Going on a Disney cruise - some Pixie Dust ideas

We were recently lucky enough to take a short weekend Disney cruise which we booked last minute at a fantastic rate. It was quite hectic, as many of our fellow cruisers were first time Disney cruisers and were keen to see and do everything!

One of the things that we love about a Disney cruise is that there are so many ways to add some magical extras to the trip, for example with organised gift exchanges, magnet swaps and door decorating.

Something that really took off in the Facebook and WhatsApp groups for this particular cruise was Pixie Dust. Pixie Dust is a small and inexpensive gift given without the expectation of receiving anything in return. It can be placed inside the Fish Extender of a stateroom that you like the look of, or handed out in person on the ship. Sometimes a cruise group will set up a list of people that want to give and receive Pixie Dust, and some people prefer to gift at random.

We've given out lots of Pixie Dust on previous cruises, and I've also shared some Pixie Dust ideas for a Halloween cruise. Based on the Pixie Dust that we received on this cruise, I thought I'd share some of the things that went down particularly well!

How to package Pixie Dust

I am still working through my fabric stash, so I made lots of very simple drawstring bags. You can also use plastic bags, paper bags, wrap in paper or tissue paper, or just give out unwrapped. Some people put a lot of thought into the presentation of their items, with glitter, sequins and stickers.

Most people put a small note or gift tag with their cabin number. You don't have to do this, but it is probably a good idea to at least label it as Pixie Dust so that new cruisers aren't confused and think they have received something by mistake. 

Homemade Pixie Dust ideas

Magnets - this could be a simple laminated picture. In the past I've designed magnets which are specific to the cruise with destinations, flags, or a picture that I've taken of the ship. I've also made Hama bead Disney magnets which are really simple and fun.

Bookmarks - If you have a laminator these are really easy to make, just print out your designs, laminate, then add a ribbon.

Bracelets - Homemade bracelets are really easy and inexpensive to make and people love wearing them to remind them of their cruise.

Pirate Night themed Pixie Dust

If you are lucky enough to be sailing on a cruise with a themed Pirate Night then pirate themed gifts are a great idea! Some ideas - chocolate coins, temporary tattoos, glow sticks or bubbles for the deck party, plastic jewellery, inflatable cutlasses, eye patches.

Other Pixie Dust ideas

Sweets - This was probably the most popular Pixie Dust received by our family! Small packs of Haribo, Maoam bars or similar. Also small chocolates like chocolate coins or fun size bars. Just make sure that they are all individually wrapped.

Stickers - You can buy large packs of Disney or ocean themed stickers and add a few to each package.

Pens - There are lots of Disney themed pens available in multipacks that can be broken down for individual gifts. I always appreciate a nice pen!

Magnets - We received some lovely tiny Disney themed magnets, they were so sweet! You can often buy these in bulk and separate out.

Ducks - People love to hide ducks when cruising (that's a whole other topic!) and we were thrilled to receive a full size Belle duck and also some cute tiny plastic ducks.

Bubbles - There will probably be some kind of deck party on your cruise, for example a Pirate or Frozen themed party. Blowing bubbles is a great way to keep little ones entertained while you wait for the party to start. Just make sure to pack them securely!

Clothes pegs - This might sound an odd one, but one year we received a couple of Mickey Mouse clothes pegs and I love them, they always make me smile when I hang out the washing! I assume that they were part of a large set and given out a couple at a time.

Jewellery - I love any kind of inexpensive jewellery that I can wear on the cruise, on future cruises, and when I'm back home. I received a lovely mermaid ring and necklace which I wore on Pirate Night.

Patches - These can be sewn onto bags or hats as a reminder of the trip.

Pins - Official Disney pins would be an expensive and generous Pixie Dust gift, but you can also buy cheaper pins with a nautical or ocean theme which would make a lovely gift.

Temporary tattoos - These are always fun to apply and wear around the ship.

Reusable straws - I saw someone on our cruise giving these out and thought that this was a great idea as the paper straws supplied on board can be a little flimsy.

Keyrings - Again something that you can buy in bulk, we received some lovely glitter Mickey head keyrings in different colours.

Many of these items can be purchased in bulk from places like Amazon, AliExpress or Temu and can be very reasonable in terms of cost. And or course not everything has to be Disney themed - you could look for a nautical theme, an ocean theme, pirates and mermaids and so on.

I hope that you find some ideas to inspire you, and have fun joining in with Pixie Dust gifts on your next Disney cruise!

Some little extras that I always pack for a cruise

This post contains Amazon affiliate links

I like to think of myself as a bit of a seasoned cruiser, and as I start to put things together for our next cruise I thought I'd write a little list of the things that I always make sure to pack!

These are things that aren't expensive, don't take up too much space, and that a first time cruiser might not necessarily think of!

Magnetic hooks - these are brilliant. I have a set of four magnetic hooks (affiliate link) and they are brilliant, tiny to pack and surprisingly strong. We place them near the door and use them to hang lanyards, baseball caps, bum bags, swimming goggles - all sorts of things that you don't want lying around and getting lost!

However it's best not to pack over the door hooks or over the door hanging pockets. These may be confiscated by the cruise line as they can damage the doors. There is usually plenty of storage in the room for smaller items.

Travel adaptor plugs - I've seen cruise ship staterooms with both US and European sockets. If you can bring a couple of each then you'll have more charging options.

Photo credit Call Me Fred via Unsplash

A lanyard - this is a personal preference thing, cruisers use it to keep their room card accessible, which can also be used for onboard purchases like drinks. I don't tend to wear one, but the children like to. Some cruise lines will provide them, especially as you move up through the tiers, but they will be expensive to buy on board if you suddenly decide that you want one!

Velcro cable ties - on a couple of our Disney cruises we came back to our room to find that the stateroom attendant had organised all our messy loose cables with little velcro cable ties! We left the ties behind but I bought some reusable velcro cable ties (affiliate link) as soon as we got home. It's a really good way to save space on the small desk area when you all have several devices that need charging at once. 

A spare, non valuable, credit card sized card - some cruise ships have a slot by the door for a card in order for the lights and air conditioning to work, and it's easy to forget that you've left a card in there when you leave. I have a couple of credit card sized cards which have a magnet stuck to the back so when we leave the room we can stick it to the wall ready for our return.

A small magnetic whiteboard and pen - this is especially useful if you are travelling with others. You can stick it on your stateroom door and then people can leave you a message - helpful if you don't have the onboard Wi-Fi or data roaming while you are travelling. An A4 magnetic whiteboard (affiliate link) is a good size. You might find that people leave you little messages saying things like 'happy cruising!'

A small bag to hold a phone and room card - most of my clothes don't have pockets, and I do like to take my phone around with me for photos and the cruise line app. I bought myself a small bag which I can use for a few essentials, and it's worth spending a little more for a smarter bag that you can use with more formal clothing in the evening.

Small hand gel - we've found that since covid restrictions eased not all cruise ships have hand gel around the ship outside of the food areas, so it's nice to have a little bottle to take around with you.

Photo credit Engin Akyurt via Unsplash

Waterproof phone cases - we discovered these on a recent holiday and they were brilliant! Even if you aren't going on a beach cruise you may want to use the pools, and having a waterproof case means that you can take photos and not worry about getting your phone splashed while you sit nearby. I bought these waterproof phone pouches (affiliate link) and was very pleased with them (test them at home first by placing some kitchen roll inside and leaving submerged for a few hours!) They are also a good idea for any other electronics that you may want to use near water, like a Kindle or tablet.

Laundry supplies (if your ship has self-service laundry facilities) - I usually take a couple of my own laundry pods. They will be available to purchase but my family can sometimes have sensitive skin so we stick to what we usually use.

I also like to take a small mesh bag which I use for socks. This way there's less chance of losing one, especially if you are late back to the machine and someone empties your things out. A larger laundry bag is also useful for all the dirty washing that you'll be taking home. Something like this set of mesh laundry bags (affiliate link) would work well.

A tip - if you are doing laundry on a cruise ship avoid the first day, the last day, and sea days. Try for early in the morning or later on during dinner. Disney cruise ships have an app which will let you know when your washing is finished and also lets you know which machines are free.

A refillable water bottle - there are usually plenty of free self-service drinks options on board, but it can be awkward to carry cups of water back to the room and I find a water bottle more convenient to keep on my bedside table for drinking at night, especially when space is limited. Just note that you may not be allowed to fill them directly from a dispenser, instead I fill a cup and pour it into the bottle. It's also useful for when you leave the ship.

Photo credit Bluewater Sweden via Unsplash

Towel clips - if you are planning to sit out on deck then towel clips can be very helpful to keep your towel safe in the breeze while you go in the pool or to get some food. They are also a good idea if you want to dry swimsuits or towels on your balcony - you can clip them safely to the furniture! Towel clips (affiliate link) are larger than normal clothes pegs so they will fit easily around a sun lounger or chair. 

Sandwich bags - we are a family of fussy eaters and it can sometimes be difficult to find food when we are out and about. I always take some pre-packed snacks that we can take with us on shore excursions, but sometimes we take a few bread rolls or cookies from the buffet just to have handy and sandwich bags are great for keeping them fresh.

Photocopies of our passports - you must always check whether you need to take your original passports off the ship with you, as it varies between ports and many places will require it. But if you are leaving your passport on board the ship it's a good idea to at least take a copy with you. I'm old school so I have a paper copy, but these days a photo on your phone is probably just as good!

I hope that these packing tips were helpful if you are preparing for a cruise, do let me know about any essentials that I may have missed!

Has Covid changed cruising?

After our cruise last year, when I and my husband both unfortunately caught Covid on board, I wrote a post about how Covid has changed cruising. At the time I would have said that Covid had definitely changed cruising. But having recently returned from two short cruises, one with Royal Caribbean and one with Disney, I thought I'd write an update post about how things area looking nearly a year on. Pre-Covid, cruise ships were already notorious for spreading illness quickly, and at the beginning of the pandemic there were many large Covid outbreaks on board cruise ships.

The biggest difference from our cruise last year is that you no longer need to provide any information about vaccination or produce any negative tests. You do always have to fill out a health questionnaire before cruising. In the past this was aimed at catching the norovirus type sickness bugs but now it asks for things like a temperature, cough, loss of taste or smell and so on. 

On our last cruise all the crew were wearing masks at all times but this was no longer the case. This time I spotted a single passenger wearing a mask on the first day, and after that none. 

We noticed that Royal Caribbean still had plenty of hand sanitiser stations dotted around the ship, in particular outside restaurants (along with full sink hand washing facilities), by the lifts and at the main entrances to the deck areas. On the Disney ship we didn't see a single extra hand sanitiser station, just the usual hand washing areas outside restaurants.

On the Disney Wish, which is a newer ship that first launched after Covid, we did notice that some of the areas in the main buffet are behind screens and you ask for the food that you would like to be served to you. Also on both ships you can no longer help yourself to ice-cream. However on the Wish there are still many drinks stations and other food areas where you can help yourself so I'm not sure that the screens can really make much difference. 

There are many times on a cruise that you are in a tightly packed area - for example while dining, in lifts, in theatres, in queues to get on and off the ship or for excursions. It's impossible to social distance at these times and no-one seemed to be worried. 

In the two Facebook groups for the cruises I didn't see any anxiety about Covid before we sailed. And in only one of the groups did anyone admit to having come back with Covid. On the last cruise it felt as though most of the ship brought it home! So maybe with so many people either being vaccinated or already having been exposed to Covid it just isn't so much of a risk anymore, and you are no more likely to catch Covid on a cruise than anywhere else.

So I would have to say that no, a couple of years on, Covid hasn't changed cruising. When the cruises first started back up there many have been a few additional changes made, vaccination requirements, extra signage and so on, but they have now disappeared and only the usual pre-Covid health measures like encouraging frequent hand washing have remained.

How cruising has changed since Covid

A couple of weeks ago we embarked on our first family cruise post-Covid. My husband found an amazing last minute deal on Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas - a ship that we were actually due to sail on back in April 2020. We cruised for a week from Southampton, visiting La Rochelle and Le Havre in France and La Coruna and Bilbao in Spain. 

Cruise ship testing rules are changing all the time. When we cruised, all over 12s needed to be fully vaccinated and all passengers needed to have a supervised negative lateral flow test result within 48 hours of the cruise date (unvaccinated children under 12 within 24 hours). We did our lateral flow test online with DocHQ the day before which was very straightforward, although I did feel that I couldn't start properly packing until we had received that negative result!

Once onboard we noticed very little change to our usual cruising experience. We purchased expensive FFP2 masks which we wore whenever we were walking around the ship and we avoided the lifts and other crowded areas whenever we could. However we were definitely in the minority. Although the crew wore masks, only a handful of fellow passengers wore them.

There were a lot more hand sanitiser stations than I've been used to seeing on a ship, but generally handwashing is very much encouraged on cruise ships anyway. There was plenty of signage to encourage social distancing but no actual enforcement. The buffet and other eating areas were operating as normal. 

Of course we knew that the Covid risk on a cruise ship would be very high, and so despite the precautions that we took we weren't particular surprised that both me and my husband caught Covid on board. Judging by the comments in our cruise Facebook group we were far from alone, and a huge number of people came down with it. 

It's difficult to know what we personally could have done differently to avoid it. Perhaps mask wearing needs to be more strictly enforced among passengers, but I'm not sure that would make much difference. 

I think if you are taking a cruise holiday you just have to be realistic about the fact that there's a good chance you'll be bringing Covid home and if you are particularly at risk of serious complications from Covid then you need to consider whether it's the right holiday for you at this time.

Free small cross stitch cruise ship design pattern

As I write this post, I should have been on a cruise ship somewhere in the Bahamas. Of course that wasn't to be, so I've been consoling myself by adding a cross stitch cruise ship to my cross stitch map. I received my cross stitch map a few years ago and I love it! It's a large piece of cross stitch fabric with a map printed over it, and the idea is that you stitch over the countries as you visit them. It's a really good idea, but if you don't visit any of the really large countries like Russia or China, along with all the blank spaces around the edges it can be left looking a little bit bare.

So I've been busy coming up with different designs to fill in around the edges, with the aim of making a sort of patchwork of different pictures which are themed to fit in with places that we've visited around the world. I already have a lucky cat from Hong Kong, a cross stitch Disney castle, and I'm currently working on the Statue of Liberty. 

This cross stitch cruise ship is supposed to be a sort of amalgamation of the different cruise ships that we've travelled on, and it's designed to be quite small so it would also fit neatly onto a gift card or as a small framed picture.

Here it is stitched in position on my cross stitch map! I'm busy working hard on this map at the moment, I find that cross stitch is a very relaxing and distracting hobby at the moment. I'm really pleased with how the map is taking shape, and I'll be sharing it in a full blog post in the not too distant future!