I recently returned from my first cruise since the pandemic began, and I realized mid-trip that my cruise packing list needed to be updated. With mask mandates in place and anxious thoughts about getting sick, I had added several healthy cruise essentials to my suitcase. Once onboard, I realized there were useful items I had not thought to bring that would have enhanced my Covid-era cruise.

Here’s my new post-pandemic cruise packing list for all the healthy cruise essentials you’ll want to bring onboard.

Celebrity Cruises announced seven of its cruise ships will sail in Europe in 2023.

The new European deployment was announced on Tuesday, with brand-new four to 13-night itineraries added, plus more ‘seven-night’ sailings than ever before.

Celebrity is also touting the fact it is offering more than 45 overnight stays in 11 different cities across the various itineraries released.

You booked that cheap inside room, but you’d love to have a free or cheap cabin upgrade. Is it possible to get a cruise ship cabin upgrade for free? 

“Unfortunately there is no secret password or magic wand that will guarantee an upgraded stateroom without actually paying for one,” says Beci Mahnken, president and CEO of MEI-Travel, and a travel agent with the inside scoop. “Complimentary upgrades are not very common in the current cruise climate.”

My last cruise before the pandemic was a late November 2019 sailing on Norwegian Encore. I was booked on MSC Meraviglia in March 2020, but the world shut down a week before I was supposed to depart. Nearly two years and two doses of Pfizer vaccine later, I finally boarded my first post-pandemic cruise ship, Carnival Pride.

Did I spend the cruise anxiously avoiding my shipmates and hiding on my cabin balcony? Did I throw caution – and masks – to the wind, and join the crowds like it was 2019? Was it the relaxing getaway I’d been dreaming about through lockdown?

Celebrity Cruises has released its list of Alaska cruises for 2023.

Three Celebrity Cruises cruise ships will be deployed to Alaska in 2023, with the first sailing beginning May 3, 2022.

Celebrity's cruise season in Alaska runs between May and mid-September, and includes the Inside Passage on every itinerary.

I have one last sea day before my cruise ends, and we’re sailing through a storm. The ship is pitching in 12-foot swells (or so guesses the cruise director), and we’ve seen lightning flashes out our stateroom window. 

The pool areas are drenched and closed. The Deck 3 lobby flooded by the doors to the promenade deck. All entertainment activities have been moved indoors.

Our last port of call is Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. It’s a short stop, mainly to refuel the ship. Carnival Pride arrived in port while it was still dark, and all-aboard was set for 1 p.m.

Paradise Cove

Today was another early wakeup call day, so we ordered room service to arrive at 7 a.m. We ordered an array of breads, fruit, yogurt, and caffeinated beverages, and ate it on our balcony while watching the container ships and forklifts on the cargo pier across from us.

Today was the day I most looked forward to on my Carnival Pride cruise to the Bahamas. We would be spending nearly the entire day at Half Moon Cay, Carnival’s drop-dead gorgeous private island.

Land, ho! After two days floating around the Big Blue, I woke up this morning to Atlantis rising up from the horizon – and room service knocking on my door. Today is our first port stop in Nassau, Bahamas, and my friend and I booked a morning snorkel tour through Carnival. 

It was not fun to set an alarm for 7 a.m. (room service arrived at 6:55 a.m. – ouch!), but our day ashore was worth the wakeup call.