Going on your first cruise and looking for the best cruise stateroom organization tips and products? This is the post for you!

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Cruise staterooms are notorious for being small. Depending on how many people you have in one room, you may really feel the lack of space.

When you’re on a cruise your room can easily become messy with your 10 favorite outfits, the 5 pairs of shoes, beach essentials and more.

In this post I will discuss the top 15 ways pro cruisers keep their small stateroom more organized and stress free.

Whether you have 2 people in your room or 5, you’ll want to check out these tips and products listed below.

This post is all about cruise stateroom organization.

Cruise Stateroom Organization Tips & Products:

1. Over the door organizer

Probably the most well known and used product for cruise stateroom organization is an over the door shoe organizer.

Now just because this product is popular does not mean it is overrated. It is extremely helpful and an affordable option for your cruise.

You could use it for shoes like originally intended but that’s not what 99% of cruisers use it for.

These organizers are perfect for putting all your small items in. Things like tolietries or cruise essentials (waterproof phone cases, sunscreen, etc).

A lot of people who have young children will also bring packaged snacks with them (if the cruise line allows) and put them in these organizers.

The ways you can use these really are limitless but they are so helpful to keep all the small items off the counters and easy to grab.

2. Shower product organizer

This product I have never seen on anyone else’s list for cruise stateroom organization but it is a fantastic one!

The same way the over the door shoe organizer can help with your small items to keep your counter free of clutter, this product can do the same thing in the bathroom!

A lot of cruise bathrooms won’t have a shower curtain rod to put these on. For those rooms I would suggest hooking it on one of the rails in the bathroom.

Another option you can do is get some heavy duty magnetic hooks I’ll be talking more about next in this post. You can hang this product on one of the hooks to use vertical space in the bathroom instead of the counter.

3. Magnetic hooks

Magnetic hooks are a commonly known must have cruise product.

If you haven’t been on a cruise before, your stateroom walls are made of metal. Many pro cruisers will buy magnetic hooks to hang things up to keep their room more organized.

However, what most people don’t talk about is the smaller hooks on the majority of posts really can’t hold a lot of weight.

If you get the small hooks linked here, you can put things like hats and lanyards on them.

I would suggest getting the ones I have linked above though because they can hold 100 lbs. That will give you more options for things like towels, swimsuits, and extra clothes if you have tons of people in your room, etc.

If you try to put other things on those smaller hooks they will fall to the ground from not being strong enough.

Magnetic hooks are one of the best ways to use the vertical space in your room and not have a bunch of random products either on the floor or your small amount of counter space.

4. Store your suitcase under your bed

If you’ve been on a cruise before and hated that your big suitcases take up so much in your already small stateroom, you should store them under your bed.

You may have never looked under your bed before while on your cruise vacation but usually they just have extra bedding underneath.

There is plenty of space to be able to put your larger suitcases so they are out of the way and your room can stay more organized, neat and clean.

5. Ask for extra hangers

When going on a cruise there is no need to have to pick and choose what you want to hang up in the closet just because there aren’t enough hangers.

You can ask your stateroom attendant for more hangers and they will happily bring them to you. That way you don’t have to have extra clothes laying around taking up space.

Another option you can do as well is to bring your own foldable hangers.

These hangers are great to make sure you have enough for your entire family if you’re all staying in the same room.

They can fold down to a small size to easily be added to your suitcase when packing.

6. Collapsible clothes hamper

A great way to keep your stateroom clean and organized is to bring one of these collapsible laundry hampers.

With staterooms being such a small space, if everyone in your room leaves a couple items around it can quickly turn into a huge mess.

Using a laundry basket to put all of your dirty clothes that you can keep in the corner or closet will make your room much more organized and clean.

Pro Tip: If you don’t want to buy and pack one of these hampers you can also store all of your dirty clothes in your suitcase that you’re storing under the bed. This keeps all of the clothes out of the way.

7. Use a hanging toiletry bag to keep your products organized

These toiletry bags are not only a great way to keep your products organized while you pack, but also in your stateroom.

You can use one of these hanging bags to keep your products off of the counters or seperate from others if you have several people all sharing the same room.

This way you don’t have to unpack and repack any of your toiletries.

8. Keep your clothes organized with a hanging travel bag

If you don’t want to spend time on your vacation unpacking everything you should buy one these portable clothes organizers.

They’re a great product to save you time, keep you organized and help you not overpack your carry on bag.

If you’re traveling with a family you could all get one in a different color to keep everyone’s clothes seperate.

9. Find all of the hidden storage

Staterooms are notorious for having a lot of small storage compartments that you may not know about. Behind mirrors in the bathroom, hidden sections to the sides of your deck above and below.

Older ship tend to not have a lot of storage options but even then, if you take a couple minutes to search, I bet you can find more places to store things than you originally thought.

I use these sections to store small items so I don’t have clutter all over the desk section. If you’re going on a longer cruise you’ll really want to take the time to organize your room.

It’s also nice to come back to a stateroom that has everything in a proper place. It can be a little overwhelming on vacation if all of your belongings are just anywhere and everywhere.

10. Get a pill organizer for all of your medicines & supplements

If you are someone that has several medications you need to take with you on vacation I would recommend getting a pill organizer.

There are so many things you could need on a cruise: regular meds, motion sickness meds, health supplements and more.

Instead of having 10 bottles lined up on your counter and taking up space in your suitcase, you could get an organizer instead.

It really cuts down on the amount of space needed.

11. Get a travel jewelry organizer

A great way to keep your jewelry from being all over your room or left in your suitcase is to bring a small travel jewelry case.

It is very small so you wouldn’t be able to bring tons of jewelry but it does help you keep a select few items organized and all in one place.

It’s also so compact that you can store the case in your safe when you’re not in the room.

12. Put your valuables in the safe

I would highly recommend storing your valuable items in the safe that is in every cruise stateroom.

Not only does it keep them safe while you are out of the room but it is just another small storage space in your room that will help releave the clutter.

It is not usually very big though so you won’t be able to fit a laptop in it but you can store other items like jewelry, wallets, passports and more.

This way your room stays organized and you also know where all of your important things are.

13. Store all of your port day essentials in a beach bag

An easy way to keep your room more organized by having all of your beach day essentials in one place is to store them in a beach bag or backpack if you prefer.

This way on those early port day mornings you don’t have to go looking for all of your belongings, potentially forgetting something important.

Keep this to the side of your room for easy access.

14. Packing cubes

Packing cubes are another essential item not only for your suitcase but also your stateroom.

They are a great way to compress all of your clothing for your suitcase so you can fit everything you need. You also don’t have to unpack them if you don’t want to.

Since they are a great option to seperate your clothes into different categories you could always just take them out of your suitcase and place the packing cubes on the shelves in your closet.

15. Compression bags

These bags are a fantastic way to keep your clothes organized in your stateroom.

They make your clothes much smaller in your suitcase, leaving you more space for other items. They also can be used for all of your dirty clothes on the cruise to keep them seperate from your clean clothes.

Store them on the shelf, in a drawer, under your bed or in your suitcase to keep your stateroom clean.

The great thing about these bags in particular is they don’t require a vaccum to seal them! You simply just roll the bags to get the extra air out.

This post was all about cruise stateroom organization.

Cruise Stateroom Organization: The Top Tips All Pro Cruisers Swear By