ship doing my laundry?

[OceanDreaming2]

Oh, edited to add...remove the sticker as soon as you get your items returned. The longer they stay on the more difficult they are to take off. Hubby cruised last April and a few weeks ago i found he still had a tag on something. There was no way we were getting that little sticker off!

 

coka

 

Warm the sticker up (with a hair dryer perhaps). They come off easier if they are warm.

[DMLyons]

Warm the sticker up (with a hair dryer perhaps). They come off easier if they are warm.

 

Does it leave that nasty, tacky glue behind when you do? See? That's the reason I wouldn't want them to do my laundry aboard ship. I really don't think it would get the due care that way I'd be comfortable with. No cruises longer than a week for me, I guess. :rolleyes:

 

DML

[DMLyons]

All your laundry pieces will have the same individualized code stamped on a yellow sticky strip. This is because whites go in one machine and colors go in another. The laundry detergent is industrial strength and I surmise has the strength to kill anything...or they would not being doing it for passengers. If you still think there is going to be other passenger bacteria still causing germs on your clothes, the giant dryer and press machine probably kills whatever is left:p coka

 

If the ship's laundry is like most commercial laundries I know (ones that deal with industrial outfitters), they use bleach in whites and they use an antimicrobial in other wash...stream/hot water for whites and as hot as they can for colors. It's pretty standard for anyone that does industrial laundry, so I can't imagine ships don't do the same.

 

There are OSHA standards in place to protect both customers and employees. It's the same with kitchens aboard ship. In addition to the sanitizers used on cookware and dishes/glasses/silverware, the washers are supposed to be set on at least 140 degrees (160 degrees in some places, though 140 is considered safer because it will do less damage to workers) to sanitize everything to prevent the spread of germs from person to person. Any decent kitchen is checking water temperature periodically to make sure they are in compliance. Still, your biggest concern would be a buffet where someone in front of you didn't adequately wash before going to the line. Shrug. There's only so much the ship can do.

 

Honestly, cruise lines have gotten a bad name for norovirus, but it's not technically a ship-board problem. It's a problem everywhere. My sister with the CDC had to investigate an outbreak centered around an office building...and despite their training, the initial team sent in managed to infect themselves as well. That was how she ended up there. Something like a quarter of a million cases are reported in the US alone every year...on average. Some years are much heavier. Any place people are in close quarters, there is a possibility of it passing from person to person, which is why cruise ships confine anyone they believe has it to their staterooms.

 

DML

[DMLyons]

If you don't like your clothes mixed with others, either use the sink the old fashioned way and hang on the clothes line by the shower, or use a laundrymat ashore. Frankly, even at home your family uses the same washer and dryer you do.

 

Or worse, if you live somewhere without a washer dryer of your own and have to use the laundry in the apartment complex or down at the corner. Shrug. At least with family, you are washing with the same people you eat with and sleep with and hug up next to every day.

 

DML

[S&S Cruisers 1983]

That is what they do and they don't remove (all?) the tags onboard either. I've received most if not all of my t-shirts with tags still attached to the neck after being washed through the bag special.

 

Yes, the tiny yellow tags. they are very hard to get off. I didn't notice one on one of my shirts that I don't wear very often and found it still attached about 9 months later.

[Demonyte]

Yes, the tiny yellow tags. they are very hard to get off. I didn't notice one on one of my shirts that I don't wear very often and found it still attached about 9 months later.

 

I've had white and orange tags on my. :) The tape is really durable - so much so that if I miss one with visual inspection, it'll make itself known by scratching me until I remove it. :)

[shelly11]

If someone is worried about their clothes being washed with others then don't use the laundry service. Simple.

[OceanDreaming2]

Does it leave that nasty, tacky glue behind when you do? See? That's the reason I wouldn't want them to do my laundry aboard ship. I really don't think it would get the due care that way I'd be comfortable with. No cruises longer than a week for me, I guess. :rolleyes:

 

DML

 

No residue from the tags.

[DMLyons]

No residue from the tags.

 

Interesting. Maybe not so bad then. Thanks. My sister was telling me she had a laundry service at a hotel use one that left residue, and there was a tacky spot for several washings and a permanent discoloration in the fabric there. Glad they've fixed that problem over the years.

 

DML

[Laszlo]

 

Honestly, cruise lines have gotten a bad name for norovirus, but it's not technically a ship-board problem. It's a problem everywhere. My sister with the CDC had to investigate an outbreak centered around an office building...and despite their training, the initial team sent in managed to infect themselves as well. That was how she ended up there. Something like a quarter of a million cases are reported in the US alone every year...on average. Some years are much heavier. Any place people are in close quarters, there is a possibility of it passing from person to person, which is why cruise ships confine anyone they believe has it to their staterooms.

 

DML

 

 

And I would bet that 99% of the cases get started from someone coming on the ship already sick

[DMLyons]

And I would bet that 99% of the cases get started from someone coming on the ship already sick

 

Almost goes without saying, I would agree. The last few probably start with a crew member that was infected by someone sick on the cruise before (who likely came aboard sick, so we're back to that again), but crew members have the same rules the customers do. If they think a crew member has it, that person is isolated. The last thing they want is to chance more cases aboard.

 

DML

[mtwingcpa]

Warm the sticker up (with a hair dryer perhaps). They come off easier if they are warm.

 

Agreed. I've used an iron in many cases. But I recall one that just wouldn't come off no matter what (and I just checked - it's still there 4 years latter).

[xenagurl]

@Coka ITA!

 

On one of the the Behind the Scenes tours that I went on they said that the washing machines took 250 lbs loads of laundry. Exactly that amount because it ties in to the amount of cleaner they use. Whether they used smaller machines that we didn't see for passenger clothes, I don't know, but not likely since space is a consideration.

[OceanDreaming2]

@Coka ITA!

 

On one of the the Behind the Scenes tours that I went on they said that the washing machines took 250 lbs loads of laundry. Exactly that amount because it ties in to the amount of cleaner they use. Whether they used smaller machines that we didn't see for passenger clothes, I don't know, but not likely since space is a consideration.

 

They do have smaller machines for special cases. But I think the laundry special is put into a bulk load.

[jdvmd]

@Coka ITA!

 

On one of the the Behind the Scenes tours that I went on they said that the washing machines took 250 lbs loads of laundry. Exactly that amount because it ties in to the amount of cleaner they use. Whether they used smaller machines that we didn't see for passenger clothes, I don't know, but not likely since space is a consideration.

 

The big washers are for sheets, towels etc. there are numerous smaller ones for private laundry. At least this is the way it was on the Dawn.

[xenagurl]

They do have smaller machines for special cases. But I think the laundry special is put into a bulk load.

 

The big washers are for sheets, towels etc. there are numerous smaller ones for private laundry. At least this is the way it was on the Dawn.

Interesting. Not that it's been brought up I'm curious and will ask about it on my next cruise to see what the stewards say there as well.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Wow! So I'm never sending my clothes to be laundered on the ship. And I'm not going to brush my teeth because the sink may be dirty. And don't even think about the shower.

 

I'll just wear the same clothes for the week. You may compliment my on my tan, but it's really just a dirt build-up...

[Cinnamon Seahorse]

I was amazed the first time I sent clothes to be laundered on an NCL ship. I think they use something nuclear--my whites were GLOWING! From that point on I started bringing stained and dingy clothes on NCL cruises and taking them home looking new.

 

Happy sailing, Carla

[DMLyons]

I was amazed the first time I sent clothes to be laundered on an NCL ship. I think they use something nuclear--my whites were GLOWING! From that point on I started bringing stained and dingy clothes on NCL cruises and taking them home looking new.

 

Happy sailing, Carla

 

LOL! The visual on this is stunning. I can just picture glow in the dark whites. :cool: Need me my sunglasses to look at them.

 

DML

[DMLyons]

They do have smaller machines for special cases. But I think the laundry special is put into a bulk load.

 

This would make sense for loads of delicates. I'd still rather do the delicates in the room with Woolite, but it would explain how they could do those aboard.

 

DML

[Barb Nahoumi]

Okay? I'm sorry, but...WHY precisely? Sorry if that comes off as rude or something, but I don't follow the problem, I'm afraid.

 

I come from a military background, where the guys' clothes were washed together on board, and in industrial settings, the lab coats and such that our guys wore were not only washed together, they were picked up by the company that served our facility, washed in bulk back at their base, and then the right sizes and numbers in the right colors were returned to us (meaning they might not have originally been the same ones they picked up from us before washing). Not to mention that dry cleaners aren't washing your stuff separately either, unless you take in something really big, like a King comforter. Granted, I've been known to use PineSol in wash loads of really nasty work clothes personally (as a degreaser and germ killer), so I get the idea of being a little OCD about laundry, but I don't get the problem with this, as long as the right items get back to me and vice versa for the other folks. And as long as they are clean when they come back.

 

I'm more concerned about the tags damaging something fragile than anything else.

 

DML

 

I wouldn't send delicate items to the laundry. We wash them in the cabin sink, and hang to dry on shower clothes line. Bras, delicate lingerie, blouses. etc.

[DMH15]

I take plenty of lingerie. Don't want to see my or my mom's hanging up anywhere. How much room can enough unmentionables take in my suitcase?