Laundry Strategy on a 22 day cruise on the Eclipse

[Ken the cruiser]

Ken

Always interested in ways to get discounts and cruise credit. We haven't had good experiene with TA's= sometimes a free dinner- but a pain to contact them if I want to change cabins, rates etc. Who do you use? Any "hint" would be appreciated/

There are a variety of "big box" TAs if you do a internet search. Also, when you're on your next cruise, ask some fellow cruisers who their TAs are and if they give great perks. From the CC threads I've read on the subject, between 6-8% OBC is about average for the good ones. We found ours when we wanted to book our first Crystal cruise last year. When we called Crystal's 1-800 number, we were automatically forwarded to one of their approved travel agencies. Later on CC I was following one of the "Which is better, a PCC or TA" threads. On that lively thread, there was a poster that really believed in the power of TAs and had his email listed in his signature. I sent him an email and he gave me a wealth of his knowledge on the various TAs he had to go through before he found the one (or two) that work best for him.

 

My best suggestion is to read some of the CC threads on "PCCs or TAs" and see what suggestions and hints you can find. For us, we have a Celebrity PCC and a HAL PCC, but transfer all of our other bookings to our TA to get the extras. With regards to our Celebrity and HAL PCCs, they do so much for us and we do work them hard with all the promotional changes that come along with those two cruise lines, we just feel they deserve their full commission. However, with Crystal, Azamara and Oceania, once you set up the initial booking, it pretty much stays the same as they really don't offer that many different promotional offerings as HAL and Celebrity do. Also we just found out if you book a Princess cruise through one of their PCCs and then transfer it to a TA, the PCC doesn't even get credit for booking the cruise. The same goes for Celebrity PCCs by the way. So in that case, we will be booking our Princess cruises, when we have one, directly through our TA as it wouldn't be fair to the Princess PCC for them to do all the work and loose out completely once we transferred it.

[Ken the cruiser]

I love hints too Ken!

 

As far as other suggestions how we save money on a cruise, here's a suggestion:

 

We plan our potential cruises 5 years out and maintain a spreadsheet that includes not only each cruise's estimated start and finish times as well as the beginning and ending ports, but once booked we also track the base price per person and perks offered so we can keep track when new promotions come out to determine whether or not it's smart to rebook the cruise if it is a better deal. We sometimes rebook 2-3 times before making the final payment.

 

We also recently added a new column for price/person/day. Tracking this particular data, especially prior to booking a cruise, really opened our eyes as to what each cruise line is actually charging for similar cruises. For example, we initially booked a Princess cruise to go along the Pacific Coast. Then we switched to a similar Celebrity cruise for about the same price. Then, by chance we saw that Crystal had a Pacific Coast cruise tied with a Mexican Riviera cruise for just a little more than we were paying per day for the Celebrity cruise. So guess what we did. Yup, we're now getting ready to go on a 21 day Crystal cruise.

 

Just to point out how close some of the various cruise line prices/person/day are for their verandas, here are some examples of the cruises we are currently tracking:

 

HAL: $349, $383, $415

 

Celebrity: $370, $153 (TA), $350, $1028

 

Oceania (includes airfare): $385, $578, $285, $350, $308, $313, $438, $470, $415, $357, $410, $507

 

Crystal: $346, $522

 

Norwegian (The Haven): $393

 

Sure, there are some expensive ones, but the majority of them are relatively close. When we initially saw how close they were, Oceania with it's new cool itineraries has become our new go-to cruise line.

 

But everyone is different as to what makes a great cruise. I just wanted to pass along that the veranda prices on some of the more luxury lines aren't that far off the mass market cruise lines.

 

Hope this helps.

[BMT]

I also roll the washing in the towels - after we shower, so we don't need more towels.

 

I use their shampoo to wash clothes - works well.

 

I use THEIR hangers - the ones with the clips on - and hang in the bathroom on rails etc. and in the cabin.

 

I smooth out when hung up - and then again when just damp. Look great!! Even jeans.

 

Don't have a problem - we are Elite+ so get a free bag, which we don't use.

[HeddaGarbled]

I do see that washing your own smalls is sensible, but with the cabin attendant in and out of the cabin more than once a day, I just feel embarrassed about having my knickers hanging in the shower or wherever :o

[hcat]

We use the Elite perk for laundry...but only items we won't cry over if ruined or lost.. but have had luck so far..no losses. We do one bag of darks, one with whites...works well for socks, undies tees...and helps to reduce bringing home mounds of really dirty laundry. Everything gets washed anyhow when we get home ...

 

We hang sink- washed items along the shower top...so they drip into the stall...when they are not drippy we use hooks, chair backs etc.. The back if the balcony chairs has a metal bar that is perfect for securing swimsuits...

 

As mentioned..drip dry, lightweight, wrinkle free clothes pack well and wash easily. Fifty dollars a load is ridiculous!

[donaldsc]

I would be surprised if $50 per bag was the "select" price. Just a few months ago it was $20. I assume that you are talking $US. Prior to becoming Elite where we have free laundry we used to hand wash most of our clothes as required and hang them on a rigged up clothes line on the balcony. In most cases if we did them on sea days they would be dry either during the day or overnight in warm climes. While Select we would send our heavy clothes away to the laundry. If there are two select passengers in a cabin there are two options for bag laundry. As the laundry bag is paper suggest you take a plastic rubbish bag to use as a liner whereby you can get more clothes in without bursting the paper bag

 

I believe that balcony hanging is not allowed. Also, can you imagine what the ship would look like if everyone did what you do. It would look like a slummy place in a 3d world country with clothes flapping in the wind from every balcony.

 

DON

[Gizl]

During our B2B on Silhouette last January, we got acertificate for a free laundry bag during the 2nd week. At the time I thoughtthis was just a usual perk for our 2nd week. No one else on CC has evermentioned getting this perk on a B2B that I’ve seen. We were first timers onCelebrity (in a regular 2B veranda cabin) but have cruised twice with RCI howeverI have no idea if Celebrity would take that into consideration.

We’re sailing on Equinox in January, a B2B2B so I’m hopingthe free laundry bag perk was not a mistake!

PS I think the plastic rubbish bag to line the paper laundrybag is a great idea, another suggestion I’ve seen is using duct tape toreinforce the paper bag.

[Beanb41]

Giselle the offer of free laundry for someone who is not select or above is definitely not the norm. I am assuming from your comments that your Celebrity status is currently Classic. Going forward take what you were offered as a special perk and unfortunately don't plan on it continuing. Whilst Select get a special one off rate for cruises over 12 days in length they are not accumulative ie if your B2B2B are all of a short duration then no perks should be expected

[4774Papa]

We just read on another thread that the "special" price for a bag of laundry now on Celebrity cruises is about $50 a bag. We will be Select when we go on our 22 day cruise this October to the Canary Islands followed by a TA back to Miami which means no free bag of laundry for us.

 

We're curious what laundry strategies other more seasoned Celebrity cruisers use on the longer cruises or do you just bring more clothes? We've only been on 10 day or less Celebrity cruises, so your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Our last vacation was six week plus. We had four weeks in Britain and 15 days on the Eclipse TA. We did laundry in a launderette in Britain twice, on days 13 and 24. Once on board Eclipse, we both had the free bag as elites.

 

Even before we were elite, our laundry bills (one bag) would be about $50, not so huge considering the total cost of a cruise.

[Ken the cruiser]

Our last vacation was six week plus. We had four weeks in Britain and 15 days on the Eclipse TA. We did laundry in a launderette in Britain twice, on days 13 and 24. Once on board Eclipse, we both had the free bag as elites.

 

Even before we were elite, our laundry bills (one bag) would be about $50, not so huge considering the total cost of a cruise.

Hi George. We were on the same TA with you. We discovered as Select since it was a 12 day or longer cruise, we only had to pay the Select $20 per bag rate. However, when we were on the preceding 10 day Canary Islands cruise, we had to pay the $49.95 "Laundry Challenge" fee. However, since we brought some packing tape with us to seal the bag, we were able to stuff 6 days worth of clothes in the bag!

[Kmangel]

On my last cruise I did a lot of hand washing. It was on a Royal Caribbean ship. Prior to our taking this cruise, many people on CC suggested hanging washed items from the ventilation screen in the ceiling. The items being dried were clipped onto hangers, suspended from the ceiling vent, and very quickly dried. I have not noticed anyone suggesting likewise for Celebrity ships. Maybe the ventilation grills are different and therefore it won't allow a hanger to be hung from the vent. It sure worked great last summer on our RCCI cruise and I am going to try to do likewise on Silhouette if possible.

[Beanb41]

We rig up clotheslines on the balcony

[goingplaces1132]

My concern is shrinkage of clothing. At home I usually take my pants and leggings out of dryer just a tad damp. Has anyone ever had any issues with clothes that shrunk?

 

 

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[Redtravel]

I use the ship's laundry for some things. Never had a shrink problem. For delicate items, I wash by hand and dry by hanging them in the shower. I have clips with hooks and a flexoline. If you need something quick dried, use the hair dryer. It is terrible for drying hair. It dries clothes well. When I travel and there is no available laundry, I take clothes that was easily by hand and dry quickly. I also bring a few plastic hangers.