Securing Your Valuables On A Cruise: Tips And Practices
Keeping Your Belongings Safe On A Cruise
You are typically laden with thousands of dollars worth of clothing, jewelry, cash, cameras, and computers when on a seven-day cruise. The big question is – what do you do with these high-value and hard-to-replace items while cruising? Do you leave them out in your cabin or keep them hidden? While not expressing a lack of trust in crew members, each person has to make their own security arrangements. Here, I share my personal list of items I keep hidden on my cruises and the best practices adopted to protect them.
Cash
Number one, cash. Cash protection is a habit to have anywhere, and it exceeds the boundaries of a cruise trip. Notorious for testing fates at the casino, I’d often end late-night sessions carelessly leaving the cash won on the cabin’s desk. However, ensuring that the cash is stowed away before anyone comes into the room is a practice I enforce tightly.
Travel Documentation
Specifically, passports or birth certificates shouldn’t be left laying around in your cruise cabin, where they could be easily knocked off the desk or lost in a pile of clothes. These travel documents, essential for returning home from your cruise, shouldn’t go missing under any circumstance due to their challenging replaceability factor.
Where To Hide Your Cash And Travel Documents?
My preference is to use the cruise safe for storing cash and travel documents. I understand the concern of some people who do not trust the safety of the cruise safe due to the fact that the cruise line has the ability to open it despite your code.
Travel Safe & Book Safe
If you share the same sentiment, a travel safe could be your reliable alternative. Some travel safes come with a cable you can take with you on your beach day. You can attach it to something to keep your valuables secure.
Another way to secure valuables is by using an inconspicuous book safe. Just like a book, this acts as a safe to keep your valuables. However, these alternatives also have their caveats; you’ll need to keep up with the key for the book safe and remember the combination for the travel safe.
Jewelry
If you’ve chosen to bring along expensive jewelry, ensure you have a ritual to secure them the moment you take them off. Best practice suggests investing in costume jewelry and leaving the real pieces at home. A tip for earring enthusiasts, it’s smart to bring extra earring backs to combat instances of the originals going missing, as finding a replacement on the cruise is challenging.
Electronic Equipment
Along with cash and documents, camera gear and electronic devices such as laptops, iPads, and Kindles need to find a secure place within your cabin. It’s beneficial to develop a routine to ensure every valuable item is tucked away safely.
What About Pre-Cleaning Cabins?
A common practice by some cruisers is to tidy up their cabins before the room Steward arrives. This not just makes the steward’s work easier, but also minimally exposes your personal effects.
Clothing
Building on the principle of minimal exposure, it’s advisable to stash away specific clothing items, namely underwear. Enhancing the experience of the room Steward while maintaining personal hygiene is a bonus.
Final Thoughts
All these preventative measures might look stringent and feel paranoid, but in truth, they are beneficial cruising habits. They assure the security of your important items, protect them from potential damage, and ensure that you leave the cruise with all your goods intact – and maybe a little more if your luck strikes at the casino.
So, secure your items, enjoy your cruise and worry less about misplacing your belongings. Enjoy your trip to the fullest and see you on the Lido!