Tales from the launderette.

[Photo Andy]

Dear All 

I know we are not cruising at present but I would like to mention something that has been bothering me and have not discussed in public. On a Canary Island Cunard cruise last Nov / Dec 2019 I used a washer to wash a variety of male dark clothing, and at the end of the cycle placed 8 socks and 4 pants (knickers etc not long trousers for our USA friends) into the drier. Walked away and returned 40 mins later and had been placed on the floor still wet. (Yes I had switched the machine on and observed it for a minutes just to make sure it was working ok).  Walked away disgusted - any advice what would do? I am not confrontational. Personally thought this was disgusting behaviour, not what I would expect on a Cunard cruise or anywhere really.

Best wishes in these difficult times with Covid 19.  

 

[Lanky Lad]

The launderette can be a mix between a battle ground and a sauna.  It is annoying when people leave clothes in the machines after they have finished, but it is very bad form to take things out of a machine that is running. 

 

I try to avoid if possible, but I had to visit on QM2 in July last year as I was on for three weeks. 

[BigMac1953]

Frequently, if clothes are left in the drier and unattended , someone will open it to check, then close it. Opening the door switches the machine off, so the next person who opens it will now decide it's been abandoned.  

 

We'll often put some things into the wash machine on our way to breakfast and collect on the way back. That usually works.

[Bell Boy]

 Photo Andy, BigMac has explained things very well, however, when you say your items had been placed on the floor, had they been put into a basket ? 

 

 

[lissie]

I had read horror tales on  here before cruising the QE in Feb. I used the laundry a couple of times. One time all the washers were in use so I walked up to the next floor.  I found people helpful and cooperative. There were plenty of baskets around and people used them to put clothes in that had finished their cycle for wash or dry. Worked just like any holiday park I'd been to in Australia - maybe  a common laundromat is more common in Australia than the UK/US? 

 

My partner had left his cruise card in a pair of shorts - and didn't miss it until the next day - we just got it replaced - but someone handed it into guest services  a few hours later - it  was found in a dryer. 

[Photo Andy]

Bell Boy

 

No they were placed on the floor in the corner of the launderette, were not placed in a basket that I would not have minded but on the floor and wet! They had to be washed again.  

Next time I will wait in the launderette regardless of the heat - as Lanky Lad states it can be a sauna so be it.

[resistk]

I think post COVID, the laundramattes will need to be changed.  At the best of times they were horribly cramped, crowded and not so clean.  The machines took too long to go through their cycles and people were handwashing socks and unmentionables in the sinks.