A lot of cruisers don’t realize how many things you can get for free from your cabin attendant, your housekeeping team, or even your butler if your cabin type includes one. None of it costs extra, and most of it just takes a quick ask.
I actually made a video like this a couple of years ago. Cruising has changed a bit since then, and a few things on my own list of cabin requests have changed too, so I wanted to bring you a fresh, updated version.
This list is a long one, and I think it’s packed with value all the way to the end. If you think of a request I missed, I’d genuinely love to hear it, because these roundups get better every time cruisers add their own favorites.
Let’s get into it.
Room Service and Cabin Basics
1. Find the Hidden Room Service Menu
On some ships, the room service menu isn’t in the app at all. Look for a QR code on the wall or on the desk, usually somewhere near the phone, and you’ll be able to pull up the full menu from there.
2. Ask About Complimentary Room Service
Many cruise lines include a free continental breakfast through room service, and I highly recommend ordering it even just for coffee, fruit, and a pastry in the morning. Even without a printed menu in sight, your ship may offer inexpensive or complimentary room service throughout the day, so it’s always worth asking.
3. Tell Them Your Room Service Tray Preference
When you see your cabin attendant, ask how they’d like you to handle your room service tray. Some prefer you leave it in the cabin for cleanup, others want it in the hallway, and some will tell you to just call room service directly to have it picked up.
Beds and Bedding Requests
4. Split or Combine Your Bed Configuration
Your cabin attendant controls the bed setup, so if your cabin has two beds pushed together to form a king or queen and you’d rather have them separated, just ask. It usually won’t happen instantly, but it typically gets done sometime between dinner and bedtime.
5. Request a Mattress Topper
Some cruise lines, like Carnival and Royal Caribbean, are known for firmer mattresses, while lines like Holland America, Celebrity, and Princess tend to run softer and plusher. Either way, a mattress topper can make the bed more comfortable and helps smooth over that little crack you sometimes feel where two beds are joined together.
Mattress toppers are given out first come, first served, so try to catch your cabin attendant as early as possible on embarkation day. Not meeting your cabin attendant right away is actually one of the more common embarkation day mistakes cruisers make, so this is a good reason to introduce yourself early.
6. Ask for Different Pillows
Some cruise lines and cabin categories have pillow menus, offering softer, firmer, feathered, or non-feathered options. Even if there’s no official menu, you can usually just ask for extra pillows, which is what we tend to do.
7. Request a Top Sheet, or Ask to Skip It
Some cruise lines have moved away from top sheets and now just use a duvet. If you’re someone who runs hot at night and prefers a lighter layer, ask for a top sheet to be added, and if you’d rather skip it altogether, you can ask for that too.
8. Skip the Tucked-In “Mummy” Sheet
If you don’t love that tightly tucked sheet at the end of the bed that makes you feel wrapped up like a cocoon, ask your cabin attendant to leave it loose. Some people love that snug feeling, so it really comes down to personal preference.
9. Request an Extra Fluffy Blanket
If you’re sailing Carnival, ask about their well-known plush blue blanket, which works great as a cozy throw in the cabin or out on the balcony in the early morning. Let me know if you’ve sailed Carnival and grabbed one, because it seems like a lot of cruisers love it.
10. Ask for a Cold-Weather Throw Blanket
If you’re heading somewhere cooler, like an Alaska cruise, some cruise lines offer checkered throws or heavier blankets on request. These are a nice addition if you plan to spend time out on deck or on a chilly balcony.
Cabin Service and Timing
11. Choose Your Cabin Service Time
Several major cruise lines, including Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and I believe MSC, have shifted to once-a-day cabin service. Your cabin attendant will usually ask whether you prefer morning or evening service, and if they don’t ask, just tell them, since they’ll otherwise pick whatever time works best for their schedule.
12. Ask to Have the Sofa Bed Put Away During the Day
If you’re traveling with a third or fourth person in the cabin, a sofa bed left out all day can get in the way, especially if it blocks your path to the balcony. Ask your cabin attendant to fold it away in the morning and open it back up in the evening, and in our experience, they’re almost always happy to help, especially with a little extra tip for the added effort.
Laundry Perks
13. Check for Complimentary Laundry Perks
Depending on your cabin category, you may have complimentary bags of laundry on certain days, or free pressing, which comes in handy if you packed a dress or suit that got wrinkled in transit. Past passengers often have laundry perks too, and the details are usually buried in the paperwork left on your cabin table, so it’s worth actually reading through it.
14. Ask for a Laundry Rush
Even if you don’t write it on the laundry form, let your cabin attendant know if you need something back sooner than usual. More often than not, they’ll try to rush it for you at no extra charge, so it never hurts to ask before you commit to figuring out laundry on a cruise another way.
15. Borrow a Clothing Steamer or Iron
You can’t bring your own iron or steamer on board since they’re considered a fire hazard, but a couple of cruise lines will lend you one. Virgin Voyages will let you borrow a clothing steamer for a couple of hours, and Norwegian Cruise Line has lent us an iron and ironing board for about an hour so we could touch up our clothes.
Connecting Cabins and Balconies
16. Open the Connecting Door
If you’ve booked connecting cabins with friends or family, ask your cabin attendant on day one to unlock that connecting door between you. It doesn’t have to stay open the whole cruise, but leaving it unlocked means either side can open it whenever it’s convenient.
17. Open the Balcony Partition
If you have balcony cabins next to each other, many cruise lines will open the partition between them to create one long shared balcony. You can always close it back up yourself whenever you’d like some privacy.
18. Request Extra Balcony Furniture
If you have one of those extra-long balconies, ask for a lounge chair to be brought over, since your cabin attendant can usually add one or two. On the flip side, if you have extra furniture taking up space you don’t need, or you’re a smaller group than the chairs are set up for, you can ask for some to be removed too.
Cabin Comfort Extras
There are a surprising number of small comfort items you can ask for that most cruisers never think to request. These are some of my favorites from years of cruise hacks and tips we’ve picked up along the way.
19. Daily Ice Bucket Refill
Ask your cabin attendant to fill your ice bucket every single day, not just the first day. We’ve noticed that if a welcome bottle of wine or prosecco isn’t finished right away, the ice often melts and doesn’t get refreshed unless you specifically ask.
20. A Corkscrew
If you bring a bottle of wine on board that isn’t a screw top, ask your cabin attendant for a corkscrew rather than packing one yourself.
21. Extra Hangers
You really don’t need to pack travel hangers, since your cabin attendant can bring you extra ones. We usually ask for around ten to fifteen extra, and they typically arrive within a few hours.
22. Fresh Remote Batteries
Test your TV remote as soon as you board, since the batteries are often weak or dead. It’s much easier to sort this out on day one than to discover it while you’re trying to unwind in bed later that night.
23. Bathrobes
Many cruise lines offer bathrobes to use while you’re on board, though you can’t take them home. Just ask your cabin attendant if they aren’t already in your closet.
24. Slippers
Slippers are usually included in suites but not always in standard cabins. In our experience, asking your cabin attendant if they have any spares often works, even outside of suite categories.
25. Extra Tote Bags
If you forgot to bring a bag for the pool, ask if your cabin attendant has any leftover totes from past promotions or previous guests. They won’t always have one, but it’s worth a quick ask before you buy one on board.
26. A Tea Kettle or Coffee Maker
This one surprised me too. While sailing the Mediterranean with Princess, our cabin actually came with a tea kettle already set up, which I’d never seen before outside of Europe.
I’ve also learned that on Norwegian Cruise Line, balcony cabins and above can request a coffee maker for the room. It won’t be there automatically, so you’ll need to ask your cabin attendant directly.
27. A Paper Daily Planner
If you’d rather not rely on scanning a QR code every time you want to see tomorrow’s activities, ask for a printed daily planner. Your cabin attendant will usually leave one during turndown service.
28. A Fan for the Cabin
Cruise ships do sometimes have fans available, though the supply is limited, so ask as early as possible if you’d like one. Honestly, I’d suggest packing your own if a fan is a must for you, since you don’t want to be the one who missed out because the ship only had fifteen for the whole vessel.
If it’s something you know you’ll want, it’s worth adding to your cruise packing list ahead of time.
29. A Carafe of Still or Sparkling Water
Virgin Voyages and Oceania both provide a carafe of still and sparkling water in the cabin at no charge, which I wish every cruise line would adopt. It’s a small touch that makes the room feel a bit more like a hotel stay.
30. Empty Out the Mini Bar
Ask your cabin attendant to remove any mini bar items, snacks, or drinks that aren’t included in your package, since it can be tricky to tell the free bottles apart from the ones that cost a few extra dollars. As a bonus, this clears space in the fridge for buffet snacks or drinks you’ve actually picked up as part of your package.
Towels and Cabin Decor
31. Extra Towels, Including Pool Towels in Advance
Beyond the obvious ask for extra bath towels, you can also request pool or beach towels ahead of a port day. We like to have ours left in the cabin in advance so we’re not scrambling to track them down on a busy shore excursion morning.
32. Towel Animals: Request Them or Skip Them
Not every cruise line makes towel animals as a matter of course, and Norwegian is one that does them only some of the time. If you have kids or just love the tradition, ask your cabin attendant, and even if they can’t make one themselves, they may ask a colleague who can.
On the flip side, if you’re sailing a line that makes them regularly, like Carnival, and you’d rather skip the extra step for your attendant, it’s perfectly fine to say you don’t need them. From what cabin attendants have told me, making towel animals actually breaks up the monotony of their day, and many take real pride in the skill.
33. Extra Pillowcases for Decorative Pillows
If you want to use the decorative pillows on your bed or sofa without laying your head directly on fabric that’s rarely washed, ask for extra pillowcases to cover them. Another option is to simply ask your cabin attendant to remove the decorative pillows entirely, or tuck them under the bed yourself.
34. A Birthday or Anniversary Surprise
If you’re celebrating something special, let your cabin attendant know. It’s never guaranteed, but sometimes they’ll leave a small surprise, like a towel cake with a few candies or chocolates.
Storage and Space
35. Ask Them to Remove Extra Bedding or Furniture
If you need the storage drawer under the bed and find it’s being used to store spare bedding, ask your cabin attendant to relocate it elsewhere. The same goes for a coffee table that’s taking up more floor space than it’s worth, particularly useful if you’re traveling with young children and need the extra room.
If storage is tight in your cabin category, our cruise cabin hacks post has even more space-saving ideas worth pairing with these requests.
Requests for Families and Accessibility Needs
36. Pack and Plays, Bottle Warmers, and Diaper Disposal
Many cruise lines can provide a pack and play so you don’t have to bring one from home, though it’s always smart to confirm before you sail. On Disney, cabins can also come equipped with bottle warmers and diaper disposal units on request.
37. Medical and Accessibility Equipment
Your cabin attendant can typically provide a sharps container, a shower stool, a raised toilet seat, or a bed rail for young children. If you’re traveling with a CPAP machine, let the cruise line know in advance so they can tell you whether to bring your own extension cord or whether they’ll supply one, and you can also request distilled water be delivered to your cabin.
Cabin Issues
38. Speak Up About Cabin Issues
If something in your cabin isn’t working right, whether it’s a noisy door, a struggling air conditioner, or a toilet problem, tell your cabin attendant as soon as you notice it. They’ll either escalate it to a supervisor or call in the right person themselves, and the sooner you mention it, the sooner it gets resolved.
We once had a cabin with a sliding door that made a constant whistling noise, and reporting it right away got us a fix within the day. On another sailing, our cabin was uncomfortably warm, and after we mentioned it, someone was actually able to adjust our air conditioning remotely without even coming back to the room.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there’s a lot more available to you in your cruise cabin than most people realize, and almost all of it is free for the asking. A little politeness goes a long way here too, since not every request can be accommodated, but most cabin attendants genuinely want to help make your cruise more comfortable.
I’d love to know what you request from your cabin attendant, whether it’s on day one or partway through your sailing, so please let me know your favorites in the comments below!
Happy cruising!
Ilana