Azamara touts “complimentary self-serve laundry”

[cpristash]

Anyone familiar with this amenity? How does it work ?

[wjfan417]

6 washers and 6 dryers on deck 7-Azamara provides laundry detergent. It can get quite crowded. 

[alcpa1]

There are also two ironing boards, a folding table and sometimes baskets.

 

[aussie travel bird]

As you are new to Azamara it's probably worthwhile noting that whilst there's high demand for washers and dryers at certain times it is unspoken good etiquette that you're back in the laundry to remove your clothes from the washers or dryers as the timer finishes.  Your fellow cruisers will appreciate that sentiment.  Unfortunately, I've witnessed some unpleasant behaviours by guests in the early days but certainly none in the recent years. Some of the ships have timers on their washers and dryers and you can get a pretty accurate prediction of finish times. It's certainly a good feature to have access to, especially if you're travelling before and after the cruise. 

[suec12]

I used it twice on a 12 day trip with no problem but it was on days many folks went ashore. You may want to take dryer sheets as detergent is provided but I don't know if it has a softener component.

[wjfan417]

They also offer specials to send laundry out to be done. You can squeeze quite a lot in the little laundry bags. We did 3 back to backs this summer and I only did laundry twice (embarkation day because we’d already been in Europe for a week and on a port day when we were back early). They offered bags for $40 a couple times, and on our last cruise they had an offer for varying amounts of bags-I think we paid $100 for 5 bags. We did have a lot of OBC.

[marinaro44]

1 hour ago, suec12 said:

I used it twice on a 12 day trip with no problem but it was on days many folks went ashore. You may want to take dryer sheets as detergent is provided but I don't know if it has a softener component.

Dryer sheets clog the lintel filter screen.  Leave them home.

[cpristash]

Thanks for all the input…greatly appreciated!

Just to confirm….this is complimentary correct?

 

[uktog]

3 minutes ago, cpristash said:

Thanks for all the input…greatly appreciated!

Just to confirm….this is complimentary correct?

 

It is indeed

[tgg]

I find the laundry room the least crowded first thing in the morning or at dinner time. The day before disembarkation is the worst.

 

If you're running a lot of laundry, go to the laundry room and grab one of the baskets, bring it back to your cabin, throw your clothes in, and carry it back to the laundry room. Trying to stuff everything into the provided laundry bag is a chore. 

[aliaschief]

[PirateWife]

I always bring my laundry bag from home. It takes no room and weighs nothing. When it is full, I take it to the laundry room. I've cruised enough that I know when washing machines are usually available. The regular washing machine cycle takes longer that the dryer cycle. I don't bring anything that needs to be ironed.

[cpristash]

Thanks!

 

[PSULionLV]

I had "complimentary" laundry with a More Package on a cruise in 2019. The laundry absolutely wrecked a number of t-shirts by apparently stretching them out over some type of perhaps ironing board (I've never really seen a commercial laundry at work). The white t-shirts were especially stretched (two almost went to my knees!). On my next cruise in December 2022, is there any suggestions on how to avoid this if I send out laundry again (I'll probably have a few bags with a More Package).

 

TIA, John

Edited October 12, 2022 by PSULionLV

[Grandma Cruising]

17 minutes ago, PSULionLV said:

I had "complimentary" laundry with a More Package on a cruise in 2019. The laundry absolutely wrecked a number of t-shirts by apparently stretching them out over some type of perhaps ironing board (I've never really seen a commercial laundry at work). The white t-shirts were especially stretched (two almost went to my knees!). On my next cruise in December 2022, is there any suggestions on how to avoid this if I send out laundry again (I'll probably have a few bags with a More Package).

 

TIA, John

I’ve never had a problem with any laundry on Azamara

[crzrr]

25 minutes ago, PSULionLV said:

I had "complimentary" laundry with a More Package on a cruise in 2019. The laundry absolutely wrecked a number of t-shirts by apparently stretching them out over some type of perhaps ironing board (I've never really seen a commercial laundry at work). The white t-shirts were especially stretched (two almost went to my knees!). On my next cruise in December 2022, is there any suggestions on how to avoid this if I send out laundry again (I'll probably have a few bags with a More Package).

 

TIA, John

In 14 cruises I have never had anything come back stretched.  However, if you've had issues, I would not send out anything that you are worried about and take advantage of the laundry room to wash those items.  Even with free bags from the indulgence package and free bags based on loyalty, I still end up doing a load of laundry for things that I'm not comfortable sending out - like unmentionables 😲!

[PirateWife]

No problem with the complimentary laundry. However, we did laugh when my husband's undershirts came back pressed and on a hanger.

[takemewithyou]

2 hours ago, PSULionLV said:

I had "complimentary" laundry with a More Package on a cruise in 2019. The laundry absolutely wrecked a number of t-shirts by apparently stretching them out over some type of perhaps ironing board (I've never really seen a commercial laundry at work). The white t-shirts were especially stretched (two almost went to my knees!). On my next cruise in December 2022, is there any suggestions on how to avoid this if I send out laundry again (I'll probably have a few bags with a More Package).

 

TIA, John

That sounds almost like they were put through a mangle or wringer that stretched them. 
Am I dating myself ? 😀

 

 

 

 

The mangle's primary purpose was to press household linen and clothing smooth. Nowadays the word mangle is not commonly used, but usually suggests a wringing device for removing water from laundry. The box mangle was an alternative to hot ironing espeically for larger items like sheets and tablecloths.

Edited October 12, 2022 by takemewithyou

[cpristash]

Tooo damn funny!

 

[wjfan417]

We’ve sent out laundry at least a dozen times-the only problem we’ve had is they keep refusing to wash a “shirt” without my permission because it has a tear in it. It’s a tear on my pajama top which has been there for years. Always comes back pressed and on a hanger! I do always specify “cold water wash” for everything I send to the laundry.

[Baynanno1]

My note reads "Cold wash, cool/warm dry not hot please  🙂  thank you."

 

Only once had a problem with shrinkage when my request was obviously ignored.

Particularly annoying as we were traveling on land for another week or so.

 

Usually an excellent service.

[Bobal]

As @PSULionLV has already discovered there will always be people who had no laundry issues

 

However my experience with laundry on AZ happened on my very first cruise with them. Apart from the fact that several small underwear items had the colour totally  bleached out of them, one item- a favourite camisole top - disappeared. When I reported this I was visited by a security person and a rep of guest relations who literally searched the cabin to make sure I hadn't just misplaced it 😳

 

I was flabbergasted and humiliated. Had it not been for the fact I had otherwise had a really good cruise and knew people who were huge AZ fans that may have been my last cruise with them. 

 

Full disclosure I have since taken a further 6 cruises with AZ and have one booked next year but if I need laundry I'll be using the self service where I have control of how my garments are treated 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by Bobal

[takemewithyou]

3 hours ago, Bobal said:

As @PSULionLV has already discovered there will always be people who had no laundry issues

 

However my experience with laundry on AZ happened on my very first cruise with them. Apart from the fact that several small underwear items had the colour totally  bleached out of them, one item- a favourite camisole top - disappeared. When I reported this I was visited by a security person and a rep of guest relations who literally searched the cabin to make sure I hadn't just misplaced it 😳

 

I was flabbergasted and humiliated. Had it not been for the fact I had otherwise had a really good cruise and knew people who were huge AZ fans that may have been my last cruise with them. 

 

Full disclosure I have since taken a further 6 cruises with AZ and have one booked next year but if I need laundry I'll be using the self service where I have control of how my garments are treated 

 

 

I don’t blame you at all!  
And I seriously do think they run the clothes through some kind of wringer to aide drying or to help with wrinkles!  And that causes what @PSULionLVexperienced.  
I didn’t want to give the impression I was doubting him at all! 

Edited October 13, 2022 by takemewithyou

[trk_koa]

I was reading an Azamara review and the person said you have to buy laundry soap. I don’t think that’s true.

 

Do they still provide the soap? Is it scented?

[takemewithyou]

3 minutes ago, trk_koa said:

I was reading an Azamara review and the person said you have to buy laundry soap. I don’t think that’s true.

 

Do they still provide the soap? Is it scented?

Yes, they provide the laundry soap.  Don’t think it is scented.  We usually do at least one load of laundry onboard because I am very careful what I let them do.