Washing!

[OzKiwiJJ]

Perhaps you need one of those kid cords (back pack for child with a leash). My mother had the leash things on my brother and I when we were small (45 years ago), it stopped us escaping:p

 

My mother used to use child "reins" on me when I was young (60 years ago). I used to think they were fun, and they certainly stopped me from wandering off by myself.

 

I think they went out of fashion for many years. Some parents think it cruel to restrain children. I'm starting to see them around shopping centres again but not nearly as frequent as is needed *dodges yet another toddler running full tilt forwards while looking backwards at mum*. :eek:

Edited February 5, 2015 by OzKiwiJJ

[MicCanberra]

My mother used to use child "reins" on me when I was young (60 years ago). I used to think they were fun, and they certainly stopped me from wandering off by myself.

 

I think they went out of fashion for many years. Some parents think it cruel to restrain children. I'm starting to see them around shopping centres again but not nearly as frequent as is needed *dodges yet another toddler running full tilt forwards while looking backwards at mum*. :eek:

 

They have made a come back for sure, the child wears a backpack that is actually a animal type character of some sort (e.g. a monkey with a long tail) and it has the lead of around 1.5 metres.

[Esilef]

They have made a come back for sure, the child wears a backpack that is actually a animal type character of some sort (e.g. a monkey with a long tail) and it has the lead of around 1.5 metres.

 

 

We call it tail but he never got used to it. We have a couple of months to work on him before the cruise. I should have placed him in his harness years ago.

 

 

 

 

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[clairebearinaus]

Sorry OP, I have a related question - can I trust the ship's laundry not to super-heat my clothes and shrink them?

[MicCanberra]

Sorry OP, I have a related question - can I trust the ship's laundry not to super-heat my clothes and shrink them?

 

Welcome to cruise critic. :D

I have found all my clothes have shrunk and feel much tighter at the end of a cruise even when they did not see the laundry.

Which ship, I have used X's laundry and have had no issues, on other ships like Princess, there was a self service laundry, so we did a load ourselves.:D

[clairebearinaus]

Thanks for the welcome :)

 

It's a Princess cruise, and we are near a laundry but I thought a service wash would be nice holiday treat. There are better ways to spend my time, like, as you say, shrinking my clothes in other ways :D

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for the welcome :)

 

It's a Princess cruise, and we are near a laundry but I thought a service wash would be nice holiday treat. There are better ways to spend my time, like, as you say, shrinking my clothes in other ways :D

 

I know what you mean, unfortunately, I haven't used Princess's laundry so cannot comment one way or the other. Perhaps try your query on the Princess forum. Enjoy.:D

Edited February 6, 2015 by MicCanberra

[ozziepost]

We tend to avoid using the self service laundries on board due the possibility of problems with other passengers and just rinse our clothes out in the bathroom. If you use the ships laundry make certain you stay there until the clothes have been washed and dried.

 

We have heard stories about passengers fighting over washing machines and driers and on one trip saw a group get kicked off the ship at Mystery Island as a result of a dispute in the laundry of one of the P&O ships that got completely out of hand!!! Yep over a washing machine or drier.

 

 

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[MicCanberra]

We tend to avoid using the self service laundries on board due the possibility of problems with other passengers and just rinse our clothes out in the bathroom. If you use the ships laundry make certain you stay there until the clothes have been washed and dried.

 

We have heard stories about passengers fighting over washing machines and driers and on one trip saw a group get kicked off the ship at Mystery Island as a result of a dispute in the laundry of one of the P&O ships that got completely out of hand!!! Yep over a washing machine or drier.

 

 

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I can believe it. Like some people and deck chairs:eek:

[ozziepost]

That particular incident happened on the old Pacific Sun 14 night trip in mid 2010. They actually had a light plane land on the island to fly them to the nearest port. Quite a few people apparently got booted off the ship for various reasons on that trip. Besides those sort of issues it was one of the best we have done.

 

 

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[Aussieflyer]

Great feedback!

 

To answer a question. The reason why I can only take a back pack is that my 6 yr old is serverly autistic. Hubby is off on the Kokoda trek & I'm travelling alone.

 

My son is a runner & follows no rules. He will take off on me so I need to have my running shoes on at all times and my hands free. Yes I need to learn how to rugby tackle him. He is non verbal.

 

He broke into the colosseum in rome when he was 3. I had no choice but to chase him into there which meant pushing passed tourists & security guards and ducking under barriers. I got to him but it wasn't easy. Security were so shocked they let us go (wish they would have apprehended the bugger so I didn't have to run). This is why I take no chances in having normal luggage. He will have his own mini backpack to slow him down.

 

 

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Thanks for the clarification Esilef. That explains why - get rid of your backpack at the earliest opportunity (drop off as checked luggage), then you will be more able to move quickly if needed.

If I were you I would send some laundry out - in the scheme of things it will make it so much easier if you don't need to spend time washing. Small light things are easy to get dry even in an inside cabin. Have a great cruise.

[Esilef]

Thanks for the clarification Esilef. That explains why - get rid of your backpack at the earliest opportunity (drop off as checked luggage), then you will be more able to move quickly if needed.

 

If I were you I would send some laundry out - in the scheme of things it will make it so much easier if you don't need to spend time washing. Small light things are easy to get dry even in an inside cabin. Have a great cruise.

 

 

I agree that I will need to get some done sometime during the cruise but a 6 year old boy can certainly churn through his clothes. At least on a cruiseship he can't find a thing of mud to play in!

 

We have cruised with royal prior (with hubby) so I know the drop off luggage process (look for the big white tent at the dock. Have luggage tags all on bag, ect. Royal has promised me priority boarding ie no need to queue.

 

Last time I found the ships staff and the staff at the dock to be excellent with my son. They guided use through as quickly as possible.

 

I spoke to hubby tonight and we are going to use these couple of months until the cruise to work really hard on our sons behaviour. We may even invest in a harness for special needs kids but I don't want him to look like he is in a straight jack & have others judge us. He is such a happy child exploring the world I just need to be able to keep up with him.

 

 

 

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[Esilef]

Travelling with an autistic child maybe totally crazy but these kids get so much out of travelling.

 

On our last cruise we had many loverly people offer assistance as did the staff. There is some wonderful people out there.

 

 

 

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[dizzy1948]

I know what you mean, unfortunately, I haven't used Princess's laundry so cannot comment one way or the other. Perhaps try your query on the Princess forum. Enjoy.:D

 

We have used the Princess laundry - pretty good - but you can get killed in the rush :eek: If you can do your smalls in your stateroom - do that. If you can buy cheap and cheerful "T"s etc on shore - do that. I'm sure we've all done that at some time or another. But the laundry on princess is good for sure - go very early or very late. Change machines, powder, dryers, ironing board. I think a wash is $2.00 and dryer is the same - powder is $2.00 - good value really.

Edited February 6, 2015 by dizzy1948

[Trekker954]

Sorry OP, I have a related question - can I trust the ship's laundry not to super-heat my clothes and shrink them?

 

No, you cannot trust that. People have complained about this issue. I wouldn't put anything in there that might shrink or bleed.

[MicCanberra]

We have used the Princess laundry - pretty good - but you can get killed in the rush :eek: If you can do your smalls in your stateroom - do that. If you can buy cheap and cheerful "T"s etc on shore - do that. I'm sure we've all done that at some time or another. But the laundry on princess is good for sure - go very early or very late. Change machines, powder, dryers, ironing board. I think a wash is $2.00 and dryer is the same - powder is $2.00 - good value really.

 

Great info but they wanted to know about the ship's laundry service not the self service laundry on board.:D

Edited February 6, 2015 by MicCanberra

[Esilef]

Great info but they wanted to know about the ship's laundry service not the self service laundry on board.:D

 

 

I wish rci had self service laundries on board. It's one thing other ships have over them.

 

 

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[GUT2407]

I take a scrubba wash bag - works well especially when you only have a shower - plus a small bottle of liquid clothes wash. The scrubba is expensive though and only worth it if you travel a lot - an alternative is a very large snap lock bag. Agree with all of the other comments - especially using towels to wring out most of the water and hanging damp clothes in the closet. They usually have a special on RCI ships mid cruise where you get a bag of tshirts, undies, pjs, shorts, socks washed for $30 dollars. If you are careful about how you fill the bag you will be amazed at how much you can fit in!

 

 

My sis camps a lot and she's got one of the "Scrubba bags" loves it, mght borrow t off her next cruise.

[GUT2407]

Perhaps you need one of those kid cords (back pack for child with a leash). My mother had the leash things on my brother and I when we were small (45 years ago), it stopped us escaping:p

 

 

I bet she ended up wishing she hadn't used it and you had escaped, but not your brother of course:p

[GUT2407]

Sorry OP, I have a related question - can I trust the ship's laundry not to super-heat my clothes and shrink them?

 

 

I wouldn't send anything out that was likely to shrink, they will go through what is to all intents and purposes an industrial washer dryer. Fine for general cotton and the such no such a good idea for woolens and dedicates.

[Esilef]

I wouldn't send anything out that was likely to shrink, they will go through what is to all intents and purposes an industrial washer dryer. Fine for general cotton and the such no such a good idea for woolens and dedicates.

 

 

The general rule in packing is if you don't want to loose it don't take it. Same as sending out washing.

 

I'm thinking of buying a scrubba bag. At $65 might be an easy & good solution.

 

 

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[GUT2407]

The general rule in packing is if you don't want to loose it don't take it. Same as sending out washing.

 

I'm thinking of buying a scrubba bag. At $65 might be an easy & good solution.

 

 

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The proviso is I'm not sure how it will go with delicates either.

[dizzy1948]

Great info but they wanted to know about the ship's laundry service not the self service laundry on board.:D

 

Oh whoops..............that'll teach me to read louder :o

[OzKiwiJJ]

We have used the Princess laundry - pretty good - but you can get killed in the rush :eek: If you can do your smalls in your stateroom - do that. If you can buy cheap and cheerful "T"s etc on shore - do that. I'm sure we've all done that at some time or another. But the laundry on princess is good for sure - go very early or very late. Change machines, powder, dryers, ironing board. I think a wash is $2.00 and dryer is the same - powder is $2.00 - good value really.

 

Tokens were $3 each (wash or dry) on Sun Princess over Christmas. We found the best time was on a port day before the crowds got back onboard - we went ashore in the morning then came back onboard for lunch.

 

We had no problems apart from one chap who was incensed that DH had not got back exactly when the washing machine stopped. We'd set an alarm on one of our phones for five minutes less than the time stated on the washing machine but the machine had finished (probably by only a minute or less) when DH got to the laundry. Actually DH noticed that the times shown on the machines were always longer than actual so if you don't want to sit there and wait, make sure you get back in plenty of time.

[Aussieflyer]

Sounds like you have your organisation down to a fine art Elisef. Glad to hear/read that RCI will give you priority boarding so you do not have to queue. That'd be hell with a little boy who wants to explore everything apace and it's not something I do well either. Took adult daughter for a sampler cruise once - after about half an hour waiting she announced "bored now" and never did take to cruising!