Self service Laundry on Coral Princess

We will be cruising Vancouver to Whittier. In an attempt to "pack light", our family of four is considering taking limited clothing and using the onboard sef-service laundry. Is it busy on the cruise? Costly? I don't really want to do laundry on vacation, but it might help make our luggage a bit lighter :)

The self service laundry is $1 or $2 per load to wash and the same to dry. It can get busy on sea days.

We found that most people pack for one week and it does get busy around days 6 & 7. We did our wash every five days and there was very little competition for the washers/dryers.

Cost - Not much more than your typical corner laudramat. Took a roll of quarters and still had some left at the end of the cruise. Soap is pricey so we pre-pack dry detergent in single load ziplock baggies. Threw about a half-dozen dryer sheet in another ziplock bag too.

Enjoy!

I take those purex sheets- detergent and softener all on one cloth- they come in flat packaging- easy to pack and use.

Hopefully someone who has just returned will chime in on whether they were open or not in Alaskan waters. i was planning to do laundry to on our Star Princess cruise, but reports are saying the laundry was closed until the last sea day.

I just would hate for you to plan to do laundry and find it closed.

Hopefully someone who has just returned will chime in on whether they were open or not in Alaskan waters. i was planning to do laundry to on our Star Princess cruise, but reports are saying the laundry was closed until the last sea day.

 

I just would hate for you to plan to do laundry and find it closed.

The only places they are closed when cruising Glacier Bay , Hubbard glacier and College Fjord.

It's important to understand this is very much a Your Mileage May Vary situation. The laundry room may be closed one week, open the next, and partial the next. It's all dependent on current situation and past experience is no predictor in this case.

It's LIKELY the laundry rooms will be open for some days but cannot be guaranteed.

Although more expensive there is always ship's laundry as well for emergency essentials.

I just returned from the round trip San Francisco 10 day inside passage cruise. The laundry rooms were closed when we were in Ketchikan and Juneau. They opened at 8:00 AM the morning we were in Skagway. This is new this season. (Alaska's rules, not Princess's.) We didn't go to Glacier Bay. Some passengers gave up and let Princess do their laundry. Sometimes Princess does have a laundry special of $20 per laundry bag, but this wasn't offered on our cruise. The dryers don't really work very well, and I hung up things that were still damp to dry in our cabin after I did our laundry. Note that my cabin was next to the laundry facility, so I got first dibs on the machines.

@Tina G - That is the case with us...almost directly across, lol! Hopefully it won't be too noisy. We didn't take that into consideration when the TA booked us there, but it might be nice to grab the washer when it is available :)

@Tina G - That is the case with us...almost directly across, lol! Hopefully it won't be too noisy. We didn't take that into consideration when the TA booked us there, but it might be nice to grab the washer when it is available :)

I have read that the machines weren't a problem but the people chatting in the hall outside the laundry room were. Luckily the laundry closes fairly early. :cool:

Hopefully someone who has just returned will chime in on whether they were open or not in Alaskan waters. i was planning to do laundry to on our Star Princess cruise, but reports are saying the laundry was closed until the last sea day.

 

I just would hate for you to plan to do laundry and find it closed.

We were on the Star May 20-27. The laundry was open the first day (sea day) and then closed until Friday. When it opened, it was very busy! Fortunately, I figured that was going to happen, and did some laundry that first day. I had the laundry room to myself!

An by the way, the laundry room on Baja deck aft had two washers and two dryers. $2.00 per load to wash and $2.00 per load to dry. Also two irons and ironing boards.

Thanks, goodie2shoes for the practical info. I'm going to have to walk the line between packing too much and depending on using the washers too much:o

Just off of Island Princess (sister to Coral). We were on Emerald Deck. We did laundry twice during our trip and never dealt with laundry being closed. Two of the three washers were out of order during our trip.

Laundry is $2 per load. Take note that the dryer time keeps ticking even if not running. So if you want to dry two washer loads together, wait to put them in and then start. Be sure to push the correct buttons on the panel. My DH started the dryer time when he meant to start the wash—one panel for both.

A folding mesh “cube” is easy to pack and nice to have to toss dirty clothes in. I brought the Tide detergent “pods” and dryer sheets. Color Catcher sheets will allow you to wash colors and whites as one load.

Just off of Island Princess (sister to Coral). We were on Emerald Deck. We did laundry twice during our trip and never dealt with laundry being closed. Two of the three washers were out of order during our trip.

 

Laundry is $2 per load. Take note that the dryer time keeps ticking even if not running. So if you want to dry two washer loads together, wait to put them in and then start. Be sure to push the correct buttons on the panel. My DH started the dryer time when he meant to start the wash—one panel for both.

A folding mesh “cube” is easy to pack and nice to have to toss dirty clothes in. I brought the Tide detergent “pods” and dryer sheets. Color Catcher sheets will allow you to wash colors and whites as one load.

We are just off the Island also. Our experience was the same as RunnerGirl's. Thankfully a crew member was in the room when I started the dryer before the washer--they are stacked with the dryer on top of the washer with one user panel--and he kindly solved the problem! My strategy was to do laundry (twice) on port days in the evening--it is very busy on sea days The readout on the machines tells you the time it takes for the cycle.

Just off the Island Princess...where I did laundry once since we followed the cruise with a land tour.

$2 to wash/$2 to dry. Drying time varies on which drying option you select. I dried 5 paris of jeans for $2.

There was a line for our deck's self-laundry, so I just went to another deck where I found it completely unoccupied. :D

There were change machines along with detergent machines in each laundry.