Alaska Laundry

I read you cannot do laundry when in Alaskan waters. Does this mean I won't be able to do it on days we are doing scenic cruising OR on days we are docked in Alaskan ports? So pretty much the whole time? Our first 2 days are scenic cruising, then Skagway, Juneau and Kechikan, one sea day then Vancouver. I had planned on doing it when we were docked in Juneau.

I think it may depend on the ship and the type of washing machines. I know my son and daughter had no trouble doing laundry when they wanted to on our Ruby Princess cruise the first week in July. In addition I don't remember seeing anything in the Patter about the laundry being closed.

No problem with using the laundromat on board the Emerald last year, cruising to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and back to Seatlle.

Where did you read that doing laundry was prohibited?

We were on the Golden Princess several weeks ago. We could not utilize the laundry facilities from the time we docked in Juneau through the end of our day in Glacier Bay. The Patter indicated it was for "environmental reasons." So we quickly did laundry early in the trip as we had planned to do it about mid-way through (we also were doing a land tour). You could still have laundry sent out for the ship to do.

Laundry being prohibited at certain times was mentioned several places here on CC. Thank you so much Colagril! Golden is the ship we are on. Looks like you did Northbound and we are doing south bound. I had planned on doing laundry when in Juneau. I may need to change that and do it when we leave Juneau, but that will work as well. Thank you!

I did our laundry while our ship was still docked in Whittier. We had spent five nights on the land portion before a south-bound cruise.

When we cruised on the Island several years ago, there were some days that the laundromats were closed on some decks but open on others. This was posted in the Patter.

Reason might be the capacity of the ship to hold the wastewater until it could be properly discharged.

I was on the Ruby last year, August 2017. It was noted in the Patter (front page) that due to strict environmental regulations in Alaskan waters, there was no self service laundromats on 3 decks. Self service laundromats was still available on the other remaining decks. The closed laundromats reopened once we left Alaskan waters.

caribill as usual is spot on. In open seas the ship discharges "gray water" vs. storing it. In protected waters (not just Alaska) they reduce generation of gray water - including ship's laundry - to match what they can store. We learned this on the Ultimate Ships Tour. On one Alaska voyage we were asked to reduce showering.

There are also laindry facilities at the Princess lodges.