Doing laundry on a cruise

[sloopsailor]

We do pretty much the same.

 

One pops a load in.

 

Make sure we are back a few minutes before it ends, into the dryer, same back a few minutes early out of dryer.

 

Done and dusted, must take abut 5 minutes each.

 

I won't say we wouldn't cruise without laundry, but for a longer cruise just makes it so much easier, and havng an iron available ... priceless.

 

Whenever I hear someone claim it takes only 5 minutes to do their laundry I shudder at the thought at how crumpled their clothes must look when they wear them. The only way I can do my laundry in 5 minutes or less is if I just dump it into a dresser drawer without folding after I take it out of the dryer. Personally, I like my clothes to not only be clean, but also not look like I pulled them from the bottom of a pile on the floor. :p

Edited June 30, 2015 by sloopsailor

[Senoj84]

I use the laundry facilities on the ship, it's cheaper and I prefer doing my own laundry.

[RuthC]

I take long cruises, so laundry definitely has to be done while I'm gone. Generally, several times.

I also qualify for free laundry on my cruiseline of choice. So, I'm perfectly happy sending out my daywear, undies, and swimsuit cover-up.

 

However, for evening clothes, I won't trust the ship to do them properly. If the ship has a self-service laundry, I'm pleased that I can do those nicer clothes the way I want them done (warm water, cooler dryer). If the ship doesn't have a self-service laundry, then I have to take sufficient evening wear that I don't need to wash them. Fortunately, those clothes aren't likely to get dirty over the course of a long cruise.

 

I refuse to wash by hand.

[Slugsta]

I wash my smalls in the bathroom washbasin most days, if we are going to be on board for more than about 1 week, hubby goes along to the self-service laundry. It is not essential to us that the ship has one, but it is something we take into consideration.

[port msp]

I wash out a few things every other night or so on every cruise. Underwear, socks, swim suits, pool coverups, t-shirts, workout clothes, etc. I've found this works well; http://www.thescrubba.com/

It doubles as a dry bag for day trips to the beach. Along with a few packets of Woolite and a travel clothes line (as some ships no longer have them in the showers). The bag and the clothesline pack up to a bundle the size of my fist. The packets of Woolite go in my 3-1-1 bag. A couple towels to roll the clothes in to get out the excess water, about ten minutes of work before I go to bed, and we have fresh clothes in the morning. Easy peasy. It also allows us to pack light, which means carryon bags and no waiting at luggage carousels for bags that might show up damaged, or not at all.

We've also sent out a few things for washing and pressing when needed. I've read horror stories about clothing being wrecked by ship's laundry, but have been lucky the handful of times we've used the service.

[BullDawg91]

My husband will iron his dress clothes on a cruise in the laundry facilities/ironing rooms. I did laundry once while hanging out with a sick kid in the cabin. Except for those two situations, we don't care about laundry.

 

On the last cruise, I really intended to send out the bag-o-laundry, but couldn't even be bothered to do that.

 

It is not a deal breaker either way to have self serve laundry facilities.

[cruznjan]

I wash my underwear in the sink. Our upcoming cruise has self-service launderettes, so we'll probably make use of them on a 15 day cruise.

[perditax]

I just returned from my first 7 day cruise. The "don't overpack" advice bit me in the butt pretty hard and I didn't have enough clothes. NCL, no self serve laundry and I didn't want them nuking my stuff in the dryers. I leaned sink washing in a hurry. :) did the towel-roll thing, found out where the air flow was in the cabin, etc. I wouldn't want to do it as a regular thing but it was an adventure and a good travel skill.

[emmtee]

I just returned from my first 7 day cruise. The "don't overpack" advice bit me in the butt pretty hard and I didn't have enough clothes. NCL, no self serve laundry and I didn't want them nuking my stuff in the dryers. I leaned sink washing in a hurry. :) did the towel-roll thing, found out where the air flow was in the cabin, etc. I wouldn't want to do it as a regular thing but it was an adventure and a good travel skill.

 

LOL! On one cruise, I brought enough clothes, but I didn't plan my outfits very well. It turns out that I had a couple of pairs of pants that didn't go with any of my tops except one white one. I washed out that top two or three times on that trip, and I later realized that I'm wearing it in nearly all my port pictures. Based on my photos, it looks like I only wore one shirt for the entire cruise. :o

[GUT2407]

LOL! On one cruise, I brought enough clothes, but I didn't plan my outfits very well. It turns out that I had a couple of pairs of pants that didn't go with any of my tops except one white one. I washed out that top two or three times on that trip, and I later realized that I'm wearing it in nearly all my port pictures. Based on my photos, it looks like I only wore one shirt for the entire cruise. :o

 

One cruise nearly all my port photos had what looked like the same shirt.

 

Because it was.

 

I had taken 3 casual shirts thinking we could wash them out.

 

One got ripped and it just happened I was in the same one each port ady.

 

In all honesty who cares but then I am male.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Some items we send out and delicate items I wash myself.

[Drenthe]

We are doing a relocation cruise this fall on a ship without self-laundry facilities. Normally its cruises are shorter but is moving from the Med to the Caribbean, so 16 nights with some stops. Hate to admit it, but this potential problem is frustrating me. We don't want to take tons of clothing, so will handwash undies and hang in the shower, and take a small amount of detergent to use for attacking spots promptly.

 

Still, wondering how using the ship's laundry service works on larger items when necessary.