Travel Iron

[jbarboza4]

Getting ready for our cruise and I am trying to decide whether to bring a travel iron or just plan on using the iron in the laundry rooms? Anyone have any advice?

[Michael Ho Ho]

I have bad news for you. Most cruise ships do not have laundry rooms for passengers.

 

Also, most ships forbid electric irons in passenger cabins. Every week on a large ship, some passenger uses an electric iron and starts a fire that could be potentially fatal to you and me. Every time it happens, the guilty passenger says

" Gosh, I have never done that before". That could be you on your next cruise. Please leave the iron at home and make my safety a bit more secure.

Most ships have great laundrys. Let the professionals do the work on your vacation.

[uneamie]

I have bad news for you. Most cruise ships do not have laundry rooms for passengers.

 

Also, most ships forbid electric irons in passenger cabins. Every week on a large ship, some passenger uses an electric iron and starts a fire that could be potentially fatal to you and me. Every time it happens, the guilty passenger says

" Gosh, I have never done that before". That could be you on your next cruise. Please leave the iron at home and make my safety a bit more secure.

Most ships have great laundrys. Let the professionals do the work on your vacation.

Ok now...first I must say that now a days many many of the ships have laundry rooms where you can do your wash and ironing. All the ones except for one we cruised on had laundry rooms. :rolleyes:

Secondly, I have never read anything about a passenger setting fire to a cruise ship with their travel iron...where are you getting this information??? :confused: Personally I am much more afraid of the drunken smoker who falls asleep with a lit cigarette or cigar then I'd ever be with a travel iron being left on.

Also, let me add that my "curling iron and hot rollers" get extremely hot...much more than a travel iron , so I am not really all that sure why a travel iron is discouraged when, smoking, and curling irons are allowed. :rolleyes:

I take mine, always have and always will. That is why they make them...to travel with and use. If it gets confiscated at some point then so be it...I will deal with it then. And please don't tell me that my travel iron creates more of a hazzard then: all the lit candles, gas stoves, ovens and grills in the restaurants or the heating systems, electrical wires all about, and thousands of cigarettes that are lit with matches and lighters on every single cruise ship etc, etc...I just may puke! :(

[Michael Ho Ho]

Uneamie,

 

I worked on ships for years and have had countless occasions to witness and clean up the mess created by careless passengers who start fires. Usually the fires damage one cabin only and do not get a chance to spread further. Thats due to todays very sophisticated smoke, fire, and temperature sensors installed in each cabin. We are ususally able to catch the fire before it spreads further. The biggest problem is usually that the damaged cabin cannot be repaired in time for the guests who plan to occupy it next cruise - thereby disappointing them and causing many complaints. Its pretty obvious that Cruise Lines are reluctant to publicise every small blaze that occurs on a ship. On average, it is one per week in passenger cabins. Almost every one is caused by travel irons. But there are the occasional idiots who think it would be very romantic to burn candles or incense. Inevitably the response to the fire is the same; "Gosh I have never done this before". It is fun to see their faces when they are informed that the cost of repairing the damages will be added to their onboard accounts. It is extremely expensive to repair those damages when the replacement parts (and sometimes the repairmen) must be flown in from Europe on short notice.

Even more numerous are the clowns who leave the hot iron on the bed cover or carpet, damaging them. The damage is not so serious - but it is still very expensive. Compared to the cost of pressing something in the ships laundry, better to play it safe with your life and mine, and avoid a possibly very costly replacement charge on your credit card.

 

Crew cabins rarely have this problem. Smoking regulations for crew are very strict on most lines. Violating those rules gets them fired immediately.

[RichardK]

I take mine, always have and always will. That is why they make them...to travel with and use. If it gets confiscated at some point then so be it...I will deal with it then :(

 

Great attitude...........!!

[CTCruisers]

We always travel with our iron. On the first night while on board, we unpack all of our luggage and my wife irons the few things that need it. After that, it is put away for the rest of the cruise.

 

While she irons, I am stowing the rest of our clothes away. At the same time, I am keeping an eye on where she places the iron while she prepares the next item to be ironed. I don't want to trip over the wire and have her get burned.

 

We have found that every ship we were on had laundery rooms and irons. The problem was that everyone else would have the same idea and there would be a line to use the irons at the same time, especially on the formal attire days.

[basketballmom]

We always travel with our travel iron. We always make sure to unplug it as soon as we finish ironing also. Not all ships have irons available for passenger use. The Majesty doesn't, but the desk drawers have an ironing board built in them!

[jkrislc]

Most cruise lines state in their documentation that irons, candles, etc. are not allowed. Personally, I use a steamer, although that can get pretty hot too.

 

As for a fire every week, I personally doubt that. I further doubt that they are almost always caused by irons. I'd like to see the statistics. I'd assume any such incident would have to be reported. Further, wouldn't the fire alarm have to be sounded in order to alert the crew to respond?

 

From my perspective, anecdotal evidence is no evidence at all and should be stated as such.

[uneamie]

Uneamie,

On average, it is one per week in passenger cabins. Almost every one is caused by travel irons. But there are the occasional idiots who think it would be very romantic to burn candles or incense. Inevitably the response to the fire is the same;

I find it hard to believe that "travel irons" cause more cabin fires then "careless cigarette smokers" Non the less, I am not a child or an idiot or my house would not be standing today...and we have an iron, and we burn candles and occasionally light a fire in the fireplace. I think I can be reasonable sure that I will be just as responsible with my travel iron. The fact that cruise lines have a general rule about travel irons is fine with me...but I think they then need to ban smoking as well for me to feel totally safe. When you think about it, there are tons of people who go back to their cabins pretty loaded after drinking all night. The loaded smoker can be deadly and I am much more afraid of them then "travel irons". :rolleyes:

[1kycat]

Not totally off the subject…I know that years ago when a smoke detector went off it only sounded in the bridge, not in the passenger cabins. Has that changed now? I understand the reasoning from the ship…to prevent panicking. But I also can understand the other side….that it can delay evacuations. Just wondered

[Michael Ho Ho]

On most modern cruise ships there are heat detectors in each cabin and public space that sound an alarm on the bridge. These detectors can be individually calibrated, and are usually set to alert us to a rapid temperature rise in a short interval. The temperature rise is usually a faster and a better indication of trouble than a smoke alarm. When this alarm sounds on the bridge (they get several hundred of these alarms every day) it is customary to send a security guard or cabin steward (depending on the degree and speed of temperature rise reported) quickly to the cabin to check on the occupants. It is usually a false alarm; a long hot shower, several cigarettes burning, or an open balcony door on a hot day can trigger the alarm. So can a travel iron. So can a melting carpet or a smoldering bed cover. There is rarely the need to get the entire ship panicked and excited over a ruined carpet or bed cover. General fire alarms are rarely sounded for something so small.

 

Crew cabins are (as you may be aware) extremely small. Any temperature rise in one will sound an alarm on the bridge almost immediately. Many cruise lines forbid smoking in crew cabins - and most other crew areas; most that do allow it have the smokers register with management. Unauthorized smoking, improper use of electric cords, or any other potentially dangerous practices will get a crew member fired very quickly.

 

As we have heard many times, fire is the most dangerous event at sea. Those of us who work on ships take it a bit more seriously that the occasional cruiser. I have worked on two cruise ships that burned and sank. People lost their lives in both cases. Negligence by people who did not take fire seriously caused those people to die.

I dont want this to happen to me - or to you.

 

For those of you who are hopefully a bit alarmed at this point, here is a bit of trivia that may save your life someday.

All modern cruise ships are designed so that the air pressure inside your cabin is higher than the air pressure outside. In case of fire outside your cabin, the difference in pressure will keep the smoke away from you. If a fire occurs in your cabin, the pressure will drive the smoke outward, alerting us earlier.

[uneamie]

On most modern cruise ships there are heat detectors in each cabin and public space that sound an alarm on the bridge. These detectors can be individually calibrated, and are usually set to alert us to a rapid temperature rise in a short interval. The temperature rise is usually a faster and a better indication of trouble than a smoke alarm. When this alarm sounds on the bridge (they get several hundred of these alarms every day) it is customary to send a security guard or cabin steward (depending on the degree and speed of temperature rise reported) quickly to the cabin to check on the occupants. It is usually a false alarm; a long hot shower, several cigarettes burning, or an open balcony door on a hot day can trigger the alarm. So can a travel iron. So can a melting carpet or a smoldering bed cover. There is rarely the need to get the entire ship panicked and excited over a ruined carpet or bed cover. General fire alarms are rarely sounded for something so small.

 

Crew cabins are (as you may be aware) extremely small. Any temperature rise in one will sound an alarm on the bridge almost immediately. Many cruise lines forbid smoking in crew cabins - and most other crew areas; most that do allow it have the smokers register with management. Unauthorized smoking, improper use of electric cords, or any other potentially dangerous practices will get a crew member fired very quickly.

 

As we have heard many times, fire is the most dangerous event at sea. Those of us who work on ships take it a bit more seriously that the occasional cruiser. I have worked on two cruise ships that burned and sank. People lost their lives in both cases. Negligence by people who did not take fire seriously caused those people to die.

I dont want this to happen to me - or to you.

 

For those of you who are hopefully a bit alarmed at this point, here is a bit of trivia that may save your life someday.

All modern cruise ships are designed so that the air pressure inside your cabin is higher than the air pressure outside. In case of fire outside your cabin, the difference in pressure will keep the smoke away from you. If a fire occurs in your cabin, the pressure will drive the smoke outward, alerting us earlier.

 

All of that being said, and I do thank you for all the detail in your post it's an excellant explanation, I am still perplex as to why the cruise lines allow smoking by the passengers but do not allow "travel irons". Aren't cigerattes a much bigger fire hazzard if not the biggest? :confused:

[Michael Ho Ho]

Good point about cigarettes. We are often told that more fires are caused by smokers than by anything else. But if you actually investigate causes of ship fires, you will rarely find cigaretes mentioned. Perhaps it is because such a big deal is made of the possible dangers ??

It might also be considered that cruise lines today must keep every cabin occupied at all times if they are to stay profitable. Prohibiting smoking would most certainly empty some of those cabins and cause financial losses. I suspect that cruise line executives are playing a numbers game; desperately needing to keep occupancy up, and hoping that the fire risk from smokers is not serious enough to sink their ships.

In my 18 years at sea, most of the dozens of fires I witnessed (and helped extinguish) were caused by travel irons, curling irons, extension cords, candles, and incense.