk politics,” the man said. “But they’re going to eighty-six Biden and put Michelle in.”

I considered the contradictions of his opening conversational gambit, but decided to play along. “People like Michelle,” I said, testing the waters. The husband sneered, but the wife charitably put forward that the former first lady was “more personable” than Joe Biden. “They’re gonna eighty-six Biden,” the husband repeated. “He can’t put a sentence together.”

After I mentioned that I was a writer—though I presented myself as a writer of teleplays instead of novels and articles such as this one—the husband told me his favorite writer was Ayn Rand. “Ayn Rand, she came here with nothing,” the husband said. “I work with a lot of Cubans, so …” I wondered if I should mention what I usually do to ingratiate myself with Republicans or libertarians: the fact that my finances improved after pass-through corporations were taxed differently under Donald Trump. Instead, I ordered another drink and the couple did the same, and I told him that Rand and I were born in the same city, St. Petersburg/Leningrad, and that my family also came here with nothing. Now the bonding and drinking began in earnest, and several more rounds appeared. Until it all fell apart.

Read: Gary Shteyngart on watching Russian television for five days straight

My new friend, whom I will refer to as Ayn, called out to a buddy of his across the bar, and suddenly a young couple, both covered in tattoos, appeared next to us. “He fucking punked me,” Ayn’s frat-boy-like friend called out as he put his arm around Ayn, while his sizable partner sizzled up to Mrs. Rand. Both of them had a look I have never seen on land—their eyes projecting absence and enmity in equal measure. In the ’90s, I drank with Russian soldiers fresh from Chechnya and wandered the streets of wartime Zagreb, but I have never seen such undisguised hostility toward both me and perhaps the universe at large. I was briefly introduced to this psychopathic pair, but neither of them wanted to have anything to do with me, and the tattooed woman would not even reveal her Christian name to me (she pretended to have the same first name as Mrs. Rand). To impress his tattooed friends, Ayn made fun of the fact that as a television writer, I’d worked on the series Succession (which, it would turn out, practically nobody on the ship had watched), instead of the far more palatable, in his eyes, zombie drama of last year. And then my new friends drifted away from me into an angry private conversation—“He punked me!”—as I ordered another drink for myself, scared of the dead-eyed arrivals whose gaze never registered in the dim wattage of the Schooner Bar, whose terrifying voices and hollow laughs grated like unoiled gears against the crooning of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”

But today is a new day for me and my hangover. After breakfast, I explore the ship’s so-called neighborhoods . There’s the AquaDome, where one can find a food hall and an acrobatic sound-and-light aquatic show. Central Park has a premium steak house, a sushi joint, and a used Rolex that can be bought for $8,000 on land here proudly offered at $17,000. There’s the aforementioned Royal Promenade, where I had drunk with the Rands, and where a pair of dueling pianos duel well into the night. There’s Surfside, a kids’ neighborhood full of sugary garbage, which looks out onto the frothy trail that the behemoth leaves behind itself. Thrill Island refers to the collection of tubes that clutter the ass of the ship and offer passengers six waterslides and a surfing simulation. There’s the Hideaway, an adult zone that plays music from a vomit-slathered, Brit-filled Alicante nightclub circa 1996 and proves a big favorite with groups of young Latin American customers. And, most hurtfully, there’s the Suite Neighborhood.

2 photos: a ship's foamy white wake stretches to the horizon; a man at reailing with water and two large ships docked behind

I say hurtfully because as a Suite passenger I should be here, though my particular suite is far from the others. Whereas I am stuck amid the riffraff of Deck 11, this section is on the highborn Decks 16 and 17, and in passing, I peek into the spacious, tall-ceilinged staterooms from the hallway, dazzled by the glint of the waves and sun. For $75,000, one multifloor suite even comes with its own slide between floors, so that a family may enjoy this particular terror in private. There is a quiet splendor to the Suite Neighborhood. I see fewer stickers and signs and drawings than in my own neighborhood—for example, MIKE AND DIANA PROUDLY SERVED U.S. MARINE CORPS RETIRED . No one here needs to announce their branch of service or rank; they are simply Suites, and this is where they belong. Once again, despite my hard work and perseverance, I have been disallowed from the true American elite. Once again, I am “Not our class, dear.” I am reminded of watching The Love Boat on my grandmother’s Zenith, which either was given to her or we found in the trash (I get our many malfunctioning Zeniths confused) and whose tube got so hot, I would put little chunks of government cheese on a thin tissue atop it to give our welfare treat a pleasant, Reagan-era gooeyness. I could not understand English well enough then to catch the nuances of that seafaring program, but I knew that there were differences in the status of the passengers, and that sometimes those differences made them sad. Still, this ship, this plenty—every few steps, there are complimentary nachos or milkshakes or gyros on offer—was the fatty fuel of my childhood dreams. If only I had remained a child.

I walk around the outdoor decks looking for company. There is a middle-aged African American couple who always seem to be asleep in each other’s arms, probably exhausted from the late capitalism they regularly encounter on land. There is far more diversity on this ship than I expected. Many couples are a testament to Loving v. Virginia , and there is a large group of folks whose T-shirts read MELANIN AT SEA / IT’S THE MELANIN FOR ME . I smile when I see them, but then some young kids from the group makes Mr. Washy Washy do a cruel, caricatured “Burger Dance” (today he is in his burger getup), and I think, Well, so much for intersectionality .

At the infinity pool on Deck 17, I spot some elderly women who could be ethnic and from my part of the world, and so I jump in. I am proved correct! Many of them seem to be originally from Queens (“Corona was still great when it was all Italian”), though they are now spread across the tristate area. We bond over the way “Ron-kon-koma” sounds when announced in Penn Station.

“Everyone is here for a different reason,” one of them tells me. She and her ex-husband last sailed together four years ago to prove to themselves that their marriage was truly over. Her 15-year-old son lost his virginity to “an Irish young lady” while their ship was moored in Ravenna, Italy. The gaggle of old-timers competes to tell me their favorite cruising stories and tips. “A guy proposed in Central Park a couple of years ago”—many Royal Caribbean ships apparently have this ridiculous communal area—“and she ran away screaming!” “If you’re diamond-class, you get four drinks for free.” “A different kind of passenger sails out of Bayonne.” (This, perhaps, is racially coded.) “Sometimes, if you tip the bartender $5, your next drink will be free.”

“Everyone’s here for a different reason,” the woman whose marriage ended on a cruise tells me again. “Some people are here for bad reasons—the drinkers and the gamblers. Some people are here for medical reasons.” I have seen more than a few oxygen tanks and at least one woman clearly undergoing very serious chemo. Some T-shirts celebrate good news about a cancer diagnosis. This might be someone’s last cruise or week on Earth. For these women, who have spent months, if not years, at sea, cruising is a ritual as well as a life cycle: first love, last love, marriage, divorce, death.

Read: The last place on Earth any tourist should go

I have talked with these women for so long, tonight I promise myself that after a sad solitary dinner I will not try to seek out company at the bars in the mall or the adult-themed Hideaway. I have enough material to fulfill my duties to this publication. As I approach my orphaned suite, I run into the aggro young people who stole Mr. and Mrs. Rand away from me the night before. The tattooed apparitions pass me without a glance. She is singing something violent about “Stuttering Stanley” (a character in a popular horror movie, as I discover with my complimentary VOOM SM Surf & Stream Internet at Sea) and he’s loudly shouting about “all the money I’ve lost,” presumably at the casino in the bowels of the ship.

So these bent psychos out of a Cormac McCarthy novel are angrily inhabiting my deck. As I mewl myself to sleep, I envision a limited series for HBO or some other streamer, a kind of low-rent White Lotus , where several aggressive couples conspire to throw a shy intellectual interloper overboard. I type the scenario into my phone. As I fall asleep, I think of what the woman who recently divorced her husband and whose son became a man through the good offices of the Irish Republic told me while I was hoisting myself out of the infinity pool. “I’m here because I’m an explorer. I’m here because I’m trying something new.” What if I allowed myself to believe in her fantasy?

2 photos: 2 slices of pizza on plate; man in "Daddy's Little Meatball" shirt and shorts standing in outdoor dining area with ship's exhaust stacks in background

“YOU REALLY STARTED AT THE TOP,” they tell me. I’m at the Coastal Kitchen for my eggs and corned-beef hash, and the maître d’ has slotted me in between two couples. Fueled by coffee or perhaps intrigued by my relative youth, they strike up a conversation with me. As always, people are shocked that this is my first cruise. They contrast the Icon favorably with all the preceding liners in the Royal Caribbean fleet, usually commenting on the efficiency of the elevators that hurl us from deck to deck (as in many large corporate buildings, the elevators ask you to choose a floor and then direct you to one of many lifts). The couple to my right, from Palo Alto—he refers to his “porn mustache” and calls his wife “my cougar” because she is two years older—tell me they are “Pandemic Pinnacles.”

This is the day that my eyes will be opened. Pinnacles , it is explained to me over translucent cantaloupe, have sailed with Royal Caribbean for 700 ungodly nights. Pandemic Pinnacles took advantage of the two-for-one accrual rate of Pinnacle points during the pandemic, when sailing on a cruise ship was even more ill-advised, to catapult themselves into Pinnacle status.

Because of the importance of the inaugural voyage of the world’s largest cruise liner, more than 200 Pinnacles are on this ship, a startling number, it seems. Mrs. Palo Alto takes out a golden badge that I have seen affixed over many a breast, which reads CROWN AND ANCHOR SOCIETY along with her name. This is the coveted badge of the Pinnacle. “You should hear all the whining in Guest Services,” her husband tells me. Apparently, the Pinnacles who are not also Suites like us are all trying to use their status to get into Coastal Kitchen, our elite restaurant. Even a Pinnacle needs to be a Suite to access this level of corned-beef hash.

“We’re just baby Pinnacles,” Mrs. Palo Alto tells me, describing a kind of internal class struggle among the Pinnacle elite for ever higher status.

And now I understand what the maître d’ was saying to me on the first day of my cruise. He wasn’t saying “ pendejo .” He was saying “Pinnacle.” The dining room was for Pinnacles only, all those older people rolling in like the tide on their motorized scooters.

And now I understand something else: This whole thing is a cult. And like most cults, it can’t help but mirror the endless American fight for status. Like Keith Raniere’s NXIVM, where different-colored sashes were given out to connote rank among Raniere’s branded acolytes, this is an endless competition among Pinnacles, Suites, Diamond-Plusers, and facing-the-mall, no-balcony purple SeaPass Card peasants, not to mention the many distinctions within each category. The more you cruise, the higher your status. No wonder a section of the Royal Promenade is devoted to getting passengers to book their next cruise during the one they should be enjoying now. No wonder desperate Royal Caribbean offers (“FINAL HOURS”) crowded my email account weeks before I set sail. No wonder the ship’s jewelry store, the Royal Bling, is selling a $100,000 golden chalice that will entitle its owner to drink free on Royal Caribbean cruises for life. (One passenger was already gaming out whether her 28-year-old son was young enough to “just about earn out” on the chalice or if that ship had sailed.) No wonder this ship was sold out months before departure , and we had to pay $19,000 for a horrid suite away from the Suite Neighborhood. No wonder the most mythical hero of Royal Caribbean lore is someone named Super Mario, who has cruised so often, he now has his own working desk on many ships. This whole experience is part cult, part nautical pyramid scheme.

From the June 2014 issue: Ship of wonks

“The toilets are amazing,” the Palo Altos are telling me. “One flush and you’re done.” “They don’t understand how energy-efficient these ships are,” the husband of the other couple is telling me. “They got the LNG”—liquefied natural gas, which is supposed to make the Icon a boon to the environment (a concept widely disputed and sometimes ridiculed by environmentalists).

But I’m thinking along a different line of attack as I spear my last pallid slice of melon. For my streaming limited series, a Pinnacle would have to get killed by either an outright peasant or a Suite without an ocean view. I tell my breakfast companions my idea.

“Oh, for sure a Pinnacle would have to be killed,” Mr. Palo Alto, the Pandemic Pinnacle, says, touching his porn mustache thoughtfully as his wife nods.

“THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S your time, buddy!” Hubert, my fun-loving Panamanian cabin attendant, shouts as I step out of my suite in a robe. “Take it easy, buddy!”

I have come up with a new dressing strategy. Instead of trying to impress with my choice of T-shirts, I have decided to start wearing a robe, as one does at a resort property on land, with a proper spa and hammam. The response among my fellow cruisers has been ecstatic. “Look at you in the robe!” Mr. Rand cries out as we pass each other by the Thrill Island aqua park. “You’re living the cruise life! You know, you really drank me under the table that night.” I laugh as we part ways, but my soul cries out, Please spend more time with me, Mr. and Mrs. Rand; I so need the company .

In my white robe, I am a stately presence, a refugee from a better limited series, a one-man crossover episode. (Only Suites are granted these robes to begin with.) Today, I will try many of the activities these ships have on offer to provide their clientele with a sense of never-ceasing motion. Because I am already at Thrill Island, I decide to climb the staircase to what looks like a mast on an old-fashioned ship (terrified, because I am afraid of heights) to try a ride called “Storm Chasers,” which is part of the “Category 6” water park, named in honor of one of the storms that may someday do away with the Port of Miami entirely. Storm Chasers consists of falling from the “mast” down a long, twisting neon tube filled with water, like being the camera inside your own colonoscopy, as you hold on to the handles of a mat, hoping not to die. The tube then flops you down headfirst into a trough of water, a Royal Caribbean baptism. It both knocks my breath out and makes me sad.

In keeping with the aquatic theme, I attend a show at the AquaDome. To the sound of “Live and Let Die,” a man in a harness gyrates to and fro in the sultry air. I saw something very similar in the back rooms of the famed Berghain club in early-aughts Berlin. Soon another harnessed man is gyrating next to the first. Ja , I think to myself, I know how this ends. Now will come the fisting , natürlich . But the show soon devolves into the usual Marvel-film-grade nonsense, with too much light and sound signifying nichts . If any fisting is happening, it is probably in the Suite Neighborhood, inside a cabin marked with an upside-down pineapple, which I understand means a couple are ready to swing, and I will see none of it.

I go to the ice show, which is a kind of homage—if that’s possible—to the periodic table, done with the style and pomp and masterful precision that would please the likes of Kim Jong Un, if only he could afford Royal Caribbean talent. At one point, the dancers skate to the theme song of Succession . “See that!” I want to say to my fellow Suites—at “cultural” events, we have a special section reserved for us away from the commoners—“ Succession ! It’s even better than the zombie show! Open your minds!”

Finally, I visit a comedy revue in an enormous and too brightly lit version of an “intimate,” per Royal Caribbean literature, “Manhattan comedy club.” Many of the jokes are about the cruising life. “I’ve lived on ships for 20 years,” one of the middle-aged comedians says. “I can only see so many Filipino homosexuals dressed as a taco.” He pauses while the audience laughs. “I am so fired tonight,” he says. He segues into a Trump impression and then Biden falling asleep at the microphone, which gets the most laughs. “Anyone here from Fort Leonard Wood?” another comedian asks. Half the crowd seems to cheer. As I fall asleep that night, I realize another connection I have failed to make, and one that may explain some of the diversity on this vessel—many of its passengers have served in the military.

As a coddled passenger with a suite, I feel like I am starting to understand what it means to have a rank and be constantly reminded of it. There are many espresso makers , I think as I look across the expanse of my officer-grade quarters before closing my eyes, but this one is mine .

photo of sheltered sandy beach with palms, umbrellas, and chairs with two large docked cruise ships in background

A shocking sight greets me beyond the pools of Deck 17 as I saunter over to the Coastal Kitchen for my morning intake of slightly sour Americanos. A tiny city beneath a series of perfectly pressed green mountains. Land! We have docked for a brief respite in Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts and Nevis. I wolf down my egg scramble to be one of the first passengers off the ship. Once past the gangway, I barely refrain from kissing the ground. I rush into the sights and sounds of this scruffy island city, sampling incredible conch curry and buckets of non-Starbucks coffee. How wonderful it is to be where God intended humans to be: on land. After all, I am neither a fish nor a mall rat. This is my natural environment. Basseterre may not be Havana, but there are signs of human ingenuity and desire everywhere you look. The Black Table Grill Has been Relocated to Soho Village, Market Street, Directly Behind of, Gary’s Fruits and Flower Shop. Signed. THE PORK MAN reads a sign stuck to a wall. Now, that is how you write a sign. A real sign, not the come-ons for overpriced Rolexes that blink across the screens of the Royal Promenade.

“Hey, tie your shoestring!” a pair of laughing ladies shout to me across the street.

“Thank you!” I shout back. Shoestring! “Thank you very much.”

A man in Independence Square Park comes by and asks if I want to play with his monkey. I haven’t heard that pickup line since the Penn Station of the 1980s. But then he pulls a real monkey out of a bag. The monkey is wearing a diaper and looks insane. Wonderful , I think, just wonderful! There is so much life here. I email my editor asking if I can remain on St. Kitts and allow the Icon to sail off into the horizon without me. I have even priced a flight home at less than $300, and I have enough material from the first four days on the cruise to write the entire story. “It would be funny …” my editor replies. “Now get on the boat.”

As I slink back to the ship after my brief jailbreak, the locals stand under umbrellas to gaze at and photograph the boat that towers over their small capital city. The limousines of the prime minister and his lackeys are parked beside the gangway. St. Kitts, I’ve been told, is one of the few islands that would allow a ship of this size to dock.

“We hear about all the waterslides,” a sweet young server in one of the cafés told me. “We wish we could go on the ship, but we have to work.”

“I want to stay on your island,” I replied. “I love it here.”

But she didn’t understand how I could possibly mean that.

“WASHY, WASHY, so you don’t get stinky, stinky!” kids are singing outside the AquaDome, while their adult minders look on in disapproval, perhaps worried that Mr. Washy Washy is grooming them into a life of gayness. I heard a southern couple skip the buffet entirely out of fear of Mr. Washy Washy.

Meanwhile, I have found a new watering hole for myself, the Swim & Tonic, the biggest swim-up bar on any cruise ship in the world. Drinking next to full-size, nearly naked Americans takes away one’s own self-consciousness. The men have curvaceous mom bodies. The women are equally un-shy about their sprawling physiques.

Today I’ve befriended a bald man with many children who tells me that all of the little trinkets that Royal Caribbean has left us in our staterooms and suites are worth a fortune on eBay. “Eighty dollars for the water bottle, 60 for the lanyard,” the man says. “This is a cult.”

“Tell me about it,” I say. There is, however, a clientele for whom this cruise makes perfect sense. For a large middle-class family (he works in “supply chains”), seven days in a lower-tier cabin—which starts at $1,800 a person—allow the parents to drop off their children in Surfside, where I imagine many young Filipina crew members will take care of them, while the parents are free to get drunk at a swim-up bar and maybe even get intimate in their cabin. Cruise ships have become, for a certain kind of hardworking family, a form of subsidized child care.

There is another man I would like to befriend at the Swim & Tonic, a tall, bald fellow who is perpetually inebriated and who wears a necklace studded with little rubber duckies in sunglasses, which, I am told, is a sort of secret handshake for cruise aficionados. Tomorrow, I will spend more time with him, but first the ship docks at St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Charlotte Amalie, the capital, is more charming in name than in presence, but I still all but jump off the ship to score a juicy oxtail and plantains at the well-known Petite Pump Room, overlooking the harbor. From one of the highest points in the small city, the Icon of the Seas appears bigger than the surrounding hills.

I usually tan very evenly, but something about the discombobulation of life at sea makes me forget the regular application of sunscreen. As I walk down the streets of Charlotte Amalie in my fluorescent Icon of the Seas cap, an old Rastafarian stares me down. “Redneck,” he hisses.

“No,” I want to tell him, as I bring a hand up to my red neck, “that’s not who I am at all. On my island, Mannahatta, as Whitman would have it, I am an interesting person living within an engaging artistic milieu. I do not wish to use the Caribbean as a dumping ground for the cruise-ship industry. I love the work of Derek Walcott. You don’t understand. I am not a redneck. And if I am, they did this to me.” They meaning Royal Caribbean? Its passengers? The Rands?

“They did this to me!”

Back on the Icon, some older matrons are muttering about a run-in with passengers from the Celebrity cruise ship docked next to us, the Celebrity Apex. Although Celebrity Cruises is also owned by Royal Caribbean, I am made to understand that there is a deep fratricidal beef between passengers of the two lines. “We met a woman from the Apex,” one matron says, “and she says it was a small ship and there was nothing to do. Her face was as tight as a 19-year-old’s, she had so much surgery.” With those words, and beneath a cloudy sky, humidity shrouding our weathered faces and red necks, we set sail once again, hopefully in the direction of home.

photo from inside of spacious geodesic-style glass dome facing ocean, with stairwells and seating areas

THERE ARE BARELY 48 HOURS LEFT to the cruise, and the Icon of the Seas’ passengers are salty. They know how to work the elevators. They know the Washy Washy song by heart. They understand that the chicken gyro at “Feta Mediterranean,” in the AquaDome Market, is the least problematic form of chicken on the ship.

The passengers have shed their INAUGURAL CRUISE T-shirts and are now starting to evince political opinions. There are caps pledging to make America great again and T-shirts that celebrate words sometimes attributed to Patrick Henry: “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.” With their preponderance of FAMILY FLAG FAITH FRIENDS FIREARMS T-shirts, the tables by the crepe station sometimes resemble the Capitol Rotunda on January 6. The Real Anthony Fauci , by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears to be a popular form of literature, especially among young men with very complicated versions of the American flag on their T-shirts. Other opinions blend the personal and the political. “Someone needs to kill Washy guy, right?” a well-dressed man in the elevator tells me, his gray eyes radiating nothing. “Just beat him to death. Am I right?” I overhear the male member of a young couple whisper, “There goes that freak” as I saunter by in my white spa robe, and I decide to retire it for the rest of the cruise.

I visit the Royal Bling to see up close the $100,000 golden chalice that entitles you to free drinks on Royal Caribbean forever. The pleasant Serbian saleslady explains that the chalice is actually gold-plated and covered in white zirconia instead of diamonds, as it would otherwise cost $1 million. “If you already have everything,” she explains, “this is one more thing you can get.”

I believe that anyone who works for Royal Caribbean should be entitled to immediate American citizenship. They already speak English better than most of the passengers and, per the Serbian lady’s sales pitch above, better understand what America is as well. Crew members like my Panamanian cabin attendant seem to work 24 hours a day. A waiter from New Delhi tells me that his contract is six months and three weeks long. After a cruise ends, he says, “in a few hours, we start again for the next cruise.” At the end of the half a year at sea, he is allowed a two-to-three-month stay at home with his family. As of 2019, the median income for crew members was somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000, according to a major business publication. Royal Caribbean would not share the current median salary for its crew members, but I am certain that it amounts to a fraction of the cost of a Royal Bling gold-plated, zirconia-studded chalice.

And because most of the Icon’s hyper-sanitized spaces are just a frittata away from being a Delta lounge, one forgets that there are actual sailors on this ship, charged with the herculean task of docking it in port. “Having driven 100,000-ton aircraft carriers throughout my career,” retired Admiral James G. Stavridis, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, writes to me, “I’m not sure I would even know where to begin with trying to control a sea monster like this one nearly three times the size.” (I first met Stavridis while touring Army bases in Germany more than a decade ago.)

Today, I decide to head to the hot tub near Swim & Tonic, where some of the ship’s drunkest reprobates seem to gather (the other tubs are filled with families and couples). The talk here, like everywhere else on the ship, concerns football, a sport about which I know nothing. It is apparent that four teams have recently competed in some kind of finals for the year, and that two of them will now face off in the championship. Often when people on the Icon speak, I will try to repeat the last thing they said with a laugh or a nod of disbelief. “Yes, 20-yard line! Ha!” “Oh my God, of course, scrimmage.”

Soon we are joined in the hot tub by the late-middle-age drunk guy with the duck necklace. He is wearing a bucket hat with the legend HAWKEYES , which, I soon gather, is yet another football team. “All right, who turned me in?” Duck Necklace says as he plops into the tub beside us. “I get a call in the morning,” he says. “It’s security. Can you come down to the dining room by 10 a.m.? You need to stay away from the members of this religious family.” Apparently, the gregarious Duck Necklace had photobombed the wrong people. There are several families who present as evangelical Christians or practicing Muslims on the ship. One man, evidently, was not happy that Duck Necklace had made contact with his relatives. “It’s because of religious stuff; he was offended. I put my arm around 20 people a day.”

Everyone laughs. “They asked me three times if I needed medication,” he says of the security people who apparently interrogated him in full view of others having breakfast.

Another hot-tub denizen suggests that he should have asked for fentanyl. After a few more drinks, Duck Necklace begins to muse about what it would be like to fall off the ship. “I’m 62 and I’m ready to go,” he says. “I just don’t want a shark to eat me. I’m a huge God guy. I’m a Bible guy. There’s some Mayan theory squaring science stuff with religion. There is so much more to life on Earth.” We all nod into our Red Stripes.

“I never get off the ship when we dock,” he says. He tells us he lost $6,000 in the casino the other day. Later, I look him up, and it appears that on land, he’s a financial adviser in a crisp gray suit, probably a pillar of his North Chicago community.

photo of author smiling and holding soft-serve ice-cream cone with outdoor seating area in background

THE OCEAN IS TEEMING with fascinating life, but on the surface it has little to teach us. The waves come and go. The horizon remains ever far away.

I am constantly told by my fellow passengers that “everybody here has a story.” Yes, I want to reply, but everybody everywhere has a story. You, the reader of this essay, have a story, and yet you’re not inclined to jump on a cruise ship and, like Duck Necklace, tell your story to others at great pitch and volume. Maybe what they’re saying is that everybody on this ship wants to have a bigger, more coherent, more interesting story than the one they’ve been given. Maybe that’s why there’s so much signage on the doors around me attesting to marriages spent on the sea. Maybe that’s why the Royal Caribbean newsletter slipped under my door tells me that “this isn’t a vacation day spent—it’s bragging rights earned.” Maybe that’s why I’m so lonely.

Today is a big day for Icon passengers. Today the ship docks at Royal Caribbean’s own Bahamian island, the Perfect Day at CocoCay. (This appears to be the actual name of the island.) A comedian at the nightclub opined on what his perfect day at CocoCay would look like—receiving oral sex while learning that his ex-wife had been killed in a car crash (big laughter). But the reality of the island is far less humorous than that.

One of the ethnic tristate ladies in the infinity pool told me that she loved CocoCay because it had exactly the same things that could be found on the ship itself. This proves to be correct. It is like the Icon, but with sand. The same tired burgers, the same colorful tubes conveying children and water from Point A to B. The same swim-up bar at its Hideaway ($140 for admittance, no children allowed; Royal Caribbean must be printing money off its clientele). “There was almost a fight at The Wizard of Oz ,” I overhear an elderly woman tell her companion on a chaise lounge. Apparently one of the passengers began recording Royal Caribbean’s intellectual property and “three guys came after him.”

I walk down a pathway to the center of the island, where a sign reads DO NOT ENTER: YOU HAVE REACHED THE BOUNDARY OF ADVENTURE . I hear an animal scampering in the bushes. A Royal Caribbean worker in an enormous golf cart soon chases me down and takes me back to the Hideaway, where I run into Mrs. Rand in a bikini. She becomes livid telling me about an altercation she had the other day with a woman over a towel and a deck chair. We Suites have special towel privileges; we do not have to hand over our SeaPass Card to score a towel. But the Rands are not Suites. “People are so entitled here,” Mrs. Rand says. “It’s like the airport with all its classes.” “You see,” I want to say, “this is where your husband’s love of Ayn Rand runs into the cruelties and arbitrary indignities of unbridled capitalism.” Instead we make plans to meet for a final drink in the Schooner Bar tonight (the Rands will stand me up).

Back on the ship, I try to do laps, but the pool (the largest on any cruise ship, naturally) is fully trashed with the detritus of American life: candy wrappers, a slowly dissolving tortilla chip, napkins. I take an extra-long shower in my suite, then walk around the perimeter of the ship on a kind of exercise track, past all the alluring lifeboats in their yellow-and-white livery. Maybe there is a dystopian angle to the HBO series that I will surely end up pitching, one with shades of WALL-E or Snowpiercer . In a collapsed world, a Royal Caribbean–like cruise liner sails from port to port, collecting new shipmates and supplies in exchange for the precious energy it has on board. (The actual Icon features a new technology that converts passengers’ poop into enough energy to power the waterslides . In the series, this shitty technology would be greatly expanded.) A very young woman (18? 19?), smart and lonely, who has only known life on the ship, walks along the same track as I do now, contemplating jumping off into the surf left by its wake. I picture reusing Duck Necklace’s words in the opening shot of the pilot. The girl is walking around the track, her eyes on the horizon; maybe she’s highborn—a Suite—and we hear the voice-over: “I’m 19 and I’m ready to go. I just don’t want a shark to eat me.”

Before the cruise is finished, I talk to Mr. Washy Washy, or Nielbert of the Philippines. He is a sweet, gentle man, and I thank him for the earworm of a song he has given me and for keeping us safe from the dreaded norovirus. “This is very important to me, getting people to wash their hands,” he tells me in his burger getup. He has dreams, as an artist and a performer, but they are limited in scope. One day he wants to dress up as a piece of bacon for the morning shift.

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE TITANIC (the Icon of the Seas is five times as large as that doomed vessel) at least offered its passengers an exciting ending to their cruise, but when I wake up on the eighth day, all I see are the gray ghosts that populate Miami’s condo skyline. Throughout my voyage, my writer friends wrote in to commiserate with me. Sloane Crosley, who once covered a three-day spa mini-cruise for Vogue , tells me she felt “so very alone … I found it very untethering.” Gideon Lewis-Kraus writes in an Instagram comment: “When Gary is done I think it’s time this genre was taken out back and shot.” And he is right. To badly paraphrase Adorno: After this, no more cruise stories. It is unfair to put a thinking person on a cruise ship. Writers typically have difficult childhoods, and it is cruel to remind them of the inherent loneliness that drove them to writing in the first place. It is also unseemly to write about the kind of people who go on cruises. Our country does not provide the education and upbringing that allow its citizens an interior life. For the creative class to point fingers at the large, breasty gentlemen adrift in tortilla-chip-laden pools of water is to gather a sour harvest of low-hanging fruit.

A day or two before I got off the ship, I decided to make use of my balcony, which I had avoided because I thought the view would only depress me further. What I found shocked me. My suite did not look out on Central Park after all. This entire time, I had been living in the ship’s Disneyland, Surfside, the neighborhood full of screaming toddlers consuming milkshakes and candy. And as I leaned out over my balcony, I beheld a slight vista of the sea and surf that I thought I had been missing. It had been there all along. The sea was frothy and infinite and blue-green beneath the span of a seagull’s wing. And though it had been trod hard by the world’s largest cruise ship, it remained.

This article appears in the May 2024 print edition with the headline “A Meatball at Sea.” When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.

10 Things You Should Never Bring on a Cruise

Posted: March 30, 2024 | Last updated: April 8, 2024

<p>Dropping a couple thousand dollars on a cruise will never be frugal. From <a href="https://blog.cheapism.com/best-worst-camping-states/">camping</a> to <a href="https://blog.cheapism.com/best-road-trips-america/">road tripping</a>, there are just cheaper ways to vacation. But if the high seas are calling, there are a few things you can do to keep your expenses low, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/119b98z/want_to_go_on_a_cruise_this_year_any_advice_or/">according to frugal Redditors</a>. Here are 10 ways to book the cheapest cruise possible.</p><p><b>Related:</b> <a href="https://blog.cheapism.com/bucket-list-cruises/">20 Bucket-List Cruises Worth Saving For</a></p>

Cruise Dos and Don'ts

The last thing that you want to deal with while boarding a cruise ship is to suddenly not be able to enjoy your hard-earned getaway because you failed to find out what's prohibited onboard. Thankfully, we’ve put together a quick and helpful list of the things that you should never bring on a cruise, which includes items that are often prohibited as well as those that are just going to be a waste of space when you pack. You wouldn’t assume that something like a surfboard could bar your entrance from your next cruise, but here we are.

Editor's Note: This story was updated in March 2024. As rules and regulations vary for different cruise lines, be sure to check in advance before booking or boarding.

Any book lover out there understands the first thing about how hard it can be to hit the road without bringing at the very least, one book with you. However, those books can end up taking up precious space when you’re traveling, and the good news is that many cruise ships have their own libraries. Or, you can just invest in a Kindle that’ll allow you to take a library’s worth of books with you without any actual hassle.

<p>Perhaps ranked above everything else when it comes to what cruise ships have the most of, it’s snacks. Literally, just about whatever you can think of, a cruise ship will be ready to cater to you. Buffets are common, and you’ll have to sustain admirable levels of willpower to not revisit the buffet numerous times after you’ve already had your initial meal.</p>

Perhaps ranked above everything else when it comes to what cruise ships have the most of, it’s snacks. Literally, just about whatever you can think of, a cruise ship will be ready to cater to you. Buffets are common, and you’ll have to sustain admirable levels of willpower to not revisit the buffet numerous times after you’ve already had your initial meal.

<p>Plenty of cruise ships have their own impressive pools (both indoor and outdoor) for you and other vacationers to get the most enjoyment out of your time at sea. Regardless of if you’re swimming or just want to have a consistent supply of towels for when after you’ve showered cruise ships are ready to provide you all the towels you could possibly need.</p>

Beach Towels

Plenty of cruise ships have their own impressive pools (both indoor and outdoor) for you and other vacationers to get the most enjoyment out of your time at sea. Regardless of if you’re swimming or just want to have a consistent supply of towels for when after you’ve showered cruise ships are ready to provide you all the towels you could possibly need.

<p>As hard as it might be to leave it at home, you cannot bring your clothes iron with you on your next cruise vacation. We completely sympathize with the desire to enjoy your vacation time in clothing that’s not wrinkled to a state of utter disrepair, but a clothes iron can end up posing quite the safety risk when out at sea. Thankfully though, many cruise ships have onsite self-service launderettes that come equipped with their own ironing boards. Outside of clothing irons, you also can’t bring your coffeemaker or heat-producing electric kettle. </p>

Household Appliances

As hard as it might be to leave it at home, you cannot bring your clothes iron with you on your next cruise vacation. We completely sympathize with the desire to enjoy your vacation time in clothing that’s not wrinkled to a state of utter disrepair, but a clothes iron can end up posing quite the safety risk when out at sea. Thankfully though, many cruise ships have onsite self-service launderettes that come equipped with their own ironing boards. Outside of clothing irons, you also can’t bring your coffeemaker or heat-producing electric kettle.

For more cruise and travel tips, sign up for our free newsletters .

<p>You’ll have to leave the pleasantly aromatic candles at home before heading out for your next cruise vacation. Candles are 100% hazardous when it comes to posing a very heightened fire risk. Imagine if you were to bring a candle and forget about putting it out before you left your room.</p>

You’ll have to leave the pleasantly aromatic candles at home before heading out for your next cruise vacation. Candles are 100% hazardous when it comes to posing a very heightened fire risk. Imagine if you were to bring a candle and forget about putting it out before you left your room.

You don’t have to bother with bringing your favorite yoga mat or go-to pair of resistance bands. Cruise ships are fully outfitted with gyms that have everything from free weights to Bosu balls, and treadmills. Plus, some cruises even have personal trainers on their staff, that can provide you with professionally supervised sessions.<div class="rich-text"><p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://blog.cheapism.com/things-to-never-bring-on-a-cruise/">Cheapism</a></p></div>

Exercise Equipment

<p>You’ll have to put that completely understandable though rule-breaking desire to <a href="https://blog.cheapism.com/cruise-tips/">save money on your next cruise trip</a> by bringing your own alcohol. Personal beer, hard liquor, and spirits are prohibited outright by cruise lines. </p><p><b>Related:</b> <a href="https://blog.cheapism.com/things-you-should-never-buy-on-cruise/">Don’t Sink Your Wallet: 7 Things You Should Never Buy While on a Cruise</a></p>

You’ll have to put that completely understandable though rule-breaking desire to save money on your next cruise trip by bringing your own alcohol. Personal beer, hard liquor, and spirits are prohibited outright by cruise lines.

Related: Don’t Sink Your Wallet: 7 Things You Should Never Buy While on a Cruise

You’re only human. You might have fantasized about finally getting that perfect aerial shot that could be just the clout-generating shot that you need to launch your successful Instagram account. However, you’ve got to make sure that your specific cruise line has approved drones before you bring yours with you. Certain cruise lines prohibit drones, and you don’t want to leave any room for the possibility of you having your drone tossed by a very perturbed cruise line employee.<p><b>Related:</b> <a href="https://blog.cheapism.com/things-to-never-do-on-a-cruise/">20 Things That You Should Never Do on a Cruise</a></p>

Related: 20 Things That You Should Never Do on a Cruise

<p>Naturally, you want to bring the very best of your formal outfits for when you get fully dressed up before your fancy cruise dinners. However, resist the urge to bring your prized and pricey jewelry with you. It's unfortunate but unavoidable that many cruise ships will have people that are in attendance strictly to try to score big by ransacking the stocked rooms of guests that fail to properly hide their valuables. </p>

Expensive Jewelry

Naturally, you want to bring the very best of your formal outfits for when you get fully dressed up before your fancy cruise dinners. However, resist the urge to bring your prized and pricey jewelry with you. It's unfortunate but unavoidable that many cruise ships will have people that are in attendance strictly to try to score big by ransacking the stocked rooms of guests that fail to properly hide their valuables.

Kayaks And Surfboards

Kayaks and surfboards are outright not allowed on most cruise ships. Cruise line policies across the board are set up such that anything at all that you can launch off a cruise ship is prohibited. However, there are certain cases where you’re able to bring certain items with you that you might be able to use in an actual cruise port. In that case, however, you’ll just have to make sure that you leave your items in your cabin.

Keep in mind that many cruises offer water activities like kayaking as optional excursions, but in those cases, they'll provide the equipment for you.

This article was originally published on Cheapism

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I spent 6 years living on The World, a cruise ship for millionaires. It was like the Four Seasons on steroids — readjusting to reality was tough.

Everyone you know is going on a cruise

Lots of people will be getting their sea legs this summer.

Ports have been packed with cruise ships over the last few years, as vacationers flock to ever larger vessels and operators race to accommodate a surge in post-pandemic bookings — many of them from first-time passengers. The industry expects even more this year.

Benjamin Xiang, a San Francisco-based flight attendant, went on his first cruise last August, setting aside his reservations about “cruise people” and a type of trip he’d imagined would be “not my travel style.”

Benji Xiang enjoyed a Virgin Voyages cruise.

Taking advantage of a Virgin Voyages promotion that let him use credit card points to cover the $2,500 bill, Xiang booked a weeklong, all-inclusive, adults-only cruise from Barcelona, with stops at Mallorca, Ibiza and along the French Riviera.“I invited my best friend, we prepaid a $600 bar tab, and we were like, ‘We’ll just hang by the pool, read a book or something,’” said Xiang, 35. “Turned out we partied every single night and had a blast.”

He’s among the many cruise newbies who’ve helped power the industry’s recent growth. Some 27% of cruise passengers over the past two years have been first-timers, up 12% from the prior two-year period, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), a trade group.

Turned out we partied every single night and had a blast.

Benjamin Xiang, 35, San Francisco

“Will I go back? I think yes,” Xiang said. “Will I pay this time? Yes.”That’s exactly what cruise operators are hoping for, and so far they’re getting it: 82% of all cruisers say they’ll book again, CLIA’s latest report found.

After welcoming 31.7 million passengers last year, 7% more than in 2019, the industry expects volumes to swell to 34.7 million by the end of 2024. Experts say a combination of newcomers, repeat bookers and younger travelers are powering the uptick.

Like Xiang, many first-time cruisers are groups of friends traveling together, said Jennifer Klaussen, who owns Sundari Travel in Malibu, California.

“Once they get on a cruise and realize it’s not what they thought it would be, they’re usually interested in future cruises and diverse destinations,” she said, adding that newer operators have managed to “reduce the stigma associated with cruising — that it’s only for the elderly.”

Passengers under age 40, including kids, made up around 42% of cruisegoers last year, up from 35% in 2019, according to CLIA. While the average age of a cruise customer is 46 industrywide, millennials now make up nearly the same share — 22% — as baby boomers and Gen Xers, who each comprise 24%.“The cruise industry has been hard at work to launch new ships and experiences that are attractive to a younger, newer demographic,” said Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic, “whether that’s a big, new ship with eye-catching attractions for families, or more bucket-list-worthy experiences like sailings in the Galapagos or Antarctica.”

The cruise industry has been hard at work to launch new ships and experiences that are attractive to a younger, newer demographic.

Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic

Amenities don’t hurt either, said Nathan Rosenberg, chief brand officer at Virgin Voyages, which began sailing only in 2021, as the cruise industry rebounded from the pandemic. “Millennials and Gen Z love the fact that everything is included. Think meals foodies would love, tips covered, Wi-Fi to stay connected and a ton of fitness classes,” he said.Vessels are getting bigger to handle the growing demand.

In January, Royal Caribbean Group launched Icon of the Seas — currently the world’s largest cruise ship, with 20 decks, 40 restaurants and room for more than 7,000 passengers and 3,000 crew members.

The company, meanwhile, reported a 16% increase in new cruisegoers between this year and last across its various cruise lines. Nearly half of all Royal Caribbean guests are millennials or younger, CEO Jason Liberty said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

Similarly, Norwegian Cruise Lines CEO Harry Sommer told CNBC earlier this month, “We appeal obviously to older customers, but millennial and Gen Z is the fastest-growing segment of our cruising right now.”

In an aerial view, Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas

Cruises generally aren’t cheap, though, and Sommer noted that the company’s target customer is middle- or upper-income. As consumer spending cools down across much of the economy, Americans are adjusting their summer vacation plans to fit their budgets.The share of travelers put off by steep prices hit 32% in Deloitte’s annual summer travel survey , up sharply from 24% last year. But more affluent vacationers still seem eager to shell out on everything from first-class airfare to luxury train trips , as the industry continues to push premium offerings .

“More higher-income travelers are headed to cruises,” whereas “lower-income travelers are going camping,” the Deloitte report, released Tuesday, said. (“RV trips are up across the board,” it added.)

That doesn’t mean cruise passengers aren’t paying attention to price.

Jaclyn Groh will be going on her first cruise in March 2025, sailing around the Caribbean. The 34-year-old therapist and social work professor at Ohio State University in Columbus typically takes her family on boat trips on a lake, beach visits, “and of course the occasional Disney adventure for the kiddos,” said Groh.

Jaclyn Groh booked a cruise for herself and her husband next year, a change of pace from family-friendly beach resorts they've visited in the past.

While some of her friends have done family cruises, she’s never been interested in the largest cruise ships because they seem “overwhelming.” But in shopping around for a vacation next year for just her and her husband, Groh said her travel agent’s description of the packages available won her over.The smaller Explora II vessel she opted for has a “boutique feel that we love,” she said. And it’s priced about the same as the resort in Curaçao where the couple will be celebrating their 10th anniversary this fall. That week on land will run about $6,500, while the cruise comes to about $6,700.

“The price seems very reasonable for all of the inclusions, and yet with the cruise we will get to experience so many new locations and excursions,” said Groh, who’s looking forward to “a perfect combination of resting in luxury and adventuring.”

Harriet Baskas is an NBC News contributor who writes about travel and the arts.

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Are Travel Irons On Cruise Ships Really Forbidden? Know Your Best Options
Generally, travel irons on cruise ships are prohibited. And you won't find any cruise-approved steamers either. These items present a potential fire hazard. While using a travel iron in your cabin is prohibited, you have other cruise ship laundry options that can address your needs. There is no reason you can't wear impeccably wrinkle-free ...
Do Cruise Ships Have Irons and Ironing Boards?
It may surprise you, but unlike a hotel room, cruise ships do not have irons in guest cabins for passenger use. This is because clothing irons are considered a fire hazard, and many items ...
How To Sneak An Iron On A Cruise Ship
Place a layer of clothing or towels at the bottom of your suitcase, then position the iron on top of it. Cover the iron with another layer of clothing or towels, followed by additional layers of clothing or other items. This layered approach helps to mask the shape and outline of the iron.
How to Keep Clothes Wrinkle-Free on a Cruise: Expert Tips
Can I bring a travel iron on a cruise ship? Travel irons are typically prohibited on cruise ships due to safety regulations. They pose a fire hazard and are subject to confiscation if found during luggage scans. 3. What happens if I try to bring an iron on board? If a travel iron is discovered during security scans, it will likely be ...
Can I Take A Travel Iron On My Cruise?
VIRGIN VOYAGES. Clothing irons are a no go on board, but if you need to bring flat iron for your hair, that's ok. So in conclusion at the moment (current FEB 2022) the only cruise line that currently allows travel irons to come onboard is Marella/TUI. We actually took an iron onboard with us and guess what, we didn't use it once!
Should I pack a travel iron for my cruise?
Policies on Cruise Ships Regarding Travel Irons Cruise Line Policies. Each cruise line has its own policy regarding travel irons. Some prohibit them altogether, while others allow them under certain conditions. For example, Royal Caribbean allows passengers to bring a travel iron as long as it has an automatic shut-off feature.
Do Cruise Ships Provide Irons and Ironing Boards to Guests? (by cruise
Since they are a fire hazard, cruise ships do not provide irons or ironing boards in passenger cabins. However, depending on the cruise line, you may have a small self serve laundromat available to use onboard or be able to request to borrow an iron and ironing board from housekeeping. All cruise ships have laundry and pressing services ...
How To Iron Clothes On A Cruise
4. Use Crease Release Spray. Crease release sprays can be a quick and effective solution to wrinkled clothing while on a cruise. These sprays are easy to pack, convenient to use, and don't require an iron. One of the popular choices among travellers is wrinkle release spray. Check Latest Price.
How To Iron On A Cruise Ship
Use a Hairdryer: In a pinch, you can use a hairdryer to blast wrinkles away. Set the hairdryer on a medium or high heat setting and hold it a few inches away from the garment. Gently tug and smooth the fabric while directing the warm air over the wrinkles to help them disappear.
Can You Bring a Travel Iron on a Cruise Ship?
The short answer is yes, but there are some restrictions you should be aware of before packing your iron in your luggage. The number one rule when it comes to bringing a travel iron on board a cruise ship is to check with the individual cruise line prior to boarding as each company has its own policies and regulations regarding carry-on items ...
Can You Bring an Iron on a Cruise? Rules, Restrictions, and
The short answer is no, you cannot take an iron or travel iron on a cruise ship. Most cruise lines prohibit irons due to potential fire hazards. Fires on cruises have devastating effects and can lead to loss of life or property damage. If caught bringing an iron on board, it will likely be confiscated. It's essential to read the cruise line's ...
How to Prevent Wrinkled Clothes on a Cruise
Iron or steam your clothes at home first. Make sure that your clothing is wrinkle-free before you put it in your suitcase. A quick pass with an iron or steamer at home will save you time when you're on your cruise. No one wants to waste hours of their hard-earned vacation ironing! Whether you iron or steam the wrinkles out, be sure the ...
Amazon.com: Travel Iron For Cruise Ship
1-16 of 232 results for "travel iron for cruise ship" Results. Check each product page for other buying options. Price and other details may vary based on product size and color. Steamfast SF-710 Mini Steam Iron, White, Non-Stick Sole Plate, Foldable Handle. 4.1 out of 5 stars. 2,281.
How to Iron Clothes on a Cruise Ship: A Step-by-Step Guide
For pants, start at the top and work your way down each leg, aligning any creases or pleats as you go. During the ironing process, ensure the iron's temperature is always appropriate for the current garment. If you need to increase the temperature for a thicker fabric, allow the iron to heat up before continuing.
What not to pack for your cruise
Sharp objects. Most cruise lines — such as Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Holland America — ban scissors and knives with blades longer than 4 inches. Other lines, including Disney, prohibit knives regardless of blade length; this includes straight razors. Safety razors for personal grooming are allowed on all lines, though.
Iron & Steamer
Get support by Phone or Email. 866-562-7625. Email Your Questions. Locate a Travel Agent. *Please see all applicable Terms & Conditions for Promotions here . Fidn out more about our policies on bringing clothes steamers and irons onboard.
How to "sneak" an IRON onto a Cruise Ship
See my *hack* for ironing clothes on cruise ships. Irons and steamers are NOT allowed on cruise ships, and irons are NOT provided in your stateroom. If you'r...
Can I Bring A Steamer On A Cruise
Many cruise ships offer wash and press services for a charge or complementarity if you're part of their rewards programs. Depending on the cruise, this service can range from $3 to $10 per item ...
Can I take a travel iron on my cruise
Self-Service Launderettes: Each ship has at least 2 self-service launderettes located on the stateroom decks. There are two or three washers and dryers, and one iron and ironing board in each launderette. The cost is $3.00 per washer load and $3.00 per dryer load.
The Only 6 Travel Outfits You Need for a Cruise
My packing skills were put to the test last month when I set sail on the brand new Carnival Firenze ship. Hopping on board for an eight-day press trip from Long Beach, Calif., to Cabo San Lucas ...
Travel Iron : r/Cruise
Travel Iron. I know, I know, you're already thinking - this dummy, you can't bring an iron on a cruise. Cruise Law 101. But hear me out. Hair straighteners and curling irons are allowed. There is a new device out that looks like a hair straightener but functions like a portable iron, called the Nori Press. It has a 10 minute auto shutoff ...
Princess Cruises FAQ
Cruisers staying in inside, oceanview and balcony cabins will be charged $14.50 per person, per day. Those in mini-suites and Club Class rooms will be charged $15.50 per person, per day, and ...
Are You Allowed To Pack Hot Hair Tools For A Cruise?
Generally, hair styling tools are permitted on cruises, so you won't have to worry about sporting frizzy, unruly locks for the duration of your trip. This is true for cruises operated by Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises, and Carnival, among others. However, note that other heated appliances are usually banned, and the rules can ...
Onboard our cruise ships
You may take a travel iron on the ship, however if the device is determined to pose a hazard they will be removed and returned on the last day of the cruise prior to disembarkation. There is also a laundry service onboard the ships where you can pay for your clothes to be pressed on-demand.
I Used to Work on a Cruise Ship, and These Are the 13 Things You ...
To avoid losing a precious day of your cruise, bring along Liquid I.V. powder, an electrolyte mix that delivers hydration to the bloodstream faster than just water alone. Each bag comes with 16 ...
Carnival Firenze cruise ship review: A complete guide
Editor's note: TPG's Ashley Kosciolek accepted a free trip to sail on Carnival Firenze for the ship's naming ceremony and inaugural cruise. The views expressed below are entirely hers and were not subject to review by the cruise line. When Carnival Cruise Line first announced it was adopting ships from sister cruise line Costa Cruises for a product it now calls "Fun Italian Style," I wondered ...
Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever
In a collapsed world, a Royal Caribbean-like cruise liner sails from port to port, collecting new shipmates and supplies in exchange for the precious energy it has on board. (The actual Icon ...
20 questions to ask your cruise ship cabin attendant
Simply inform them of your preferences whenever you first meet them or run into them in the hallway, and you'll avoid waiting in a lengthy Guest Services line. From extra bathrobes and pillows to a printed copy of the ship's daily schedule, here are 20 questions you should ask your cabin steward.
10 Things You Should Never Bring on a Cruise
Candles. You'll have to leave the pleasantly aromatic candles at home before heading out for your next cruise vacation. Candles are 100% hazardous when it comes to posing a very heightened fire ...
Everyone you know is going on a cruise
Scott McIntyre / Bloomberg via Getty Images. Passengers under age 40, including kids, made up around 42% of cruisegoers last year, up from 35% in 2019, according to CLIA. While the average age of ...

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How To Iron On A Cruise Ship

Introduction

Why Ironing on a Cruise Ship is Different

Packing Essential Ironing Supplies

Finding the Ironing Facilities on the Cruise Ship