Laundry - am I missing out on something?

Hi all

I love reading CC but cannot understand the fascination with doing laundry on board. This happened on our Regent Seven Seas cruise and seems to be prevalent on HAL cruises too. Am I missing out on something or some secret society as to me our cruise in 3 months time on Zuiderdam will be a holiday which means no normal, mundane activities.:)

Look forward to your replies.

I think it depends on the length of your cruise. If it's a long one I can see the need to do laundry but otherwise I am of the same opinion as you.

We tend to take cruises that last from 20 to 30 days. In consideration of our fellow guests I either do laundry, or, if it's something I don't value, I send it to the ship's laundry. :) For a short 7 day cruise I would not bother with laundry.

The shortest cruise we will go on is 14 days. Plus we always have 3 or 4 days pre cruise getting to the embarkation port.

Thus we have no choice but to have laundry done.

Hi all

 

I love reading CC but cannot understand the fascination with doing laundry on board. This happened on our Regent Seven Seas cruise and seems to be prevalent on HAL cruises too. Am I missing out on something or some secret society as to me our cruise in 3 months time on Zuiderdam will be a holiday which means no normal, mundane activities.:)

 

Look forward to your replies.

Are you asking about spending time doing your own laundry or sending your things out to be laundered?

I will be sending mine out because I am on holiday.

We think that some folks just have a fetish about laundry :). Even on shorter cruises (where they have laundry rooms) you will find some folks spending hours every day sitting in the laundry room. We recently spent a week at a beach resort in Myrtle Beach where nearly everyone is at the resort from 4 days to a week. And just about everyone arrives in a car. The large laundry room was located near our room and every morning we would walk by and see people (often couples) just sitting in the laundry room. Now this is a beach resort where you wear swim suits, shorts and T-shirts. Even if taking a week trip, everyone should easily be able to pack enough clothes to avoid doing laundry.

And then we know a couple that launders their sheets every day.....even if at a hotel or on a cruise ship. They insist on having freshly laundered sheets and since nobody changes bedding every day..they strip their beds (even on cruise ships) and launder their own sheets. They are so obsessed that they do not go on ships (like RCI and Celebrity) that have no laundry rooms.

Hank

Hi all

 

I love reading CC but cannot understand the fascination with doing laundry on board. This happened on our Regent Seven Seas cruise and seems to be prevalent on HAL cruises too. Am I missing out on something or some secret society as to me our cruise in 3 months time on Zuiderdam will be a holiday which means no normal, mundane activities.:)

 

Look forward to your replies.

Not a fascination for is but it is usually a nessasity. We usually have been traveling for a week or more before we get on the cruise and limit ourselves to one carry on and one medium suitcase.

It really doesn't make a difference as on your ship there won't be a self-serve laundry for passenger use. No "secret society" on board.

I generally take long-ish cruises, so laundry is a fact of life. The only question is do I do it myself, or have the ship do it for me.

Before I earned the free laundry benefit, I always did my own laundry. That way I was able to set the water temps, and check the dryer (just HATE cooking my clothes :rolleyes:). Never a need to sit there and watch the drums go round---just keep track of time, and be back before my machine completes its cycle.

Now that laundry is included, I do send out my daytime clothes, but would never dream of sending my evening washables; I still do those myself.

I never could understand those people who just sat in that hot room, but since I wasn't forced to sit there with them, not my place to judge how they spend their time.

On longer cruises and on smaller ships, I don't mind doing the laundry. One load wash and then dry. Usually do it when it isn't crowded early on a sea day. I sit and read or do crosswords with a cup of coffee in hand. Just part of my adventure like bingo, tea time, trivia etc.

On the newer ships with a more than week cruise, we send it out one time. Many cruisers like to get it done just before they get to end of cruise so they have clean clothes at home.

Ruth: how do you know there are not secret societies if they are secret?? I have heard of a clandestine chocolate society that meets at the piano bar!::D

Ruth: how do you know there are not secret societies if they are secret??

I didn't post that. (however, I am not above eavesdropping, and bugging closed rooms. ;))

Many cruisers like to get it done just before they get to end of cruise so they have clean clothes at home.

 

This is the part I don't understand. The vacation is still going on. Why not enjoy every minute of it and worry about the dirty clothes when you get home? (I mean "you" in the general sense, not you in particular, of course....)

Hi all...I love reading CC but cannot understand the fascination with doing laundry on board. .

Well, it could be that folks don't like to wear dirty clothes and thus they use the self service laundries.

I don't understand why someone would concern themselves with why people choose to wash their clothes!:rolleyes:

I felt the same way until dh retired and we could travel for anytime, at anytime. So quarterly trips to somewhere are now my dh's schedule. Add to that, two weeks isn't long enough for him either.

SO...in order to make things easier, we pack for any trip like we are going to be gone for 9 or 10 days max. That means when we do a week precruise in Paris and then 12 days aboard the ship at the end of the month, I figure I will be doing one load or... if nondestructible, sending a few things to be laundered. I do it in the early morning when we are having coffee on the balcony. Not a big deal, surprisingly. Do I like it? Nope. But better than packing suitcases we don't want to lug around.

This is the part I don't understand. The vacation is still going on. Why not enjoy every minute of it and worry about the dirty clothes when you get home? (I mean "you" in the general sense, not you in particular, of course....)

We hate the thought of packing dirty clothes. Much nicer to pack clean clothes. We prefer longer cruises, minimum of 14 days usually more and we pack clothing for about 10 days. Sending laundry out is essential for us so why not do it 3 days before the end of the cruise knowing everything will be returned clean, neatly folded, ready to put in the suitcases, and ready to take out and wear when we get home. The dirty clothes from the 3 final days can be put in a plastic laundry bag in a carry on. No need to spend our first day home doing laundry from the cruise.:p

We hate the thought of packing dirty clothes. Much nicer to pack clean clothes. We prefer longer cruises, minimum of 14 days usually more and we pack clothing for about 10 days. Sending laundry out is essential for us so why not do it 3 days before the end of the cruise knowing everything will be returned clean, neatly folded, ready to put in the suitcases, and ready to take out and wear when we get home. The dirty clothes from the 3 final days can be put in a plastic laundry bag in a carry on. No need to spend our first day home doing laundry from the cruise.:p

If you send it out, that's one thing. But I wouldn't waste a moment of my vacation doing laundry SOLELY for the purpose of bringing home clean clothes rather than dirty ones. The first day home is usually back to work for me, so it's going to be unpleasant any way you look at it...;)

This is the part I don't understand. The vacation is still going on. Why not enjoy every minute of it and worry about the dirty clothes when you get home? (I mean "you" in the general sense, not you in particular, of course....)

I agree 100%. Although, judging by the amount of their luggage, it does seem like some people do bring every article of clothing they own, but they must still have enough clean clothes at home to be able to deal with their dirty clothes when they get there.

I admit to not having read the whole thread but just want to mention you need not worry about doing laundry on Zuiderdam as she does not have any self-service laundries. The ship's laundry service is very good though.

I agree 100%. Although, judging by the amount of their luggage, it does seem like some people do bring every article of clothing they own, but they must still have enough clean clothes at home to be able to deal with their dirty clothes when they get there.

Those of us who live in the cold north and sail the Caribbean in the winter don't need those lightweight summer clothes at home during the winter. :D

LOl. yes North&South I am missing out on something- the free laundry perk!

:D

Sammygoose, When you have spent enough time on HAL ships to earn 4-star status you qualify for free laundry. Nice perk, but a very expensive though very pleasurable way to avoid doing laundry while cruising.

For me, one of the extra perks of having my laundry done on board is actually something that happens months later at home. After a late fall cruise to the Caribbean, the next time I use that wardrobe is May or June of the following year. I put on a fresh top, wonder why there is a scratchy spot and find the laundry tag from the cruise still adhered to the seam. It brings a smile to my face as I picture the last time I was wearing that garment.

Gotta love those laundry tags!:D

We like longer cruises, too, and now that we have free laundry, I send out as much as I dare - but I usually have a few things I handwash in the sink using the ship's shampoo (as recommended by CC), and then I roll them up in a towel and stomp on them and hang them to dry overnight on the bathtub clothesline. I try to stay away from the laundry rooms, if there is one. I do throw everything in the washing machine when we get home, so I don't mind packing dirty!

The year we did the TA cruise from Southampton to New York we spent 3 weeks touring England, Scotland, Amsterdam and Paris by train. We traveled with 22" suitcases (we shipped another bag from home directly to the QM2 with our dress-up and cruise wear.).

A week and 1/2 into the trip we went to a Laundromat in Inverness Scotland. We had a great time - it was all locals and we had some great conversations. I think that if we hadn't had reservations at an adorable B&B the owner of the laundry would have taken us home with her. :D

I'm always determined to be in the departure port the day before sailing so we went down to Southampton by train late morning that day. We took the taxi directly to the Laundromat there. Again, we had a grand time getting to know the locals. Afterwards, there was plenty of time to visit the original "Red Lion" tavern - again spending time chatting with the barkeep and various other locals. Once they realized we were truly interested in their history they let the stories roll !! :D

I'm grateful to my Rick Steves guidebooks for the Laundromat directions. Some of the best times we had were doing laundry :D:D

With three small kids, I am ALWAYS doing laundry. Seriously. My mother came to visit one year and she spent almost an entire day trying to get all of the laundry done (as a gift to me because I had just had a baby). By the end of the day, there was a new FULL LOAD ready to go. She looked at me and said, "If I were you, I think I'd shoot myself." ROFL She was soooooo tired of the laundry. The worst part? Folding itty bitty teeny tiny clothing. It's a pain in the you-know-what.

Can I just say, I am SO looking forward to sending out a load or two a day on our 14 day cruise in 2 weeks??

:o A couple of cruises ago, while eating cereal and milk, I somehow managed to get milk on me -- my jeans, to be precise and in my lap, of course -- embarrassing and frustrating

Back to the cabin I went -- changed into one other pair of jeans I had brought along -- and trotted off to the self-serve laundry

I, too, had never planned on doing laundry on vacation -- I also hadn't planned on dumping milk in my lap -- was very happy to do a small load of wash -- but don't want to make it a habit!!! :D