Can I bring this in board

[Bdarlin]

Other ships have not allowed it.  But does Princess allow me to bring small travel size iron/steamer in my carry on?

 

I really don’t see how it is any more dangerous than a curling iron.

 

Thanks

 

C

[GeezerCouple]

Ask this on the Princess cruise line sub-forum.

 

But I'd be surprised if it's allowed.

 

Curling irons aren't constructed to sit flat on combustible surfaces, the way irons are.

But it's up to the specific cruise line.

 

GC

[donaldsc]

13 minutes ago, Bdarlin said:

Other ships have not allowed it.  But does Princess allow me to bring small travel size iron/steamer in my carry on?

 

I really don’t see how it is any more dangerous than a curling iron.

 

Thanks

 

C

 

Try going onto the Princess site and typing "Irons" into the search box.

 

DON

[John Bull]

Travel iron is a no-no on Princess and every other cruise ship that I know of.

 

The danger isn't directly from the iron - it's the risk that it uses more current than the cabin wiring is designed to carry. If safety RCDs don't trip, the cabin wiring may catch fire.

Cabin stewards aren't qualified to know which irons, kettles etc are too high a current (some aren't) or to safety check them, so there's a blanket ban.

 

As Donald has suggested, search it on the Princess website

 

JB 

[MicCanberra]

No irons allowed on any of the mass market lines. The good news is that Princess have the self service laundromats on each floor and each room has an iron or two with a board for passenger use.

[jlp20]

This is part of the cruise contract you must agree to:

You may take a reasonable amount of luggage on board containing only Your personal effects, which shall include suitcases, trunks, valises, satchels, bags, hangers containing clothing, toiletries and other personal effects necessary for the Cruise. If You travel by air or other transportation the terms and conditions of the airline or other transportation provider apply to Your carriage on those conveyances. You may not take on board firearms, controlled or prohibited substances, inflammable or hazardous items, any other items prohibited by applicable law, or any other item Carrier deems in its sole discretion to be detrimental to the safety or comfort of any person. You agree Carrier has, at all times with or without notice, the right to enter and search Your stateroom, personal safe or storage spaces, or to search You, Your baggage and/or personal effects at any location.

So in a nutshell, it's up to ship's security, but as a rule ANY potential fire hazard is on the prohibited list.

[GUT2407]

No.

 

thats the short answer anyway.

[chengkp75]

5 hours ago, John Bull said:

Travel iron is a no-no on Princess and every other cruise ship that I know of.

 

The danger isn't directly from the iron - it's the risk that it uses more current than the cabin wiring is designed to carry. If safety RCDs don't trip, the cabin wiring may catch fire.

Cabin stewards aren't qualified to know which irons, kettles etc are too high a current (some aren't) or to safety check them, so there's a blanket ban.

 

As Donald has suggested, search it on the Princess website

 

JB 

Hate to disagree, John, but that's not the reason.  Hair dryers routinely use more wattage than travel irons and steamers, yet these are allowed, and in many cases are provided by the cruise line.  No appliance sold for consumers draws more than 20 amps of current, and all ship's wiring is capable of carrying that much without catching fire.  The risk is the risk of fire from the hot surface of the iron, or the failure of the "auto-off" switch on the steamer when the water tank runs dry, and the plastic reservoir overheats, melts, and catches fire or causes something it is touching to catch fire.  The "auto-off" timers and thermostat switches are famous for failure, across the entire spectrum of heating elements.

 

The reason that hair dryers and curling irons are allowed, while clothes irons and steamers are not is that the cruise lines and their insurers (basically the cruise line since their insurance is a mutual group of ship owners) have run a risk/reward analysis and feel that the risk of allowing hair care appliances that heat is outweighed by the reward of not having the female half of the cruising demographic revolt.  On the other hand, clothes irons and steamers are "optional" and therefore can be banned with little risk of complaint.

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Hate to disagree, John, but that's not the reason.  Hair dryers routinely use more wattage than travel irons and steamers, yet these are allowed, and in many cases are provided by the cruise line.  No appliance sold for consumers draws more than 20 amps of current, and all ship's wiring is capable of carrying that much without catching fire.  The risk is the risk of fire from the hot surface of the iron, or the failure of the "auto-off" switch on the steamer when the water tank runs dry, and the plastic reservoir overheats, melts, and catches fire or causes something it is touching to catch fire.  The "auto-off" timers and thermostat switches are famous for failure, across the entire spectrum of heating elements.

 

The reason that hair dryers and curling irons are allowed, while clothes irons and steamers are not is that the cruise lines and their insurers (basically the cruise line since their insurance is a mutual group of ship owners) have run a risk/reward analysis and feel that the risk of allowing hair care appliances that heat is outweighed by the reward of not having the female half of the cruising demographic revolt.  On the other hand, clothes irons and steamers are "optional" and therefore can be banned with little risk of complaint.

 

Hi Cheng,

 

Thanks for the correction.

My post not from personal knowledge, I'm no sea-captain.

It was told to me by the captain of MS Discovery (Loveboat's twin sister).

He showed me a panel of tell-tales, which lit up if an RCD was tripped. Usually caused by a smuggled kettle, he said.

 

That reason long out-of-date?

Or just plain wrong?

 

JB 

BTW on one ship, during dinner, a coded tannoy announcement resulted in the wait staff suddenly disappearing then re-appearing in life-jackets and llning-up. 

Quite worrying, then the bridge said there was a small cabin fire. 

It turned out to be an elec outlet in the cabin or one of several small appliances plugged into it. The cabin was unusable, & adjacent cabins smoke-logged.

Some 15 minutes after the announcement the crew were stood down.

By then my soup was cold  

 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2019 by John Bull

[Krazy Kruizers]

OP

 

Be thankful that Princess has self service laundries on each deck.

 

Wish all cruise lines would have self service laundries as there are times when some of us want to do just a quick touch up with an iron something is wrinkled.

[paul929207]

Not allowed, but there are irons available in the self service laundry rooms. No charge to use those irons.

[evandbob]

A different way to cope with iron less travel is not to pack stuff weeks before a trip or cruise.  If one packs a day or two prior to travel, wrinkles are minimized and not firmly set into a fabric.

 

When unpacking in the cabin, if an article of clothing does appear to be wrinkled, try hanging it on the inside of the bathroom door when taking a hot shower.

[chengkp75]

4 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Hi Cheng,

 

Thanks for the correction.

My post not from personal knowledge, I'm no sea-captain.

It was told to me by the captain of MS Discovery (Loveboat's twin sister).

He showed me a panel of tell-tales, which lit up if an RCD was tripped. Usually caused by a smuggled kettle, he said.

 

That reason long out-of-date?

Or just plain wrong?

 

JB 

BTW on one ship, during dinner, a coded tannoy announcement resulted in the wait staff suddenly disappearing then re-appearing in life-jackets and llning-up. 

Quite worrying, then the bridge said there was a small cabin fire. 

It turned out to be an elec outlet in the cabin or one of several small appliances plugged into it. The cabin was unusable, & adjacent cabins smoke-logged.

Some 15 minutes after the announcement the crew were stood down.

By then my soup was cold  

 

 

 

As another example of two countries separated by a common language, I had to look up what an RCD was:  what your Yank cousins call a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter).  Personally, I have never seen an RCD used on a ship.  Due to the floating ground used on ships, RCD/GFCI don't work too well, as the residual current could be flowing in the ground wire (separate potential from the neutral, and perfectly safe while not the best for the appliance) or through you to the hull (ground), so there is no real way of using one.  Ships will have ground fault metering circuits that measure the amount of current flowing in the hull, and the engineers will use this to find the ground fault by shutting off one circuit at a time until the fault clears.  There are many of these metering circuits on a cruise ship, typically for each 220v or 120v distribution panel (each panel only handles the cabins in a particular fire zone, so there will be several panels), and the alarm that the Captain showed you may actually have been a type of this metering circuit that lights up when the current reaches a set level, but does not trip the circuit.

 

Besides, an RCD/GFCI is not the primary protection for an electrical circuit.  An RCD measures the difference in current between the hot wire and the neutral wire, and trips when that difference gets too high.  That difference could be 10 amps hot, 10.5 amps neutral and the RCD trips, or it could be 56 amps hot, 56.05 neutral, and not trip.  There will always be a circuit breaker rated for lower than the maximum current capacity of the wiring to protect the circuit.  In the first example, the RCN would trip, but the circuit breaker (assuming a 20 amp breaker) would not, while in the second example, the RCN would not trip, but the circuit breaker would.

 

Yes, appliances can catch fire, but that applies to any appliance, whether it is high wattage, or whether it is a heating element or not.  If it goes to ground, there is the potential for fire.  As I said, your typical clothes iron is about 1000w, while a hair dryer is 1500-1800w, so the hair dryer is more of a hazard.  One of the dangers of surge protectors is that they are what I call a "silent killer", in that a surge protector in your cabin that is operating perfectly, can be influenced by a ground fault anywhere else on the ship, and suddenly catch fire.  It is totally out of your control.  And, even the coffee makers that the cruise line supplies, which are taken out of service routinely and inspected have been known to go up in flames while testing in the electricians' shop, due to a failure of the "auto-off" switch.

[John Bull]

37 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

As another example of two countries separated by a common language, I had to look up what an RCD was:  what your Yank cousins call a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter).  Personally, I have never seen an RCD used on a ship.  Due to the floating ground used on ships, RCD/GFCI don't work too well, as the residual current could be flowing in the ground wire (separate potential from the neutral, and perfectly safe while not the best for the appliance) or through you to the hull (ground), so there is no real way of using one.  Ships will have ground fault metering circuits that measure the amount of current flowing in the hull, and the engineers will use this to find the ground fault by shutting off one circuit at a time until the fault clears.  There are many of these metering circuits on a cruise ship, typically for each 220v or 120v distribution panel (each panel only handles the cabins in a particular fire zone, so there will be several panels), and the alarm that the Captain showed you may actually have been a type of this metering circuit that lights up when the current reaches a set level, but does not trip the circuit.......................................................... 

 

 

Sorry, my eyes glazed over after I got that far, cheng, technology and I aren't the best of friends.

I'm one of those neanderthals who believes that there's no such thing as "electricity", that everything is actually powered by smoke.

When something stops working you can see that smoke has escaped.

You call an electrician.

He says that it needs a contra--rotational ohm converter regulator armature diaphragm that'll cost $$$$.

But you know that all he's gonna do is gaffer-tape over the hole where the smoke escaped from. 

 

But I'm happy to believe you. 

And that it was merely a load warning light on the distribution panel rather than a popped RCD / GFCI

 

JB 

[SRF]

Chengkp75 and I had a longer discussion of this.

 

But the reason you see "shaver only" outlets in the bathroom is because they cannot run GFCI/RCD protection on the ships due to the floating ground he mentioned.

 

Shaver only outlets are an attempt to protect people in the bathroom by limiting the available current.  However, the current available is still enough to kill you.

 

As has been mentioned, the reason that most of the banned electrical items are banned is fire.

[MicCanberra]

8 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Hi Cheng,

 

Thanks for the correction.

My post not from personal knowledge, I'm no sea-captain.

It was told to me by the captain of MS Discovery (Loveboat's twin sister).

He showed me a panel of tell-tales, which lit up if an RCD was tripped. Usually caused by a smuggled kettle, he said.

 

That reason long out-of-date?

Or just plain wrong?

 

JB 

BTW on one ship, during dinner, a coded tannoy announcement resulted in the wait staff suddenly disappearing then re-appearing in life-jackets and llning-up. 

Quite worrying, then the bridge said there was a small cabin fire. 

It turned out to be an elec outlet in the cabin or one of several small appliances plugged into it. The cabin was unusable, & adjacent cabins smoke-logged.

Some 15 minutes after the announcement the crew were stood down.

By then my soup was cold  

 

 

 

That would have been a bit scary.

[Bdarlin]

I am so laughing right now! You guys are all great ! Seriously love it! I am not so proud that I can’t walk down and iron if needed of course.  I was trying a short cut ha!  Heck it’s my 50 th bday and I should just send it out if needed. You guys are wonderful.  A lot of info!  And I’m going to have a GRAND time with my mom who also turns 80 as we are one day apart and best friends!   So wrinkles or not. -  watch out Mexican Riviera 😀

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

That would have been a bit scary.

 

It was, Mic.

I could see my soup on a serving tray, and I had to sit & watch it go cold 

 

Kudos to the crew, very orderly & efficient

Kudos to the captain for calmly keeping us informed.

Kudos to those in breathing apparatus who went blindly through the smoke to detect & resolve the issue.

Princess, Venice to Rome. Sorry, can't remember which ship.

 

Bdarlin - when we board, to get travel wrinkles out we use the shower in our bathroom.

There's a clothes line that pulls out from one side of the shower to a hook on the other side, intended for hanging wet swim gear.

Put shirts etc on coathangers, hang them from the line making sure the shower head isn't directed at them, turn the shower on hot & pull the shower curtain. Ten minutes should be enough.

That's MY sort of technology 

 

JB 

 

[MicCanberra]

Steaming in the bathroom works, packing in a non crease way also helps reducing the wrinkles to start with.

[sail7seas]

19 hours ago, Bdarlin said:

Other ships have not allowed it.  But does Princess allow me to bring small travel size iron/steamer in my carry on?

 

I really don’t see how it is any more dangerous than a curling iron.

 

Thanks

C

 

  [/quote]

  They are not allowed.  On  the   ship  t hey will not debate with you about which device is more dangerous.     You don't have to agree,  you must obey.

 

Their ship, their rules and most all ships have the same ban on  clothes steamers   and irons

 

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2019 by sail7seas

[MicCanberra]

A technique of packing called interfolding really does reduce wrinkles.

[cb at sea]

Folding creases aren't "wrinkles"....everyone will have them, for the most part!  Not a big deal.  Once the item is on your body, and you get out in the humidity of the ocean, everyone is a bit "rumpled".  No biggie!

 

[MicCanberra]

 

[MicCanberra]

10 minutes ago, cb at sea said:

Folding creases aren't "wrinkles"....everyone will have them, for the most part!  Not a big deal, everyone is a bit "rumpled".  No biggie!

 

LOL, And for some of them their clothes will be wrinkled as well.

[OCruisers]

While travel irons are NOT allowed on Princess, irons at no charge are in the laundry rooms.

Try not to worry about every little wrinkle ... everyone will have some quickly.