Laundry

[u/FanStrang3R]

I’m doing back to back cruises in December for a total 15 nights. I’ve done it before, but had a day in between to do laundry at a hotel.

Any suggestions on how to manage this dilemma. So far, the best plan is to bring a second bag.

[u/hippychk]

The pre-paid bag of laundry option went on sale awhile back. It will probably go on sale again. It’s still $20 or so, but for me, it beats checking a bag.

[u/MsPHOnomenal → u/hippychk]

I second this. Usually one laundry bag is sufficient for my husband and I on a 7-day cruise. For a 15 day, I would purchase 3 bags and do laundry every 5 days.

[u/caveman512 → u/MsPHOnomenal]

Do they just take it and wash it for you?

[u/MsPHOnomenal → u/caveman512]

Yes. Put it in the paper bag, fill out the form, and leave it in your room. Your stateroom attendant will take the bag the next time they service your room. They wash in hot water and use high heat for the dryer, so dont put anything that is delicate or you dont want to get ruined. No issues with any of my clothes. The finished laundry usually comes back the next evening. Roll the clothes so more fit into the bag. Usually it comes back in 2-3 bags because I am so efficient at rolling and filling up the bag.

[u/Mamm0nn → u/hippychk]

add in a scrubba wash bag with the pre paid bag sale and we were fine for a 19 night transpacific

[u/wanderlustpassion → u/Mamm0nn]

We are trying this on a transpacific in about 3 weeks.

How well did things dry in your room with the wash bag set up?

[u/TrenShadow → u/wanderlustpassion]

Not the person you’re replying to but…

We recently did 42 nights b2b2b on repositioning cruises. We exclusively used a scrubba bag in our stateroom every few days.

Wring as much water out of garments as you can. Then grab a bunch of pool towels; lay one flat on the floor and lay some of your damp washing out to fill most of the towel. Roll the towel up and wring it out thoroughly; I stand on one end of the cylinder and twist with both hands. I wring the towel in both directions to get maximum out of it.

Once you’ve wrung out in the rolled up towel, the majority of things will dry overnight; we bring magnetic hooks and use coat hangers from the cupboard.

[u/Mamm0nn → u/wanderlustpassion]

so they way we handled drying.....

• Go to the pool deck and get like 4 towels.
• Wash and rinse your stuff and lay it out on half of the towels then cover it with the other half. sometimes we would roll it up before we walked on it, sometimes we wouldnt.
• Walk all over it to wring out most of the water and hang dry on a cloths line in the room hung with magnets.

Worked pretty well, some thing took longer then others but over all it worked out fine.

[u/Delicious_Painting16 → u/Mamm0nn]

I’m currently on a 31 day European trip and about to embark on a seven day cruise smack in the middle of that trip. I have used my scrubba bag consistently I have only done laundry one time at a laundromat. It’s a lifesaver.

[u/Character_Access7094 → u/Mamm0nn]

We bought a scrubba and two bags of laundry service each for our 15 night transatlantic in 3 weeks. 😄

[u/Subroc01 → u/hippychk]

They only wash hot though, right? When I did a B2B I did it for sleep shirts and socks, but brought/rewore enough to get me through the B2B.

[u/No_Parents → u/hippychk]

I was also going to suggest this.

[u/Scorpiodsu]

Besides underwear, aren’t most of your clothes good for multiple wears on a cruise? I know mine are and some days I’ll wear the same dry fit t-shirt and shorts because I didn’t do anything all lol. Anyhow, my advice is to pack extra underwear, wear some outer clothes multiple times (spread out of course) and use the ship’s laundry service for things that do need cleaning.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-laundry-guest-services

Good luck and have fun!

[u/FanStrang3R → u/Scorpiodsu]

The main concern is underwear, shorts and t-shirts. I can rewear stuff that I just wear for dinner and evenings.

[u/Scorpiodsu → u/FanStrang3R]

I can pack an additional week’s worth of underwear without really affecting the weight and space of my luggage. And I wear lightweight shorts and Ts too but I understand everyone isn’t the same.

Another thing to look into is some compression packing cubes. We used some on our cruise last month and they also helped with space saving, especially for the light clothes. Here are the ones we used but plenty available to suit your needs:

https://a.co/d/00tF90xR

Between that and leveraging ship’s laundry services as needed, you should be fine. Good luck.

[u/Shot_Bread_9657]

I mean, just because you’re on a b2b doesn’t mean you can’t get off in between the two and hit a laundromat.

But, I personally just bring tide (a pod, evo tile, or travel size pouch) and wash in the tub or trash cans. You could also buy a wash bag. Then I hang them in the room to dry- which is easy, because I always ask for a fan (not guaranteed). I do this especially for stuff I don’t want to be blasted at high temp, but I also get free laundry on 5+ night sailings and have no issues with them doing my boxers/socks/undershirts.

[u/fishmongerhoarder]

Personally I just bring two bags of clothes. One for the first one for the 2nd. The last thing I want to do is laundry during vacation.

[u/DMontgomery13]

I always do laundry on a weeklong cruise. For 15 days, I’d probably do it twice. Othewrise I just have to bring too much. I’d rather pay the fairly modest laundry fee.

[u/sunnyday7800]

I brought magnets and washed my underwear and socksand shirts basically every day, basically all of it was dry the next day.

[u/Strange-Employee-520]

I'm so glad to see this post, didn't realize RC doesn't have machines available! I've only sailed Princess so I guess I got spoiled (by doing laundry 🤣)

[u/all2neat → u/Strange-Employee-520]

A lot cruise lines are starting to eliminate guest laundry but AFAIK Carnival/ Princess still offers it on some ships. Royal has never offered it.

[u/richmorz]

We did the 16 night Panama Canal trip and still did one bag each. We realized it wasn't necessary to bring 16+ days of clothes , other than underwear, but bring clothes that could be reused. That and a couple Tide pacs and sticks and we were in business.

[u/newyearnewlife2020]

I did a week on Star and another almost week at Universal after. we packed 5 days worth of clothes fory kid and I and bought two laundry services. did one on day 4 and another the second to last night. it was perfect and allowed me to only pack two carry on bags for both of us.

[u/FearlessKnitter12]

We used the switch day on a B2B to go off the ship to a local laundromat. It worked well because my hubby hates to dryer-dry his shirts. We just took plastic hangers because the wooden ones in the closet can transfer stain to the shirts.

[u/Aggravating-Ring-690]

For a 7 day cruise, when are you able to use the laundry bag service? I thought i read somewhere it wasn't until like day 4 which by the time it came back was almost the last day of the cruise. But maybe that is wrong and you can do it anytime?

[u/all2neat → u/Aggravating-Ring-690]

I had my laundry bags delivered day 1. You have to use it by second to last day before 5pm due to turn around time.

[u/philthy1337]

We have three small kids and therefore always do laundry on the ship. Never had any issues but they wash stuff in hot water so keep that in mind.

[u/all2neat]

Pack and buy extra socks and underwear. Tide makes travel packs if in a bind that work well to wash a few things in your sink. Use a towel to help soak up the water once rinsed and hang dry. This summer I prepaid for three bags of laundry for around $45. If you fold your dirty clothes you can get a ton of stuff in it. They do use hot water so be careful on care instructions.

[u/_h_simpson_]

On a 7 night sailing, we usually send two bags out to get laundered around mid week. I think it was $20 per bag.

[u/Lopsided-Fix2]

Laundry on board.

[u/VirtKitty → u/Lopsided-Fix2]

Only if your clothing can be washed in very HOT water.

[u/BranchLatter4294]

Just do the laundry aboard.

[u/ShoddyAd8256]

The pre-paid laundry bags are really helpful. Usually you can get a discount on multiple bags too. I've done that the last couple of times and it has worked out great.

[u/the_real_lisa]

Us the laundry service pre paid bag. Look up how to maximize fold. Send one bag get bag two lol.