STUFF IT - Another laundry question

[Lee77]

I've seen several threads about the unlimited laundry but did not run across any threads stating what day is usually the "All you can stuff in the bag" deal.

We will be on a 14 day back to back on the Zaandam to Alaska. Any idea when I can count of that "stuff it" laundry day?

[waiting2retire]

Lee, I don't know if it is always the same, but on my recent Noordam cruise, you could use the "all you can stuff" bag on any day of the cruise -- every day if you have enough laundry :D . It isn't a "special" as such, just an alternative to the unlimited laundry package.

 

Also, the Zaandam has "do it yourself" laundry rooms on each floor with washers and dryers available for a small fee ($2 for washer and $1 for dryer I think). That is what I did on the Zaandam and now I don't remember whether they also had the laundry by the bag :confused: .

 

Bonnie

[welove2cruise232]

I've seen several threads about the unlimited laundry but did not run across any threads stating what day is usually the "All you can stuff in the bag" deal.

We will be on a 14 day back to back on the Zaandam to Alaska. Any idea when I can count of that "stuff it" laundry day?

 

As far as I know, you can do this every day if you want (though it may be less expensive to do the unlimited laundry deal -- I don't recall what the price was) and you'd be surprised how much laundry you can stuff into that little bag! For the most part we had our laundry back in about 24 hours even though they say it takes 48 hours. Excellent service!

[Aussie Gal]

As far as I remember the "stuff as much as you can" bag was available any day and every day. We also received it back within 24 hours most times. I think it does depend on how busy the commerical laundry is on the ship.

 

Jennie

[Lee77]

Oh goody! Any day would be just great. This should cut down on our packing! Seems when we were on NCl or Princess it was a specific day.

 

What is the charge?

 

Thanks so much for the quick replies.

[waiting2retire]

On the Noordam, it was $12.00 for all you can stuff into the bag. I have heard different prices from other cruisers, but they were pretty close.

 

Perhaps another recent Zaandam cruiser will come along to verify that this option is available on that ship, and if so, what the cost is.

 

Bonnie

[Lynne Myrna]

We were on the Noordam & paid $70.00 for unlimited, used it every other day, it was so worth it. The clothing came back beautifully done, shirts were on hangers, & nothing shrank.

[Aussie Gal]

We were on the Veendam last year for 34 days and it worked out cheaper by a long way to use the "stuff it all in" bag at $12 a time than to take the unlimited laundry package which I think was over $200. We would put out a bag every 2 or 3 days and we worked out we saved heaps. It came back hanging on hangers or nicely folded in a white bag and beautifully ironed.

 

I don't believe in washing and ironing when I am on a vacation so we always have the ship do our laundry for us.

 

Jennie

[bra1nchild]

As others have said, the price is $12US per bag. When we inquired about the unlimited laundry "special" on the Statendam last year, the girl at the desk urged us to "stuff it" instead. She was right -- it was cheaper. And a year later, we're still remember the 30 days on board as we find the odd laundry label in or socks, shirts and underwear!

[pulsar]

When you stuff everything into the bag, do they sort the laundry for you or do you have to sort the same colors into one bag?

[Aussie Gal]

They obviously sort them into colours and whites though I wouldn't rely on that, as a pair of lovely lemon shorts were ruined when on the Veendam. They had blue areas here and there. They were sent back to the laundry but nothing could be done so I ended up at the Front Office and was credited the amount that I had paid for them.

 

There is always a risk with having any sort of laundry sent out but that is the first time in many years of having our laundry done that I have had something ruined.

 

Jennie

[Spinner2]

I tried the laundromat system once; the laundry was always crowded. But it was free back then, maybe it's not so crowded now. So we don't use that option--I'm in the "I don't do laundry on vaction" crowd.

 

We've used both the "all you can stuff" system as well as unlimited. We've found that if we're cruising in areas where there are many ports where we'll leave the ship and go to the beach to snorkel/dive, we'll get enough value from the unlimited to justify the expense because then we'll just pile the wet stuff into a bag and hand it over. And on any trip it's nice to just put whatever is ready for the laundry in the bag and send it off. No careful stuffing needed. Just the laundry slip to fill out.

 

Another thing to consider if you want to maximize your laundry dollar: what kind of clothes are you sending and how big are they? If you have heavy-ish men's underwear and he's a big man, you obviously can't get as much in the bag as you can if what you're sending are very small undies. Likewise, jeans and khaki pants obviously take up more room than shorts or lightweight slacks. I can get at least a couple of pairs of jeans/khaki pants, a couple of pairs of shorts, 5-6 tops and 6-8 sets of underwear for a larger man and a medium-sized woman into one bag; the secret is to roll everything but pants very, very tightly and then stuff carefully, putting small items in the corners, putting the carefully-folded pants into the bag flat and then stuffing the folded items on top of them. My DH swears I'll break a wrist one of these days with this method but it works. We wouldn't do as well with this method if I didn't usually wear lighter-weight pants/shorts than my DH; my stuff doesn't take up much room at all.

 

Regardless of what system you choose--unlimited or by the bag, you'll enjoy the luxury, the reduced packing needed, and love taking home all clean clothes. No Mount Washmore when you get home!

[dakrewser]

Princess has that odd "ode day" stuff-it special - you'd think they'd rather spread the work out throughout the cruise! We much prefer HAL's "as you like it" cleaning - by the piece, by the bag or by the trip!

 

:)

[SDHALFAN]

you'll enjoy the luxury' date=' the reduced packing needed, and love taking home all clean clothes. No Mount Washmore when you get home![/quote']

 

I love that "Mount Washmore". I hadn't heard it before but you can be sure that I won't forget it any time soon. I used to refer to the overflowing laundry basket as Mount Everest but Mount Washmore is much better - thanks.

 

Valerie:)

[Lee77]

Great information!

Do men's white dress shirts come back OK? I am concerned they might come back other than white if mixed in with other colors!

What about woman's tops and pants that are like Chico's Travelers line? I always dry them on low.

[Aussie Gal]

The dress shirts come back superbly, better than I can do it home. I don't know about "Chico" lines as we don't have them here but my normal everyday long pants have always been fine.

 

Jennie

[Spinner2]

Oh, Valerie, I can't claim "Mount Washmore" although it's an everyday phrase for me! I learned it from the Flylady (flylady.net) who is equally famous for getting rid of CHAOS in your house. CHAOS stands for "can't have anyone over syndrome" because of the mess in your house--the Flylady is a house organization specialist.