if you send your clothes to the laundry on HAL, you should read this

[Ship's Wake]

Came across this very interesting thread on the Carnival boards from a poster with excellent knowledge about how passenger clothes are laundered onboard.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1882447&highlight=laundry

 

In short, only send out clothes that you consider disposable and don't plan on keeping for awhile.

 

edit: sorry for the title misspelling

Edited July 22, 2013 by oysterdam

[NMLady]

Came across this very interesting thread on the Carnival boards from a poster with excellent knowledge about how passenger clothes are laundered onboard.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1882447&highlight=laundry

 

In short, only send out clothes that you consider disposable and don't plan on keeping for awhile.

 

If you read that entire thread you'll see how many people, who have used ship's laundry, disagree with the OP of that thread.

 

I have sent out clothes on HAL, and other cruise lines, and never had a problem.

I don't send dainties and hand-wash clothes but I do send nice clothes and they come back great. I continue to wear them, on and off the ship.

 

IMO if you have never used ship's laundry you should not be making such a strong statement on no experience of your own.

Edited July 22, 2013 by NMLady

[rafinmd]

I can't remember seeing any reports of problems on HAL laundries. I think the same possibilities would arise at any commercial laundry, including the one down the street from your house.

 

Roy

[Boytjie]

Why post this on the HAL boards if it is a supposedly Carnival issue? Why not post it on all cruise line boards?

 

We have sent clothes to the laundry on HAL and never had a problem. The few times that I have read of issues it was usually problems similar to what could happen at any laundromat/dry cleaner. Pens or lipstick left in clothes could ruin the wash? That can happen even at home.

[1of4]

I don't see the issue. Of course the laundry has to be kept together in a mesh bag otherwise it would be impossible. Of course they are commercial machines...this all is just common sense.

 

We use HAL "stuff a bag as full as you can" for a family of 4 and will do so again. We got everything back, even underwear, all nicely folded and ready to wear again.

 

Heck, I wish I had such service at home....but I tend to get grouchy when people hand me bags of dirty clothes....:D

[RuthC]

I've used the HAL laundry several times, and have been pleased.

Now, I would not send out my evening clothes, but the daywear? Sure. It goes, and returns fresh, clean, and in perfect condition.

Does that mean I will never have a problem? Of course not. But I will continue to play the odds and use the ship's laundry so long as they offer it.

[sail7seas]

Through the years, I have sent our barrels of clothes to HAL laundries and have been very well pleased with the service.

 

I use common sense and don't send something very delicate or needs particularly careful processing. I save those items for my local cleaner.

 

I would highly recommend anyone who wishes to use HAL laundry service but exercise good judgment.

 

[aliaschief]

Never had a problem with Hal laundry/dry cleaning service.

 

One cruiser who took a ships tour even reported the laundry crew reads the clothes labels and washes according to instructions.

 

Thanks for the article but I don't believe it applies to Holland America.

[OlsSalt]

I have had nothing but 100% excellent results from HAL laundry services. We saw the facilities during our back stage tour and the level of individual care each piece gets.

 

Since each piece is handled and labeled with an ID tag any offending items left in pockets would be removed at that point. The facilities were large, open and well-lighted with a pretty happy crew greeted us at every stage in the process.

 

Yes, we know this is a large scale operation and do not expect premium treatment for more delicate items, but in no way does it resembles this planted horror story presented. Not sure what their agenda was.

[startwin]

Had a problem once, last year. One of DH's dress shirts came back with a big, brown stain all down the front. One of our fellow cruisers, who has a history in the dry-cleaning/laundry industry, told me it was a cleaning chemical. Anyway, it went back through the system several times, and ended up being a very faint, brown stain. Best they could do. The shirt ended up in the garbage. But everything else came back fine.

[Ship's Wake]

The ship's laundry is what it is:

 

all clothes washed in very hot water, all colors mixed together, harsher chemicals than regular laundry detergent.

 

Bet most of us don't wash our clothes that way at home, especially the items that indicate to wash in cold water on a gentle cycle. I for one don't wash my fairly new denim jeans with my light colored clothes.

Edited July 22, 2013 by oysterdam

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am careful what I send to the laundry.

One time one of DH's polo shirts went missing and I was asked to describe it -- I couldn't. Eventually he got the shirt back.

But now I take a picture of everything that is sent out.

[arewethereyet]

Through the years, I have sent our barrels of clothes to HAL laundries and have been very well pleased with the service.

I use common sense and don't send something very delicate or needs particularly careful processing. I save those items for my local cleaner.

I would highly recommend anyone who wishes to use HAL laundry service but exercise good judgment.

 

^^^ All of this. I've been doing my own laundry at home since about 1980. DW and I do our wash separately. I've become somewhat particular due to the experience gained through my own mistakes over the years. So, aboard ship, I just select what I want to risk at the laundry carefully. After many cruises, I've never had a problem with HAL laundry either. Some things I wash by hand, and others get thrown away after one wearing.

[arewethereyet]

I am careful what I send to the laundry.

 

One time one of DH's polo shirts went missing and I was asked to describe it -- I couldn't. Eventually he got the shirt back.

 

But now I take a picture of everything that is sent out.

Do you have a photo album dedicated to shipboard laundered items? ;):)

[sail7seas]

The ship's laundry is what it is:

 

all clothes washed in very hot water, all colors mixed together, harsher chemicals than regular laundry detergent.

 

Bet most of us don't wash our clothes that way at home, especially the items that indicate to wash in cold water on a gentle cycle. I for one don't wash my fairly new denim jeans with my light colored clothes.

 

I don't wash any fairly new denim..... it goes to our dry cleaner at home. :)

 

 

 

 

^^^ All of this. I've been doing my own laundry at home since about 1980. DW and I do our wash separately. I've become somewhat particular due to the experience gained through my own mistakes over the years. So, aboard ship, I just select what I want to risk at the laundry carefully. After many cruises, I've never had a problem with HAL laundry either. Some things I wash by hand, and others get thrown away after one wearing.

 

 

I hand wash my dainties in the sink using the provided shampoo. If it is gentle enough to wash my hair, it is gentle enough to wash my lingerie.:) The pull out laundry line over the tub comes in handy.

[Donray]

This is true at any place you send cloths to be washed and ironed. Yet millions do this every day.

[OlsSalt]

Scratching my head here. Did we not just have a thread about dirty, dingy sheets and towels coming out of HAL ships laundries? Now we have nuclear strength laundry complaints that shred blue jeans into battered oblivion. Oy, I am on vacation. I will have to send out my worrying about all of this too in my cabin's blue bag.

[S1drfl]

We were on a Baltic cruise on the Amsterdam in 2006. The airline "lost" all our luggage (one day baggage handlers' strike), it did not catch up to us until day 5. HAL was great - they gave us free same day service for laundry, so we wore one change of clothes while the other was being washed. My polo shirt went through their system 3 times in that period. Have worn the same shirt to work every other week from May through Octomber since then. Still in fine shape. Also still have the other short sleeved shirt on vacation with me now and one pair of pants is at home. Can't remember the other pair of pants, but may still have those.

[lovetocruise2020]

HAL is the only ships laundry i have ever used. It has always been fantastic.

The dry cleaning? Perfect enough to do my wedding dress 3 times.

They take great care in everything.

 

But heck, i wash everything on super hot to kill germs, then stretch the cotton items and hang dry in the laundry room.

 

We dry clean jeans, linen etc.

[LDVinNC]

We too have been very satisfied with HAL's laundry service. Love the nice folding in a basket with tissue paper!

[Boytjie]

The ship's laundry is what it is:

 

all clothes washed in very hot water, all colors mixed together, harsher chemicals than regular laundry detergent.

 

Bet most of us don't wash our clothes that way at home, especially the items that indicate to wash in cold water on a gentle cycle. I for one don't wash my fairly new denim jeans with my light colored clothes.

 

And you know this for a fact?

Edited July 22, 2013 by Boytjie

[Linda&Vern]

The ship's laundry is what it is:

 

all clothes washed in very hot water, all colors mixed together, harsher chemicals than regular laundry detergent.

 

Bet most of us don't wash our clothes that way at home, especially the items that indicate to wash in cold water on a gentle cycle. I for one don't wash my fairly new denim jeans with my light colored clothes.

Can I asked who told you that? Or is it based on personal experience? I guarantee if all the shirts that DH sends to HAL's laundry were washed in hot water ... he would be shirtless by the end of a cruise ... nothing would fit.

Edited July 22, 2013 by Linda&Vern

[sail7seas]

Can I asked who told you that? Or is it based on personal experience? I guarantee if all the shirts that DH sends to HAL's laundry were washed in hot water ... he would be shirtless by the end of a cruise ... nothing would fit.

 

 

I also question this about the hot water.

 

Also, in the days when HAL Officers wore whites in warm weather regions, no one had whiter whites than those Officers' uniforms. If HAL laundries were washing all the clothes together no matter colors/whites, there is no way those uniforms could be so sparkling white. Whites have to be washed with whites only. :)

[Rowsby]

The only thing we didn't send to the laundry was our formal wear.......

Everything came back perfect.........

[Esri]

I don't have a huge amount of experience with sending my clothes out to be laundered anywhere, but on our Alaska cruise we used HAL's laundry service and found it quite satisfactory.

 

I would like to comment on the post linked to by the OP though. The writer states, as a fact, that the laundry personnel wait until they have a full load and then OVERLOAD (emphasis mine) the washers above their capacity. Commercial washers or not, the worst thing you can do to your washer or dryer is to overload it. Doing so constantly drastically cuts short the life of your appliance. I guarantee you that if it were standard practice to overload expensive commercial washers & dryers in this day of constant cost-cutting, somebody would be losing their job!

 

That statement alone made me disregard everything else the writer had to say. If he's wrong about one thing, he's probably wrong about other things.