Laundry On Board--Hot or Cold?

[Roxydog15]

So if we're lucky enough to get to cruise this summer and fall, for the longer cruises, do ship's laundry service only use searing hot water and then oven roast my clothes that will destroy all except jeans?  Can we request cold water wash and low dryer? Or is it a sanitation thing for them? Do they lose socks and jammies?

 

I just can't imagine all the people who use the service have their clothes destroyed on a regular basis.  The horrible alternative is washing in the cabin and having clothes hanging all over and the poor steward maneuvering through it. 

[canderson]

Nothing damaged and never anything missing, but yes ... very hot.

 

Still finding 6139 tags in some of my polo shirts!

[STLCRUISIN]

You can write "cold water wash and low dryer ONLY" on the slip that gets sent out with the clothes. We always request cold water only. Not sure if it works but since we've requested this we've never had any issues. Prior to that, clothes always came back ok with the exception of a couple times where short sleeve tees came back faded and a couple shirts shrunk. 

Never had any items missing. 

[Roxydog15]

I can ask for cold wash.  I have been trying to buy cheap shirts so no serious losses, but would be a problem if a shirt I counted on came back looking like a little girl's shirt!  I hate over packing to avoid laundry. grrr

[BettyCruiser]

Ships laundry kills elastic but DH's shorts and t-shirts come back fine.  

[Northern Aurora]

We use the laundry service frequently.  We pack easy care items and have had no issues.  We have had missing socks twice.  

[Arizona Wildcat]

Everything is germ free.  Have written cold water and told not possible for health reasons.  Turned a couple of wife's tops into doll clothes.  It is definitely clean. 

For better clothes we use a suction hook and a line in the shower.  Roll in a clean towel to get mostly dry.  Spray with wrinkle guard.

DH washes something in the sink almost daily.  Jeans take 2 days to dry.

[Roxydog15]

Hmm, I'll have to get one of those laundry lines and the wrinkle guard.

[drakes2]

8 minutes ago, Roxydog15 said:

Hmm, I'll have to get one of those laundry lines and the wrinkle guard.

I only give them undergarments and pyjamas to launder. Had a few items dry cleaned and pressed and they were fine. Really don't like others doing my laundry anyway. 

[Jim_Iain]

We do laundry frequently as we usually do B2B's and have never had anything destroyed.   The cotton T's often come back a little shrunken but I'm ok with that as they are usually a bit large on me.  Since we get free laundry as Zenith we usually send out laundry every other day and very pleased with the results. 

 

One of my Tux shirts had yellowed due to sitting 2 years in my closet during the shut down.   I had a back up and sent it out figuring if it didn't come back well I would just toss it.   It came back perfectly white and starched to perfection.

 

The only thing I have ever had destroyed was not in the laundry but in the ThermoSpa.     I had a brand new pair of Kelly Green Swimmers.     I was in the pool for a 1/2 hour and when I got out they were beige with green threads.   Hmmmm..    I guess the chlorine was quite heavy.

[drakes2]

3 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

We do laundry frequently as we usually do B2B's and have never had anything destroyed.   The cotton T's often come back a little shrunken but I'm ok with that as they are usually a bit large on me.  Since we get free laundry as Zenith we usually send out laundry every other day and very pleased with the results. 

 

One of my Tux shirts had yellowed due to sitting 2 years in my closet during the shut down.   I had a back up and sent it out figuring if it didn't come back well I would just toss it.   It came back perfectly white and starched to perfection.

 

The only thing I have ever had destroyed was not in the laundry but in the ThermoSpa.     I had a brand new pair of Kelly Green Swimmers.     I was in the pool for a 1/2 hour and when I got out they were beige with green threads.   Hmmmm..    I guess the chlorine was quite heavy.

I always take one swimsuit that I plan to throw out at the end of the cruise and reserve it for hot tubs. 

[Sabbycat]

2 hours ago, Roxydog15 said:

So if we're lucky enough to get to cruise this summer and fall, for the longer cruises, do ship's laundry service only use searing hot water and then oven roast my clothes that will destroy all except jeans?  Can we request cold water wash and low dryer? Or is it a sanitation thing for them? Do they lose socks and jammies?

 

I just can't imagine all the people who use the service have their clothes destroyed on a regular basis.  The horrible alternative is washing in the cabin and having clothes hanging all over and the poor steward maneuvering through it. 

Very hot water, items shrunk and lost items before. 

[jelayne]

Agree they use hot water but in 31 Celebrity cruise we have never had a item lost destroyed. We send out Jeans, t-shirts, workout clothes, undergarments pj’s , socks , shorts and. DHs dress shirts.  We also use dry cleaning for a few items when needed

[asnaleah]

Hot water, shrinkage, very wrinkled. I use the sink and bring a clothesline. Not the prettiest look, but my clothes are saved.

[Jim_Iain]

I've never lost anything but one time I had a load of laundry delivered to our room that the person had written down the wrong room number.   We sent it back and hope they found the proper owner.

[miched]

Try writing cold only and send out some things as a test.   Then you will know 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Outofofficeon]

Maybe underware and socks and some cheap t shirts. Other than that I wouldn’t trust them. 

[onlyslightlymad]

I had a bunch of shirts come back shrunken.  I only send undies, socks and old t-shirts now.

[Outofofficeon]

My husbands new shirt came back with a hole the exact shape of an iron mark. They gave me $60 dollars as compensation but it was a lovely shirt so would rather have still had it.  Might be down to luck as to who is doing the laundry that day. 

[BigAl94]

Sent a pair of chinos once, came back faded and a crease that you could cut paper with - totally ruined. Underwear and socks maybe but nothing else unless its cheap stuff you don't care about.

[bye-seaya]

We’ve had the wash done while onboard and have marked the bag cold water and low dryer only. Our cabin steward said they are able to wash cold water.

Never lost anything and nothing shrank or destroyed. And like others, still finding the little Velcro tags months later. 😀🛳

[drakes2]

3 hours ago, BigAl94 said:

Sent a pair of chinos once, came back faded and a crease that you could cut paper with - totally ruined. Underwear and socks maybe but nothing else unless its cheap stuff you don't care about.

Had a beautiful pair of white pants with chain detail at the ankle returned with one chain removed.  Went to guest relations who contacted laundry said must have broken off which impossible as the eyelet would have ripped.  They told me to out a claim in upon my return which I did not. Too much hassle.

[phoenix_dream]

Always hot water and dryer for sanitary reasons.  60 X cruises and never an item lost. One pair of dress socks faded.  Everything else ok, but only send out items that can handle the temps.

[cruisefam38]

14 hours ago, canderson said:

Still finding 6139 tags in some of my polo shirts!

A couple of weeks ago I pulled out a tee shirt, and something was pricking my shoulder.  My first thought was "oh no spider!".  I quickly pulled the tee back off, it was a ship's laundry tag, peeling up. A quick look through our files showed it was from Spring of 2019.  Almost three years later. 

Nostalgia. 

 

[Straughn]

I stopped sending laundry because of the hot water and hot dryer fear. Too many white golf shirts and undershirts had come back yellow. Two cruises ago, I asked  my butler if it was possible to cold wash and low dry. He said “Absolutely. I will take care of it.” I wrote cold wash/low dry on the slip. The clothes came back the next day beautifully done with no issues at all. I did notice that the butler had written VIP across the  laundry slip with a red marker. Don’t know if that made a difference or not.