Doing laundry on long vacations (cruise ship)

[Nonny]

I'm sure I'm overthinking this, but I need help putting together a laundry kit of some sort for my upcoming cruise. We'll be gone for 16 days and the plan is to do one carry-on each, so laundry is going to be necessary.

Our ship doesn't have a laundry room, it only has where you send laundry out. I know I'm paying $$$ for the cruise and excursions, but it makes me feel nickle and dimed to pay $2 each for a pair of underwear or socks. From browsing Cruise Critic, it seems like on longer cruises they occasionally do a flat rate of $20 for however much you can cram in a bag, but I don't want to count on that.

So, how is the best way to do laundry in a sink? I'm assuming I should plan ahead and bring my own stopper, but I don't know where to buy one. What's a good travel clothes line, and where will I actually be able to hook it the tiny cruise rooms?

What's my best option for soap? My zipper baggie is always filled to the brim with my own lotions and stuff, so I'll either need to go with a solid, TSA-compliant option, or try to find a place to buy it before we leave.

[Deleted]

My concern would be that the clothes would be really wrinkly and there is no iron or steamer in room, I think. I would just bring a larger suitcase. I am not a big fan of doing laundry on vacation, especially hand wash.

[omeomi]

Every ship I've been on, the sinks have stoppers, and the shower stalls had built in clotheslines. Which line are you going on?

I always bring a small baggie of powdered detergent. But I also use the provided shampoos and/or body washes. They'll give you new bottles of that stuff any time you want.

[Nonny]

Oct 1, 2012 13:54:05 GMT -5 @missy1 said:

My concern would be that the clothes would be really wrinkly and there is no iron or steamer in room, I think. I would just bring a larger suitcase. I am not a big fan of doing laundry on vacation, especially hand wash.

I never use a steamer or an iron in everyday life and I don't really see the need for one on vacation. LOL! I've had success with bundle packing and being wrinkle free for our dress clothes in the past, so I'm working off the assumption these won't be necessary. And I'm not bringing more luggage. I hate checking bags more than I hate doing laundry on vacation, especially given how tiny cruise ship rooms are -- luggage storage is a pain!

Oct 1, 2012 14:53:44 GMT -5 omeomi said:

Every ship I've been on, the sinks have stoppers, and the shower stalls had built in clotheslines. Which line are you going on?

I always bring a small baggie of powdered detergent. But I also use the provided shampoos and/or body washes. They'll give you new bottles of that stuff any time you want.

Celebrity. The Cruise Critic boards seem to indicate not all of their ships have clothes lines in the showers (and there were some rather snarky threads with pictures of people drying their laundry on their balconies, so I'd rather be prepared.

How much powdered detergent do you add to the sink? I've only ever used liquid Woolite for hand washing, which is part of why I'm unsure.

[aurora]

Oct 1, 2012 14:53:44 GMT -5 omeomi said:

I always bring a small baggie of powdered detergent. But I also use the provided shampoos and/or body washes. They'll give you new bottles of that stuff any time you want.

This is what I usually do instead of bringing my own soap. If my socks smell a little like shampoo on vacation it doesn't bother me.

[omeomi]

Yeah, with Celebrity they don't always have a clothesline. It's typically their smallest ships that don't have them. But you should be able to call their customer service number (1.800.647.2251) and give them your stateroom number (or category) and they can tell you if you'll have clotheslines and/or a sink with a stopper.

People on CC can be jerks sometimes. I've dried clothes on the balcony many times. If that's something you're ok with doing, and you'll be in a warmer area, I think it works well for some things (undies and such not so much lol). I don't hang them over the railing, just on the backs of the chairs. I worry about a breeze coming up and blowing them off the railing. But that's just my quirk.

When you first get on the ship, ask you steward for extra hangars. You can always use those to hang up some things to dry in the room/closet.

For a sink full of water, I add about a tablespoon full of powdered detergent. I stop up the sink, start running some water, pour in the detergent, then swish it around with my hand to get it to dissolve before adding in the clothes.

[Nonny]

We're going through the Panama Canal, so it will be warm, but alas we screwed around to long to book and don't have a balcony (which was our original plan). We decided going up a class wasn't worth the cost, and went down a level instead so we only have a window.

Asking for extra hangers is a good idea though. I fairly regularly dry some of my own clothes that way.

[omeomi]

The first things I always ask for when I get to my room and meet the steward is more hangars. I like to hang up everything I can, but I like to have extra just in case I need to use them for hang drying.

I've been wanting to do a Canal cruise for a while. That should be lots of fun!

[jordylee]

For hand washing, a plain bar of glycerin soap works fantastic. You can get a travel clothesline from REI that has suction cups on each end, but I usually just wash a few items at a time as I need them and hang them on the towel bar or over the shower door/curtain. Have a great trip!


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