Every cruise ship is a work of art with its own distinct color scheme, décor, and unique accents, including amazing landmarks in public areas, such as artwork and sculptures in stairwells, the glittering grand atrium, themed lounges, and more.
Once you step into long hallways filled with more muted palettes and dozens of identical stateroom doors, however, you might quickly have trouble finding exactly which door is yours. Decorating your stateroom door can be the perfect answer.
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Why Not Just Remember Your Stateroom Number?
When considering stateroom door decorations, many people wonder why bother? Why not just remember your room number? While your stateroom number is not printed on your shipboard identification card – in case it is lost or stolen, you don’t want someone else to be able to access your stateroom – it is just a simple room number.
It is true that distinctive, personal decorations can make it easier to find your room, but decorating your door is about a lot more than just remembering your cabin number.
Door decorations can make celebrating a special occasion on your cruise even more fun, whether it is a birthday, honeymoon, anniversary, retirement, family reunion, or any other event.
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If you are part of a group, decorated doors can also make it easier to find other members of your party, even on different decks and in different types of cabins, without remembering multiple stateroom numbers.
For young cruisers or elderly passengers who may have more difficulty remembering cabin numbers, stateroom door decorations can relieve stress and help everyone feel comfortable with finding their home-away-from-home on board the ship.
Stateroom decorations can even make it easier to communicate with different family members or other passengers when you leave notes or messages for one another on a small whiteboard or notepad.
Guidelines for Decorating Your Stateroom Door
Before turning your stateroom door into a personalized work of art, it is important to follow basic guidelines to ensure your decorations are permitted. First, contact the cruise line and ask if there are any explicit instructions or guidelines, and remember that different cruise lines may have different policies regarding stateroom door decorations. The same line may also change policies on different ships, or at any time, so it is best to always verify guidelines before every cruise.
Even if there are no formal policies, these general guidelines can help you be sure your decorations don’t cause any problems.
Most important is that no decorations should in any way damage the stateroom door or surrounding surfaces. There should be no holes, paint discoloration, chips, scratches, or other evidence that the door was ever decorated after your cruise. Magnetic decorations are easy and convenient options that won’t damage doors, or you can affix magnetic tape to non-magnetized decorations to create instant magnets.
You can get stateroom door magnets by clicking here.
Be aware, however, that some suites or specialty cabins may not have metal doors. Other adhesive options include Command Strips, poster putty, and similar materials that can safely adhere to different surfaces and finishes without causing damage. If decorations do cause damage, passengers could face fees or fines for vandalism, even if the damage is minor or accidental.
It is also important to be sure your stateroom door decorations don’t extend beyond the door. Cruise ship hallways are narrow, and any decorations that extend onto nearby railings, light fixtures, or other surfaces can block the hallway from cabin stewards’ service carts, luggage carts, and other passengers.
Decorations attached to other surfaces can also create problems for safety equipment such as emergency lights, speakers, or sprinklers. With safety in mind, it is also imperative that any door decorations you use are made of fire-retardant materials. If inappropriate materials are used, the decorations may be removed and passengers could be fined for violating the ship’s safety procedures.
After the cruise, be sure to remove all door decorations completely. Not only does this help the stateroom steward by not adding extra chores to an already busy day as the room gets turned over for the next passengers, but it also ensures there will be no fines or problems with the extra mess left behind.
Also Read:Â How To Help Out Your Stateroom Steward
Ideas for Stateroom Door Decorating
There are many fun and creative options to decorate a cruise ship stateroom door. Some of the most popular choices are to acknowledge special occasions, such as birthdays, honeymoons, and anniversaries, especially if those occasions are being celebrated during the cruise.
Any holidays can be great opportunities to decorate, including Christmas cruises, Halloween, Thanksgiving, or other popular holiday sailings. Decorations might also celebrate graduations, retirement, promotions, or other significant milestones.
Amazon actually has a fair amount of stateroom door decoration items, take a look here.
Onboard gatherings, such as family reunions, group cruises, and bachelor or bachelorette parties might also use decorations to help different passengers feel connected no matter how large the ship is. Any group cruise, such as a craft-themed cruise, a book-lovers cruise, or similar group booking might also encourage door decorations so members of the group can more easily find one another.
Some passengers even simply enjoy decorations that celebrate the cruise itself, such as mouse ear decorations on a Disney cruise, anchor designs for a Royal Caribbean sailing, or tiaras and crowns on a Princess cruise.
Whatever decorations are chosen, it’s important to remember that stateroom doors are in public hallways, and the decorations ought to be family-friendly and appropriate for all passengers to see. No decorations with vulgarity or profanity should be used, and inappropriate decorations will be removed.
Also Read:Â 10 Items You Never Thought To Take on a Cruise
Decorations should also be carefully chosen so they don’t compromise passengers’ privacy, such as not using decorations that include full names or telephone numbers.
With care and consideration, your stateroom door can be more than just another blank doorway in the hall. It can be a personal expression of your excitement to celebrate your cruise vacation and all the fun you hope to have as you set sail.
