As you’re planning your cruise packing, you may be wondering what hair styling items you should bring. Cruise travel often involves lots of extra time in the pool or ocean or engaging in other activities that may require some extra hair washing. Before tossing your bulky blow dryer into the suitcase, let’s figure out do cruise ships have hair dryers?
Unless you are sailing on a really old ship, the odds are high that you will have a hair dryer provided. Most cruise ships have hair dryers in the cabins, either in the bathroom, mounted to the wall, or in the vanity’s drawer.
Some older cruise ships, however, might not have hair dryers in the cabins. In this case, you can ask for one from the cabin crew, and they will be able to provide you with one.
So, that means there’s one less thing to pack when going on a cruise, or is there? Depending on your hair care practices, other questions remain: The hair dryers provided on cruise ships might not suit your hair styling needs. Are you allowed to take your own preferred hair dryer? Can you bring other styling tools, such as straighteners and curling tongs? How does the voltage work on a cruise ship? Keep reading to learn those details and more.
Do Cruise Ships Have Hair Dryers In Cabins?
Fortunately, most cruise ship cabins come equipped with a hair dryer. Except for some of the oldest cabins, you can find a hair dryer in the bathroom or in the main room’s vanity. If there are no hair dryers to be found in your cabin, you can also request one from a steward.
Therefore, if you don’t have any specific hair styling requirements, you can make do with the hair dryer provided by the cruise line. However, these hair dryers may not be the best quality, or they may be missing features that you rely on. The hair dryers provided by cruise lines are similar to ones you find in hotel rooms. The complementary hair dryers usually have a very short power cord and are not very powerful.
So, if you have long, thick hair or prefer your own hair dryer, you’ll want to make some room in your bag and bring your own. (You may also want to know whether your cruise ship provides shampoo and other key toiletries.)
You might wonder if there are any restrictions on the hair dryer you’re allowed to take.
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Although cruise ships have stringent rules regarding what you can and cannot take with you onto the ship (no travel irons!) to help avoid various potential cruise ship mishaps. Nevertheless, they do allow hair styling tools, including hair dryers. This is excellent news because it allows you to bring your own hair dryer if you have any concerns that the ones provided on the ship are insufficient.
Although you can bring any hair dryer, most experience travelers will advise you to focus on a travel-size hair dryer. These hairdryers are not only lightweight and take up little space, but they also often have features that make them easier to use when traveling to foreign countries.
Our personal favorite hair dryer for travel is the Conair 1875 Watt Compact Dryer. It is lightweight and portable with a folding handle that makes it easy to pack in almost any suitcase.
For more options, check out these top-selling travel hair dryers:
- Travel Hair Dryer: This dryer features a folding handle for compact storage, making it easy to pack in a suitcase or carry-on bag or store in a drawer; With dual voltage, it's perfect for worldwide travel
- Compact Portable Design: Backed by 1875 watts of drying power, dual voltage and an ergonomic folding handle, this compact, lightweight and portable hair dryer is ready to join you on your journey
- Versatile Styling: With 2 heat and 2 speed settings, this blow dryer was created for all hair types, and it features a Cool Shot button to help lock curls, waves and styles in place
- Compact Travel Hair Dryer: This lightweight travel blow dryer features a folding handle for compact storage, making it easy to pack in a suitcase or carry on bag or store in a drawer and it only weighs 1 pound
- Travel In Style: Powered by 1600 watts for quick and easy styling of all hair types, this hair dryer features 2 heat speed settings; With dual voltage, it's perfect for worldwide travel
- Stylish, Lightweight And Ergonomic: With plenty of power and dual voltage conversion folded into its stylish and ergonomic housing, this styler produces big results with little effort
- COMPACT CONVENIENCE: Small Design great for travel, storage or gym bag
- VERSATILITY: Quickly dry and style your hair with 2 heat/speed settings to suit your personal needs
- REDUCE FRIZZ: Ionic Technology helps reduce the hair frizz and static, leaving hair conditioned and smooth
However, if you’re not planning on traveling too often, buying a travel-size hair dryer for one cruise might be a little excessive. Therefore, you are welcome to take your normal hair dryer on the cruise.
What Other Hair Styling Tools Can You Take On A Cruise?
Cruise ships are extremely strict about what tools you can take on the ship and what tools you aren’t allowed to take. For example, clothes irons and steaming irons are entirely off-limits and will be confiscated if you attempt to take these on board with you.
These strict rules have to do with the safety of passengers and crew on board. A cruise ship has thousands of passengers and crew members on board simultaneously. If every passenger plugs a power-intensive tool, such as an iron, into the socket at once, the ship’s power supply would be overloaded, leading to a disaster.
Fortunately, cruise ships allow hair styling tools, such as hair straighteners, hair curling tongs, and heated curlers. Therefore, you can bring these tools along on the ship if you wish to. Again, if you are planning to travel often, investing in travel-sized hair styling tools is advisable.
Although most cruise ships, such as Carnival, Princess, and Norwegian cruise lines, allow you to take hair styling tools onboard, it is always best to inquire about this before boarding. If the cruise ship does not allow the use of hair styling tools, they will likely confiscate them and give them back at the end of your trip.
Another problem many guests have when they go on a cruise is insufficient or inconveniently placed power outlets. This problem will only be intensified when you bring several hair styling tools. In addition, you might be concerned about the voltage of the socket and the compatibility with the tools you’re using. So, let’s look at how you can address those issues?
Are Power Adapters Required For Hair Dryers On Cruise Ships?
Most cruise ships will have power sockets compatible with American and European plugs. However, if you require more plugs than are provided in your cabin, you can bring additional plugs. Otherwise, you will not need a power adapter for a hair dryer, as the power outlet on a cruise ship is the same as in a house (120V).
As for the number of outlets you will need, we consider travel power strips and/or outlet expanders to be a must-have cruise accessory. You will be much happier if you pack one in your luggage. Note that you should only take a power strip that does not have surge protection because of cruise ship restrictions. Check out our list of the best travel power strips to find ones suitable for cruise travel.
Conclusion
So, whether you have a short bob or long locks, there’s no need to worry about packing your hair dryer on your next cruise. With a little preparation and knowledge of what is – and isn’t – allowed in your luggage, you can relax by the pool, knowing that all of your beauty needs are taken care of. Packing for your next cruise just got a lot easier!
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Last update on 2024-12-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
