10 Things to NOT Pack for A Cruise

It can be really easy to overpack for your first cruise because you don't know exactly what you'll be doing and what you'll need. There's a lot of generic "cruise packing" lists going around, and I wanted to share my thoughts on some of these as someone who has been cruising since jr. high and is planning her 9th cruise:

Related: Cruise packing favorites

Laundry soap

You'll see a lot of packing lists recommending you bring a small thing of travel laundry soap for your cruise so you can do a load of laundry in your sink. I'm convinced that anyone who includes this on a packing list has never actually used it. Cruise bathrooms are small and the sinks are not deep at all, so I don't think you'd be able to actually wash your clothes and get all the soap out. Instead, bring a Tide To Go pen to spot-treat stains. You also likely won't even need to wash your clothes on your trip, unless it's longer than a week cruise.  If you really need to do a load of laundry, the ship will usually have a wash and fold service for about $30.

Clothes line

Another thing I see recommended a lot is a clothes line to air dry swimsuits and wet clothes in your room. While this is a great idea, and even I air-dry my clothes on a clothes line on cruises, you don't need to bring your own. The shower in your bathroom will have what looks like a little bell, but is a retractable clothes line. 

The only time I would recommend you spend your hard-earned dollars and take up precious packing space in a suitcase by buying and bringing your own clothes line is if you have a balcony cabin and only 1 swimsuit. If you only have 1 swimsuit, then the wind and sun from being outside will dry your only swimsuit fast enough for you to wear each day. But, if you bring at least 2 swimsuits, yours will dry in plenty of time on the shower clothes line. Personally, I prefer to bring a swimsuit per day on my cruise, because it's my main "outfit" each day. 

Hidden document or money holders

Unless you're traveling to Europe, you just won't need an under the clothes document holder or a money belt. First of all, these are actually really impractical to use. My dad took a money belt on our first cruise, and it seemed like his money would go everywhere when he'd try to pay for something. I've also seen people struggle to get their passports out from their under-the-shirt document holder, and it's not a pretty sight watching them fish that out from under their shirt, half flashing everyone as they do.

I don't get off the ship with my passport because I personally feel that at each stop I'll have a larger risk of losing my passport somewhere at the port than missing the ship or having some other emergency where I'm stuck at the port without a passport. I do have a scanned copy of our passports saved in a Goggle drive that I've made available offline, just in case. 

Instead, I recommend a waterproof travel wallet. These zip up to keep money/cards from falling out and to keep it waterproof. It's perfect because all you need at port is your ID, your ship card, a credit card, and some cash for tipping/bartering/buying things from merchants on the beach, so you can leave everything else in a regular wallet in your stateroom safe. If your wallet gets lost/stolen, then you didn't just lose all the cash you brought for the trip and all of your credit cards. Or, if you need a safe place to store your passports or other large items, you can get a crossbody bag that keeps your stuff right on you so it can't get lost/stolen, but is much easier to access.

A ton of shoes

If you're just going to the Caribbean, then you actually only need 3 kinds of shoes: closed-toed shoes (like sneakers) for on-board activities like basketball and the ropes course, and for shore excursions like parasailing and horseback riding; sandals/water shoes for the beach, and heels or dress shoes for dinner. That's it! 

One of my favorite packing tips for cruises are Pasion Footwear shoes! You might have seen them on Shark Tank, but they are sandals that can convert to heels, and the heels are interchangeable. So, I just wear them as sandals around the ship during the day, and then I have the 3" espadrille heels for most dinner nights,  and 4" rhinestone heels for formal night. 

Black tie formal wear

Formal night is a lot less "formal" than you'd expect if your only experience with a cruise is Titanic. You don't need to rent a tux or bring a ballgown for formal night. On our first cruise, I wore a prom dress and felt way overdressed. Most people wear suits and cocktail dresses for formal night. 

Printed out deck plans

There is no need to print out and laminate the deck plans before your cruise. At each elevator there will be a display of the ship showing what is on that particular deck, plus a list of what is on each floor. The deck numbers in the elevator will also have the main stops listed out by each deck. And, your cruise will have an app that will have detailed deck plans, so there's no need to carry printed plans around with you.

Binoculars

The only cruise that you might need this is Alaska. Every other cruise, these probably won't be used.

Camera

Unless you're really into photography, it's just easier to stick with your phone. Remember, some days you'll be getting off the ship at 7am and not returning until 3pm, so you'll be stuck carrying it around (and watching to make sure it's not lost or stolen) all day. Plus with a camera you'll need to bring extra cords to charge it and other accessories that will eat up space on the tiny desk you have in your room. 

Any iPhone 7 or newer is waterproof, and basically any Android will be waterproof too, so you can take your phone with you anywhere and get really good pictures. If you're worried about holding onto your phone when you're in a swimsuit and don't have pockets, or if you want to swim around in the ocean, you can put your phone in a waterproof phone pouch and just wear it. 

Same goes for a digital clock or night light, even if you're in an interior cabin. Instead, I would bring a good smart watch. Not only will this also will this have the time and a built-in flashlight, but you can use it all day long. I add our daily activities and itinerary to my calendar, and then my watch lets me know what's up next and where. It's also really helpful if you're traveling through time zones on your cruise. Ship time is always the time zone of where you embarked for your cruise on day 1, but your phone will likely switch over to local time when you get there. There's always someone on each cruise that gets in a bind because they don't realize that the time on their phone is different than ship time. With a smart watch, you can have 2 clocks on one watch face, one for local time and one for ship time, and it will keep you on time all day.

Guidebooks

Maybe if you're going to Europe and you don't have an excursion or tour planned, this might come in handy. Other than that, I don't think you would need this. Many of the ports are not in the main city in the country, so a lot of the recommendations might not be geographically feasible for this trip.

Physical books

Not only are books heavy for you to carry and keep up with all day, but cruises are often wet. Kids splash in the pool, it inevitably rains intermittently, the deck is often wet from being recently cleaned, the waves will spray water towards the beach, drinks get spilled... you get it. There's just too many chances for your book to get ruined. I only bring a waterproof Kindle with me and it's great because it's lightweight to carry and I don't have to worry about it getting wet. I just make sure to pre-download 2-3 books before my trip so I don't have to worry about trying to connect my Kindle to the ship wi-fi and waiting forever for the book to download. 

Honeymoon in Punta Cana for Free

Ryan and I got our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic for (basically) free, and it was actually really easy and required no crazy sweepstakes giveaways to enter. I knew that I wanted to have a really luxurious trip for our honeymoon, but I had just graduated law school and we weren't exactly in a financial spot to contribute towards both a wedding and a honeymoon, so credit card points and miles was our best option. We knew we wanted to take advantage of credit card points for a free trip, so as soon as we got engaged, we became hyper-focused on credit card points and miles. 

A few years before we were engaged, I had signed up for the Capital One Venture card, and was getting miles with every purchase because it was the only credit card I'd use. What I liked about the Venture card is that you get 2x points on every purchase, and you don't have to keep track of certain categories to get the most of your points. I also added Ryan as an authorized user to my Venture card so he could put a lot of his purchases onto the card to help us build up points faster. We were able to use my Venture points to book a week-long stay at an all-inclusive 5-star resort in a swim-up suite. 

Related: All about Luxury Ambar at Bahia Principe in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Once we got engaged, I signed up for the Chase United Explorer card to get miles to cover our flights. Although the Chase United card doesn't give you as much miles per purchase, the miles were a good value for us. I referred Ryan for his own Chase United card and got each of us a 10,000-mile referral bonus, on top of the sign-up bonuses that we hit by putting all of our wedding purchases onto our Chase United cards. We flew business class on a direct flight from Houston to Punta Cana, using my miles for the flight there and his miles for the flight back. We also got a free checked back each for our trip and two United Club passes to use on our flight.

Both cards also give you a statement credit to get Global Entry or TSA PreCheck! I already had TSA PreCheck through my job, but we got Ryan signed up through my Venture card statement credit. What's nice is that TSA PreCheck lasts for 5 years, so we're still using it now! 

Traveling for free using credit card points and miles is now something that Ryan and I love to do! We're actually going on our anniversary trip for free by using the Chase Sapphire card points to book our hotel and our Southwest card miles to book our flights. 

7 Mistakes I Made Cruising with my Baby

One thing that Ryan and I like to do after each trip recently is to reflect back on areas of improvement for the trip. For our cruise, we didn't have a ton, but I wanted to share what we learned cruising with an 8 month old. 

Related: Thoughts on cruising with an 8-month old and Review of the cruise we took our 8 month old on

Timing dinner

I mentioned this in my cruise review, but to catch you up to speed we did the "my time" dining on our cruise. The benefit of this is that if your baby isn't hungry at exactly 5:30 or 7:45, you can still enjoy the main dining courses and just head there whenever you want. Unfortunately, we cut it close on our timing just about every night. On our cruise, it seemed that once the doors opened at 5:30, you were seated immediately (so we'd have to rush to quickly get ready to make our reservation), but the wait times quickly were pushed back to about an hour. In hindsight, we should have made this more of a priority to put in a table reservation early in the evening. We also should have just given up and headed for the buffet once the wait got over 30 minutes, because for this trip the line didn't move faster than the wait time shown.

Disposable bibs

All of the online travel packing lists recommended disposable baby bibs for eating. It makes perfect sense because you're not trying to re-use dirty bibs throughout the trip, and that's less dirty laundry you have to bring home. This didn't work out for us because my daughter was in the arm-flailing stage, so she accidentally discovered how easily these can rip. Once she figured that out, the bibs never stayed on. 

Now, I just travel with a standard wipeable bib and a wet bag to put dirty bibs in. It's more work, but at least it keeps her clothes clean. For now, I just keep the spare disposable bibs in our baby travel bag as a backup. 

Packing the wrong placemats

We brought disposable place mats to go along with our disposable bibs. And we brought a suction cup toy holder. Both worked perfectly fine, but in hindsight I wish I would have just brought 1 item that did both. We loved our mini busy baby mat for our baby because it was somewhere clean we could put her food (that has raised sides to keep juices from dripping off the table and makes it easier for little hands to pick up food) and it has straps that can hold 2 toys (or a toy and a drink) onto the table. 

We didn't get the mini busy baby mat until after our cruise, but it would have made several meals a lot easier. I still have leftover disposable place mats that I keep in our baby travel bag as a backup.

Not dressing her for the port

In Belize, we had to tender to and from the port to the ship. We dressed our daughter in her swimsuit for the trip over there, but changed her into dry clothes for the trip back. The problem with this was that on the way back, water kept spraying into the boat and her outfit was completely soaked and her legs got cold. If we have another tender port again, I'll make sure to pack an extra swimwear for the trip back so that she's better dressed. The reason I didn't want to just keep her in her swimsuit all day was because sometimes you can develop a rash from wearing a damp swimsuit if it doesn't dry fast enough.

On the flipside, we dressed her in her swimsuit for Cozumel, and then ended up just going to the shops and restaurants only on that stop. Since she didn't get in the water, she didn't need to be in her swimsuit all day and could have been in something breezier. Next time, if I know we won't be going to the water, I'll dress her in her bamboo rompers and then just pack the swimsuit as a just in case. 

One lesson we've learned is to dress them in their regular diaper until you get to the beach! Swim diapers don't hold pee, so if they pee in their swim diaper while you're getting off the ship then it will leak right through. But, make sure you remember to them into their swim diaper when you get there, or their regular diaper will fill up with water instantly.

Not planning all excursions out

We only booked an excursion for 1 of our 3 ports, and I regret that. For Belize, it led to me being absolutely paranoid wandering around like a lost tourist, making us obvious targets to rob. For Cozumel, it was just overconfidence in ourselves because we had been to the port previously. Both times we figured that we could just wing it, and to a certain extent we did. 

But, standing around with no plan trying to make it up on the spot is much more difficult when you have a baby and a baby schedule to accommodate. Make-it-up-as -you-go is a perfectly good plan, just if you're traveling childless. Next time, we'll make sure we have our day planned at each stop so that we can make the most out of the little time we have at each port.

Underutilizing the baby center

While we did remember that the baby center has scheduled "play dates" for our second sea day, we completely forgot about it for the first sea day. We were really bummed about this, because they did something different each sea day, so we missed out on whatever activities they had going on that first day. It's easy to forget to go by the baby center since you can't drop your kid off, but there's lots of toys and a safe place for them to climb around over there. 

Bringing our pack-n-play

Carnival provides metal mini cribs, and I just didn't like that idea, so I brought our big Graco pack-n-play. This was the 1 item that almost broke my husband as we were taking our luggage from the parking garage across the street to the cruise terminal, and almost broke me when we were trying to set it up in our room. This thing is heavy and not easy to carry around! We also always kept our pack-n-play assembled in our living room, so we weren't super familiar with how to set it up and our internet plan didn't include Google or streaming so I couldn't look up a how-to video to get it set up. 

While I don't regret brining our own baby bed onboard, I do regret which brand we brought. After our trip, I got the Guava Lotus travel crib, and we really like it. While the Graco is 37 pounds, this is only 14 pounds! The straps on the bag are made so that you can wear the bag like a backpack. And the setup seemed much more intuitive on this crib. We got the set that came with the quilted mattress topper, and it is so soft! The side also unzips so your baby can easily go in and out of it to play in. 

However, it's actually not my favorite travel crib. My mom got the Dream on Me travel crib for her house and it's amazing! It's only 10 pounds and it folds up really tiny. All you do is pop the legs into the crib and it's fully assembled, no weird buttons to push and hold and fold. Because my daughter is now over 1, my mom got a mattress pad insert and it makes this bed very comfortable! The only downside is that the mattress bag is about as big as the travel crib bag, so it's one more bulky thing to carry. The only downside to this travel crib is that your baby will outgrow it much faster than the Guava Lotus, because the lotus is 5 inches longer and 4 inches wider, but the Dream on Me is 1/3 of the price! 

And 3 things we did right

We overspent and ordered a teddy bear to be delivered to our room on the first day, and it was just so darn cute! I'm happy that we now have this little memento of our daughter's first cruise! This photo alone was worth the money. 

We took a baby monitor that didn't require Wi-Fi, and I'm so glad we did! I got an adjustable arm that comes on a giant clip so I could just clip it onto the door of one of the cabinets and face the camera towards our daughter's bed. We wouldn't leave her in the room alone, but it was nice to sit out on our balcony and be able to see if she was starting to wake up, because it's actually really hard to hear what's going on inside the room when you're on the balcony, so we might not have heard her cry until the whole floor could hear her. 

Since the cruise, we've used this on just about every trip we've taken. While we love our Nanit back home (and the Nanit does come with a travel kit), I don't trust the security or the streaming quality of Wi-Fi when we travel. It's also nice to have a travel-dedicated baby monitor so we don't have to worry about taking down our everyday monitor and packing it for each trip. 

Another balcony-specific thing we did was bring a mini pool! Kids who are still in swim diapers can't swim in the pool, and since our ship didn't have a splash pad, this was the only way that she got to play in the water on sea days. I brought a mini air pump and could easily blow this up and deflate it in a minute each time we used it (we also used it on port days if we got back on the ship early in the day). I used an empty trash can filled with warm shower water to quickly fill it, and threw some cheap foam letters in for my daughter to play with. This was probably her favorite part of the whole ship, and was very easy to bring with us and set up. 

Our last great decision we made was our room. Besides the fact that I obviously recommend a balcony room for cruising with a baby, I recommend you look into the room location as well. Our room was only a floor away from the buffet and was near the stairs. This meant that if our daughter was in our room napping, or was not in a mood to be in a public restaurant, Ryan could just run up to the buffet and grab us something to eat and bring it back to the room and we would have a picnic on our balcony. Our room was also near the pool bar (but no so close that it was loud), so we could easily run and grab a little drinky drink when we were on babysitting duty in the room. 

What's in my Travel Hair Bag

Something that has become very handy for all of our short and longer trips has been keeping all of my hair supplies ready to be packed at a moment's notice. Just like my toiletry bag, I've found that buying travel-specific items that stay packed at all times has really helped make sure that I never forget anything, and also saves time when I go to pack, because this step is already done. 

Related: What's in my travel toiletry bag

Double duty hair tools bag

I found the perfect hair tools travel bag to use for this! It not only holds your hot tools, but it comes wrapped in a heat-protectant mat. You can just unwrap the mat and have a place to put your straightener or curler! It has a lot of storage so it can hold more than just your hair tools in it. 

2-in-1 straightener and curler

I used to travel with both a straightener and a separate curler, and it took up a lot of room in the bag and was very heavy. I was super excited to find a hot tool that can both straighten and curl your hair! I got the grande size because my hair goes below my shoulder blade. I do think it straightens better than it curls, but for the space-saving it gives me, I make it work. 

Heat protectant spray

I keep a good mini heat protectant spray with my straightener. I used to keep this in my toiletry bag, but now that I have a dedicated hair tools bag, it has been so nice to keep all of my hairstyling products together in one place. This has also cleared up a little bit of room in my toiletry bag, so now I can find what I need in both bags faster.

Hair clips

I keep a claw clip in my hair bag to make styling my hair easier. The clip can hold a lot of hair, making it really easy to section out my hair for styling. The clips came in a pack of 2, so I threw the extra one in my toiletry bag to help keep my hair out of my face when I'm washing it. 

I also have a small set of alligator clips so that I can keep my hair out of my face to do my makeup without messing up my hair. 

Hair brush

It's basic, but a hair brush is obviously needed in my hair tools bag. I like having a dedicated travel hair brush so that I don't have to worry about if I leave this one behind in a hotel room.

Hair towel

I prefer to air dry my hair, so I don't pack a blow-dryer when I travel. Instead, I pack a microfiber hair towel to dry my hair. It's so much lighter on my head than a hotel towel, and it doesn't fall down. I always make sure to pack one that is not white because one time I had left my white hair towel in the bathroom and housekeeping mistook it for a normal towel and it was gone forever. 

What's in my Travel Toiletry Bag

One of my biggest travel packing hacks is to keep your toiletry bag always packed! It saves you so much time from having to pack and unpack your toiletries after each trip, and it guarantees that you never forget anything. Yes, it is more expensive to have 2 of most things; but, you can just throw 1-2 things off this list into your cart every month and have a fully-stocked toiletry bag for your next trip. Then, all you have to do is remember to buy any refills as you run out.

Oral care

I'd start with buying oral care, because most other basic toiletries are offered by hotels. A cheap way to do this is to ask your dentist for a toothbrush/toothpaste at your next visit. Toothbrush and toothpaste companies are always giving them samples to hand out as freebies! If you have a trip coming up before your next dentist appointment, then you can easily find travel toothbrush kits that comes with a folding toothbrush and toothbrush cover, toothpaste, and mouthwash for less than $10. 

Basic haircare 

Next get a travel hairbrush, hair ties, and bobby pins. These usually aren't offered by hotels, and it's good to keep several stashed in your bag because it's easy to forget to put them back after your trip, so your stash will likely dwindle each trip. I prefer to pack a smaller hairbrush because it takes up less space. I also keep just a cotton hairband in my toiletry bag. This is great for keeping my hair out of my face when I'm washing my face, doing my makeup, or just traveling on a windy day. 

On the other end of the "hair" spectrum, they make mini travel razors that are perfect to keep in your bag! The handle is much smaller so it can fit in your toiletry bag easier, and it comes with a case so your razor blades aren't just exposed out in your bag. I also keep a mini tweezer in my toiletry bag, which I've used more than I expected!

Related: What's in my travel hair care bag

Personal hygiene

Basically all hotels will offer cheap shampoo and body wash, but most don't offer conditioner. Because of this, I pack a travel shampoo, conditioner, and body wash set. I specifically use the Sol de Janeiro brand when on vacation because it smells like vacation in a bottle! My husband loves the smell, and I always get compliments when I wear this. If you're worried about your liquids spilling, you can cover them with silicone leak-protecting covers.

For deodorant, I strongly recommend that you not only get the travel sized to save space, but that you get roll-on deodorant specifically for traveling. Toiletry bags get smashed around in your bag, and time and time again I've had stick deodorants break on me, so I've switched to roll-on to keep that from happening. 

Skin care 

At the very minimum, I keep a makeup removing cloth in my toiletry bag. All you do is add water to remove your makeup, so you don't have to worry about makeup removing wipes drying out or running out. While I can't say that it removes ALL of your makeup, it does a really good job for just requiring water. 

To actually clean my skin, I keep a small travel-sized set of cleanser and moisturizer in my bag. It feels sooo nice after a long day of traveling to wash the travel grime off your face and put on a nice moisturizer. For daytime, I also keep a travel-sized SPF moisturizer to wear every day. Even if you're not planning on being out under the sun all day and don't need to lather on the sunscreen, you're likely to be outside more often when you travel than when you're not at home, so a little SPF will keep you from being pink at the end of the day. I also keep a lip moisturizer always packed.

I've recently added blemish patches into my toiletry bag. Sometimes the stress and poor air quality of travel will make my skin break out, and these are great to throw on before bed so that you're blemish free for the next day.

Miscellaneous 

This isn't exactly a toiletry, but I always keep a silicone "bra" in my toiletry bag, just to make sure it's packed! I usually travel in a sports bra because it is the comfiest option, and really comes in handy when I find myself running between gates to catch a connecting flight. But, I've been stuck in a situation where it was a mostly chill trip so the sports bra was perfect for most days, we had one day where I needed a strapless or thing-strapped top/dress and only had a sports bra. A silicone bra is very easy to pack and works with basically any top.

All-Inclusive Packing Must Haves for 2024

I made my cruise packing favorites post, so now I wanted to talk about what I pack with an all-inclusive resort in mind! Packing for an all-inclusive versus a cruise isn't much different for me, because I tend to go to the same types of places for both. But, on a cruise I'm anticipating being on a boat all day for a few days, and being away from my room for an extended period of time on port days, so what I pack is centered on those factors. At an all-inclusive, I'm betting that I'll always be within a few minutes of my room, and that my room will be a bigger size to work with than a cruise. 

Insulated Cups

For me, the biggest difference between an all-inclusive and a cruise is that "pace yourself" is not a concept that I consider when it comes to my drinks. So, I need something that will keep me from always asking for a refill either because I ran out of my drink or my drink got too hot. For bottled or canned beers, my favorite is the BruMate Hopsulator Trio. I love that it fits both drinks and it is the easiest koozie I've ever used for a canned beer because the beers just slide right out without you having to twist the lid off to remove. It's also great that it has a wide non-slid bottom to help your drink not spill over so easily, and it's indented on the sides to make it more comfortable to hold. These won my husband over when he was able to take a beach nap and wake up to a still-cold beer that wasn't sweating all over the table. 

A lot of resorts are going straw free, or are only offering paper straws or weird candy straws, all which aren't great options, so I prefer to bring a cup that has a straw built in rather than try to keep up with a reusable straw. While the Hopsulator trio comes with a lid so you can actually turn your koozie into a sealed cup (which we have done for many years), the problem with using it for mixed drinks is that it doesn't hold all that much so you have to get a lot of refills. That's why we've added the Brumate Era cups into our packing list. We got the 30 ounces which is a good-sized drink, and it's completely leak-proof which is always great. 

Yes, the resort will have cups so you technically don't have to bring your own, but I personally think it's a much better experience. Their cups won't have a lid so you'll risk your drink spilling and if it's a sweet drink, you might spend all day fighting bugs to stay out of your drink. When you're in the pool or ocean, you'll inevitably end up with water in your cup if there's not a lid. Personally I think it's preferred by the waitstaff because it's less often that they have to come by for refills, there's no empty cups that are left behind for them to pick up at the end of the day, and it's less dishwashing they have to do. It feels like a win-win for me. More and more people are BYOC their all-inclusive stays.

Insulated Water Bottle

Okay, you have to drink something non-alcoholic on your trip, too! Your hotel will probably leave water bottles in your room daily (remember, it's all free here so raid that mini bar). Personally, I prefer to keep mine in my insulated straw bottle. I don't feel comfortable using ice in foreign countries, so I just pop the plastic water bottles in the fridge for a few hours to chill them, and then pour them into my insulated drink to keep them cold all day. I love my water bottle because it has a straw to make it easy to drink while you're reclined on a beach lounger, but it still doesn't spill if I toss it into my beach bag.

Hangover Remedies

I always pack two things when I know I'm going to be doing a lot of drinking and being out in the sun all day: hangover prevention pills for before I drink and liquid IV for after I drink. These two help out a LOT more than you'd think! Don't forget that being in the sun dehydrates you, and drinking dehydrates you, so if you're not careful then you can get in a bad shape really easily!

Travel Sun Hat

Normal sun hats are a pain to travel with because you have to carefully revolve all of your belongings around the whole hat, or have it dangle from a bag, or have to wear it through the airport. I have two travel sun hats that I absolutely love because I can pack them up really small, and being crumpled doesn't bother them one bit. I have the more traditional straw hat that is perfect for days when all I want to do is park in a chair and read while I stay dry, and then I have a sporty sun hat that is made to get wet so it's perfect to wear if I'm spending all day floating in the ocean or the pool. 

One thing about these though, is they both are open on the top, so if you have thin or light hair, you will want to put your hair in a top not to keep your scalp extra protected. I have thick hair, so I actually like the open tops so I can have my hair in any style and it works great. Oh, and these make great gifts for the family member that is hard to buy for. 

Solar Phone Chargers

I won't go down to the beach without a solar phone charger. It's so nice that you can charge up your phone and then just sit this out by your chair when it's dead, and then it's good to go again! The one I have comes with the cords built in, so this is all I have to remember to bring. And, it can do wireless charging too! Lastly, it has a flashlight so if you're coming back to your room after watching the sunset, you can have a little light to help you find your way back. 

Beach Shoes

Flip flops and strappy sandals will technically work, but there's better options. I prefer beach sandals instead. The ones I wear have a small platform to keep your feet from being buried in the sand, which is how most people tear their sandals when walking on the beach because the sand will weigh down their shoe and as they pull their leg to get their foot unburied, the shoe rips. Other shoes can also easily get ripped away from your feet by the current of the waves if you get in the water if they don't strap down around your feet like these do. And barefoot is a no-go because you'll burn your feet on the sand, and sometimes the shores will have sharp shells that can cut your feet. Beach sandals are made to go in the water so you can wear them straight from the pool to the beach to the ocean, and then because these are so cute I just wear them all day and to dinner as well. 

Towel Clips

There is nothing worse than burning your calves on a hot lounge chair because your towel doesn't cover the whole chair since half of it is draped over the back to keep the towel in place. Well, I guess maybe your towel blowing away and landing in the water leaving you without a towel might be worse. So, I bring towel clips. We actually just have a little vacation bag that we keep our Brumates and towel clips together so that we can always remember to bring them both!

Pool Float

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is just float in the water and chill with a drink in my hand. You can bring inflatable pool floats that don't take up a lot of room, but allow you to relax in the pool without having to sit or stand the whole time. Depending on how calm the ocean is near your resort, you can chill in these out there too. You just need to be paying more attention if you're floating in the ocean, because the tide can take you away without you even noticing. My husband prefers to stand instead of float, so he'll just keep an arm on my float to keep me nearby. 

I've also taken a whale tail float to sit on in the water. These are for when you don't necessarily want to be reclining, but you don't want to be sitting either. It's great for situations when you're with several people and you want to be involved in the conversation, but still sitting down. 

Sunscreen

I saved the most important for last. Even if you want to get a vacation tan, still wear sunscreen! Trust me when I say that even with sunscreen, you probably won't re-apply it often enough so you'll still get a tan. But I once had an entire vacation ruined because I got a second-degree sunburn on day 1 and will never forget how miserable I was with bubbling and peeling skin (use cool tea bags if this happens to you). 

I really recommend you do your first layer with sunscreen lotion, and then you can follow up with the spray if you're covered in sand and can't re-apply with lotion. I recommend starting with lotion (per my derm) because the breeze off the ocean usually will blow away of lot of the spray sunscreen, leaving you with basically no coverage. Starting off with the lotion at least gives you a good base layer of protection. I also use sunscreen stickers that change color to let me know when to reapply so I won't burn. 

Resort Wear

Lastly, I pack a swimsuit for each day, a coverup, comfy outfits for the day and a dinner outfit for each night. That's basically it! If we're planning on doing anything on the trip, I might pack more outfit. But mostly, I just live in bikinis and coverups for my trip, which makes for easy packing because like a true millennial I overpack on the drinkware. 

Travel Guide | Garza Blanca in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

My husband's family takes an annual family trip together, and after how expensive Disney Aulani in Hawaii was for our last trip, we decided to choose an all-inclusive for our next family trip. We have all been to the Cozumel/Cancun area a lot and wanted to expand out to somewhere different, and also needed a resort that was baby-friendly for my 1-year-old to come with. We were really trying to decide between Cabo and Puerto Vallarta when I came across Garza Blanca. What worked great for us was that this resort had locations in both Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. The deciding factor for us between the two locations was that it's just not safe to get in the water in Cabo, and we wanted the option to sit on the beach with our toes in the water if we were going to Mexico, so Puerto Vallarta it was. We definitely made the right choice! Our resort looked like it could have been in Hawaii with the trees surrounding one side and the ocean on the other. We all loved this resort so much and spoiler, I definitely recommend it. Garza Blanca has been one of my top favorite resorts we've been to. 

Garza Blanca Preserve Resort & Spa Review

Let's start with this: this place felt very luxurious, and yet was family-friendly at the same time. Garza Blanca is on the smaller side, which made it feel less touristy and overcrowded (although we did go there the week of Labor Day which is apparently off-peak season). Right across from the street is its sister resort Hotel Mousasi, which you have full access to, but it is adults only so kids aren't allowed in the restaurants or pools over there. There's a trolley that goes between the two resorts and I really recommend that you take it, because Hotel Mousai is up on a cliff and it is a very steep walk to get up there. 

The views from the lobby of the resort are unreal! This is seriously one of the most beautiful resorts I've stayed at. There is a huge infinity pool that overlooks the beach down below and has mountains behind it and off to the side. It was seriously gorgeous! 

One negative about Garza Blanca is that they do have timeshares. They aren't pushy about it at all and they don't make you sit through a presentation, but it did seem to be a lot of ads in the elevators for this and you can tell who is  and isn't a timeshare member by their wristbands that they give you.

I wanted to point out that technically you could go "European" where you don't do the all-inclusive package and just pay for food and drinks as you go. While the room rates for this are much cheaper than all-inclusive, this is a luxury resort so the prices add up fast. If you're only there for a few days, maybe pay-as-you-go is cheaper, but for most people I would recommend the all-inclusive package. 

The rooms at Garza Blanca

The rooms at Garza Blanca are great! The room was spacious with a large bedroom with a living room that had a couch and coffee table, but with pretty room to walk around the furniture. Our bathroom had a jetted tub, roomy shower, and a connecting walk-in closet that had plenty of storage for our week stay. Our room had a really long balcony that went the entire width of the bedroom and overlooked the ocean. 

Eating at Garza Blanca

There's room service, plus a breakfast buffet, poolside service, and 3 all-ages restaurant options and 3 adults-only restaurants. There's a pool-side restaurant called Aquazul that has lunch/snack options. 

The breakfast buffet is all in the main building, which turns into a reservation-only restaurant for dinner, called Blanca Blue. 

The all-ages steakhouse Bocados sits at the top of a hill and has amazing views at sunset. Everyone raves about the Japanese restaurant Hiroshi on the Hotel Mousai, but it's notoriously always booked up so we didn't get to make it. 

Instead, we went to the Chinese restaurant Dao over by Hotel Mousai and my mother in law stayed back to watch my daughter and they ordered room service so we could go to the adults-only side. We also ate at the Italian restaurant Noi and just booked an in-room baby sitter for our daughter so we could all eat together. All the restaurants were included in the price except for Karuma grill, which is another steakhouse but the steaks are an extra cost. 

All of the food that we had was amazing. Even the buffets didn't feel like "buffet" food and there was a good variety of food and the options were great. You do have to make dinner reservations everywhere, so I recommend you do that right after you reserve your room so that you have the most options. There is a dress code, so pack business casual clothes to wear for dinner.

What to do at Garza Blanca

Between the two resorts is a cute little shopping center with a carousel! This was the highlight of the trip for my daughter, and is such an Instragram-able spot. 

The resort has 2 pools- an upper-deck pool that has a splash shelf for little kids and then a lower-deck pool that is their infinity pool. There's also a adults-only rooftop bar at Hotel Mousai, but we didn't go to that. We spent most of our time in the infinity pool. It has a sitting shelf basically the entire length of it so a lot of people can comfortably sit in the pool. It has waitstaff who keep your drinks full and will grab you a quick bite from Aquazul. 

There's also a small beach. Similar to Aulani, this beach actually has a public part of the beach that is shared with the resort-only beach, so don't be surprised to see locals bring umbrellas and coolers to set up on the beach. The beach is beautiful and there's a beach bar with waitstaff who come by to take your drink/lunch order. The resort provides free kayaks for you to go out into the water with, and they have a free snorkeling expedition every morning at 8 am. The shoreline itself is very rocky, so I was very happy I packet my water sandals. Everyone who was barefoot didn't last long in the water, but what is nice is that they have a little breakwater to keep the water near the beach nice and calm. 

There aren't a whole lot of activities at Garza Blanca. Think of this as more of a R & R vacation spot than an adventurous place. 

Overall thoughts of Garza Blanca

Absolutely loved Garza Blanca, and really loved Puerto Vallarta! The view is just breathtaking! Similar to what we did at Aulani, rather than book 3 separate rooms, we booked a 3-room suite. And it was sweet! Our room had 2 stories, a private balcony hottub, a wraparound balcony, a full kitchen and wet bar, a dining room, and a living room bigger than my living room at home. The suite came with a butler service that we could just text to reserve seats down at the pool or beach, make dinner reservations, and book the babysitter through. The kitchen in our suite was stocked every day with water, beer, and snacks. 

The highlight of the trip is that the suite comes with a private chef for one night, which was the most luxurious part of the trip. The chef sat down with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and myself to get an idea of the menu for the night, and then a whole team of servers came and helped him prepare an epic like 7 course meal. The food was absolutely delicious and it was great to share a family-style meal on vacation.  

It was the perfect lavish trip to just relax and eat good food and drink good drinks while looking at an amazing view.