Move over magnets, the smartest thing to pack on a cruise is now a fan.
The first time I saw someone suggest packing a fan, I thought it was weird and unnecessary. But seemingly out of nowhere, I've seen so many people swearing by bringing a fan.
If you dig through older cruise posts, you'd read that you could ask your stateroom attendant for a fan in your cruise ship cabin. In fact, I think that's still possible.
What's changed is more people are bringing their own, both to ensure there is one for you to use and because this new generation of fans works better.
I packed a fan on my last three cruises, and I see now why they're so useful.
The cruise packing hack that can help you sleep better every night
Why you would want to have a fan in your stateroom is all about one thing: solving one of the biggest cruise cabin complaints.
Every Royal Caribbean cabin has air conditioning, but air flow and air conditioning are two different things.
This is especially true in the hot summer months, when it seems like the air conditioning struggles to keep up with the heat outside. This has been my experience when I'm staying in a balcony room that has a large glass sliding door where a lot of light comes in.
When the sun is shining, it can make the room feel warmer, and that's why fans are helpful.
A fan allows you to not only cool down, but add movement to the air and that's really helpful for sleeping.
I'm used to having a ceiling fan on in my house at home, and you won't find those in any cruise ship room (not even suites).
Plus, a fan creates white noise. For a lot of people, that is critical to being able to sleep.
I was skeptical how a small fan would help, but I get the hype
The first time I bought a USB chargeable fan on Amazon, I was expecting it to be a waste of money. But after one night, I was hooked.
The fans are charged via USB, and have enough battery to easily last an entire night. They have multiple speed settings, so you can increase the rate and white noise.
But the genius of these is they have a magnetic base. This means you can place them almost anywhere in your room.
Because cruise ship rooms are made from metal, you can easily attach the fan to the walls or ceiling and position it exactly where you want it.
The first time, I put it in front of the air conditioning vent so the cold air blew right on me. On the next cruise, I had it on the wall closer to my face so I had a steady stream of air.
After a hot day walking around Cozumel, Mexico, I returned to my ship hot and sweaty. While a quick shower helped, having the fan really made a difference in feeling like I was cooling down quickly.
Since you can buy one for less than $30 and then use it on every cruise, it's a really cheap add-on that removes the concern of if the cruise ship would have a spare fan for you to use.
And unlike a fan at home, these are small. They're about the size of a hardcover book, so easy to pack and don't weigh much.
The $25 item that can make your cruise cabin feel totally different
I tested out two different fans, and both worked very well.
The first fan I tried out had a wider base and 4 speeds to choose from. Plus, it's adjustable so you can move the fan to point in any direction. (Affiliate link, which costs nothing extra but will generate a small commission for us)
At the medium speed, it should have enough battery to run for about 10 hours.
The second fan has an even bigger battery, so you probably could use it during the day and night.
It has other settings like a LED light and five speeds.
Given that either is less than $30, it's an inexpensive investment that should last you quite a few cruises. Unless you accidentally drop it.
The magnets on both were quite strong, so it's not going anywhere unless you accidentally drop it while trying to move it.
