Laundry Question

[Lovely other]

As it seems there will be no self-service laundry on the Koningsdam I may be left with no choice but to use the onboard laundry service, as our pre-cruise plans of 15 days around Europe on a train limit our packing amount somewhat.

 

Having not use this service before I wondered if anyone could answer a couple of queries ..

 

1. If you ask for items to be washed on a 30 degree wash, will they be? I am an hourglass shaped girl, if my clothes shrank in the wash they would be a nightmare to replace ...

 

2. Do they press things like jeans? I have nightmare images of jeans returning with pressed crease lines down the front of the legs

 

Any help to calm my poor odd mind appreciated ...

[rkacruiser]

Laundry done at a specific wash/dry temperature, I am not sure that is possible. I also have been concerned about such inasmuch as I am rather particular as to how I like my shirts done. At home, I wash them in cold water, maybe warm at times, with a low dry cycle. All of my shirts that I have sent to the ship's laundry have been returned properly done. No complaints.

 

I don't wear jeans. Cannot answer that. But what pressing is done is done well. But, they used to press socks and underwear and that seems not being done anymore.

 

In 2002, I had a pair of polyester/cotton pants washed and they were returned shrunk. That is the only thing that I have had that was poorly done.

 

Dry cleaning service has been 100% perfect when I have used it.

[xlxo]

Any help to calm my poor odd mind appreciated ...

1. Wear them front
   
2. Wear them back
   
3. Go inside-out
   
4. then go front and back
   
5. repeat!
   

 

[MissShelllly]

They iron jeans but there is no crease down the front.

 

I've never asked for a specific temperature so I can't help with that.

 

Michelle.

[kazu]

I have circled items and marked cold water please and then put a note in the special instructions. So far, so good :). If something is really precious, I request it be dry cleaned. So far so good. Oh, and my jeans have all been fine ;)

Edited February 17, 2016 by kazu

[Krazy Kruizers]

The ships have industrial size washing machines -- hot water wash.

Same thing with drying -- industrial size machines -- dry on hot.

So you do need to be careful what you send out.

After having 4 of DH's polyester golf shirts ruins -- 2 on one ship and 2 on another ship -- I now have no choice but to hand wash his shirts.

Do as mush laundry as you can before you get on the ship. That way you may not have to send out as much. Surely one of your hotels will have a laundry room.

[lastlook]

We've had good luck with sending things out by the bag and it has always been $20 per bag in our case, including Europe. However, I hand wash anything delicate. The only thing that ever came back with a problem was a new white camisole that was returned a dingy gray. I now specify cold water wash for most of our clothing to guard against shrinking and fading. No creases in jeans. Everything is returned either on hangers or nicely folded in a basket with tissue (you can specify your preference.)

[teamflames]

The ships have industrial size washing machines -- hot water wash.

Same thing with drying -- industrial size machines -- dry on hot.

So you do need to be careful what you send out.

After having 4 of DH's polyester golf shirts ruins -- 2 on one ship and 2 on another ship -- I now have no choice but to hand wash his shirts.

 

 

Lucky man! I wouldn't even dare ask my DW [emoji3]

 

 

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[teamflames]

Oh and op are you leaving from Amsterdam? We found a hotel with a self use laundry, I will try and find the name and revert

 

 

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[Lovely other]

Oh and op are you leaving from Amsterdam? We found a hotel with a self use laundry, I will try and find the name and revert

 

 

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We are leaving from Civitavecchia but travelling from England to Slovenia, Austria and Italy. Didn't fancy spending an afternoon in a laundrette in Italy tbh ...

[Lovely other]

The ships have industrial size washing machines -- hot water wash.

Same thing with drying -- industrial size machines -- dry on hot.

So you do need to be careful what you send out.

After having 4 of DH's polyester golf shirts ruins -- 2 on one ship and 2 on another ship -- I now have no choice but to hand wash his shirts.

Do as mush laundry as you can before you get on the ship. That way you may not have to send out as much. Surely one of your hotels will have a laundry room.

 

I don't think I have ever seen a laundry room in a hotel before ...not that we are staying in any. Bed and breakfasts for us ...

[teamflames]

We are leaving from Civitavecchia but travelling from England to Slovenia, Austria and Italy. Didn't fancy spending an afternoon in a laundrette in Italy tbh ...

 

 

We are training over 6 weeks from Romania to Amsterdam so are going to have a very similar problem. We are hand washing experts haha but want a nice clean set before going on a cruise.

We often try hostels and find washing services in them. We also like laundromats, they can be fun people watching / meeting.

Of all the places we have been in the world (a lot of developing countries) the USA had the best and cheapest laundry facilities.

Will be interesting to see what the koningsdam offers, a lot of unknowns at the moment

 

 

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[SFO Peter]

In my experience cold water requests are ignored. We spoke to an engineer at our table recently and he did confirm that your laundry as well as others are placed in separate bags and washed in big machines. I suspect the laundry is washed in hot water to kill all the germs! This makes sense when you think of it. So now even though I get free laundry I think twice about sending out things like shirts or trousers to the laundry.

[AZNative2000]

To the OP ...

 

If you are staying in B+Bs, you may be able to negotiate with (bribe) your hosts to get laundry done, depending on how long you stay in each place.

 

On the ship: With our seventh HAL cruise on the horizon, we have never (jinx?:eek:) had a problem with laundry. Slacks, shirts, and even jeans have all been returned just fine. If they were washing in all hot water, this would not be the case. You can ask for wash-and-fold or have your items returned on hangers.

 

On past CC threads, we have heard from folks who took the "behind the scenes tour" and watched the laundry folks at work. They talked about the crew doing their best to follow all specific washing instructions as well as using both cold and hot water washes. (No exact temperatures mentioned.)

 

Cheers!

Edited February 18, 2016 by AZNative2000

[Moriah]

This is interesting. I wish we could get a definitive answer as to the cold water wash question, but FROM MY EXPERIENCE on about 25 HAL cruises (and I always send at least one bag of laundry even on 7 day cruises - I like to pack as light as possible, and re-wear my favorites/most appropriate) - I just can't believe they ignore my written request to wash in cold water. The reason i say this is that ALL of my laundry has always come back perfect! T-shirts that at home I would never touch with hot water, dresses, jeans, everything - since at home I always wash clothes in cold water except in rare cases of a lot of soil - I request the same when sending laundry on the ship. So either they ARE honoring my request and washing in cold (or at least not VERY HOT?) water, OR I am deluding myself and it would make no difference if I washed in hot at home! (Does this make sense?) Bottom line, my clothes come back perfect. And it seems to me that as recently as September on Volendam, which was my most recent cruise, they were still ironing underwear and socks :)

[SFO Peter]

This is just a question - not to get anyone's dander up.

Lets say I am sick (although have never got sick - knock on wood). How would they prevent my laundry with germs to infect others if washed in cold water together with other cabins laundry in cold water? Chemicals? I believe it is wishful thinking that HAL Laundry will cater to individual needs with reduced staffing.

Edited February 18, 2016 by SFO PETER

[Lovely other]

Thank you all for your very insightful answers.

 

Talking to my hubby he is favouring the hand wash for some things and laundry for others ...

 

I forgot to mention that the most important reason we can't take a chance on losing any clothing through shrinkage is we can't buy any new clothes for a year :eek:...we have made a pact to not purchase anything and give the money we save to a charity providing coats and boots to the homeless. We both love fashion and normally treat ourselves to new clothes constantly through the year so this is a big challenge for us, and quite a lot of cash for the charity we hope.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I don't think I have ever seen a laundry room in a hotel before ...not that we are staying in any. Bed and breakfasts for us ...

 

 

There was a time back in the 70's and 80's before we started cruising that we toured all over Europe and most of the hotels we stayed did have a tiny laundry room.

[erewhon]

On the laundry form, I always request a warm wash and cool drying, everything returns in good condition, apart from an occasional broken button.

[Stratheden]

We are leaving from Civitavecchia but travelling from England to Slovenia, Austria and Italy. Didn't fancy spending an afternoon in a laundrette in Italy tbh ...

 

Their is a coin laundry in Civitavecchia. We met some friends there last year - they were catching up on laundry before boarding the Zuiderdam.

 

It was a very interesting time trying to translate the instructions.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Stratheden

[feathersandnananose]

For what it's worth, I've still got the HAL tag on a knit shirt that I always washed warm and hung to dry. But it was old enough to take a chance with, I threw it in the laundry bag (no special instructions) and - guess what - it came back just fine.

 

And the jeans I've only washed warm and dried on "delicate" came back still fitting.

[lastlook]

This is just a question - not to get anyone's dander up.

Lets say I am sick (although have never got sick - knock on wood). How would they prevent my laundry with germs to infect others if washed in cold water together with other cabins laundry in cold water? Chemicals? I believe it is wishful thinking that HAL Laundry will cater to individual needs with reduced staffing.

 

Perhaps the heat in the dryers is hot enough to kill germs? At any rate, I've been fortunate not to get sick on any of the cruises that I've been on and our clothing always looks clean and neat when it comes back to us.

 

I do recall a passenger on one of our cruises who was upset about the condition of the self-service washers on that HAL ship. He was speaking with someone at the Front Desk, and explained that he was in the business (laundry/dry cleaning) and he was appalled at the build up of gunk on the inside of the washers in the self service laundry room. I'm not sure if his concerns were addressed or not......Hopefully they were.