If you’ve taken a cruise or two before, this list is likely something you’ve seen in the past. However, for the “uncruised” this is an important read (and it never hurts to have a refresher). There are many banned cruise items that the lines outright prohibit and others they tightly control, and it’s your responsibility as a guest to know about them.
Banned Items
These are the big no-nos that you should not bring with you. The following are banned from cruise ships:
- Weapons – No weapons are allowed. That means you leave your knives, gun(s), and/or explosives at home. The cruise lines will not mess around. Do not FAFO with this.
There are some very specific exceptions to this ban, all of which are line dependent (check before you leave). Things like scissors and shaving razors may be allowed. Some lines may also allow dive knives (for SCUBA and snorkel) so long as they are held by security or guest services. - Drugs – Just don’t. Cruises frequently stop at different countries and they likely have different laws about which drugs are allowed. In Michigan, my home state, marijuana is legal but in, say, Curaçao it is not. If you bring illicit drugs to Curaçao, you are going to be in a pickle, so leave that party at home.
- Fire risks – Hair dryers, candles, kettles, cigarettes, basically anything that has the job of being hot or burning. This typically includes heating pads and electric blankets.
Hair dryers will typically be supplied in your room by the cruise line, if you are worried about that. Perhaps oddly, curling irons and straighteners are a grey area. Some lines ban them completely, others allow them, some provide their own to use. You’ll need to check your specific line before you leave if you use any of those.
It brightens up the room, but live plants are a banned cruise item. If you want some flowers, talk to cruise line staff.
- Fresh flowers or plants – This is a less obvious category for most people but, once you think about it, it starts to make sense. Cruises stop are all sorts of ports and by bringing live plants from one place to another you may be spreading diseases. It’s a potential threat to local ecosystems to introduce something from another place. If you really want to have some flowers on the ship, there’s usually a way for the cruise line to provide it.
- Drones and other remote-controlled devices – In the last 20 years, remote controlled flying devices went from the sole domain of dedicated hobbyists to mainstream. In that transition, their use has become problematic and more regulations have come into place. The cruise lines have banned them entirely. From their perspective, there’s just too many potential problems from them. Further, many countries have limited their use to only licensed operators. Drones are quite cool, I want to get my license to use them commercially at some point, but we gotta leave them at home.
- Speakers – Most cruises ban all portable speakers, including Bluetooth or other wireless sound devices (this does not include earbuds/headphones). The lines state that this is because these devices could interfere with guest abilities to hear public announcements. That reasoning is sound (get it?!), but I imagine that there’s also a large amount of not wanting guests to be fighting over playing music too loudly and other tension points like that. In either case, leave these things at home.
My surge protectionless power cube. I never travel without it.
- Various tech – The cruise lines will not allow you to bring your satellite dishes, routers, and other similar equipment onboard. I wrote an article about why these are banned that you might want to read. Importantly, every cruise line prohibits surge protectors because the power network on the ship will not play nice with them and could cause them to explode. If you use an outlet expander, make sure that it does not have surge protection. Not all cruise lines are uniform on what tech you can and cannot bring, so this is something you will want to check your individual cruise line for.
- Perishable food – If you buy a packaged snack in port, like a bag of chips, that’s okay to bring back, but fish, for example, is not. Meat, homemade food, and fruits or veggies are not allowed on the ship. If you have special dietary needs be sure to contact the cruise line before (or have your travel advisor do it for you).
- Various sports equipment – Most lines ban sport sticks and bats (hockey, baseball, cricket, lacrosse, ski poles). They also prohibit things like canoes and surfboards and bicycles. The bats and sticks could easily be made threatening, so banning them is obvious. As for the canoe… I mean, yeah, just try to fit a canoe in your cabin.
- Tools and power tools – I… I uhhh… Really!?! They had to ban power tools. Who brought a drill? Why are you bringing tools on vacation? What were ya gonna do with it? Stop trying to remodel the bathroom on your cruise! I know they’re kinda small but this is NOT the right way to go about fixing that!
Partially Banned or Controlled Items
There are also some things that are not completely banned by cruise lines, but they are more controlled.
- Bringing alcohol onboard – Most lines allow you to bring a bottle or two of wine or champagne, but anything other than that is right out. That being said, tons of people buy alcohol on their excursions. I’ve purchased my fair share of rum, tequila, and wine on my travels. Once you bring it back to the ship, it will be confiscated and you will be given a claim check for it to be reclaimed when you are disembarking.
Only on Cunard can you bring your pet. Otherwise, they are a banned cruise item.
- Animals – You cannot bring pets on board most cruise ships. Service animals are allowed, but they typically exclude emotional support animals. There is one notable exception to this – the Queen Mary 2. That ship has a kennel onboard and people do bring their pets on their cruises and play with them while they sail along.
- Power cords – Royal Caribbean and all its subsidiaries ban any extension cords and power outlet expanders. This is separate from the prohibition of surge protectors.
- Door decorations – Almost every cruise goer has seen magnetic or paper door decorations. Many people like to decorate their cabin door to add their own personal touch to it. Some just like adding an identifying marker to their door to make it easier for them to find in a sea of identical doors.
There’s one notable exception that makes this worth mentioning – Norwegian Cruise Lines. Yup, NCL bans all door decorations due to (checks notes) “their flammable nature.”
Alright then. I want to know the story behind how they became the one line to make that decision.
