Cruise lines all have subtly different rules, but many of their banned items are the same.
All cruise lines, for example, ban weapons of all kinds. Even law enforcement has to leave their weapons at home, and the definition of weapon is very broad.
Related: How Royal Caribbean keeps birds from bothering passengers
You can’t bring a gun, a sword, a knife, or even toy versions of any of those. Passengers also have to leave their throwing stars, nunchucks, and anything else that’s even vaguely dangerous at home.
Drugs are also not allowed on any cruise line. That includes cannabis products where the passenger has a prescription. Because marijuana is federally illegal, it’s not allowed on cruise ships.
That ban also applies to CBD and any other marijuana derivative. You may smell pot on your cruise as people do seem to openly ignore this ban, but getting cut could lead to a lifetime ban from whatever cruise line you are sailing.
2024 brought a number of new bans, and Ilana from Life Well Cruised shares everything you need to know before you board your cruise in a recent episode of her popular YouTube series.
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Cruise lines added new banned items in 2024
Transcript:
If it seems like cruise lines are adding more things to their prohibited items list, it’s not your imagination. Some of these things make sense. It makes for a better experience for other guests, but some item restrictions have been more surprising. Either way, you’re going to want to know what are the new items that are banned on cruises before you sail.
Hi there, I’m Ilana from the website LifeWellCruised.com, welcome or welcome back to my channel. Now, every cruise line has a list of prohibited items on their website, and you should always take a look at this before you cruise, but mostly, it’s been pretty standard for many years. But over the last year or so, and especially in the last few months, we have seen some changes from many popular cruise lines.
Now some things might have changed because technology has changed and also trends in society have changed. So, in this video, I’m going to share nine new or mostly new things that cruise lines banned this year and why. And by the way, if you are either new here or if you just need a little refresher, I’m also going to share some of the common items that are banned on cruises that you might not be aware of.
Now before I get started, I did want to mention if you like this video, if you find it helpful, informative, or enjoyable in any way, then please do give this video a big thumbs up. I really do appreciate it. And please subscribe to the channel if you haven’t done so already.
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Cruise line technology bans are a little confusing
Let’s get started. All right, let’s start off with one of the most confusing new banned items of the last year, and this is non-surge-protected power bars or cubes. Now, right away, I want to tell you this is only Royal Caribbean that has banned these items.
All of the other cruise lines, at least for now, everything is status quo. So, basically, on all other cruise lines, you are allowed to bring non-surge-protected power cubes. You are not allowed to bring surge-protected power cubes or bars.
So basically, those are the ones that you use at home. All right, so to be clear, Royal Caribbean has banned these common cruise-approved power bars, power cubes, and power strips. Now they have clarified it because it was very confusing for people, and they do allow USB multi-plug outlets.
I am going to leave an alternative if this is something that you do need for a future cruise. I will leave that link down below. They also allow portable chargers.
So that’s another way to get around this. So why did they ban this item? You might be wondering. Well, they say that this change is meant to reduce fire hazards and prevent strain on the ship’s electrical system, which can occur with high-power devices like extension cords, surge protectors, multi-device plugs, boom boxes, radios, and Bluetooth speakers.
Carnival bans portable speakers
Now, this is something that is banned on all Carnival cruise ships now, but to be fair, this is something that if you do bring these items on other cruise ships, you are usually allowed, but you do have to play your music in your own cabin. You cannot play music in the public areas. And it seems like what was happening on Carnival cruise ships is there were some people, and I guess a lot of people, that were bringing their Bluetooth speakers up, maybe to the adult-only Serenity area, and they were playing music loudly.
And, unfortunately, guests did complain about that. They say that even if crew did intervene and they told them to close off their music, that unfortunately the next day, these same people would come back and play their music loudly again. So what did Carnival do? Well, I guess they probably felt like they had no choice.
So I think that is what happens when people aren’t following the rules. Then the cruise line is going to ban the item. Please let me know if you agree or disagree with this.
I definitely have seen both sides. Satellite dishes, routers, and other internet-based equipment. Now, this is definitely something new, and it has to do with technology.
Of course, you might’ve even wondered yourself, can I bring a router on a cruise ship to be able to access the internet? Or can I bring the Starlink Mini? So, no, cruise lines have made that pretty clear.
Now this did come to light after Richard Shillington, who does have the YouTube channel called No Pants Profit. Well, apparently, while he was on a carnival cruise, he did upload a video where he shared with his audience how he’s using the Starlink Mini.
Well, apparently that Starlink Mini was confiscated from him. And now carnival, and I think other cruise lines as well, have updated their website.
Royal Caribbean has a controversial ban
Now I do have a new item that is banned that’s a little bit spicy.
But before I share that one, let’s talk babies. Baby monitors. Baby monitors are banned on Royal Caribbean.
Now, there is a little bit of a story to this. A few years ago, baby monitors were actually on the prohibited items list. Then they made their way off of the list.
Now they are back. Now why? Well, it seems like there were a couple of social media influencers that were on a Royal Caribbean cruise. There was a little bit of controversy because apparently it looked like maybe they left their children in the cabin while they were eating dinner and had the baby monitor on.
Now they insist there was somebody in the cabin, so I’m not going to judge them on that. But nevertheless, it really did seem to bring some attention to this. And baby monitors are now on the prohibited items list.
Now, according to Royal Caribbean, these are not allowed because their radio signal could interfere with the ship’s communication and or navigation systems. Now, by the way, I have some cruise essentials on here that are going to surprise you.
No cruise line allows this
But first let’s talk about something that is not allowed on any cruise ship at all.
And this is any illegal substances, any gummies. Now I’m intentionally not using certain words because it is YouTube and sometimes that can affect the distribution of the video. But basically, cruise lines are really cracking down on this.
And even if this might be legal in your state or where the cruise ship is actually sailing out from, cruise ships do follow federal regulations and this substance is not allowed to be brought on board. Now in addition, they also sail to many different cruise ports of call and it can be illegal there. Now we were on a recent cruise and there were actually sniffer dogs as we were going into security.
And we’ve been told that on some cruise ships, you’ll see sniffer dogs as well. They take it very seriously and it’s just not worth it.
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Some clothing has been banned by cruise lines
Now, no cruise lines are not going to restrict what you’re wearing overall on the cruise ship, but there is one type of clothing that is actually illegal in several cruise ports of call. And that is camouflage or anything really military. Now in particular, Royal Caribbean does list not wearing camouflage or anything military.
When you do go to Barbados, you can be fined and you can even be detained, but it’s not just Barbados. There are many Caribbean islands and even other places in the world where it is illegal to wear military clothing. So that is something probably to leave at home.
Norwegian bans annoying technology
Walkie talkies. Now, have you ever wondered if you can bring walkie-talkies on a cruise? Now, most cruise lines do allow you to bring walkie-talkies. Although, honestly, they’re really just not very effective anymore.
But the Norwegian cruise line is one cruise line that lists walkie-talkies on their list of items not to bring. Now, while I’m not sure why you can’t bring walkie-talkies on Norwegian cruise line ships, I can tell you that a lot of people say that when they have had other deaths that are near them with their walkie-talkies, it really is very annoying. So perhaps that is why.
Carnival bans adult door decorations
If you know why, please do let me know down in the comments below. Now, I have a few cruise essentials, but first let’s get to that spicy one, pineapple door decorations.
Now, if you’re not sure what I’m referring to, there is such a thing as upside-down pineapple culture on cruise ships and really anywhere else. And it’s become a thing over the last few years. And, basically this is sort of code for swingers.
It doesn’t mean that everybody is doing this, but the idea is that for anybody that does want to make like some extra friends, they would put an upside down pineapple on their door. But what’s happened recently over the last few years is I think it’s become a little bit of a joke where sometimes people buy pineapple magnets and they put them on other people’s doors, or maybe they play a joke on somebody. And I think it is becoming maybe a little bit of a problem.
So Carnival recently banned upside-down pineapple door decorations, and John Heald, Carnival Brand Ambassador, has said that the crew has been instructed to remove this. Now, when asked why, they do seem to explain that Carnival is a family-friendly cruise ship, and they want to keep that environment. Now, I have to say, I saw John Heald’s Facebook post on this and I read through the comments.
A lot of them were pretty funny, but some people did share stories of even that they had like an upside-down pineapple put on their door, and it was kind of annoying. Even if they would take it off, somebody would put it back on. And some people even shared the fact that their children or grandchildren that were teenagers were in a cabin and somebody kept putting pineapple door decorations on their door.
So I could actually even see how other cruise lines might follow suit. Please let me know what you think down in the comments below. All right, speaking of door decorations and cruise cabin essentials, Norwegian Cruise Line has actually been a little while that they do not allow any door decorations.
They say that it potentially is a fire hazard. So none of those are allowed on their cruise ship. And that continues to be, by the way, on their prohibited items list.
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Carnival bans curtains, inflatable pools
But the other item that really did surprise me, this is on Carnival’s website, by the way, it’s any curtains and any drapes. Now it’s a little bit of a cruise cabin hack that if people want to separate their cabin, sometimes maybe they’re cruising with kids or even maybe on a girl’s trip, what they might do is they may use like magnet hooks and they might hang up a shower curtain or some sort of other type of curtain to separate the space. Well, this is no longer allowed on Carnival cruises.
And the other thing also on Carnival’s website is an inflatable pool. So if you bring a baby on a Carnival cruise ship and you think, you know what, maybe I’ll give my baby a bath and I’ll put the inflatable little baby pool that’s a little bit of a hack, I’ll put that into the shower. You are no longer able to do so.
Cruise lines ban heating elements
Now, I know a lot of people wonder about items with a heating element because you’re not allowed to bring any electrical appliances that do have a heating element. Now this includes heating pads, this includes coffee machines, this includes rice cookers. I know you wouldn’t think people would bring rice cookers on a cruise, but I’ve seen them on the confiscated table at the end of the cruise where you can pick up your items.
But there are some exceptions. Now, the exceptions include most cruise lines, hair straighteners, curling irons, and electric razors. I know there’s no heating element in that, but you get the idea.
But things you’re not able to bring, you cannot bring any clothes steamers, even those ones that say cruise approved. No, as of now they are not permitted. And travel irons.
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Cruise line alcohols bans are strict
Hard alcohol or beer is not permitted and will be confiscated. Now, there are a couple of exceptions to this. A couple of the European cruise lines do allow people to bring hard alcohol or liquor on board, but otherwise the other cruise lines don’t.
But you are allowed, at least on most cruise lines, you are allowed one bottle of wine per person. And as well, you can bring a small amount of non-alcoholic drinks like soda on board on embarkation day. Now, if you are wondering what is and isn’t permitted on your cruise, I am going to leave a list of over 35 prohibited items.
I’m going to leave that list down in the description below this video. I will also leave that recommendation of a non-surge-protected power cube that you are allowed to bring on all cruise lines except Royal Caribbean. And of course, the USB multi-outlet that you are allowed to bring on Royal Caribbean.
I’ll leave that linked down in the description below this video. And if you are going on a cruise and you are trying to keep organized, I’m going to leave the Lifebuoy Cruise Ultimate Cruise Planner. That is a downloadable printable cruise planner that will help you to keep organized with cruise packing lists and more from the time that you book your cruise all the way through disembarkation.
Now, I’d love to hear from you. Please let me know what are some of the items that surprised you? Are there additional items that you wish cruise lines would even ban? Please let me know down in the comments below. I hope that you enjoyed this video.
If you did, please do give it a big thumbs up. I really do appreciate it. And please subscribe to the channel if you haven’t done so already.
Bye for now, and happy cruising.
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