When I decided to use a travel agency to book my first Disney Cruise, I only had a vague idea of what to expect as a thank you. I knew they were going to give me some amount of stateroom credit that I could use towards, well, just about anything on the cruise. I heard about a gift bag, but I didn’t think too much about it and had no clue what would be in it.
A month before my cruise departure, a large plain cardboard box appeared at my doorstep. Being plain, I knew it wasn’t Amazon. Did I buy something on Ebay? Did I buy something that was on backorder? The return address was cryptic, with the words “DUT” and a city of Port Canaveral, Florida. Wait, Port Canaveral? That’s where the…it’s the gift bag!
I hurried inside and grabbed a pair of scissors to cut through the packing tape. But not too deep because I don’t know what’s inside and don’t want to accidentally cut it. So I carefully cut into the packing tape near the side and then I ripped that sucker open like it was Christmas morning!
First impression: wow, that’s a lot of stuff!
So much stuff inside. And so nicely wrapped and tied with ribbon. You can tell this wasn’t thrown together, this was put together meticulously.
So what’s all inside? I’ll show you! There was a nice letter on top of everything thanking me for using the travel agency to book my Disney cruise, so that was a nice touch.
Caution: the following pictures contain heavily branded promotional items from the travel agency. Disney Rover receives zero compensation for all of this free advertising the travel agency is about to receive.
1. A very handy travel mug.
Having a travel mug on a Disney cruise proved invaluable! While Disney provides cups at their drink stations, they are not very large. Having your own travel mug gives you the opportunity to fill up on soda, coffee, tea, etc. and make less trips back to the drink station for refills. Plus with the lid, you can fill up and carry it around the ship without worry about it spilling.
2. Cell phone card holder.
I personally did not use this on the cruise because I prefer a lanyard, but I can see the value in this for others. This rubber card holder attaches to the back of your cell phone and is the perfect size for your Keys to the World cruise card. I can see this coming in handy if you just want to make a quick trip from your room and really just need your room key to get back into your stateroom but don’t want to risk losing the card.
3. A pack of wet wipes.
I get it: surfaces are germy. Some times the only table you can find in the buffet looks like it hasn’t been wiped down by the staff yet. You can pull one of these out and wipe the table down in the mean time! Or you just finished your free ice cream cone and your hands are a little sticky. No worries, grab a wet wipe!
4. Magnetic dry erase board.
Need to leave a message for someone in your stateroom? Want to put something on your stateroom door and leave positive affirmations, or Disney trivia questions, to people walking by? Here’s your chance to do all three!
5. Magnetic clips.
Need a little extra space to put important papers on a wall in your room that you don’t want to lose or accidentally throw away? Want to hang up your lanyard by the door so you don’t misplace it? Did your child make some art in the kid’s club and you want to display it? Here are two magnetic clips to do just that!
6. An air freshener. (trust us on this one!)
If you have a partner who stinks up the bathroom, or if you are the person who stinks up the bathroom, you’ll appreciate this in your gift bag! Hang this up on one of the towel hooks near the toilet to keep the commode area smelling pleasant. Your traveling party and stateroom attendant, will thank you.
7. A mini flashlight.
Speaking of bathrooms, have you ever tried to walk to your bathroom at home in the middle of the night? Now, have you ever tried to walk to the bathroom in the middle the night in a room you’re not familiar with? Don’t stub your toe or bang your shin on the bed, grab your mini flashlight and navigate your way easier. Trust me, with all the lights off in an inside stateroom cabin, it’s dark!
8. Glow bracelets.
I know what you’re thinking. “The heck do I need these for?” Well, they’re for fun, really. You can wear these during the Pirate Night deck party to add some fun color to the night festivities. I believe you can string two together to make a necklace. Heck, string them all together and make a belt! Pretend your back in the 90s at a rave! The possibilities are endless. Well, until the brightness eventually fades.
9. A deck of cards
Find yourself kind of bored with nothing to do? Play some solitaire! Want to get together with some friends down at the pub on the ship for beer and poker? Grab your deck of cards! Want to teach your kids how to card count during blackjack? Grab your…wait don’t do that. Want to teach your kids the fun game of 52-pickup? Grab your deck of cards!
10. A watch. (the reason isn’t obvious. I’ll explain.)
On a cruise, there’s one time that is the absolute most important: ship time. Whatever time the ship is set to, that’s the time you need to set this watch to. Do this at the very start of your cruise so you don’t forget.
As your cruise ship sails to it’s destinations, you may pass through these pesky time zones the world has. Along with you crossing into another time zone, your cell phone will also cross into another time zone. Your cell phone will automatically change to whatever the local time is.
Ship time and local time are two very different things. If you’re stopped at a port of call, and the all-aboard time for your cruise itinerary is 4:45pm, that is ship time, not local time. The local time could be 3:45pm, which is what your cell phone will most likely be displaying. If you go by the clock on your cell phone, at 4:45pm local time, your cruise ship will most likely be leaving or have already left.
Don’t be a pier runner, set this watch to ship time, so when it says it’s 4:45pm ship time, you’re already back on the ship, regardless of what the local time is.
11. A highlighter (now obsolete)
Back in the pre-pandemic days of cruising, every stateroom was given a daily paper navigator will all of these activities for the day and the times those activities were happening. To make note of which activities you were interested in, you could highlight them so as to not forget. With multiple people in a stateroom, each person could have their own color to mark activities.
Nowadays, paper navigators have quietly faded away and instead activities are listed in the app for the cruise line (Disney Cruise Line has an app, btw). So maybe this isn’t as useful on a cruise as it once was, but maybe you need some highlighters for work? School? Or to highlight text on a random stranger’s hey put that down!
12. A tote bag.
The last item, and most obvious one at that, is what all of these items came in: a tote bag! Do I need to explain why this is handy, or is it pretty self explanatory? Load it up with stuff before heading to the pool. Or load it up with stuff before heading out to Castaway Cay. Heck, you can even load it up with stuff that you need for your cruise and use that as your carry-on item during embarkation day.
You could instead use it at the grocery store at home. I feel kind of silly explaining how a tote bag will be useful, but I do need to pad the word count on this article, so thank you for indulging me!
The wrap up.
So there you have it! Lots of handy and helpful items are included in the gift bag I received from Dreams Unlimited Travel for booking my cruise with them. I have a feeling that some of these items may change once they run out. The highlighters may be replaced by something more current. The glow bracelets may change to glow necklaces. Your experience may vary.
If you’re interested in booking a cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you can get a free no-obligation quote at www.DreamsUnlimitedTravel.com.
Thanks for reading!
Disney Rover 