I would think that ready cash in small bills would be your most important item.

Physical items to carry:

PERSONAL SANITATION/HYGIENE:
2 rolls of toilet paper in ziplock bags
2 traveller's packs of antibacterial wipes
A package or roll of small garbage bags

FOOD/WATER:
4 Mre's or 2 bx of your favorite Poptarts
1 package of "Fun Size" candy bars
Bottles of water stashed AFTER you get onboard (from ship'is stores)

MISCELLANEOUS:
50-60 ft of 550 Paracord
Multi tool
Sturdy metal soup spoon
A ball or boonie hat
A Doug Ritter PSK
Road Maps of the Ports of Call of your itenarary
Flashlight w/ spare set of batteries

INTEL/RECOMMENDATIONS:
Attend & be serious at the Lifeboat drill(s)
Know where lifejackets are stored in your cabin, lifeboat assigned, & in between
Designate a meeting place onboard in case of emergency, near your assigned lifeboat.
DO NOT get too familiar with crew members, maintain an invisible wall between you.
Research your Ports of Call. Know the Political and Economic situation in each. Know what the local Corruption Levels are. Know where the "Bad Areas" are and stay away from them. Know what can and CANNOT be photographed. Do NOT try to buy illegal items on the street.
Always practice the Buddy Plan. Stay with your group.

That's what comes to my mind. Good Luck and enjoy yourself.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. The cruise is for 7 nights in August and goes from Ft Lauderdale to several Caribbean islands which means it will be warm water. We are driving to Ft Lauderdale so no airline restrictions to worry about. We will have a room with a balcony which will allow us to dispose of biodegradable waste bags if forced to plus it provides light and fresh air and hopefully we won't have to sleep on deck if there's a power failure which I hear is miserable and wet.

I think I'm going to go with a small duffel bag with a shoulder strap instead of a backpack because that won't interfere with a life preserver and I can access the bag without dismounting it like I would have to do with a backpack. I think I definitely want to have everything in dry sacks inside the duffel bag for both flotation and water resistance as well as organization. Perhaps a small red dry sack for first aid, a small yellow dry sack for electronics, etc.

I already own a waterproof sat phone with GPS and ResQLink+ PLB. I am going to get the Katadyn desalinator and then gift it to my Dad who has a small saltwater fishing boat.

I've broken down things into the following areas:

sanitation - biodegradable toilet bags, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, nitrile gloves
health - first aid kit, common meds, zinc oxide, sunscreen, small amount of toiletries (in case we are dumped on an island without luggage), Vick's for under the nose smell prevention if the toilets backup
smoke - Safe Escape ASE60 60 minute smoke evac hood
signaling/comms - sat phone, extra minutes, roll-up solar panel, power cords, PLB, mirror, whistle, strobe, two GMRS radios for talking around the ship, charger base, Radio Shack scanner (to monitor ship's crew comms), am/fm radio, cell phone, list of ship's frequencies
water - Katadyn Survivor desalinator, 32oz stainless water bottle, plastic water bottle, collapsible bucket, 100' paracord, Aquamira filter, chlorine dioxide tablets
clothing - Merino wool long johns tops and bottoms, lightweight shoes, hat with strap, lightweight windbreaker/rain jacket, mylar blanket
lighting - waterproof headlamp and small waterproof flashlight, extra batteries
food - Datrex 2400 calorie bars 4 bars per person, snacks, nuts, candy, drink mixes
money - several 1/10oz gold coins, $800 emergency cash, extra credit cards
papers - passport, list of phone numbers, travel insurance docs, map of islands
miscellaneous - lighter, boat matches, duct tape, ziplock bags, deck of cards, pipe tobacco, SAK with can opener, multi-tool, notebook, pen
fishing - hobo hand fishing rig with 1,000ft of line and a few hooks and lures. Might as well go fishing if the ship goes adrift with no power

Most items above with be x2 since it will be my girlfriend and I. We will each have a duffel bag and split up some of the expensive items like the sat phone, scanner, and desalinator between us. Some items like cash and sat phone we'll carry all the time but some items we'll dump in the room so we're not lugging a ton of stuff around the ship all day.

I still haven't figured out what to do about coffee. If they don't have hot coffee on the ship - now that would be a real disaster.

Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Pretty comprehensive.

Maybe think more about meds; ask around and find a doctor who specializes in infectious medicine/travel medicine and see if there are some prescription meds that you can take along. Even you local primary care Doc may be able to prescribe some meds that are more effective for potential medical problems than the standard OTC meds.

Also, make sure your immunizations are up to date, especially Tetanus, Typhoid and Cholera.

I'm with BoatMan. Consider a 1st line/2nd line/3rd line approach to your gear.

A cruise ship is a big, complex 3D maze where you have likely never been before. What are the odds that if something major-league bad happens, you will be in your room or close enough to it to have timely access to your emergency bag? Will you be able to wade through the panicked passengers to get there? We hope so, of course, but in addition to (reasonably) filled pockets I think you and your companion should seriously consider wearing a waistpack/fannypack with the most compact essentials like your PLB/satphone, knife, passport, a few days of critical medications, etc. That way if you can't access the emergency bag you at least have some critical essentials. If you can access the bag then that's gravy. Wherever you go on ship wear your hat and keep your sunglasses on you (preferably on a neck cord), along with a light jacket.

And whatever you do, do not I repeat DO NOT watch this movie before you go!



Can you elaborate on this? I don't get it.

Very comprehensive Kit.



Handpresso Wild Outdoor Kit

1/10oz gold coins go for approx $140 plus premium at today's spot. If things go so far south that you need to spend gold you'll probably need more than a few 1/10th oz gold Eagles; you'll need a bunch for a ride home. A couple 1 oz gold AE's should cover air fair back to FL and a roll of silver AE's might be more practical for small incidentals should the need arise.

Just my $.02 -- if all you have is 1/10oz gold coins, I wish I had your problem.

I've never understood the "carry gold" mentality. If the situation is so bad that you have to use gold, who is going to take it? Besides, nothing says that you will get market price. You will be hostage to local "market forces".

Nothing will raise flags like buying an airline ticket to the U.S. with gold.


What am I missing?

Things can be very useful, but don't forget knowledge and skill. Get to know where the corridors lead to, know were the exits and lifeboats are.

A maritime survival course can be useful, but i think a little overkill for a cruise... It´s fun though.

OT re gold -- Gold has been money for approx 5000 years. Other than that we'd need to start a new topic.

As for this Caribbean cruise, I don't see gold or silver being anywhere near necessary to get by, the US dollar is good just about anywhere. If the US dollar was close to collapse due to hyperinflation I'd put off the cruise entirely even if it meant losing the money already spent, but we're not there yet... maybe by August

I have hundreds of 1/10oz gold eagles and I paid $40 each for them. They are the size of a dime. I can easily stash away a couple thousand dollars of emergency money using these. Unlike people in the US who don't really know anything about gold, I've found that people in other countries are completely familiar with it and comfortable using it for barter in good times and bad. I hope I never have to use it but I am completely confident that I can successfully use it if necessary. I have no qualms about "raising flags" if I needed to convert some gold into cash to buy airline tickets.

I really like Glock-A-Roo's tip about 1st/2nd/3rd line of gear. Very compelling. I'm going to incorporate this philosophy.

The handpresso looks very cool too. I found out today that we have no baggage limits - I was reading a list from Carnival Cruise lines but we're on Royal Caribbean so carrying a coffee kit is now a possibility.

As for the "don't become friends with the crew" - I've been on a a few cruises and I've always done the complete opposite. I severely over-tip the cabin steward/housekeeper for my room and go out of my way to make their job easier and I try to be as friendly as possible to every crew member and make friends with them and it's fun listening to how they ended up working on a cruise ship and getting to know them. This has paid off in countless ways on many trips. Royal Caribbean does not automatically add gratuities to your room or food bills so tipping can go a long way towards getting the staff on your side especially if there are a lot of European and South American passengers who aren't used to tipping and don't tip at all. But perhaps the original comment about the crew is digging at something deeper. I'm not a big drinker so I would never go down into the bowels of the ship to some wild drinking/drugs party with the crew. Now that would be putting yourself in a dangerous spot of vulnerability in my opinion.