Princess laundry-very bleaching

[BJS]

I guess it depends on who's running the laundry that day :)

So true

 

.

[coiran]

In my experience - EVERYTHING gets ironed - even stuff you would not iron at home.

 

Ron

[Psee]

This is bad news! We just booked our very first full suite and were planning on bringing a separate suitcase of clothes needing drycleaning and laundering with heavy starch. Figured we could disembark looking great and save money!

 

Oh well... :D

[marlinmike]

We usually always use the laundry service whether or not we have a suite, which we frequently do. HOWEVER, I've decided to make certain I bring enough underpants to last the trip. I don't know, maybe they don't use the same fabic softner as MarlinMary does, bless her heart. But the tighty whiteys come back all course and uncomfortable. There is no starch used - just a lot of harsh chemicals my underparts can't handle.

 

That being said, they do a nice job on the tux, shirts, shorts and silk shirts. But I'm keeping my undies for my darling wife :D

 

Marlin

[ocean.queen]

Items sent to be Dry Cleaned were in a seperate bag and the order form was filled out correctly !! The cabin Sterward verified that all was good with the order. The laundry service took it upon themselve to "cold water wash" all of our items. The poor cabin Sterward was so upset about it and we felt sorry for him but we were furious because all was ruined...including Tommy Bahama shirts, a sweater and a silk pant set.

 

We now only send items to be washed that are non-shrinkable and ones we can replace easily.

[Strawberry]

I agree with Ocean.Queen's experiences. I have had clothes in the dry cleaning bag washed and shrunk several times. Just got off the Diamond a few days ago where more than half the time they insisted on pressing my husband's pants flat with no center crease. I just kept sending them back to be pressed properly. Also, on this trip one pair of his pants came back with the zipper crushed flat--couldn't be opened or closed. They did put a new zipper in (unfortunately it didn't match the pants).

The laundry and cleaning service is very inconsistent, even on the same ship. Some days everything comes back perfect other days not so lucky. Just be careful what you send. As time has gone by I send fewer and fewer things to be pressed, dry-cleaned or washed.

This topic came up at the most-travelled passengers' lunch on the Diamond last week and one gentleman asked the Sr. Officer at our table why was it that those itchy tags glued on by the laundry are always put on the INSIDE of his underwear--Was it revenge for something he did?

[Cruisin' Chick]

We just use the self-service laundry and after reading this, I'm glad. We have someone who is ultra-sensitive to laundry detergent so we use only allergen-free detergent in our house. On our last cruise, someone offered hubby some of their detergent and he accepted and put it in the washer before I got there. Our girl ended up with a rash after wearing clothes washed that way. When we got home, all of the clothes we took for her on the cruise went into the washer to get re-washed.

 

I don't think I would want to risk a reaction to the ship's detergent.

[kenexx]

On our Sydney - LA last April on Sapphire we sent 2 long sleeve dress shirts to the laundry for washing and ironing. The washing part was great but the ironing was deplorable. Came back with many creases on the shoulder areas. In hindsight we should have complained and sent them back but as we needed them we just fixed it ourselves by re-ironing them in the self serve laundry.

 

After that we didnt send any more stuff out.

 

Maurice

[BruceMuzz]

When sending clothing to a ship's laundry, one needs to be aware of the restrictions and challenges regarding laundry at sea.

 

If you tour a ship's laundry, you will not find large bins of Tide detergent down there. It's not allowed. MARPOL regulations are very strict about the contents of any soaps used at sea. Most ships now also have a Biomass wastewater treatment plant that relies on bacteria to beak down waste water. The soaps you use at home would kill that biomass and render the treatment plant unusable.

 

So ships are forced to use very expensive eco-friendly detergents that just do not work very well with some fabrics.

 

Chlorine Bleach is a big No-No at sea.They are forced to use other chemical bleaches that often cause problems with clothing.

 

"Perc" ,the active ingredient in dry-cleaning machines at home, is also now forbidden at sea. It is not only highly carcinogenic, but also a serious pollutant for marine life. The ships now have a new "Wet" dry cleaning system that just doesn't work very well, and often ruins clothing.

 

Free laundry servce on a ship is not the great deal you might think. Your losses might be far higher than the saved cleaning costs. As previously mentioned, you should never send any valuable or favorite clothing to a ship's laundry.

[CruisinMommas]

Thank you for the heads OP. We will be sailing soon and now I will be doing my own laundry and only using the pressing service if needed.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I don't think I would want to risk a reaction to the ship's detergent.

You may have read my live from the Sun post in January 2007 when I mentioned that within an hour of arriving in our cabin, and sitting on our sheets, I broke out in horrible hives. After our 10 day first cruise, I finally went to the ship's doctor who recommended that I use detergent I had brought from hom, take my sheets to the self serve laundry and wash them myself, and do the same with my towels, and then ask the steward not to change them out for the remainder of the second cruise. I didn't have to resort to that...the steroid and antihistamine the doc put me on, in addition to my own prescription antihistamine did the trick (and had me sleeping very well, I might add). The doctor said that she'd seen several people for similar issues. I wondered, too, if it might be the new duvets.

 

I had minimal issues on my most recent cruises, for which I'm grateful. The idea of having to wash my own sheets and towels on a cruise is enough to make me want to cry.

[Cruisin' Chick]

You may have read my live from the Sun post in January 2007 when I mentioned that within an hour of arriving in our cabin, and sitting on our sheets, I broke out in horrible hives. After our 10 day first cruise, I finally went to the ship's doctor who recommended that I use detergent I had brought from hom, take my sheets to the self serve laundry and wash them myself, and do the same with my towels, and then ask the steward not to change them out for the remainder of the second cruise. I didn't have to resort to that...the steroid and antihistamine the doc put me on, in addition to my own prescription antihistamine did the trick (and had me sleeping very well, I might add). The doctor said that she'd seen several people for similar issues. I wondered, too, if it might be the new duvets.

 

I had minimal issues on my most recent cruises, for which I'm grateful. The idea of having to wash my own sheets and towels on a cruise is enough to make me want to cry.

 

She didn't seem to have problems with the linen, but I'll keep an eye out for future cruises. It would be a pain to have to wash the sheets too.

[Host CJSKIDS]

In my experience - EVERYTHING gets ironed - even stuff you would not iron at home.

 

Ron

 

Ron you must be one very lucky person. I agree with the bleaching and strong detergent and learned the hard way to only have my stuff dry cleaned on board Princess. And my husbands shorts or my linen stuff does not come back ironed, or if they do it looks like my sons did the ironing! It's a great thing to have and the cost is quite a bit less than I pay for our dry cleaning at home, but it doesn't even compare to what my clothes look like when I get them done here.

[griffin_hr]

I just got back from the Diamond Princess. I had a white T shirt with navy blue collar and sleve piping. When I got it back from the laundry the navy blue was now pink! I have washed this shirt many many many times myself before this cruise without any trouble.

[BJS]

I just got back from the Diamond Princess. I had a white T shirt with navy blue collar and sleve piping. When I got it back from the laundry the navy blue was now pink! I have washed this shirt many many many times myself before this cruise without any trouble.

This again is an example of the item being put in with the whites and bleach.

 

Never send anything mostly white with another color trim to the laundry because they will put it in a white load with bleach.

 

.

[coiran]

[quote name='cjskids']Ron you must be one very lucky person. I agree with the bleaching and strong detergent and learned the hard way to only have my stuff dry cleaned on board Princess. And my husbands shorts or my linen stuff does not come back ironed, or if they do it looks like my sons did the ironing! It's a great thing to have and the cost is quite a bit less than I pay for our dry cleaning at home, but it doesn't even compare to what my clothes look like when I get them done here.[/quote]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3]Well - they don't iron my sox - but shorts, t shirts, etc do get ironed - I always get my suit dry cleaned the first day and it returns looking like new. And it's all free!!!! On our last cruise (19 day) we ran up a laundry bill of over $400 if we had to pay - but being elite status on some ships it shows up on the bill as a charge then a credit.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3]Ron[/SIZE][/FONT]

[PescadoAmarillo]

[quote name='BJS']Never send anything mostly white with another color trim to the laundry because they will put it in a white load with bleach. [/quote]
Do you know for sure that they are bleaching all white items? Because I would prefer that most of my white items NOT be bleached...in fact, most say so on the care label. Is there a way to get white items washed on the ship without bleach being used?