Laundry rooms

[jmcross]

Are the laundry rooms open specifically on the Magic? Do I need to bring my own soap or quarters for them?
Thanks!
*and please don't tell me not to do laundry on vacation, I am a weirdo about laundry

 

[freshmanjs]

Yes, no, no. Use your key to the world card to pay.

 

[jmcross]

Thanks!
Do they provide laundry detergent or have machines to buy it?

 

[Kwami]

Thanks!
Do they provide laundry detergent or have machines to buy it?

Yes, but it's pricey. If you can bring your own supplies, you'll save some money.

 

[freshmanjs]

Yes, but it's pricey. If you can bring your own supplies, you'll save some money.

It's $1 for a single use tide box. Is that pricey? How much could you save bringing your own supplies? You must be doing a ton of laundry on the ship for that to be meaningful or worth doing.

 

[Kwami]

It's $1 for a single use tide box. Is that pricey? How much could you save bringing your own supplies? You must be doing a ton of laundry on the ship for that to be meaningful or worth doing.

It's $1.00 for a Tide box, plus another $1.00 for dryer sheets or fabric softener. That's $2 per load just for supplies, or $3 if you like to use fabric softener and dryer sheets for some reason. You could bring some pods and sheets and spend maybe $0.50 on supplies instead. So, why waste money when you can bring a small pack of supplies?

But truly, I bring my own supplies because the ones available in the machine all have strong scents and I need to use the hypoallergenic stuff.

And maybe just, I don't know, be less judgy? We don't need that kind of negativity.

 

[freshmanjs]

It's $1.00 for a Tide box, plus another $1.00 for dryer sheets or fabric softener. That's $2 per load just for supplies, or $3 if you like to use fabric softener and dryer sheets for some reason. You could bring some pods and sheets and spend maybe $0.50 on supplies instead. So, why waste money when you can bring a small pack of supplies?

But truly, I bring my own supplies because the ones available in the machine all have strong scents and I need to use the hypoallergenic stuff.

And maybe just, I don't know, be less judgy? We don't need that kind of negativity.

This post by you is the only one in the thread that is judgy or negative.

 

[Kwami]

This post by you is the only one in the thread that is judgy or negative.

Sure, and the one right before it where you were being judgy about how much laundry I do or how much money I want to save.

 

[freshmanjs]

The prices for laundry supplies are very low on the ship ($1 per item). It's one of the few things for which they don't fleece you on DCL. Of course, some people will still complain about the prices.

 

[braysmommy]

Yes, but it's pricey. If you can bring your own supplies, you'll save some money.

We always bring our own too!

 

[unrequited23]

Quick question: Is it Tide or the same detergent that they sell at the resort laundry rooms? We are a fragrance and dye-free laundry family.

 

[freshmanjs]

Quick question: Is it Tide or the same detergent that they sell at the resort laundry rooms? We are a fragrance and dye-free laundry family.

Tide

 

[jmcross]

I usually just pack laundry sheets. They take up virtually no space.

 

[MomOTwins]

We did laundry twice on a 3-night cruise OP--so definitely no judgment!!!

It was very easy. My only recommendation would be to split one washer load into two dryers, if available. The dryer power was not the greatest and I had to dry my clothes twice. Next time I split it up to help it dry better and that worked with a single dryer cycle.

One very cool thing is that you use your stateroom key to pay for the laundry, and it sends you a reminder alert in the phone app when your laundry is almost ready for pickup. Such a great feature!

 

[moet7]

If I bring my own soap, do the machines take HE and can it be liquid?

 

[Chemist]

If I bring my own soap, do the machines take HE and can it be liquid?

Honestly, it sounds like a good way to get your clean clothes covered in laundry soap!

Something to remember...
The machines are MUCH smaller than the ones at home. The overpriced packets are designed to be the right quantity for those machines.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

The machines are not High Efficiency, heck, they are just barely efficient. I use laundry sheets (WashEZE) and, like @MomOTwins, divide and conquer the dryers. Just keep it simple: laundry sheets, small loads, and even smaller dryer loads. Can do EZ.

 

[Cheburashka]

Are the laundry rooms open specifically on the Magic? Do I need to bring my own soap or quarters for them?
Thanks!
*and please don't tell me not to do laundry on vacation, I am a weirdo about laundry

Yes, I used a laundry room on the Magic this past October. You will use your KTTW card to electronically pay for the washing machine & dryer, and for soap that is dispensed from a machine. No cash needed, and no need to bring your own supplies that might or might not be well-suited to their machines.

Nothing at all weird about doing laundry onboard. A lot of people get clothes wet, sandy, etc. on a cruise, and it's also easier to keep baggage light & do a wash or two during downtime onboard than it is to lug around heavy bags & also have a ton of dirty clothes to wash when you get home & are still basking in the afterglow of the trip.

 

[Starwind]

If I bring my own soap, do the machines take HE and can it be liquid?

All washers can take HE soap, it is HE machines that can't/shouldn't take normal soap.

So you are fine using HE detergent in the washers. It can be liquid. We bring the HE version of Tide Free and Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent with us; I put some in a nalgene bottle (which is leakproof) and bring a small plastic dual measure (1 tsp / 1 tbsp) measuring spoon.

Some tips:
- the detergent dispensing tray can be removed and cleaned; if you have a strong preference for your own detergent, I suggest gently taking it out and cleaning it -- the packs they sell are powder detergent and people put them in the dispenser instead of the drum and the powder does not fully dissolve... it is gunky in there !

- the liquid "pods" are too much detergent; there will still be suds at the end of the full cycle; we learned this the hard way our first cruise and have only brought liquid detergent since; (if you don't watch the last bit of the cycle you may not realize there are still suds - even with just using a teaspoon of detergent we still have to do a second full cycle to get a sufficient rinse)

- the washers are SMALL so you can only fit a small load; you need to adjust your detergent accordingly otherwise you will have suds left


Another option to consider, that we have started to do on our cruises and for travel is that we bring a Scrubba wash bag with us and try to use it to wash clothes, then the dryer or air dry (depending on item). Doesn't work for everything and it is annoying if you have a bunch of things to wash at once, but I find if I keep the # of things managable it works well and ends up saving time, though is more work.

 

[Cheburashka]

The process is very easy & error proof if you just use the detergent they offer & don't obviously overload the washer.

To each his own for wanting to use a certain detergent (I use "free" detergent at home so I get it), but maybe a vacation is a good time to take a break from hypervigilance, unless someone has a genuine allergy? Maybe try just letting things be easy instead of complicated?

Not a put down to anyone, just a suggestion based on my own experience. And if that doesn't work for you, that's fine & I respect that. To each his own.