Packing for 15 days

[ivyleaguegent]

Gentle Cruise Critic Members,

 

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.  We will be cruising for 12 days and staying at the embarkation city 3 nights prior to the cruise.  We are first time Seabourn cruisers and therefore do not have the complementary laundry service.  Would you pack for the entire trip assuming that laundry is never done or pack assuming that you will send laundry out to the ship at least once during the cruise.

 

Thank you for your input.

[SLSD]

1 hour ago, ivyleaguegent said:

Gentle Cruise Critic Members,

 

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.  We will be cruising for 12 days and staying at the embarkation city 3 nights prior to the cruise.  We are first time Seabourn cruisers and therefore do not have the complementary laundry service.  Would you pack for the entire trip assuming that laundry is never done or pack assuming that you will send laundry out to the ship at least once during the cruise.

 

Thank you for your input.

I would pack assuming you are going to let the ship's staff do your laundry.  We used the ship's $50/bag laundry deal before we qualified for a free bag.  The bag does not look that large, but holds a LOT of clothing.You can cram it in.   My husband and I managed to  put every single piece of clothing/socks/underwear etc  into the bag that needed washing.  I think it is a great deal---and much better than trying to do it yourself onboard the ship. Who wants to spend time doing that while on vacation when the ship's staff will do it for you?

It comes back folded or hung and ironed beautifully.  Now, I do understand that there are some items of clothing that you do not want washed and dried by the staff. Be discriminating about that.  Don't send silk or delicate items.  Send everything else.    Some things need to be hung to dry.  I have items like that and do not put them into the laundry bag.  But, for a 12 day cruise with three nights in a city before the cruise, we might send out the laundry bag two times.  Spending $100 to have someone else do your laundry makes good sense to me when you are spending as much as you are spending for the cruise.  It is a drop in the bucket.  

 

One caveat---read the laundry form closely and fill it out properly.  You have to count each piece and tally it in the right category.  If you miscount pairs of socks, you will hear about it and your laundry will be sent back to you unwashed until you get the count right.  Don't ask me how I know this.  This happened to us on Sojourn.  When we were on Ovation, they didn't care about the count.  

Edited August 20, 2022 by SLSD

[BasandSyb]

Also depends on whether you are doing a hot or cold weather cruise and how many sea days you will have.

Agree with SLSD you should be very discriminating with what you send to the laundry. We have had free laundry for years and seldom used it. We wear mostly linens and cotton clothing. Each cruise we “dip our toe” in and then regret it when basic items come back with pilling or marks that you would not think possible - even cotton business shirts have had their finish and texture damaged. Dark items end up with their colour leached. We tend to pack a lot of clothes and I use the ship’s self serve laundry as we take long cruises which have sea days. While there is soap on board in the laundry, I purchase fabric softener and dark clothes detergent at port prior to boarding - I know, I’m nuts but I don’t like having a favourite item damaged. It doesn’t take long and it’s a great place to meet lovely people and pick up on the gossip.

If you are doing a Med cruise with a port each day try a bag of laundry - you can fit a lot in, but be discerning.

[Mauzac]

We have free laundry now and we have never had a problem, everything comes back pristine, perhaps we've just been lucky.

 

However, I have used the laundry room in the past , but I'm an early riser so I used to put it in as I do my laps walking above the pool deck, and then put it to dry as I finish walking and voila!  

I've met some lovely people in the laundry room!  

[SLSD]

1 hour ago, BasandSyb said:

Each cruise we “dip our toe” in and then regret it when basic items come back with pilling or marks that you would not think possible - even cotton business shirts have had their finish and texture damaged. Dark items end up with their colour leached. can fit a lot in, but be discerning.

We have never had an item damaged with the ship's laundry service.  My husband tends to wear woven cloth shirts (vs. knit shirts) and they have all come back in perfect condition.  Perhaps we have been lucky as well.  

[lincslady]

Same here - always perfectly laundered and pressed, and delivered on hangers or the small things wrapped in a basket.

[BasandSyb]

Glad to hear you’ve had positive experiences. I know ours aren’t in complete isolation. The last effort pre COVID was my husband’s dress shirt which looked like someone had scoured it with a Brillo pad. Not a happy chap as it was his favourite one. Will again test it out when onboard in a few months, but will have supplies with me. 🤞

[JodiandFrank]

Are you on the Montreal to NYC Cruise?  We leave Friday for 3 nights in Montreal before boarding the 12 night cruise…  We have used the laundry bag in the past and paid the $50.  Definitely worth it!  
if we are on the same cruise, let’s meet in Montreal for a coffee (or more!).  We are staying at the Ritz Carlton and should be arriving Friday morning at 10:30am into YUL from LGA if all goes well…..

[ivyleaguegent]

3 hours ago, JodiandFrank said:

Are you on the Montreal to NYC Cruise?  We leave Friday for 3 nights in Montreal before boarding the 12 night cruise…  We have used the laundry bag in the past and paid the $50.  Definitely worth it!  
if we are on the same cruise, let’s meet in Montreal for a coffee (or more!).  We are staying at the Ritz Carlton and should be arriving Friday morning at 10:30am into YUL from LGA if all goes well…..

JodiandFrank,

 

Yes, we are on that cruise and will be arriving in Montreal this Friday evening.  Would love to connect.  I tried sending a private message on this board but received a "Feature disabled" error message.

 

Thoughts?

[Covepointcruiser]

There is also a free laundry on board and soap is provided.   There is also a steamer and an iron if your clothes get wrinkled.

[SDuckers]

I just finished packing for our 14 day Alaskan cruise, because we are using Luggage Forwarding to pick up.  My packing absolutely planned to send out some stuff to be laundered mid-cruise.  Particularly underwear and socks!  We have used the $50 bag twice and been very happy both times.  I don't send anything that requires any sort of special attention.  Anything that needs hand-washing, I wash in the room and line-dry.

[SLSD]

15 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

There is also a free laundry on board and soap is provided.   There is also a steamer and an iron if your clothes get wrinkled.

You can also send out items just to be pressed if they arrive wrinkled in your luggage.  This is for the lazy among us who do plenty of laundry and ironing at home, but prefer to let others do it when we are vacationing.  

[JodiandFrank]

On 8/21/2022 at 10:48 AM, ivyleaguegent said:

JodiandFrank,

 

Yes, we are on that cruise and will be arriving in Montreal this Friday evening.  Would love to connect.  I tried sending a private message on this board but received a "Feature disabled" error message.

 

Thoughts?

Not sure how to give you my info without posting it for the world to see!  What time on Friday do you arrive?  What hotel will you be at?  

[ivyleaguegent]

35 minutes ago, JodiandFrank said:

Not sure how to give you my info without posting it for the world to see!  What time on Friday do you arrive?  What hotel will you be at?  

We arrive at the airport at 6:00 pm.  We are staying at the Sofitel.  Perhaps meet for breakfast Saturday morning at one of our hotels?

[JodiandFrank]

2 hours ago, ivyleaguegent said:

We arrive at the airport at 6:00 pm.  We are staying at the Sofitel.  Perhaps meet for breakfast Saturday morning at one of our hotels?

We are doing a “Beyond the Bagel” tour and visiting all the famous bagel spots in Montreal that morning…for four hours!!  Montreal is very proud of their bagels!  But, how about meeting on Sunday morning?  Check out “Olive Et Gourmando”.  Supposed to be a great place for breakfast…..

[MWillow]

We did 128 days on the Sojourn.  I am a morning person and had no issues with doing the self service laundry early in the AM.  I put it in the wash then hung out in SB square while it was going.  We brought clothespins to hang a few things on the expandable clothes line over the tub as needed and also brought a collapsible hamper which lives in the closet. We made good use of the $50/bag feature.  

[ivyleaguegent]

6 hours ago, JodiandFrank said:

We are doing a “Beyond the Bagel” tour and visiting all the famous bagel spots in Montreal that morning…for four hours!!  Montreal is very proud of their bagels!  But, how about meeting on Sunday morning?  Check out “Olive Et Gourmando”.  Supposed to be a great place for breakfast…..

It says on it’s website that the dining room is presently closed and the Internet says the restaurant is closed on Sunday even for takeout.

[JodiandFrank]

On 8/23/2022 at 12:33 AM, ivyleaguegent said:

It says on it’s website that the dining room is presently closed and the Internet says the restaurant is closed on Sunday even for takeout.

Oh, no!!!  Our hotels are a block from each other so I’ll scout the neighborhood for someplace good.  Worse comes to worse we’ve got the hotels.

    Any chance your initials are LL???

Hugs, Jodi

[gabelle]

1 hour ago, JodiandFrank said:

Oh, no!!!  Our hotels are a block from each other so I’ll scout the neighborhood for someplace good.  Worse comes to worse we’ve got the hotels.

    Any chance your initials are LL???

Hugs, Jodi

We are also on this cruise.  Flying in Sunday.  We have a roll call for this cruise.  Please check it out!!

[JodiandFrank]

26 minutes ago, gabelle said:

We are also on this cruise.  Flying in Sunday.  We have a roll call for this cruise.  Please check it out!!

Yes, we are on the Roll Call…..  we fly to Montreal tomorrow.  I’m packed and so ready to go.  Weather looks to be quite rainy so be ready to be wet.

[gabelle]

1 minute ago, JodiandFrank said:

Yes, we are on the Roll Call…..  we fly to Montreal tomorrow.  I’m packed and so ready to go.  Weather looks to be quite rainy so be ready to be wet.

Sorry, got my dates wrong.🤪  We are doing this in October.  Please keep us posted on how everything goes.

[JodiandFrank]

2 minutes ago, gabelle said:

Sorry, got my dates wrong.🤪  We are doing this in October.  Please keep us posted on how everything goes.

Will do!!!!  

[ivyleaguegent]

3 hours ago, JodiandFrank said:

Oh, no!!!  Our hotels are a block from each other so I’ll scout the neighborhood for someplace good.  Worse comes to worse we’ve got the hotels.

    Any chance your initials are LL???

Hugs, Jodi

Check Facebook Messenger. 

[Dusko]

On 8/25/2022 at 6:30 PM, ivyleaguegent said:

Check Facebook Messenger. 

Isn't this about packing tips???

[SLSD]

40 minutes ago, Dusko said:

Isn't this about packing tips???

And does it matter?    I think two SB cruisers  are trying to figure out how to meet before the cruise--not that easy when cruise critic does not allow private messages.  I say we allow them a  few posts to figure out how to do it.  They would do the same for the rest of us.