When you get off your cruise and walk toward customs, there's always a table that has items that the cruise line has confiscated. Usually, these tables are full of things that inexperienced passengers would not realize are illegal on cruise ships.
You will see some really ridiculous things like toasters, blenders, and coffee makers, but the vast majority of the table is filled with irons and surge protectors. Those are items that you should seemingly be able to bring onboard, but you can't.
Royal Caribbean's banned list is already extensive
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Royal Caribbean explained its policies for these items on its website:
Candles, Incense, Coffee Makers, Clothes Irons, Travel Steamers & Hot Plates. (Items that generate heat or produce an open flame. This includes heating pads, clothing irons, hotplates, candles, incense, and any other item that may create a fire hazard. NOTE: The only exception to this policy is curling irons and hair straighteners. Matches and normal lighteners are allowed onboard. However, "torch lighters" and novelty lighters that look like guns are not allowed onboard. Torch lighters emit a powerful concentrated flame, and therefore are prohibited.
Passengers may not be aware that those items are banned and the cruise line understands that. That's why those items are confiscated but later returned.
However, a recent change to its banned list has made things a lot more complicated for Royal Caribbean's passengers. That's because it has banned some power-related items that other cruise lines allow.
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Royal Caribbean makes a power plug change
Royal Caribbean no longer allows any device which creates more plugs. This includes European adapters that turn the outlet into an American-style plug.
"Passengers can bring adapters with multiple USB ports, but not those that include regular AC outlets on it, so only multi-USB plugs. 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, and multidevice plugs," the cruise line shared.
The cruise line has updated its banned items page:
Electrical Extension Cords - including power strips/surge protected strips and multi-plug outlets. We do allow consumer type power conversion device USB charger (multi-plug blocks on which the outputs are for USB cables). Note: Devices must be stamped with US/Europe recognized Conformance Marking to demonstrate compliance with Electrical Safety standards.
Royal Caribbean used to allow multi-plug blocks and power strips as long as they didn't have surge protection. Those items are now banned even though they remain allowed on other cruise lines including Celebrity Cruises, which is also owned by Royal Caribbean.
Passengers who use a CPAP machine can ask their room attendant for an approved power cord once onboard.
These are the devices Royal Caribbean allows
Older Royal Caribbean ships often only have a single power outlet. For a family of four traveling with phones, tablets, and even laptops, that can be very challenging.
Keeping all of your devices charged in that situation requires three things:
- A power block with multiple USB and USB-C ports.
- A charging battery with multiple ports.
- Multiple USB and USB-C cables.
A good power block can turn that one outlet into four (or more) charging ports. Adding a rechargeable battery can allow people to charge their devices away from the cabin's desk, where the outlet is usually located.
If you charge your batteries during the day, you can use them to make sure you can charge all your devices at night.
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It's also important to have enough cable to charge multiple devices at the same time, In addition, some bars and slot machines in the casino on some ships have USB charging ports.
If you have a cable on you, it's possible to top up your device away from your room.
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