Why is there no self-laundry on board RC ships?

[W&G1968]

Well, I'd like to add my 2 cents, then I've got to go do my laundry, oh yea, I'm at home!:D

I love to cruise, and a lot of things determine which cruise we take such as, where it's going? Cost? And yes, sometimes because we prefer one cruise line over the other for various reasons!

We have done several cruises on Princess and have actually done laundry before on a longer trip. It wasn't a bad experience at all, had a fun time visiting with others in the laundry room! I took some of those laundry sheets that are detergent,conditioner,dryer sheets all in one 3-in-one deals! Took up very little space in the suitcase and prefer using my own! Laundry spaces were very organized and clean and actually there was no fighting over the machines!

On shorter trips, I don't plan on doing laundry but I always carry "shout" wipes for when I "wear" my food instead of eating it!!!

I've had a few incidents were I've gotten my feathers ruffled about something with probably all the cruise lines but have found most of them to be very good about solving "real" problems efficiently!

I would like to see RCL put a few laundry rooms on their ships, even if it's just a few machines, just so they would be there if I needed them, but I'm not going to quit sailing with them because the machines are not there! Perhaps a solution would be to offer a better deal on laundry on "longer" cruises such as "trans-atlantic" where extra clothing might be needed.

Have fun you guys!

[Host Faith]

I am not going to do laundry when I am on vacation.

 

My thoughts exactly.

[Merion_Mom]

Well, I'd like to add my 2 cents, then I've got to go do my laundry, oh yea, I'm at home!:D

I love to cruise, and a lot of things determine which cruise we take such as, where it's going? Cost? And yes, sometimes because we prefer one cruise line over the other for various reasons!

We have done several cruises on Princess and have actually done laundry before on a longer trip. It wasn't a bad experience at all, had a fun time visiting with others in the laundry room! I took some of those laundry sheets that are detergent,conditioner,dryer sheets all in one 3-in-one deals! Took up very little space in the suitcase and prefer using my own! Laundry spaces were very organized and clean and actually there was no fighting over the machines!

On shorter trips, I don't plan on doing laundry but I always carry "shout" wipes for when I "wear" my food instead of eating it!!!

I've had a few incidents were I've gotten my feathers ruffled about something with probably all the cruise lines but have found most of them to be very good about solving "real" problems efficiently!

I would like to see RCL put a few laundry rooms on their ships, even if it's just a few machines, just so they would be there if I needed them, but I'm not going to quit sailing with them because the machines are not there! Perhaps a solution would be to offer a better deal on laundry on "longer" cruises such as "trans-atlantic" where extra clothing might be needed.

Have fun you guys!

 

They do.

[SevenSeas1492]

Now who the heck would press a pair of socks and not wash them ??!!! LOL :p

 

Who would press a pair of socks anyway??? Am I the only one who thinks this way?

[W&G1968]

They do.

 

You said that they offer better prices on laundry for longer cruises.

I've never seen anything about this, please tell me more!

Gwen

[lovemylab]

I'm another one who will not be doing laundry on a cruise.

[bus man]

Royal Caribbean offers pressing only for half the cost of cleaning.

 

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/LaundryPriceList.pdf

 

So, let's see what the vaunted ship's laundry will cost me. In the space of 4 days (half of a standard week-long cruise plus day-before arrival), I will probably sweat my way through 4 pairs of shorts and 4 T-shirts (daytime usage) plus 2 pairs of long pants and 2 collared shirts (evening usage, assuming doubling up on each item), plus one pair of pajamas and one bathing suit (which I'll count as shorts, since they're not listed separately for men). If I use the $25 stuff-a-bag special for my sweaty socks and underwear, and the T-shirts, that still leaves me with a bill for $34.25 for everything else -- for a total of $59.25 to get my clothes cleaned. Oh, and I'd better pack an extra day's worth of stuff anyway, since I might not get it all back until tomorrow.

 

Or, I can spend a little over an hour to do it all myself, and fork over $3 -- $1 each for washer, dryer, and detergent.

 

THAT'S why I would like to see RCI have self-service laundry rooms on their ships.

[Merion_Mom]

So, let's see what the vaunted ship's laundry will cost me. In the space of 4 days (half of a standard week-long cruise plus day-before arrival), I will probably sweat my way through 4 pairs of shorts and 4 T-shirts (daytime usage) plus 2 pairs of long pants and 2 collared shirts (evening usage, assuming doubling up on each item), plus one pair of pajamas and one bathing suit (which I'll count as shorts, since they're not listed separately for men). If I use the $25 stuff-a-bag special for my sweaty socks and underwear, and the T-shirts, that still leaves me with a bill for $34.25 for everything else -- for a total of $59.25 to get my clothes cleaned. Oh, and I'd better pack an extra day's worth of stuff anyway, since I might not get it all back until tomorrow.

 

Or, I can spend a little over an hour to do it all myself, and fork over $3 -- $1 each for washer, dryer, and detergent.

 

THAT'S why I would like to see RCI have self-service laundry rooms on their ships.

 

I am able to pack a week's worth of clothing into a suitcase, and have no need to do any laundry until getting home.

 

Washing your pajamas before a week is up? Really?

 

I would say that I am typical.

[Merion_Mom]

You said that they offer better prices on laundry for longer cruises.

I've never seen anything about this, please tell me more!

Gwen

 

There is a $25 fill-a-bag special even on weeklong cruises. Depending on the length of a longer cruise, there will be at least one such offer, sometimes two.

 

Once you are C&A, there are further discounts available.

[QPdoll]

Wow, I'm glad I stumbled on to this thread. I had no idea that RCI didn't offer self serve laundry...here I was all prepared with my laundry soap packed. It's going to be a long 11 days on that ship.

We've cruised twice on Carnival before, once with two teenage girls and believe me the self serve laundry was a godsend. The cruise was a week long and I easily did a light and dark load about 4 days in, and I saw lots of people using the room for ironing, especially on formal dress days. I'm a big believer in travelling as light as possible, so it's much better for us to have access to a service like that rather than having to bring multiples of clothing and no room to bring souvenirs home. And yes, I'd rather pay $6 for a couple of loads vs. $60 for laundry service. I don't think the cruise line would be forced to fold up their tent if they had to make space for a washer and dryer. Would be nice to offer guests the choice - if you don't want to do laundry on vacation, fine. If you are OK with it, go nuts.

[romnan]

because RCCL would not make money if you did your own laundry:mad:

[Schplinky]

If I use the $25 stuff-a-bag special for my sweaty socks and underwear, and the T-shirts, that still leaves me with a bill for $34.25 for everything else -- for a total of $59.25 to get my clothes cleaned. Oh, and I'd better pack an extra day's worth of stuff anyway, since I might not get it all back until tomorrow.

 

Or, I can spend a little over an hour to do it all myself, and fork over $3 -- $1 each for washer, dryer, and detergent.

 

THAT'S why I would like to see RCI have self-service laundry rooms on their ships.

 

Then what other area of the fare do you see as reasonable for RCL to raise to recoup the $59 they're not making from your laundry?

 

BTW, in your extreme example (I'm with Meriion Mom on the laundered pajamas), you would do better simply to pay the airline to bring an extra bag. I still find it hard to believe that the average adult can't pack a cruise's worth but I hadn't counted on your budget of sweating through so much...

[kimberley]

Even when I was on a Princess ship I only used the laundry room just to press out a few creases of my dresses. They can never replace the laundry on the ship just compliment it. So come on Royal get them installed.

[rim2rimhiker]

I still find it hard to believe that the average adult can't pack a cruise's worth but I hadn't counted on your budget of sweating through so much...

 

It can depend on the length of the cruise. I have 4 pre-cruise nights and 2 post-cruise nights in Rome around a 12 night cruise. I'm not sure the average adult can pack 18 nights worth of clothes without doing any laundry. We always buy lots of things on our trips, so I need to have room in the suit case to pack the things we buy.

 

But that's just me.

[Debde]

pajamas), you would do better simply to pay the airline to bring an extra bag. I still find it hard to believe that the average adult can't pack a cruise's worth.

 

Ladies-with family's:

How many of you dread coming home to loads and loads of laundry that is now nice and ripe from mud, sweat and what have you.?

I'm thinking for some- a laundry option may be much better then paying to stuff more dirty crap in another bag!!!;)

[lovemylab]

It can depend on the length of the cruise. I have 4 pre-cruise nights and 2 post-cruise nights in Rome around a 12 night cruise. I'm not sure the average adult can pack 18 nights worth of clothes without doing any laundry. We always buy lots of things on our trips, so I need to have room in the suit case to pack the things we buy.

 

But that's just me.

 

DH and I spent two weeks in Europe this past fall. We took a small suitcase, a medium suitcase and a backpack. We didn't have to do laundry and we bought plenty of stuff to bring home. Leave home the bulky items and you'll be fine.

 

Am I the only one who finds it odd how people will spend thousands of dollars on a vacation but aren't willing to budget an extra $50 for laundry on the ship?

[rim2rimhiker]

Am I the only one who finds it odd how people will spend thousands of dollars on a vacation but aren't willing to budget an extra $50 for laundry on the ship?

 

I am actually budgeting about $200 for laundry for the 3 of us. I would just prefer to do my own laundry and spend that $200 elsewhere.

 

That's great that you were able to pack everything you needed, maybe you weren't in Europe 18 nights. I like to pack as light as possible. If self service laundry was available, I would use it. Since it isn't, I will pay for the laundry service.

[Schplinky]

It can depend on the length of the cruise. I have 4 pre-cruise nights and 2 post-cruise nights in Rome around a 12 night cruise. I'm not sure the average adult can pack 18 nights worth of clothes without doing any laundry. We always buy lots of things on our trips, so I need to have room in the suit case to pack the things we buy.

 

But that's just me.

 

 

I should have been more clear. I was referring to a poster who claimed great trauma with four day's laundry

[Paul65]

I am actually budgeting about $200 for laundry for the 3 of us. I would just prefer to do my own laundry and spend that $200 elsewhere.

 

That's great that you were able to pack everything you needed, maybe you weren't in Europe 18 nights. I don't know about others, but I like to put on fresh undergarments for the evening ... and I don't own 36 sets. So I will send them out to be laundered. But if self service laundry was available, I would use it.

 

Yeah, yeah. We're all impressed that you're taking an 18-night European land/cruise vacation, and that you wear two sets of underwear every day. If RCI knew about you, I'm sure they would have made different decisions about their ship design. :p

[Schplinky]

Ladies-with family's:

How many of you dread coming home to loads and loads of laundry that is now nice and ripe from mud, sweat and what have you.?

I'm thinking for some- a laundry option may be much better then paying to stuff more dirty crap in another bag!!!;)

 

They do laundry by the bag so thee availability of laundry is not your issue. It's the price.

[Schplinky]

yeah, yeah. We're all impressed that you're taking an 18-night european land/cruise vacation, and that you wear two sets of underwear every day. If rci knew about you, i'm sure they would have made different decisions about their ship design. :p

 

grumpy old senior alert!!

[Paul65]

grumpy old senior alert!!

 

Aww, come on. I was just teasing, hence the :p smiley. Heck, I'm always seeing folks at the laundromat, just back from their two and a half week European cruise-tours, talking about how much they wished they could have been doing laundry like that while they were on vacation.

[Schplinky]

Aww, come on. I was just teasing, hence the :p smiley. Heck, I'm always seeing folks at the laundromat, just back from their two and a half week European cruise-tours, talking about how much they wished they could have been doing laundry like that while they were on vacation.

 

I think this discussion is all in the way you look at it. People who want laundry see it as reasonable to give up a few hours of their trip to save $25-50 on either an extra checked bag or on ship's laundry. Those who don't see that as a reasonable trade-off just think it's sounds overly frugal. I doubt that the two will ever meet and I doubt that the ramblings online will make RCL give up the revenue without trying to earn it elsewhere.

 

I'm just waiting for the person who wants to bring their own hibachi and steaks so they don't have to pay those awful fees at Chops...

[sjb317]

Wow, nine pages on Laundry rooms!:D I can't imagine using a laundry room on a ship, there is no way I would do laundry on vacation. Would rather bring home a suitcase full of dirty, stinky clothes and wash them on my everyday time rather than spend my fun time doing work! Plus, I hate laundromats on land, can't imagine using a laundry room on a ship!

 

Sherri:)

[bus man]

I am able to pack a week's worth of clothing into a suitcase, and have no need to do any laundry until getting home.

 

Washing your pajamas before a week is up? Really?

 

I would say that I am typical.

 

If you are saying that I'm atypical . . . well, you wouldn't be the first! :)

 

Apparently, based on some of the comments, I must conclude that I sweat more than the average person. The way I've chosen to deal with this is to take a shower after finishing up the day's activities, and before dressing for dinner. I have the choice of using the ship's laundry, or packing enough clothes to last the duration of the trip, and paying the airline baggage fees. I've chosen the latter. I would rather have a third option, that of doing my own laundry. Or, maybe I should just leave myself sweaty and stinky. I'm sure my tablemates at dinner wouldn't mind! :eek:

 

To address another poster's remark about how RCI should recoup the lost revenue if they implemented self-service laundry . . . I don't know. Maybe they could ask some of their competitors who offer this service. However, I don't think it's a dollar-for-dollar "loss." After all, there is a cost to provide the ship's laundry service. Someone has to take the dirty clothes from the stateroom to the laundry; someone has to put them into the machines; someone has to take them out, fold them, press them, and put them back into a bag; and someone has to take them back to the correct stateroom. All of this has a cost, both in time (the ship's staff doesn't work for free) and in laundry facilities that have to be dedicated to passenger laundry, rather than sheets, tablecloths, towels, etc.

 

I have no idea what all this costs, but I feel pretty confident in asserting that the revenue difference would not be a dollar-for-dollar loss.