How to keep organized - your tips?

[KalamityJane]

What things are absolute MUST haves? What would you leave behind?

This is our first cruise with the kids, and I know it's easy to think oh, another shirt, etc. and then they are all over the floor. I've heard the popup laundry basket is a lifesaver. Any other tips to keep mess to a minimum in the staterooms?

 

[cmph]

What things are absolute MUST haves? What would you leave behind?

This is our first cruise with the kids, and I know it's easy to think oh, another shirt, etc. and then they are all over the floor. I've heard the popup laundry basket is a lifesaver. Any other tips to keep mess to a minimum in the staterooms?

Everyone is different, but I actually would have been irritated to have a pop-up basket in the stateroom, LOL! I'm not sure where people put that? We didn't have space in the closet for one with all the clothes hanging, so I guess people just leave it in the middle of the kids' side of the room? We stored our suitcases under the bed (lots of space unless you have an enormous one), and we designated one suitcase as the laundry bin. Pull it out, toss laundry in, shove it back under the bed. In terms of the "junk" kids tend to accumulate - I would assign desk drawers to them for that stuff. Mine just tossed all sorts of stuff on the desk top, which was fine until we had room service and no place to put trays.

This isn't really a mess issue - but I packed my stuff and the kids stuff together per day of the cruise, to keep it organized and not end up with anyone accidentally wearing something intended for a different day - like a Pirates of the Caribbean shirt being worn on non-pirate day. And avoid forgetting anything. (Guess who didn't quite have enough clothing? DH... haha!) I did not want to do laundry on vacation. This was also extremely strategic in regards to DS8, who is highly opposed to wearing anything other than Under Armor athletic shorts and shirts. The few nylon polo shirts he doesn't hate and nicer shorts just happened to be designated for days when we were casual for dinner and wouldn't be changing at all; the t-shirts he prefers were designated for days we'd be changing for dinner (formal, semi-formal nights). Yes, he totally caught on, but whatevs - they know not to defy Mom's organization!

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Normally I just cruise with my Dad and I, and we have been on at least 14 cruises (only 4 on Disney). It's our favorite form of travel. Packing for us depends on the length of the cruise, and if we are staying longer after the cruise. The biggest tip is to not overpack. For dinner, we usually like to wear pants and a polo instead of shorts and a t shirt. Usually one set of pants and a polo can last us 2 dinners. That's usually our rule. I pack enough shorts for the length of the cruise and enough shirts. I like to plan out my outfits for each day. I'll then add a couple more items for bed, swimming, and working out in the gym.

Must haves:
- Dress clothes. My family has been on enough cruises that we make sure to pack one nice dress outfit per person for formal night. I know Disney doesn't really enforce it, but when everyone else is doing it, it would make me feel really out of place.
- Depending on where you are going, sunscreen!!! Even in the winter! The sun can be brutal in the Caribbean, Bahamas, or Mexico.
- A backpack for necessities while off the ship (towels, sunscreen, change of clothes, money, ID). I usually use this if we are going on a beach excursion or on Castaway Cay. We usually use the backpack as the carry-on item on a flight.

Leave behind:
- Electronics. The only electronic device I would take is your phone (Make sure your phone is on airplane mode as soon as your ship sails out to sea to avoid charges).

To keep the room organized, we would normally unpack. Hang clothing items that needed to be hanged (dress clothes specifically). If we had dirty clothes, we would fold them nicely and put them in our suitcases. That makes it so that we don't have to pack as much at the end of the cruise, and we can enjoy all of the night-life on the final evening. The last night is filled with some very special events, and we normally don't like to miss those due to packing.

If you wanted to stay organized with events: Disney Cruise Line has a really great app that tells you the schedule for the day, the dinner menus, and many other useful things. All you have to do is set your phone to the DCL Guest wi-fi (You can have wifi on while your phone is in airplane mode). You can set your "favorite events" on the schedule and the app would notify me 15 minutes before the events I wanted to see. Another great feature on the app is you can send messages with your family through the app while on board the ship. That way you can know where each member is if you need to get ahold of them.

 

[myrtleturtle]

I put my kids' clothing together for a day (undies, socks, shorts, shirt) and then I roll it up and put a rubber band around it. When I unpack, I have a shoe organizer that I attach to a hanger with pipe cleaners. Each roll goes into a shoe pocket, and each morning when they get dressed they just pull out a roll. It's the same with their dinner clothing. For dirty clothes, I use a 31 Large utility tote that I slide under the bed. It doesn't take up much room in the suitcase.

 

[mevelandry]

(No kids but my husbands clothes are everywhere!!!)

I never totally unpack. Only the dresses, suits and shoes. I keep the rest in the suitcase.

I put the suitcases under the bed, each one has a plastic bag which I fill it up with the dirty clothes right away. The dirty clothes never touches the clean clothes.

The room stays clean and when we pack on the last night, we're done within 10 min.

 

[AndreAggie]

We pack in packing cubes. Then I just take the packing cube and place it in the dresser drawers in the room. As clothes are worn (and won't be worn again), they go folded in a suitcase under the bed. When we pack up, I take an empty packing cube and put dirty clothes in there. There's a little reshuffling involved the last night when we pack to disembark. If I need to, I'll hang up a dress or top and spray it with water the night before so clothes has a change to unwrinkle and dry.

For my son, I pack his outfits in baggies (I can compress the air out and they take up little space). When we get dressed for the day, he just grabs a baggie and his outfit is ready to go. No fuss with figuring out what matches from him or DH.

I take a backpack as my carry-on and we use the DCL tote bag we receive when we are in port.

 

[DWH]

I have used the packing cubes before, and they are really helpful, as well as help in packing more in a smaller space. I am going to have to try the shoe organizer trick, thanks for the tip!

 

[Rabb it]

Normally I just cruise with my Dad and I, and we have been on at least 14 cruises (only 4 on Disney). It's our favorite form of travel. Packing for us depends on the length of the cruise, and if we are staying longer after the cruise. The biggest tip is to not overpack. For dinner, we usually like to wear pants and a polo instead of shorts and a t shirt. Usually one set of pants and a polo can last us 2 dinners. That's usually our rule. I pack enough shorts for the length of the cruise and enough shirts. I like to plan out my outfits for each day. I'll then add a couple more items for bed, swimming, and working out in the gym.

Must haves:
- Dress clothes. My family has been on enough cruises that we make sure to pack one nice dress outfit per person for formal night. I know Disney doesn't really enforce it, but when everyone else is doing it, it would make me feel really out of place.
- Depending on where you are going, sunscreen!!! Even in the winter! The sun can be brutal in the Caribbean, Bahamas, or Mexico.
- A backpack for necessities while off the ship (towels, sunscreen, change of clothes, money, ID). I usually use this if we are going on a beach excursion or on Castaway Cay. We usually use the backpack as the carry-on item on a flight.

Leave behind:
- Electronics. The only electronic device I would take is your phone (Make sure your phone is on airplane mode as soon as your ship sails out to sea to avoid charges).

To keep the room organized, we would normally unpack. Hang clothing items that needed to be hanged (dress clothes specifically). If we had dirty clothes, we would fold them nicely and put them in our suitcases. That makes it so that we don't have to pack as much at the end of the cruise, and we can enjoy all of the night-life on the final evening. The last night is filled with some very special events, and we normally don't like to miss those due to packing.

If you wanted to stay organized with events: Disney Cruise Line has a really great app that tells you the schedule for the day, the dinner menus, and many other useful things. All you have to do is set your phone to the DCL Guest wi-fi (You can have wifi on while your phone is in airplane mode). You can set your "favorite events" on the schedule and the app would notify me 15 minutes before the events I wanted to see. Another great feature on the app is you can send messages with your family through the app while on board the ship. That way you can know where each member is if you need to get ahold of them.

Great info here!

 

[Weedy]

I like to use an over the door shoe holder.
Note: the hooks that fit over the door are not allowed. I got suction cup hooks at Home Depot.
Also a clear one is better so you can easily see what is in each pocket.
Each family member got a row.
It made it easier to find that elusive hairbrush when needed.

 

[nvrenoughdisney]

How many medium sized suitcases fit under the bed? is there additional room to store a suitcase in the closet? Thanks!

 

[Kenny1113]

Pop up hamper user here!

I read about it here on the DIS- loved it!! I was able to put it in the closet behind the hanging clothes.
I bring it with me on non cruise travels too now

 

[cmph]

How many medium sized suitcases fit under the bed? is there additional room to store a suitcase in the closet? Thanks!

We had 5 suitcases under our bed on the Wonder last week. 3 were carry-on size roller bags, 1 that I would consider somewhere between medium and large (with a whole whole lot of stuff jammed into it, it *almost* gets to 50lb), and 1 that is definitely large (which just barely fit). We could have nested suitcases, but it wasn't necessary. Whatever you can lay out across a queen sized bed should fit.

I guess whether or not you can fit it in your closet depends on what else is in your closet. A pp mentioned putting their hamper in there. In neither case would that (suitcase or hamper) have worked for us. There are 4 of us, including an 11yo girl who is adult-sized. With DH's suit, DD's and my dresses, pants for the return trip home for everyone, plus more pants for DH - we filled the closet pretty well. We had all of our shoes on the bottom of the closet too (which was at least 3 pairs for each family member - tennis shoes, dressy shoes, flip-flops, plus an extra couple pairs for DD and me), but I guess you could sacrifice drawer space for shoes instead. The sort of cubby area in the closet went to fish extender stuff, hats, bags. If you're staying casual the whole time, you wouldn't need closet space for clothes as much.

 

[nvrenoughdisney]

We had 5 suitcases under our bed on the Wonder last week. 3 were carry-on size roller bags, 1 that I would consider somewhere between medium and large (with a whole whole lot of stuff jammed into it, it *almost* gets to 50lb), and 1 that is definitely large (which just barely fit). We could have nested suitcases, but it wasn't necessary. Whatever you can lay out across a queen sized bed should fit.

I guess whether or not you can fit it in your closet depends on what else is in your closet. A pp mentioned putting their hamper in there. In neither case would that (suitcase or hamper) have worked for us. There are 4 of us, including an 11yo girl who is adult-sized. With DH's suit, DD's and my dresses, pants for the return trip home for everyone, plus more pants for DH - we filled the closet pretty well. We had all of our shoes on the bottom of the closet too (which was at least 3 pairs for each family member - tennis shoes, dressy shoes, flip-flops, plus an extra couple pairs for DD and me), but I guess you could sacrifice drawer space for shoes instead. The sort of cubby area in the closet went to fish extender stuff, hats, bags. If you're staying casual the whole time, you wouldn't need closet space for clothes as much.

Wow thanks for the info! This was really helpful.

 

[MunFam]

We were on the Wonder for 15 days in May. We did a 5 day pre trip in Miami. There were two full on black tie nights, so we had a tuxedo, two evening gowns each (total of 4), plus cocktail attire, plus all of our regular clothes and workout attire. We had 9 suitcases. They nested into three suitcases and went under the bed. First thing I did when we got to the room was ask for 40 extra hangers. Yup...that many and I unpacked completely. On the Wonder, there was plenty of shelf space for all our our bathroom stuff. I rearranged the life vests, so we had more space in the closet. I packed a hanging makeup bag for the back of the door. I also packed two hampers. We stored them in the shower when we were not showering...and tucked in next to the bed when we were showering or the shower was wet. All of our shoes went in a nice line under the bed. Our SR was always organized and never felt cluttered. I packed 3 magnetic hooks for on the back of the door for our lanyards and two magnetic clips...one held all of our tickets and one held the current navigator. All old navigators went in a large envelope in the desk drawer. I also packed 5 more plastic magnet clips for the back of the shower door to hang our wet swim suits. We used the wall hook to hold our "excursion backpack" and pool bag.

The large desk drawer is where all of out FE gifts went and the little drawers were used to hold socks undies and shorts for the kiddo. The bedside drawers help adult socks and undies.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

We were on the Wonder for 15 days in May. We did a 5 day pre trip in Miami.

Fantastic, MunFam!

I would also like to add for the OP that though we brought a pop-up hamper, when it came time to do laundry halfway through our trip (some people don't like to do laundry on vacation, other people don't like to bring twice as many clean clothes and twice as many suitcases on vacation) my wife found the hamper too heavy to carry to the laundry room. It isn't like at home where it is just down the hall or something. OK, it is, but these are REALLY long halls, and the one on your floor might be full, so she just took our biggest wheeled suitcase out from under the bed, and presto, hamper on wheels. This made getting all the clothes to the laundry room a lot easier.

In my defense, I was out getting us appetizers from one of the bar buffets, or I would have carried the laundry for her, but using the wheeled suitcase was still a smarter idea.

 

[amberwc]

We used a pop-up hamper, and I loved it. Sorry, but I hate smelling the dirty laundry in the suitcases. And we did laundry, I didn't mind at all.
Also, we used a smaller pocket organizer and just hung it with a hanger (no need to carry extra hooks). Loved it for the bathroom stuff, brushes, hairties, AND each person had a pocket for their KTTW. AS soon, as we walked in the room the KTTW went in the pocket. It really helped with our younger children (7&6), and I didn't have to try to find them constantly.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

We used a pop-up hamper, and I loved it. Sorry, but I hate smelling the dirty laundry in the suitcases. And we did laundry, I didn't mind at all.
Also, we used a smaller pocket organizer and just hung it with a hanger (no need to carry extra hooks). Loved it for the bathroom stuff, brushes, hairties, AND each person had a pocket for their KTTW. AS soon, as we walked in the room the KTTW went in the pocket. It really helped with our younger children (7&6), and I didn't have to try to find them constantly.

Agreed. I didn't say we used it as a hamper. We brought the popup as I said. Just used the luggage when it came time to haul it all to the laundry room.

 

[Jess_S]

My number one tip is: the less you bring, the less you have to organize. We fit all of our stuff for a cruise (3 people) in one large checked bag, one carry on roller board, a purse and a backpack. Keep in mind that there are laundry rooms on the ship, so you can wash and re-wear things. For a non-cruise trip, I actually pack even lighter since we don't generally need formal wear.

I use plastic shopping bags that we acquire during the trip to store laundry. I keep them on the floor of the closet.

For keeping track of travel plans and reservations, I do print out paper copies of all confirmations and put them in a file folder in chronological order. I didn't need any of my print outs for DCL, but I've sometimes had hotels charge more than the rate at which I booked or similar issues and it's nice to be able to find the proof of what I booked without depending on my phone being charged and getting decent service.

As far as keeping mess to a minimum, I'm not above just sweeping all of the papers and things that accumulate on the table tops into a drawer. If I don't have to look at it, it doesn't stress me out. I do wind up having to sort through things at the end of my trip to decide if I really need to keep everything that's accumulated, but it doesn't generally take too long.

 

[Sir William]

My number one tip is: the less you bring, the less you have to organize. We fit all of our stuff for a cruise (3 people) in one large checked bag, one carry on roller board, a purse and a backpack. Keep in mind that there are laundry rooms on the ship, so you can wash and re-wear things. For a non-cruise trip, I actually pack even lighter since we don't generally need formal wear.

I use plastic shopping bags that we acquire during the trip to store laundry. I keep them on the floor of the closet.

For keeping track of travel plans and reservations, I do print out paper copies of all confirmations and put them in a file folder in chronological order. I didn't need any of my print outs for DCL, but I've sometimes had hotels charge more than the rate at which I booked or similar issues and it's nice to be able to find the proof of what I booked without depending on my phone being charged and getting decent service.

As far as keeping mess to a minimum, I'm not above just sweeping all of the papers and things that accumulate on the table tops into a drawer. If I don't have to look at it, it doesn't stress me out. I do wind up having to sort through things at the end of my trip to decide if I really need to keep everything that's accumulated, but it doesn't generally take too long.

We are also of the bring less so you have less to store and/or organize. We allow ourselves one check bag and one carry-on each. Since we stay the night before near the port, we repack the wine from our checked bags into a single rolling carryon, which I use as my embarkation day bag. DW has a tote. We do bring formal clothes, but we wear them for both formal and semi-formal night (this upcoming cruise, there is no semi-formal night so we're wearing our formal attire to Palo). Of 15 cruises, we've only done laundry once onboard (but we have done laundry between our two land and cruise experiences).

Everything gets put away somewhere: closet, shelf, drawer, or stays in the suitcase until we need it (snorkel stuff for example). I use a plastic shopping bag for my dirty clothes, and a couple of times during the cruise I repack them in my suitcase. Navigators and other papers provided by the ship are stacked on the desk. I don't like leaving things laying about when we're not in the room, so we put everything in it's place before leaving. Less clutter for the room steward to work around.

I print out all reservations (air, hotel, car, excursions, restaurants, etc) so that I have ready access to them and physical proof of the dates, confirmation number, address, etc, since I don't trust technology being there when need. They are kept in a plastic folder so they don't get lost.

 

[KalamityJane]

We were on the Wonder for 15 days in May. We did a 5 day pre trip in Miami. There were two full on black tie nights, so we had a tuxedo, two evening gowns each (total of 4), plus cocktail attire, plus all of our regular clothes and workout attire. We had 9 suitcases. They nested into three suitcases and went under the bed. First thing I did when we got to the room was ask for 40 extra hangers. Yup...that many and I unpacked completely. On the Wonder, there was plenty of shelf space for all our our bathroom stuff. I rearranged the life vests, so we had more space in the closet. I packed a hanging makeup bag for the back of the door. I also packed two hampers. We stored them in the shower when we were not showering...and tucked in next to the bed when we were showering or the shower was wet. All of our shoes went in a nice line under the bed. Our SR was always organized and never felt cluttered. I packed 3 magnetic hooks for on the back of the door for our lanyards and two magnetic clips...one held all of our tickets and one held the current navigator. All old navigators went in a large envelope in the desk drawer. I also packed 5 more plastic magnet clips for the back of the shower door to hang our wet swim suits. We used the wall hook to hold our "excursion backpack" and pool bag.

The large desk drawer is where all of out FE gifts went and the little drawers were used to hold socks undies and shorts for the kiddo. The bedside drawers help adult socks and undies.

I was wondering about the longer cruises; if that changes things! We will have 5 people, 2 rooms, 15 night EBTA. We usually pack light (10 days in FL last year was 1 big suitcase under 50 lbs, and 1 carryon sized suitcase). This time we will be gone for 27 days total (spending time in FL before and after) so I was worried that would change how much we would bring/organization.