Over the years that Mrs. 7 Seas and I have been cruising, we’ve discovered a few things that we think are a necessity to making cruise life easier.
With each item description is a link to a page on Amazon where you can buy the item. In total transparency, if you do buy the item through that link, 7Seas will get a commission from that sale.
- On almost every ship we’ve been on, there is always a shortage of outlets onboard. We get it, they can’t just provide the U.S. 120v outlet and ignore the rest of the world, since these cruise ships rotate to different parts of the globe, but there’s still a need for many more outlets. Well, we’ve found a device that can help with that. It’s the Travel Power Strip. What makes this even more useful is that it has 3 USB ports, so if you have a device (phone, watch, etc) that doesn’t necessarily need an outlet plug, you have spots to hook those up as well.
- If you have a photographer cruising with you that takes pictures with something other than their phone, they probably have more lenses and accessories than you think is necessary. If you’re the photographer, you know they are wrong. In either case, a must have accessory is a polarizing lens filter. Used correctly, these filters can make the difference between a drab, ho-hum picture or a vibrant photograph that really stands out. There are many to choose from, but this is the one we use.
- If you are an Apple iPhone/iPad/Mac user, you may want to pick up a set of AirTags. If you don’t know what those are, they are a device that you can attach to any item you want to track when it’s not with you. Mrs. 7 Seas and I use ours for our luggage and my photography equipment. Our checked luggage isn’t usually very far from us, but it’s nice to know that if we went one direction and the airline sent our luggage somewhere else, we would know right away. When we bought ours, they were about $99. Spending around $25 for a little piece of mind seems like a good deal.
- Also, if you opt for the Apple AirTags, these are some affordable cases that come in a variety of colors and materials. The case that Mrs. 7 Seas and I chose are linked below and they also come in a 4-pack to match the AirTags.
- If you want to take your vacation videos to another level, a gimbal is the best investment you can make. Without a gimbal, your videos can be shaky, even with the steadiest of hands. With a gibmal, everything is smoothed out. Panning to show wide shots is now “silky smooth” and shooting while walking doesn’t have the pronounced “bounce” anymore. We use the DJI OM4 Gimbal for shooting video on the iPhone. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it’s worth it. The DJI OM6 was released recently and has more and improved features. We’ve included links to both below.
- If you’ve ever had to carry a second, smaller bag on top of your carry on, you know that it can be a balancing act. This luggage strap helps alleviate that issue.