Free laundry

[ponchy6567]

Our first Viking Ocean cruise. I have read that the laundry room is free. Does anyone have any advice on the process?  

Thanks

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

1 hour ago, ponchy6567 said:

Our first Viking Ocean cruise. I have read that the laundry room is free. Does anyone have any advice on the process?  

Thanks

Yes, on Viking Ocean there are free laundry rooms on every deck.  They even have free detergent.  You put your clothes in, select your settings, go over to the wall the detergent dispensers are, push the button and that's it!  Here's a whole blog on it: 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

Not only is it free but there are also irons and ironing boards in the laundry room.

[Baron Barracuda]

Great Viking perc.  Allows you to drastically reduce how much clothes to pack and no need to wash socks in the sink or string clothesline across the cabin to dry bathing suits.

[CILCIANRQTS]

The only issue is timing.

Folks are heartless if your laundry finishes and you don’t immediately put it in the drier.  They’ll take you wet clothes out and place them on the counter. 
so do your laundry at the most inconvenient time you can tolerate - think 3AM. 😴🥱
 

[formernuke]

Or simply set a timer on your phone so you're there when it finishes...

[LindaS272]

Launderettes are on decks 3, 4, 5, & 6.

[WestW]

3 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

so do your laundry at the most inconvenient time you can tolerate - think 3AM. 😴🥱

We’ve done 3 Viking voyages, including a 39 day trip, and learned to avoid sea days for doing laundry. On days we were docked, we found them less busy as people were on excursions. Dinner time or later also seemed to be a good time to find a washer free.  Both washers and dryers have countdown clocks so it’s easy to set the timer on your phone to remind you when your wash finishes.
 

There are equal number of washers and dryers but a dryer may not always be available when your wash is done. There is a sofa and TV so you can wait in the room until one becomes available. Usually people are pretty timely about coming down for their clothes. 
 

Overall, we found the laundry to be a nice perk - especially on longer cruises. 

[photopro2]

10 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

They’ll take you wet clothes out and place them on the counter. 

You're quite correct. After all it does no harm and why should a washer/dryer be idle when someone needs to use it? 

One other tip.......  there's nothing (not even in the small print of the Viking contract) to say you can't use a laundry that is on another deck, not that we would ever dream of doing that, of course 😉

[duquephart]

We just leave laundry on the bed when we leave for the day. Next day it reappears clean and nicely folded or hung in closet. Magic.

[Szt]

5 hours ago, duquephart said:

We just leave laundry on the bed when we leave for the day. Next day it reappears clean and nicely folded or hung in closet. Magic.

I tried that at home. It never works. 

[MSEm]

One of the" benefits" of the Penthouse suites or higher is "free" laundry.  It is returned folded in a box or on hangers. You fill out the laundry form and place it in the bag with items to be washed.

Decks 7 & 8 do not have the launderettes

We always bring "Command" strips and hangers.  Add a few to hang rain/wind breakers or light jackets and hats. Also put a small one on the door to hang face mask when we were required to wear those..

[Baron Barracuda]

20 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

The only issue is timing.

Folks are heartless if your laundry finishes and you don’t immediately put it in the drier.  They’ll take you wet clothes out and place them on the counter. 
so do your laundry at the most inconvenient time you can tolerate - think 3AM. 😴🥱
 

DW is an early riser so usually did laundry at 4am.  And she usually wasn't the only one.

[Clay Clayton]

21 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

The only issue is timing.

Folks are heartless if your laundry finishes and you don’t immediately put it in the drier.  They’ll take you wet clothes out and place them on the counter. 
so do your laundry at the most inconvenient time you can tolerate - think 3AM. 😴🥱
 

On our last cruise, the alarm was muted on my phone and we were 10-15 minutes late getting there. Someone had nicely folded our clothes and stacked them in a laundry basket.  Wish I could make that happen all the time😂

21 hours ago, formernuke said:

Or simply set a timer on your phone so you're there when it finishes...

Exactly. We have found if we load the washer on the way to dinner, it's usually time to move them to the dryer when we finished our appetizers and they are finished drying after dessert.  

[deec]

Clay...what a nice to have happened to your laundry.  Wish everyone was kind and sweet.  Someone was taking my laundry out of the drier (time was still on it) when I walked in...I asked what she was doing...her reply was that her wash was done so my drying was in HER drier!!!  Sometimes there is NO response!  She refused to stop taking my laundry out and tossing it on the couch.

 

Clay...no one on a world cruise will act like that LOL!!!  We had free laundry on the First WC even in the DV's.  I think Viking quickly learned the lesson that Viking passengers are either really dirty or ridiculously clean!  Our laundry was always perfect and on the occasion something became errant it was found quickly!  Glad they did not cancel the Silver Spirits Packages....because the passengers did DRINK a lot too.  You will have such a wonderful time!  We visited so many special places that I did not know even existed!

Edited August 25, 2023 by deec

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, deec said:

Clay...what a nice to have happened to your laundry.  Wish everyone was kind and sweet.  Someone was taking my laundry out of the drier (time was still on it) when I walked in...I asked what she was doing...her reply was that her wash was done so my drying was in HER drier!!!  Sometimes there is NO response!  She refused to stop taking my laundry out and tossing it on the couch.

 

Clay...no one on a world cruise will act like that LOL!!!  We had free laundry on the First WC even in the DV's.  I think Viking quickly learned the lesson that Viking passengers are either really dirty or ridiculously clean!  Our laundry was always perfect and on the occasion something became errant it was found quickly!  Glad they did not cancel the Silver Spirits Packages....because the passengers did DRINK a lot too.  You will have such a wonderful time!  We visited so many special places that I did not know even existed!

Yeah I suspect that having to wash everyone's clothes aboard overtaxed the laundry. I wish we could swing a PV for the ironing. When we got a cheap upgrade once we had them iron everything after we washed them. Meant we didn't have to fold or hang which is the part of laundry I hate the most 😂

[Mich3554]

1 hour ago, deec said:

Clay...what a nice to have happened to your laundry.  Wish everyone was kind and sweet.  Someone was taking my laundry out of the drier (time was still on it) when I walked in...I asked what she was doing...her reply was that her wash was done so my drying was in HER drier!!!  Sometimes there is NO response!  She refused to stop taking my laundry out and tossing it on the couch.

 

Clay...no one on a world cruise will act like that LOL!!!  We had free laundry on the First WC even in the DV's.  I think Viking quickly learned the lesson that Viking passengers are either really dirty or ridiculously clean!  Our laundry was always perfect and on the occasion something became errant it was found quickly!  Glad they did not cancel the Silver Spirits Packages....because the passengers did DRINK a lot too.  You will have such a wonderful time!  We visited so many special places that I did not know even existed!

On the last WC, the laundry room was full of strife.  2 couples got kicked off when one guy, waiting for a dryer finally emptied a drier after waiting 10 min for the owner to show up.  While he was waiting for his clothes to dry, he decided to fold the clothes he had taken out of the drier.  Owner comes in as the guy was folding his wife’s underwear, hits him with his cane.  Folding guy slugs him back.  Both get tossed off the ship.
As I was tossing my clothes into a drier from the washer, a woman comes in with an armful of wet clothes, demanding my drier.  She was most unhappy (and let me know) that I continued to fill the drier, started it and left.  I probably should have stuck around, but this was pretty early in the WC and the problems hadn’t gotten bad by then.
A friend of mine was doing laundry, started the drier, set her watch to come back in 40 min and left.  She came back to wet clothes, and a drier that had only advanced 4 minutes.  
There were a LOT of laundry room stories on our cruise.  When we had Bubbles on the Bridge, the laundry room issues came up with the captain.  He laughed and said those stories were only the tip of the iceberg…..he heard them all!  He wouldn’t tell though.

[Codecow]

Used the laundry a lot on Octantis with no issues.  My wife had been on Viking before and knew about it so we didn’t pack as much as we normally would have, it worked out perfect for us with no issues.

 

It does bring you back in time a bit to being a kid in the dorms or in an early apartment where you’re dealing with community washers.

[Mich3554]

58 minutes ago, Codecow said:

Used the laundry a lot on Octantis with no issues.  My wife had been on Viking before and knew about it so we didn’t pack as much as we normally would have, it worked out perfect for us with no issues.

 

It does bring you back in time a bit to being a kid in the dorms or in an early apartment where you’re dealing with community washers.

We were joking that apparently some did not ever use community washers in their life.  They didn’t seem to know the rules!

[Emptynesters38]

The free self-service laundry is another reason I appreciate Viking’s almost  all inclusive policy.  When we were on cruises when we used the self-service  laundry, I would constantly stop by the laundry room  and although it was often full, I was always able to eventually find an open washing machine and dryer. It just took patience and perseverance. 

Some readers may not be aware that some cabins (Penthouse Junior, Explorer and Owner’s Suites) come with free laundry and dry cleaning.  On Viking Ocean cruises, they place a small label with your cabin number on each item of closing.  (On River cruises they did not label the clothes). Even years later, when we wear something we have not worn for a while, my wife and I will find a label with our cabin number in an uncomfortable place which serves as a fond reminder of our Homelands Cruise.  We are taking the Ancient Mediterranean Treasures cruise next year and have booked the same cabin to avoid having our laundry delivered to the wrong cabin.

[janetcbl]

1 hour ago, Emptynesters38 said:

The free self-service laundry is another reason I appreciate Viking’s almost  all inclusive policy.  When we were on cruises when we used the self-service  laundry, I would constantly stop by the laundry room  and although it was often full, I was always able to eventually find an open washing machine and dryer. It just took patience and perseverance. 

Some readers may not be aware that some cabins (Penthouse Junior, Explorer and Owner’s Suites) come with free laundry and dry cleaning.  On Viking Ocean cruises, they place a small label with your cabin number on each item of closing.  (On River cruises they did not label the clothes). Even years later, when we wear something we have not worn for a while, my wife and I will find a label with our cabin number in an uncomfortable place which serves as a fond reminder of our Homelands Cruise.  We are taking the Ancient Mediterranean Treasures cruise next year and have booked the same cabin to avoid having our laundry delivered to the wrong cabin.

So did we! Exact same reason for our upcoming cruise! Great minds……😁

[KBs mum]

6 hours ago, Codecow said:

 

 

It does bring you back in time a bit to being a kid in the dorms or in an early apartment where you’re dealing with community washers.

Yikes, I have never used a shared washer, and have no intention of doing so on holiday (UK flats and houses usually have a washer/dryer in the kitchen or a utility room) Big items such as trousers go to the hotel/ship laundry, small items are hand washed and dried on the towel rails. Less than 5 minutes a day and no dryer wars drama

[Azulann]

I usually wear only cotton and linen , so love, love the iron and ironing board.WhenI unpack I press my linen trousers and tops.  

 I did notice eon last cruise in June they now have nice laundry baskets , perfect for its purpose to and from your stateroom. 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Azulann

[LindaS272]

I thought the baskets were there to have a better place to put someone else’s completed wash when you needed to put yours in! I never used the baskets to take back to my room. 😲

[Clay Clayton]

40 minutes ago, Azulann said:

I usually wear only cotton and linen , so love, love the iron and ironing board.WhenI unpack I press my linen trousers and tops.  

 I did notice eon last cruise in June they now have nice laundry baskets , perfect for its purpose to and from your stateroom. 

 

19 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

I thought the baskets were there to have a better place to put someone else’s completed wash when you needed to put yours in! I never used the baskets to take back to my room. 😲

Agreed. They were most welcome last month. We used them to carry folded laundry to our room and then promptly returns them to the laundrette