Questions about laundry and drycleaning service

[Kingwood]

we will be aboard Statendam soon in a suite. we are wondering about the complimentary laundry and drycleaning services. How does that work? will they do something everyday? do they give us a bag for whites and a bag for darks?

then how long does it take to get it back? Any comments on quality of service? especially for the drycleaning?

At home I always wash in cold water and hang to dry my workout clothes T-shirts etc so they don't shrink. I am assuming that it is NOT going to work this way on board unless I take my own things to the machines myself. I will need clothes that can wash on hot and dry in dryer. is that correct???

[CruiserBruce]

we will be aboard Statendam soon in a suite. we are wondering about the complimentary laundry and drycleaning services. How does that work? will they do something everyday? Yes.do they give us a bag for whites and a bag for darks? No

then how long does it take to get it back? 24-30 hours. Occaisionally faster.Any comments on quality of service? Good, but not if an item is shrinkable. especially for the drycleaning? Good. Some people dry clean everything to avoid shrinkage as they use hot water on the regular washing.

At home I always wash in cold water and hang to dry my workout clothes T-shirts etc so they don't shrink. I am assuming that it is NOT going to work this way on board unless I take my own things to the machines myself. I will need clothes that can wash on hot and dry in dryer. is that correct???Yes, or dry clean them

Other than the hot water issue, free laundry is one of the best perk of the suites, particularly on longer trips.

[Krazy Kruizers]

you are correct -- all clothes are washed in hot water and dried on hot heat -- the ships have huge industrial machines and have tons of laundry to do everyday -- thus they can nnot do small loads of laundry

there will be a dark blue laundry bag hanging in one of your closets -- in the S suite on the statendam the bag is usually in the closet that is located as you enter the cabin

yes -- you put everything in one bag -- and you can send out laundry every day

ours usually comes back anywhere from 24 - 48 hours

we just put the laundry bag on the end of the bed when we leave the cabin in the morning and the cabin stewards will take care of it

99% of the time we have not had any problems

[Spinner2]

We turn in laundry just about every day. They don't promise it, but our experience has been, on several HAL ships, that the laundry we turn in early, before we go to breakfast, is back late that afternoon. There's just one bag unless you have too much to fit into one; just stuff it in. We do ask for another bag if we have dry-cleaning; don't want a mix-up there! We catch our room steward on our way out to breakfast; tell him there's laundry and he gets it to the laundry early, I guess. We don't worry about it once we've notified him.

I don't know how to advise you about what clothes to send. We don't take ultra-expensive, or unique fabric kinds of things on cruises. I've always heard that it's hot water and a hot dryer for everything but my plain cotton T-shirts (color, scoop-neck; just ordinary ones) that I'd dry on a low temp at home or just hang up to dry in the air come out just fine on the ship; not shrunk or color-faded. I highly recommend bringing those pants in your closet that are a pain to iron but look better if you do--the cargo pockets, that sort of thing--because they will come back better than what you would do yourself.

We turn in clothes right up to the last day; as late in the cruise as they will accept them. That way everything we brought is clean, pressed, neatly folded or hanger-hung when we pack; no laundry to do when we get home except for what we wore the last day.

My DH says his tux and the tux shirts look better when the ship's dry cleaner (and laundry for the shirts) does them as opposed to our cleaner at home. Ditto for my casual jackets; they look great after a trip to the ship's dry cleaner.

I'm sure others' experiences could differ, but we've had nothing but positive experiences with the ships' laundry/dry cleaning service.

[CowPrincess]

we will be aboard Statendam soon in a suite. we are wondering about the complimentary laundry and drycleaning services. How does that work? will they do something everyday? do they give us a bag for whites and a bag for darks?

then how long does it take to get it back? Any comments on quality of service? especially for the drycleaning?

At home I always wash in cold water and hang to dry my workout clothes T-shirts etc so they don't shrink. I am assuming that it is NOT going to work this way on board unless I take my own things to the machines myself. I will need clothes that can wash on hot and dry in dryer. is that correct???

We did a bag of "dryclean only", then another separate bag of laundry. I was very pleased with the quality of the drycleaning onboard.... VASTLY superior to the "clothing murderer" who does drycleaning where I live :)

I would NOT send workout clothes to the onboard laundry if they are any kind of "technical" fabric. We were happy with the laundry we had done (what's NOT to love? :D ) but I didn't send anything that required special care.

[kazu]

We love the laundry and drycleaning service. We send just about everything out. Service has gotten much quicker over the last three cruises :) Night before or early morning usually it's back that afternoon otherwise the next day.

anything that I would want in cold water - I just mark for drycleaning.

I don't even do two bags. Just put it in one and mark colours or description which makes it easy for them and me to make sure I got everything back.

Never had a problem with shrinkage or anything else. Fantastick job on drycleaning and have even sent out a formal when it turned out i was going to need it again for a special occasion. Great job.

It's a great perk IMO and we use it:) Enjoy:D

[harleydudesat]

If you are not in a suite that has comp laundry/dry cleaning how much would it be?

[kazu]

If you are not in a suite that has comp laundry/dry cleaning how much would it be?

KK (Krazy Kruisers) just posted this on another thread. It's quite reasonable actually. You can get buy laundry by the piece, by the bag (stuff it as full as you can) or for your cruise. I believe the bag is around $20. The amount per cruise depends upon the length of the cruise.

drycleaning is not included in that price. You pay for the items by the piece. There will be a list there when you arrive and you have the choice of choosing whatever option you wish.

In these days of minimum bags and weight concerns, it makes a big difference. And takes a big burden off you on vacation :)

[CowPrincess]

If you are not in a suite that has comp laundry/dry cleaning how much would it be?

The drycleaning is IMHO surprisingly reasonable, I don't have exact $$$s, but for me, the ship's drycleaning in lower in price than drycleaning at home. I think a 2-piece suit was around $10 or $12, cleaned and pressed. I think a silk blouse was around $6 or so.... but that is just my recollection, don't hold me to it :D

If you are on a ship with a laundromat, you also have the choice of doing a load of wash for $2, and a load of drying for $1.

[DeepWaterMariner]

We turn in laundry just about every day. They don't promise it, but our experience has been, on several HAL ships, that the laundry we turn in early, before we go to breakfast, is back late that afternoon. There's just one bag unless you have too much to fit into one; just stuff it in. We do ask for another bag if we have dry-cleaning; don't want a mix-up there! We catch our room steward on our way out to breakfast; tell him there's laundry and he gets it to the laundry early, I guess. We don't worry about it once we've notified him.


That was exactly our experience on our recent Noordam cruise. It always came back the same day, usually in the afternoon. One day it came back in the evening. It certainly is a nice suite perk but believe me, it is much cheaper to pay directly for the laundry rather than paying for a suite. We get complementary laundry and dry cleaning on Princess but that is next day service and they seem to be harder on our cloths.

[sail7seas]

I send out lots of DH's t shirts, tuxedo shirts, sport shirts, shorts, sox and underwear but very few of my things. They do a great job on the laundry and dry cleaning of those sort of items.

I always assume whatever is washed, will be washed in hot water and dried in high heat dryer.

I rinse out my 'dainties' in the sink and dry them in the bathroom. They dry very quickly on the ships. Sometimes I'll wash a jersey that I want to rewear and I'll send it out to be pressed after it dries.

I have sent out some of my and DH's slax and they come back great after dry cleaning.