Every cruise ship has its own unique decorations and interior design style, but did you know that you can add your own personal touch to your stateroom door?
Cabin door decorating is a fun and popular activity that adds to the excitement of a cruise vacation and helps passengers feel more at home onboard.
I’ve personally gotten joy out of seeing the unique displays across cruise lines, including MSC Cruises, Disney Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, and Carnival Cruise Line.
But if you’re going to decorate your cabin door on your next sailing, here is what you need to know first.
In This Article:
Why Do People Decorate Their Cabin Doors?
Aside from the fact that it is simply a fun activity, many cruise guests love to decorate their cabin door because it helps them identify which stateroom is their home away from home.
The hallways and doors usually look identical onboard cruise ships, so it can be easy to get lost when looking for your specific accommodations.
While some may argue that guests should be able to remember their cabin number or can look it up in the cruise line’s smartphone app, not everyone has memories of steel or actually has access to a cruise line app.
When I was a kid cruising with my parents, I didn’t have a cellphone and was allowed to walk myself to and from the kids’ clubs and our staterooms.
My cruise card also didn’t show our cabin number so that no one else would be able to access our stateroom in the event that the card was lost or stolen – which happens more often than you’d think.
On more than one occasion, I ended up in tears because I was lost and some nice crew members had to intervene to help me find my stateroom again.
After the third incident of this, we started decorating our cruise cabin doors so I always knew when I found the right one.
My mom once had custom magnets made with our names on them, so there was no chance of mistaken identity.
On a more fun note, some people decorate their cabin doors to commemorate a celebration, such as a milestone birthday or anniversary.
When I took a Carnival cruise as my bachelorette party before I got married, my bridesmaids decorated the door so there was no doubt from passersby on which cabin the bride was staying in.
Another reason cruise guests love to decorate their doors is to stay connected with other members of their travel party who may be staying in a different stateroom.
These vacationers will get decorations that match to show they are all sailing as part of the same group, and/or will get whiteboards or magnetic chalkboards to leave fun messages for each other.
Decor-Related Gift Exchanges
Some cruisers don’t just decorate their doors for themselves or their friends, but also to indicate to other guests that they want to be included if there is a gift exchange during their sailing.
These gift exchanges are often spontaneous or are organized by passengers – not the cruise line – in social media groups ahead of their cruises.
While these exchanges do happen onboard cruise lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line, they are most common onboard Disney Cruise Line.
There is a small fish on the wall outside of every cabin on a Disney Cruise ship, which has a little slot where crew members can leave things like letters and luggage tags for the guests staying inside.
Some guests add what they call fish extenders, which are usually personally decorated fabric holders with multiple pockets, to show that they want to be or have already signed up to be part of the onboard gift exchange.
Those who participate will leave small gifts and trinkets for another cruise guest (or several) with fish extenders, and will return to their own cruise cabin to find little surprises of their own throughout their sailing.
During one of the multiple times I cruised onboard Disney Magic, one very generous guest left a limited edition Disney pin in my fish extender.
More commonly, cruisers gift easy-to-pack and affordable trinkets like magnets, stickers, key chains, or small toys.
I’ve also seen anonymous ornament exchanges take place during holiday cruises.
What are the Rules for Decorating Your Stateroom Door?
As a disclaimer, rules regarding door decorating may vary by cruise line and can change at any time.
We always recommend checking with your specific cruise line as embarkation day approaches to receive current information.
Now that we have that out of the way, it’s true that most of the mainstream cruise lines do allow cabin door decor within certain parameters.
First, door decor usually must be made from fire-retardant materials. It cannot obstruct the hallway or bleed into the door frame or onto doors belonging to other passengers for obvious safety reasons.
They also cannot do any damage to the doors, meaning decorations cannot be attached with tape, nails, or adhesives like glue or removable gels.
Some cruise lines do not even allow command strips, which can be risky to use as removing them incorrectly can leave behind residue or cause damage.
For these reasons, flame-retardant magnets or adding magnetic tape to non-magnetized decorations are usually the most popular choices among cruisers.
However, keep in mind that not every cruise ship has magnetic doors, so command strips might be the only viable option in those cases (if the cruise line allows them).
Are Any Door Decorations Not Allowed?
As an obvious answer, door decorations must be family-friendly.
Guests may be asked to take down decorations that are too offensive or vulgar, or may come back to their stateroom to find that the crew members have already taken the liberty of removing them.
Carnival Cruise Line allows door decorating, but has banned the use of upside down pineapple imagery because of its hidden meaning within the swinging community.
This isn’t so much because the cruise line condemns the swinging lifestyle – consenting adults may do as they wish – but because it might lead to awkward or uncomfortable situations for a passenger who might not know what the symbol really means.
As of the time of publication, only two of the mainstream cruise lines ban the practice of door decorating outright.
Norwegian Cruise Line does not allow the activity because the decorations used might pose a fire hazard.
“For everyone’s safety, Norwegian Cruise Line does not allow any type of door decorations, including paper or magnetic ones, due to their flammable nature. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation with our safety policy,” reads the NCL website.
Virgin Voyages, which is an adults-only brand, does not allow door decorating because of the wear and tear it may cause on its Lady ships over time.
“We think our Lady ships look fabulous as they are, and door decorations inevitably lead to unsightly damage,” Virgin Voyages’ policy states.
Based on the chatter on cruise forums and Reddit, how much these policies are enforced varies across sailings.
But if you choose to decorate your door when the practice has been banned, you are doing so at your own risk. Cruise Hive never encourages rule-breaking.
Inspiration for Decorating Stateroom Doors
Decorating your stateroom door is a fun activity, and it’s worth getting in on the excitement at least once if your cruise line of choice allows it.
When we don’t feel like putting in too much effort, my family likes putting up a simple whiteboard to ease our communication onboard (especially before the days of Starlink internet).
“I put up a cheap magnetic dry erase board and wrote stupid punny jokes with a little drawing each day. It was fun and some people even wrote that they enjoyed reading them each day,” one person wrote online, proving my family isn’t alone in loving this idea.
We once had a custom magnet made with our first names and to show what we were celebrating, which was a fun touch.
When we returned home from our vacation, this became part of our fridge decorations.
But if you go this route, I recommend leaving off last names and other private information, such as phone numbers, that you might not want other guests to have.
Some cruisers also make their own DIY decorations, which is a very affordable way to participate in the activity.
“My second Disney cruise, I printed out lots of paper stuff, laminated and cut them, and then stuck magnets on the back. I have a magnet for Royal with my name and crown & anchor level,” one person shared on Reddit.
Read Also: 12 Ways to Get the Best Out of Your First Cruise
Others had more creative ideas to fit the season or to get a chuckle out of their fellow passengers.
“For our holiday cruise I had garden flags (from Amazon $5) saying Merry Christmas & put up dollar store stockings. For new years I put up a flag. During the college bowl games I had a college flag up,” one person said.
“At a car show, we got some magnetic poetry, a few of the words are Toyota themes, but the rest are normal. We put that on our door and it was a hit, lots of people saying they found it fun while walking past,” added another cruise fan.
As you can see, the only limit is really your own imagination when it comes to door decorating.
With just a little bit of thought, your door can really be an expression of your personal identity and excitement.
Happy decorating!
