Laundry Service on Holland America

Booked for a 27 day cruise on msOosterdam next April

(Ft Lauderdale to Venice) and was wondering if anyone had ever utilized the laundry service on this or any other HAL ships.

Purchased unlimited laundry on 29 day VOV TA last August. Was so glad I did. Worth every penny. Service was great. Started using it on embarkation day with pre cruise items. So nice to have virtually all my stuff clean and pressed throughout the trip.

Just be sure to order it through ship services beforehand. Price is $7 day if ordered before. Goes up to $9 day in Europe on cruise.

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Laundry service on HAL ships is excellent. Usually, a very short time period between when clothes are sent and when they are returned.

I would not send my nicer, evening, clothes out, but routinely send my daywear to HAL's laundry. I'm very happy with the service.

I come in from the day, and get cleaned up for the evening, and pop my clothes in the bag. Leave it on the bed, along with the invoice, and the steward takes it when he comes in for turndown. Frequently it is back the next afternoon.

A few days before the end of the cruise I send almost everything out, request it be sent back folded, and I am ready for clean clothes to pack and bring home.

Thanks, all. Good to know it's a good service. I was planning on using laundry only once or twice and doing unmentionables myself.

Thanks, all. Good to know it's a good service. I was planning on using laundry only once or twice and doing unmentionables myself.

IMO, sending out "unmentionables" to the laundry and having them come back in a wicker basket folded in tissue is a special cruise experience. I would suggest you try sending some things that are not quite so delicate and then judge from there.

I think that most longer cruises offer a "laundry by the bag" special once or twice during the cruise. For me, its unlimited laundry all the way. It really helps deal with packing. More room for shoes!

how much is the "stuff the bag" option? How often is it offered?

I am also doing a 24 day TA next March. I'm debating if I need to spend $170 to have the laundry for the entire cruise or just wait for the specials.

I think the "stuff the bag" will be available throughout your cruise. Check all of the paperwork that is delivered to your stateroom to have the best information.

I truly value the HAL laundry service and have used the "unlimited" version since 2009.

We pack for three/four days and use the laundry service which saves on at least one suitcase for each cruise. The first laundry bag is stuffed on Embarkation Day with wrinkled clothes from traveling and left on my bed while I go to dinner. Within a few days, all of our clothes are wrinkle-free and nicely pressed for the rest of the cruise.

After several hundred laundry loads, I can report that nothing has been damaged.

The laundry bag holds at least three of my outfits (shirt, slacks, underwear, socks, handkerchiefs, etc.) if necessary.

Laundry can be turned-in up until the day before disembarkation.

Used the unlimited laundry service on Eurodam 22 day crossing in nov. Worked great and well worth it. If you get the right person when signing up for service in advance sometimes you can get it for $7 a day, I did.

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Is unlimited laundry available to purchase on line, or do you have to call HAL? I don't see it anywhere within my reservation, and I would prefer to purchase this before we cruise. We board Koningsdam in Amsterdam in less than a month.

Thanks!

You have 3 options with HAL ships laundry. (ignoring the few older ships that still have coin operated do-it-yourself laundries).

You can do an "ala carte " service, where you get billed for each piece you send out. Most expensive way.

You can do "Laundry by the Bag". That service is where you stuff all you possibly can into a pretty big bag, and the laundry will return it washed, pressed, on hangers or in a basket. $20 per bag in North America, $30 per bag in Europe. This service is offered on all ships.

Or, you can purchase the Unlimited laundry Package. With that plan, you can send out a bag full or just a pair of socks and it will be returned in the same way as above. If you ask for a 2nd bag from your cabin steward, you can fill that too. $7 per day for the total number of days of your cruise in North America, or $9 per day in Europe. (Don't ask why laundry on a ship costs more in Europe than North America. No one has been able to explain why.)

If you put the bag out early in the morning, many times, your clothes are returned the same day, around 5:00 pm. Or the next day. With any of the 3 methods, you cannot use it on the last day before disembarkation. Usually, the cutoff is the 2nd day before you leave the ship.

You can pre-purchase the "Unlimited" package by calling Ship's Services ahead of your cruise. That will be $7 per day, no matter where your cruise is sailing. If you purchase it on the ship, you will get hit with the $9 per day rate in Europe. Make sure you bring your pre-purchase receipt that HAL provides with you when you board.

To keep track of who's underwear is who's, the laundry puts little sticky strips on some of your pieces. They are still there when you receive them back. Make sure to pull them off carefully, they stick very well, and you could rip a very delicate article. But, it's fun, 6 months after the cruise, and you wonder what has been scratching you in your privates, and you find a laundry sticker from your last cruise. Fond memories.

I have always been careful what we send out to the laundry.

But one time DH got back 2 brand new polyester golf shirts that were completely ruined. Seems someone had sent out some stuff that had velcro and it stuck to my DH's shirts. They came back with hundreds of runs in them.

Remember that the laundries have big industrial washers and dryers and are able to do lots of washes and drying at the same time.

Last summer on Koningsdam they had in the closet the laundry bags and I believe it was $30 for all you could stuff in it. Original intent was to give it try then because I only wanted to pack for one week.

As it turned out, the first week in England and Scotland were forecasted in the 70s so I ended up taking summer shirts & crop pants for the first week and turtlenecks & long pants for the second week in Iceland & Norway.

IMO, sending out "unmentionables" to the laundry and having them come back in a wicker basket folded in tissue is a special cruise experience. I would suggest you try sending some things that are not quite so delicate and then judge from there.

No problems with "delicates" here. The poor people will be dealing with granny panties. lol

how much is the "stuff the bag" option? How often is it offered?

 

I am also doing a 24 day TA next March. I'm debating if I need to spend $170 to have the laundry for the entire cruise or just wait for the specials.

There are no specials that you have to "wait" for, as the fill-a-bag is offered every day (including embarkation day) up until a day or two before the end of the cruise.

Is unlimited laundry available to purchase on line, or do you have to call HAL? I don't see it anywhere within my reservation, and I would prefer to purchase this before we cruise. We board Koningsdam in Amsterdam in less than a month.

 

Thanks!

Call Ship Services to purchase the unlimited laundry in advance of the cruise. It cannot be booked online.

If you book the package by phone, for Europe, and they quote $7per day, ask for an email. I called and booked it for that price, but was charged $9 per day. Took the email to the front desk and the price was changed. Worth every penny. No problems with the service, other than 1 lost pair of socks.

Used the unlimited laundry service on Eurodam 22 day crossing in nov. Worked great and well worth it.

 

We signed up for the unlimited laundry once we were onboard for a recent Panama Canal cruise at $7 a day. We went to the front desk the first day and it was done. Best gift we've ever given ourselves! I put it right up there with happy hour. :hearteyes: We sent laundry out every day- and a couple of days, twice a day. Sometimes it was back on the same day, but never took longer than overnight. We came home with all clean clothes except for what we were wearing. I did wash a few fragile things by hand. No trouble with care of our clothes at all. We decided it wa a much better arrangement than the stuff the bag approach.

Try not to mix items with multiple instructions in the same bag. I.e. return 'undried'. Laundry staff sometimes do not deal well with complex orders. Otherwise laundry service is excellent in my opinion.

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I tried to go online today and order the unlimited laundry but the site said it was to late to do online orders. Does anyone have Ship Services phone number so I can try to call today to order unlimited. We sail tomorrow, is it too late to order? Otherwise we will do it once we get on the ship. My husband thinks it is a box on the laundry list sheet that we can check that says unlimited. Any help will be appreciated.

Andrea

We've used their laundry service on over 300 days of cruising. Before we got free laundry as a perk we found it more economical to pay "by the bag" rather than unlimited for $X. We found you can pack a LOT of stuff in those bags if you tightly roll things, etc. Always figured we spent about half what the laundry package would have cost. We've never had any issues with the service.

I tried to go online today and order the unlimited laundry but the site said it was to late to do online orders. Does anyone have Ship Services phone number so I can try to call today to order unlimited. We sail tomorrow, is it too late to order? Otherwise we will do it once we get on the ship. My husband thinks it is a box on the laundry list sheet that we can check that says unlimited. Any help will be appreciated.

Andrea

Just a box at the bottom to select the unlimited laundry plan.

Thank you. We will wait till we send out our first bunch. We have been traveling 2 weeks with no laundry, so the first day we will have at least 2 bags.

Andrea

I have generally been pleased with the laundry service on HAL ships, both when I was paying "by the bag" and now as a 4-star Mariner. On my most recent NA cruise I was not quite as happy. A new knit shirt came back with the embroidered design shrunk and puckered. My error as I should have washed it at home first, to know if it needed special handling. My linen slacks were washed and pressed but the pockets were not pressed so the pants did not fit smoothly. The slacks were washed three different times and always the same problem.