There is a room on every cruise ship that you never want to visit. It’s usually located on Deck 1 or 2, down a long, windowless crew corridor. It’s called the “Naughty Room.”
On embarkation day, while everyone else is heading to the buffet or hitting the pool, thousands of passengers are summoned there to stand in line. Their luggage hasn’t been delivered. Why? Because the X ray scanners found something.
Usually, it’s something innocent. Something you use every single day at home. But on a ship, that item is considered dangerous contraband.
If you are lucky, they just confiscate it and give it back when you get home. If you are unlucky specifically with mistake number four on this list you don’t just lose the item. You lose your vacation. You get denied boarding, escorted off the pier by security, and banned for life.
We are going to keep you out of that room. We are going to purge your suitcase of the 17 items that will get you fined, flagged, or embarrassed in 2026, and swap them for the gear the pros actually use.
1. The “Baby Monitor” Ban
This is a brand new restriction that is shocking parents. For years, people brought baby monitors so they could sit on the balcony while the child napped inside, or even controversially go down the hall for a drink.
That era is over. Royal Caribbean and other lines have added baby monitors to their prohibited items list. The official reason is frequency interference.
Ships are packed with heavy duty communication equipment, navigation sensors, and thousands of Wi Fi signals. Consumer grade radio frequencies from baby monitors clog the airwaves.
If you pack this, it will likely be confiscated. If you need to keep an eye on your kids, you have to do it the old fashioned way: be in the room.
2. The “Floating Neutral” Hazard (Surge Protectors)
This is the most common technical error, and it’s dangerous. You pack a power strip because there are never enough outlets. You grab the one from behind your TV at home.
That strip is designed for land based architecture where the current is grounded to the earth. A ship is a steel box floating in saltwater. It uses a “floating neutral” electrical grid.
A residential surge protector tries to divert excess voltage to a ground that doesn’t exist on a ship. Instead of protecting you, the strip can heat up and melt.
As of late 2025, Royal Caribbean updated their prohibited items list to explicitly ban “multi plug outlets.” This is catching thousands of people off guard.
Even if it doesn’t have a surge protector, if it looks like a block that expands one outlet into three, they are confiscating it.
THE FIX: You need a USB Charging Hub. These convert AC power to DC for your phones and watches, which is allowed. Better yet, bring a European Power Adapter.
Most cabins have a hidden Euro outlet behind the TV or by the desk that goes unused because Americans don’t have the plug. Bring the adapter, and you instantly double your outlet space without triggering a security alert.
3. The Revenue Protection Ban (Starlink Minis)
Internet on cruise ships is expensive. So, tech savvy travelers started buying the Starlink Mini the backpack sized satellite dish to get their own high speed internet at sea.
The cruise lines caught on fast. As of late 2025, most major lines have added satellite dishes and routers to their prohibited items list.
They claim it’s about “frequency interference,” but let’s be honest: it’s about revenue protection. They want you paying $25 a day for their Wi Fi, not using your own.
If you set up a dish on your balcony, security will spot it. If you leave it in your cabin, the steward will report it. It’s heavy, it’s expensive, and it’s going to get taken away.
THE FIX: Leave the satellite gear at home. If you need to work, pre purchase the premium Wi Fi plan before you board it’s usually 15 20% cheaper than buying it onboard. Or, embrace the disconnect.
4. The Lifetime Ban Trap (CBD & Gummies)
Many of you live in states where cannabis is legal. You might have a prescription. You might use CBD gummies for sleep or anxiety. It does not matter.
Leave them at home.
Cruise terminals are federal port facilities. The ship travels through international waters. When you cross that gangway, state laws do not apply. We are seeing a massive crackdown on this. Carnival is deploying drug sniffing dogs at embarkation terminals specifically looking for this.
If they find CBD gummies, oils, or vapes in your bag, you aren’t just getting them confiscated. You will be denied boarding. You will receive no refund. And you will likely be banned from the cruise line for life.
THE FIX: If you have anxiety or sleep issues, pack melatonin or talk to your doctor about a non cannabis prescription for the trip. Do not risk a $5,000 vacation for a $20 gummy.
5. The “Daisy Chain” (Flushable Wipes)
I want to give you the insider perspective from the plumbers who actually fix this. “Flushable” wipes are the enemy of the maritime world.
Ship toilets use vacuum suction, pulling waste through pipes that are barely two inches wide. When a wipe hits a junction, it doesn’t dissolve. It snags.
Because ship toilets are connected in a series, one snag creates a blockage that backs up every toilet on that line. Crew members call this “The Daisy Chain.” One passenger using wipes on Deck 8 can flood the bathrooms of five innocent families on Deck 9.
THE FIX: Pack the wipes, but pack a Ziploc bag or use the sanitary bags provided in the bathroom to dispose of them in the trash. Never, ever put them in the bowl.
6. The Camouflage Confiscation
You are packing for an excursion in Barbados, Jamaica, or St. Lucia. You throw in your favorite camo cargo shorts or that pink camo backpack.
Take them out.
In these nations, wearing camouflage is reserved strictly for the military. It is a crime for civilians to wear it. This isn’t a fashion critique; it’s a legal one. Tourists get stopped by local police. Best case, they make you go back to the ship to change. Worst case, they confiscate your clothes or fine you.
THE FIX: Stick to solids and florals. Don’t give local authorities a reason to stop you.
7. The “Pineapple Gate” (Door Decorations)
Cruising has a secret language, and for years, the “upside down pineapple” was a subtle signal used by the swinging community to identify themselves to one another.
However, in 2025, this went mainstream. It became too obvious. Following a viral Facebook thread involving Brand Ambassador John Heald, Carnival has cracked down.
While they haven’t banned the lifestyle, they have effectively banned the advertising of it on cabin doors. Crew members are now instructed to remove upside down pineapples from doors to maintain a “family friendly atmosphere.”
THE FIX: If you are part of that community, keep the signals digital or private. If you aren’t, avoid pineapple themed swimwear or decor unless you want to have some very confusing conversations by the pool.
8. The Drone Hard Line
Drones are another item where the rules have tightened aggressively. A few years ago, you could bring them and just not fly them. Now, Carnival has moved to a hard ban.
If you bring a drone, it goes to the “naughty room” (confiscated storage) until the end of the cruise. You have to wait in line to check it in and wait in line to get it back.
Royal Caribbean still allows you to bring them for use in port, but and this is a huge but you cannot use them on the ship or at private destinations like CocoCay. Plus, flying a drone in a foreign port like Nassau requires permits you probably don’t have.
THE FIX: Unless you are a professional photographer with permits already secured, the drone is dead weight. It’s a liability. Leave it.
9. The Shoe Organizer Debate
For years, “cruise hacks” videos told you to pack an over the door shoe organizer to store toiletries.
Here is the 2026 update: Newer ships have better bathroom storage, and cabin stewards hate these things. They scratch the paint on the doors, and on some ships with metal doors, the hooks don’t even fit.
THE FIX: The Magnetic Hook is the superior tool. The walls of your cabin are metal. Buy heavy duty magnetic hooks (rated for 25lbs).
Stick them on the walls to hang wet swimsuits, lanyards, and hats. They take up zero space in your luggage and offer way more utility than a shoe organizer.
10. The Darkness Disorientation (Nightlights)
Interior cabins are dark. Pitch black. You will wake up at 3 AM, disoriented, and walk face first into the bathroom door.
You could pack a standard nightlight, but European outlets are often in weird spots, and American outlets are occupied by phones.
THE FIX: Battery operated tea lights. Glue a small magnet to the back of a tea light. You can stick it to the ceiling of the bathroom or the wall by the bed. It gives just enough glow to navigate without waking your partner, and it requires no outlet.
11. The “Reef Safe” Scam
You grab a bottle of Banana Boat at the drugstore. You get to your port in the Virgin Islands or Hawaii, and you see signs everywhere: “Banned Sunscreen.”
Destinations are banning sunscreens with oxybenzone and octinoxate because they bleach coral reefs. If you try to buy “reef safe” sunscreen at the port or on the ship, you are going to pay the “stupid tax” often $25 to $30 for a bottle that costs $10 at home.
THE FIX: Check the label before you leave. Look for Zinc Oxide or Titanium Dioxide. Buy it at Walmart, not on the Lido Deck.
12. The Medical Markup
If you get a headache or a minor cut on board, you are at the mercy of the ship’s shop. We always see Ppassenger complaining about paying nearly $15 for a small bottle of Tylenol. But the bigger risk is Imodium.
If you have an upset stomach and you go to the medical center, they are required by protocol to suspect Norovirus. You could be quarantined to your cabin for 24 hours just for a bad reaction to spicy food.
THE FIX: Pack a “Sea Pharmacy.” Imodium, Bonine for seasickness (start taking it the day before you board), and Ibuprofen. Having these on hand saves you not just money, but your freedom.
13. The Walkie Talkie Fail
Families love to pack walkie talkies to keep track of their kids. It seems like a smart, free way to communicate. In reality, it’s a frustration factory.
A cruise ship is essentially a massive steel honeycomb. It is a floating Faraday cage. The steel walls block radio frequencies almost immediately.
Unless you have high powered industrial radios, your cheap consumer walkie talkies will not work between decks or through fire doors.
Plus, nothing annoys other passengers more than hearing static and shouting in the hallway at 7 AM. Use the chat feature in the cruise line’s app, or stick to sticky notes on the cabin mirror.
14. The “Snapper” Attitude
We need to talk about social packing. The worst thing you can bring on a cruise is an entitlement attitude toward the crew.
We asked crew members about their biggest pet peeves. Number one? Passengers who snap their fingers or whistle to get attention. These crew members work 10 to 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for months on end.
THE FIX: Learn your steward’s name on Day 1. Use it. A little dignity gets you extra ice, fresh towels, and faster service than any amount of cash tipping (though you should do that too).
15. The “Pool Float” Hog
You pack a giant inflatable swan or a noodle because you want to relax in the pool.
Have you seen a cruise ship pool on a sea day? It is “human soup.” There is barely room to stand, let alone float on a giant inflatable.
Most cruise lines have banned large flotation devices simply because there isn’t room. It will just sit in your closet taking up space.
16. Towels
This screams “first time cruiser.” You pack two big, fluffy beach towels.
The ship provides towels. They provide towels in your room. They provide towels on the pool deck. They provide towels when you get off at the port.
Your own towels are just taking up half your suitcase space and they will never dry in the humid cabin air. Leave them at home.
17. The “Books” Heavyweight
You picture yourself reading five novels by the pool. So, you pack five hardcovers.
Cruise luggage is heavy. You have formal wear, shoes, snorkel gear. Books are dead weight. Also, it is often windy and wet on the pool deck not ideal for paper pages.
Get a Kindle or an e reader. It’s waterproof, it holds a thousand books, and it weighs less than a single pair of socks. If you must read paper, check out the ship’s library. It’s usually surprisingly well stocked.
