Welcome to the Royal Caribbean blog podcast, a weekly look into the world of Royal Caribbean cruising.

I'm your host Matt Hodgeberg, and this is episode number 272.

What you pack in your carry-on on the first day of your cruise can sometimes be the difference

between a great start to your cruise and a not-so-great start.

In the hours before the luggage is delivered to your state-room, you'll need to have a plan

with what you want to have with you,

contrasted with what you're willing to carry around until that time.

To get your cruise started off on the right foot, I've come up with my list of the most important things to pack for your upcoming cruise to avoid any embarkation day woes.

Here we go.

If there's one aspect of the Royal Caribbean cruise planning process, that still gives me a little bit of anxiety, it's got to be packing. There's always that guessing game of what do I

need, what should I bring, and trying to divvy it all up correctly. And when we're talking about

going on your cruise, day one, of course, is a really important day, really fun day.

But you're also going to make a distinction.

Just like when you go on an airplane, some luggage you're going to give to the porters to be able to be delivered to your stateroom.

And other luggage you'll carry with you as a carry-on that you'll take on board the ship rather than having someone deliver to the room.

And there's a distinction between both, and we should probably talk about that.

But I really want to talk about kind of almost the anatomy of a cruise carry-on on this week's

episode, because I feel like this is a really common question.

What should you bring on board the ship with you and your carrying?

What shouldn't you bring and everything in between. So when you get to the cruise terminal, you're going to have luggage with you,

and you have the choice of giving some or all of your luggage to the porters who are working there

in the terminal, and they will then take your luggage, have it scan through security, and

...