Genius tip that'll make your next cruise so much easier: 'Helped so much'
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If you've ever been on a cruise, you'd know that sometimes it can be a real struggle to remember your room number - the long, carpeted hallways of the cabin decks are lined with identical doors, and nothing but a number plate to distinguish one from the other.
And if you've been enjoying a few poolside drinks while watching the sun go down, it can be even harder to remember which room is yours.
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Remembering which room is yours on a cruise ship can be tricky. Getty
Thankfully, one cruiser has come up with a foolproof plan to keep you from trying to swipe into the wrong room.
They shared a photo of their cabin door on Reddit, on which they'd sticky-taped a small painting of flowers.
"This helped my elderly mother so much," they wrote, of the trick that helped their room stand out from its identical neighbours.
This cruiser sticks an eye-catching picture to their cabin to help them identify it. Reddit
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People in the comments were floored by the simple, yet super efficient, trick.
"I'm cruising with my 81-year-old aunt next year, and she always forgets our room number," one person wrote. "I will make something special for the door now."
Another wrote: "Hell I'm in my 40s, and this would have helped me! I'm so doing this on our next cruise."
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You could also design your own decorative signs for your door: "If you use Canva, you can do all kinds of themed door decorations," one commenter suggested.
"I make them for my family for each of our cruises, and we put magnets on them to stick to the doors."
Some cruisers go all out with door decorations. TikTok / @kimaginediy
Many cabin doors are made out of metal, meaning you could also mark your door with magnets to make it stand out.
"Last year I finally decided to get some door magnets to be silly," one person wrote. "But oh boy, did it help with finding our room after drinking all day lol. Highly recommend."
"We got some cheap flower magnets to put on our door," a cruiser shared, "to make it easier for the kids to know which room was ours, so they didn't run up excitedly to someone else's door and jiggle the handle while waiting for us to unlock it."
If you forget to pack something to stick on the door, one commenter shared a foolproof recommendation: "For my ageing mum, we set a picture of her room number as the background wallpaper for her phone. It worked great!"
Cabins can be small, so you want to maximise your space. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Door decorations aren't the only way cruisers can take advantage of the ship's metal walls. Many veteran cruisers pack magnetic hooks which can be used for extra storage inside the cabin.
"Many first-time cruisers don't realise that unlike in hotels on land, onboard our ships the stateroom walls are magnetic," Lauren Vaitkus, Celebrity Equinox's Hotel Director told 9Travel.
"Magnetic hooks can be a great way of utilising wall space for items such as hats or jackets."
Cruising expert Honida Beram aka Cruising With Honey also packs Post-It notes on every trip, which are a great way to leave messages for your cabin buddies about what you're up to for the day.
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