Doing laundry onboard

[lelalittlelegs]

How many of you do it? Obviously we might all need to wash the odd thing here and there, especially with children, but do any of you purposely take half or significantly less clothes than needed as you're happy to wash/iron them onboard or use the laundry services? I am a self confessed over packer and while I don't want to spend my vacation doing laundry it would be great to pack less and just do some laundry mid-week. What do you do? Especially for longer cruises or cruises out of the country that will include flights or longer journeys and therefore more stuff to haul.

 

[cris0809]

We always bring a little travel shampoo bottle (3oz) with some laundry detergent siphoned off of our regular bottle at home. It's great to be able to do the odd item in the bathroom sink if necessary.

On our 14 night cruise we brought 7 night's worth of undies/socks/day clothes/bathing suits/coverups and only packed extra dinner clothes. 7 nights or less we don't plan to do a load of laundry but occasionally have done one.

 

[mattykin]

We just returned from 21 days away, we did a couple of days in Orlando the 12 night EBTA and 6 nights traveling in Spain and London. I did laundry 3 times while onboard and wished I had brought half the stuff I did as it was hard with all our baggage once we were off the ship.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We only do it on the very long cruises say 12 or 14 nights, your there to enjoy yourself it seems to be busy most times so you have to be clever when to go. It takes time. The dryers are slow. Good soap etc there and ok price so no need to bring

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Yep. I always do laundry for anything over a 3 or 4 nighter. Even if I've brought enough clothes to cover each day, it bugs me to not have all the choices of what I could have every day. I'm all about having choices of what to wear. I'm weird like that. Its nice to not have a pile of laundry when I get home. I always bring Tide pods for my washing.

 

[cris0809]

Good soap etc there and ok price so no need to bring

We bring ours because we prefer fragrance free (free & clear, dye free, etc) because most US detergent stinks. I hate the smell of Tide.

 

[Silverfox97]

Yep. I always do laundry for anything over a 3 or 4 nighter. Even if I've brought enough clothes to cover each day, it bugs me to not have all the choices of what I could have every day. I'm all about having choices of what to wear. I'm weird like that. Its nice to not have a pile of laundry when I get home. I always bring Tide pods for my washing.

We do laundry on every cruise over 4 nights for the same reason - it's nice to unpack and put clothes away vs. doing laundry. It doesn't take up any cruise time for us - we typically put in a load once the first person gets into the shower. I have a stockpile of the Purex 3-in-1 sheets (unscented/free & clear) that I got when I noticed they were discontinuing them - got bunches from Target & Publix on clearance. I'm allergic to Tide. We used the Purex sheets during our present trip here in St John (I hate having salt water in bathing suits for long periods). We live in Tampa so any cruise out of PC or Miami we overpack for, but I still enjoy putting clean clothes away when I get home

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[maburke]

We do laundry on every cruise over 4 nights for the same reason - it's nice to unpack and put clothes away vs. doing laundry. It doesn't take up any cruise time for us - we typically put in a load once the first person gets into the shower. I have a stockpile of the Purex 3-in-1 sheets (unscented/free & clear) that I got when I noticed they were discontinuing them - got bunches from Target & Publix on clearance. I'm allergic to Tide. We used the Purex sheets during our present trip here in St John (I hate having salt water in bathing suits for long periods). We live in Tampa so any cruise out of PC or Miami we overpack for, but I still enjoy putting clean clothes away when I get home

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Rats! I wish I'd heard this before they discontinued the Purex sheets. I didn't know they came in free & clear, and I'd heard that they were very strong-smelling. My daughter is allergic to Tide, too.

Where is the laundry located on the older ships? Do you ever have trouble with finding a machine available?

 

[jdb in AZ]

On 15-day cruises the laundry rooms become the most popular/crowded/hectic place onboard. On our DCL Panama Canal cruise I had to get up at 6 a.m. to find an empty washer, and there was a line of people waiting by the time I finished using the dryer. That's not my idea of a good time. When we went to Hawaii we packed enough clothes and were fine. On our non-DCL Baltic cruise I sent out some clothes to be laundered at a very decent price because there was no self-serve laundry onboard.

 

[TXDavis]

I ended up doing laundry last time but will try not to in the future. As pp stated, dryers are slow and not knowing this, I had to leave a show because clothes needed another round of drying, back to show, back to laundry afterwards. More work than I had planned on!

 

[cruisecrasher]

I would on 8+ night cruises, otherwise unless a child incident happens, not on vacation!!!

 

[dclwonderprincess]

Where is the laundry located on the older ships? Do you ever have trouble with finding a machine available?

There are laundry rooms on decks 2, 6 & 7 on the Magic class ships. We had trouble finding space on 7, walked down to 6 and no one else was using it. You may have to check a few times or try at odd hours.

 

[Woodmnky]

On Fantasy & Dream there are laundry facilities on almost every floor. They alternate fore & aft on each floor.

We do laundry on every cruise. Neither DH nor I even own enough clothes to pack enough for the week. For us it is really no big deal. We tend to try and go on a port day because we usually stay on the ship. I have noticed that the facilities tend to be less crowded earlier in the cruise rather than later, so we often do laundry on day 3 rather than day 5.

I know it is silly to some, but we have often considered sailing RCI Oasis or Allure, but the lack of laundry facilities is one of the big deterents for us.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

On Fantasy & Dream there are laundry facilities on almost every floor. They alternate fore & aft on each floor. We do laundry on every cruise. Neither DH nor I even own enough clothes to pack enough for the week. For us it is really no big deal. We tend to try and go on a port day because we usually stay on the ship. I have noticed that the facilities tend to be less crowded earlier in the cruise rather than later, so we often do laundry on day 3 rather than day 5. I know it is silly to some, but we have often considered sailing RCI Oasis or Allure, but the lack of laundry facilities is one of the big deterents for us.

Half way thru the cruise with RCI they have the laundry special. I've heard mixed reports it can be anytime during a cruise if you ask your steward for the bags. Anywhoo, as much as you can cram in a bag wash/dry/fold for a flat $25 or $30. Its amazing how much I could Tetris into that bad boy! The bag is smaller than Disney's and made of paper but it still ended up a manageable expense.


Here's the laundry bag:

 

[ludari]

I am proud to be one of those light packers who can get away with just a carry-on for a 7-night cruise so doing laundry is a must for me. Luckily I am also the type of person who doesn't need a lot of sleep so I usually do laundry at around midnight or later so I don't miss out on anything.

 

[MouseMomx2]

We do laundry once on cruises longer than 4 nights and more often on cruises longer than 7 nights. It really takes no time out of my day and I'd much rather take less stuff with me. I tend to do laundry early in the morning to avoid the crowds. I usually toss our stuff in a washer, go exercise, return to put it in a dryer, go have breakfast and then pick it up when finished.

Do try to make sure that you're there when you washer/dryer finishes though. The laundry rooms can get very busy so those machines are needed.

 

[TAK]

It sort of depends on the person/family, doesn't it? I wouldn't do laundry on a cruise in a million years -- I'm also not going to wash dishes or clean the bathroom in my stateroom. I'm on vacation! But I don't mind packing a lot of clothes -- in fact, I'd rather -- and I always wash everything when I get home, whether I wore it or not, so doing it on the ship isn't even necessary for me. YMMV.

Also, I have to imagine it's different for people with children. My husband and I can plan our outfits for the week and have enough variety and be fine. With kids, anything can happen, and with bigger families, at some point it just becomes too much luggage, I would think.

 

[jjgarv]

On most 7-night cruises, I will wash out an occasional item in the sink. Usually I'll do one load during the week, depending on what DD has spilled on herself!

 

[Mickeyhugger]

We usually don't do any laundry while onboard. It took too much time finding a washer that was available (a few years ago, on the Magic.) DH later learned the secret to do it late at night (he's a late-nighter, anyway.)

I can definitely see how it's a must-do, though, for families with young children.

 

[Narnia_girl]

I'm considering doing laundry because of our tight luggage space. We are a family of five but only packing two large suitcases due to the airline baggage fees. So we are *attempting* to pack light.