Long Cruises-$400 Laundry Cost?

[Sheldon47]

I would appreciate any advice on packing clothing for a long cruise on Royal Caribbean. I didn’t realize they didn’t have self-service laundry when I booked our 14 day cruise.

 

Trying to calculate our upcoming laundry costs onboard for a couple…..

(We need 16 days/nights clean clothes-- 2 days in hotel a end of cruise--going home w/dirty clothes)

 

Daily work out clothes 16 days:

2 T-shirts $5

2 shorts $5

2 socks $2

1 sports bra $1.20?

Per day $13.20

4 work-out outfits for both of us wash 3 times ($13.20) (3) = $158.40

 

Day wear 16 days

2 undergarments $2.40

2 shirts $5

2 shorts $5

Per day $12.40

4 day outfits for both of us washed 3 times ($12:40) (3) =$148.80

 

Evening wear

-unknown? Doesn’t get as dirty or sweaty so most we can re-wear but I’m sure we will have to wash a number of items for 16 days things.

 

$307.20 for just the basics. Adding in pajamas, and misc.evening wear I wondering if I will hit $400.

 

What is a normal laundry bill for a 14 day cruise?

 

I don’t mind washing out swimsuits in the sink. But I don’t want to turn our cabin into a laundry room (much less spend the time and effort) trying to wash out all our dirty laundry in the sink.

 

The only thing I can think of is to pack clothes we no longer want and throw them away as we go. Any suggestions?

[crusinmama06]

I hope someone else can be more specific but I know that close to the end of the cruise (on 7 days) there is always a laundry special. It is charged something like $20 for as much as you can stick in a bag.

 

Wonder if they do something more mid cruise for the 14 day ones?

[wrp96]

Unless you are a particularly dirty or sweaty person, you can usually rewear certain items of outer clothing, like shirts, shorts, and pants. To freshen them up, leave them on a hanger in the bathroom while you take a shower.

[It'sRC4ME]

I would keep the laundry bill down by assuming that I can wear each item of day wear (T-shirts, shorts) twice before it needs to be cleaned. Your calculations appear to account for completely clean clothes each day, which would definitely add up. (I do bring enough clean undies for the whole cruise).

[It'sRC4ME]

Unless you are a particularly dirty or sweaty person, you can usually rewear certain items of outer clothing, like shirts, shorts, and pants. To freshen them up, leave them on a hanger in the bathroom while you take a shower.

 

Febreeze works wonders too - we always bring it to get casino smoke smells out of our clothes.

[39august]

My normal laundry fee is $6 to press a couple pairs of capri pants. I wash underwear in the sink and hang up to dry. Likewise a tee shirt or 2. We just take dirty clothes home. I usually take 2 pairs of shorts for each of us and never needed to have them laundered. You spend a lot of time in a bathing suit.

[MariTenor1]

I have never seen a laundry special on Royal Caribbean...either on a 7 day or longer cruise.

 

As Wrona posted, many items can be worn twice...even afternoon items. We purposely pack mix & match outfits so that although the individual items may be worn twice, the outfit it different.

 

Now, depending on where you are sailing you may have an option. We have a 5 year old so the chances of having an outfit remain clean for another day's wear is iffy. On several longer repo cruises we have dropped off our laundry and paid $1 a pound to have them wash and dry it. They do not iron (only fold and place in bag), but that is usually fine for daytime clothing. Then all we have to do is send out the evening clothing to be pressed. We have done this in St. Thomas and St. Maarten. There used to also be a place in Cozumel, but we never stopped there on a longer cruise. There may be others on other islands, I just haven't had to investigate those yet. We'll be dropping laundry off again on our 9-night cruise this October.

[PhoenixCruiser]

I hope someone else can be more specific but I know that close to the end of the cruise (on 7 days) there is always a laundry special. It is charged something like $20 for as much as you can stick in a bag.

 

Wonder if they do something more mid cruise for the 14 day ones?

 

I think Carnival offers laundry specials but I don't think Royal does.

 

###

[gnparend]

Underwear doesn't take up that much room and it's cheaper to buy more underwear for a trip then do laundry just take along a few garbage bags and keep them in one suitcase for used clothes. The work out clothes you can get the ship to do it for you and they return them the next day so take enough for 5 days and have the ships laundry do them 3 times. The other things you should be able to get two days out of each outfit so that means 7 outfits you mix & match. T-shirts are light and easy to pack. For $20 in the Caribbean you can get 10 T-shirts. Wear em and throw them away. The cabin steward will love the freebies. The quality is good for at least 1 days wear and the cabin steward has to worry about skrinkage when they wash them.

 

When you get home you have a lot of laundry to do and if the customs folks want to check you luggage :D let them enjoy.

 

Don't try to vacation fo 14 -21 days in Europe by Train. Only so much will fit in a backpack and you do you undies in the sink at night.

[FunCruiser56]

We sailed on a 11 night cruise plus 2 precruise hotel. We packed enough underwear for the whole trip, it takes up very little room. Mix and match clothing for daywear, you can wear shorts/slacks/capris several times and have a couple of tops that will work for each. Same with evening wear, a pair of black silk pants/skirt will go far with some nice tops and no one will notice if you repeat an outfit.

Don't limit your packing so much, add a few more items, pack some frebreeze and you will find you won't have to send in much laundry. Yes RCI does offer the laundry specials. Get some spacesaver bags or the extra large ziplock bags for storing your dirty laundry in.

 

Have a great trip!

[aqhacruiser]

I've done back to backs for 15 days and had no laundry bill:) I just pack more clothes and wash a few things out in our sink and dry on balcony if needed. We just bring a couple of big garbage bags to put dirty clothes in and pack the bags in our luggage and I do the laundry when I get home. Why would you throw clothes away? The one time we did stay in a hotel that night after a cruise to catch a show at the Continental, I had packed what we needed for the hotel in a separate bag and left it in the car. If you are bringing limited clothes because of a flight, you'd have to wash them yourself or pay for the laundry service but you should be able to cut that list down as packing extra socks, t shirts, undergarments are all light weight items for a flight. Some items you should be able to wear more than one time also like a pair of shorts or slacks. :) Also mix and match to save on bringing more clothes than you need.

[shipknotshore]

If you're going to be wearing shorts and bathing suits you can pack a lot of outfits in your suitcase. When we did our 14 nights and 2 nights pre-cruise we had plenty of room and didn't have to worry so much about laundry. We did have an aft balcony cabin which worked great for drying some of the items like bathing suits and some cotton blouces that I washed in the sink....and the items were dry in no time at all.

 

I've never seen a laundry special on any of my RCI cruises yet - but I keep hoping. Keep in mind that pressing is half the price of laundering. The items that I hand washed I could send out for pressing only...it sure saved me money.

[Wine Luvuh]

I was on the Liberty last week and they had a laundry special at the end of the week. I filled the bag with undergarments, shorts, t-shirts and some skirts. It was returned about 36 hours later and there was a $20 charge. They did a nice job. (No shrinking)

[Sue L]

Hubby buys a new t-shirt in each port, as he loves to collect them. So depending on the number ports you can add that way. I did 11 day with 2 days pre-cruise in the Panama (95+) with extremely high humidity and never sent anything for laundry. Shorts can be worn several times, and the the shirt that I change into after my shower when we come back from port becomes the next days shirt. It has only been worn for around 2 hours so is fine for the next day. So for 14 days that would be 7 shirts, and 4 pairs shorts as a lot of time in ports is spent in bathing suits.

[cyscopup]

We have taken a few 11-14 night cruises and never had a laundry bill over $50. We generally pack enough clean underwear and then do a lot of mix and matches. We also set-up a couple of days where we send our "dirty" clothes out to be washed. We normally take three workout outfits, 3-4 pairs of shorts and about five shirts. Then for dinners we have three outfits that are interchangable.

Another plus for us is we almost always end up buying a few t-shirts in port and then wear them sometime during the cruise. We also bring home a lot of laundry to do, seems my work after vacation is twice as much as it was before vacation.:eek:

 

Another thing to consider is how much time will you spend in swimsuits? On our upcoming Canal cruise, every other day is a sea day so we will be in swimsuits the majority of the time.

[Sheldon47]

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I guess we will really have to put some thought into our packing.:(

 

I did call Royal Caribbean today and ask about laundry specials, the agent told me no, they did not offer any discounts during longer cruises.:(

 

I think it would be a win-win for everyone to offer specials on the long cruises. The room time it takes 2000 passengers to constantly sink wash, rinse, wring, then hang clothes to dry adds up. Instead they could be buying spa treatments, work-out classes, art, or drinks. It’s much easier for the staff clean cabins if laundry isn’t hanging all over and I would think the captain would like to pull into port without laundry drying on every balcony. And most of all I would think it would make for much happier passengers.:D:o:) Putting on nice fresh clothes after your shower sets a better mood for the day or evening than putting on dirty clothing for the 3rd or 4th time.

 

Stephenie

[crusinmama06]

I was on the Liberty last week and they had a laundry special at the end of the week. I filled the bag with undergarments, shorts, t-shirts and some skirts. It was returned about 36 hours later and there was a $20 charge. They did a nice job. (No shrinking)

 

Yep, ours was on Freedom. And that was the price quoted to us as well.

 

Thanks Wine - I was beginning to think I imagined it. ;) :D

[Sheldon47]

That sounds encouraging. Hopefully the customer service agent is wrong about our cruise

 

We will be on Serenade of the Seas….I hope they offer us a special. They will have at least 1 very happy passenger.

 

Stephenie

[Hobie1976]

We are diamond members and have never had a laundry special on our cruises. We did have one on Carnival.

We just completed a b2b with our 17 year old. He would go through 2-3 sets of underclothing a day, as he plays basketball, works out, etc. I sent one small load to RCCL Laundry and the bill was close to 40.00. I made him go to Kmart in St Thomas and buy boxers, undershirts, and socks. It was must cheaper.

 

My husband and I came home with plenty of clean clothes, as on sea days we spent most of our time in our swim suits.

 

Most nights we changed out of our dinner clothes after dinner, so we could use them twice.

 

Mix and match as much as you can. It all works out.

[Linda/Ohio]

would think the captain would like to pull into port without laundry drying on every balcony."

 

I've never witnessed such a issue. The deal with a cruise is--that on certain days--i.e. sea days--you might be in your shorts for 2 hours, bathing suit for 6, then change for dinner. Could you wear those shorts on another day for a couple of hours? I always take enough underwear. I have NEVER worn all the clothes that I took on a cruise. I do use the laundry services and have them launder the clothing I will wear home on the plane. Sometimes we use the pressing services too.

[csk]

we are ready to leave on a b2b on the Radiance for 29 days, and I was having a panic attack about packing, but decided I am not going to worry about it , just pack enough, underwear, and hope everything works out ok. we are going to be in Alaska and then go to Hawaii, so I need cold and warm, but will just use the laundry service if we need it, like someone said we usually buy shirts in each port, so just plane on sending out jeans, and maybe a few shorts, and have enough dress clothes to mix and match for the dining room. Do hope they have a special on laundry, but I have never seen one.

[steve20832]

I would appreciate any advice on packing clothing for a long cruise on Royal Caribbean. I didn’t realize they didn’t have self-service laundry when I booked our 14 day cruise.

 

Trying to calculate our upcoming laundry costs onboard for a couple…..

(We need 16 days/nights clean clothes-- 2 days in hotel a end of cruise--going home w/dirty clothes)

 

Daily work out clothes 16 days:

2 T-shirts $5

2 shorts $5

2 socks $2

1 sports bra $1.20?

Per day $13.20

4 work-out outfits for both of us wash 3 times ($13.20) (3) = $158.40

 

Day wear 16 days

2 undergarments $2.40

2 shirts $5

2 shorts $5

Per day $12.40

4 day outfits for both of us washed 3 times ($12:40) (3) =$148.80

 

Evening wear

-unknown? Doesn’t get as dirty or sweaty so most we can re-wear but I’m sure we will have to wash a number of items for 16 days things.

 

$307.20 for just the basics. Adding in pajamas, and misc.evening wear I wondering if I will hit $400.

 

What is a normal laundry bill for a 14 day cruise?

 

I don’t mind washing out swimsuits in the sink. But I don’t want to turn our cabin into a laundry room (much less spend the time and effort) trying to wash out all our dirty laundry in the sink.

 

The only thing I can think of is to pack clothes we no longer want and throw them away as we go. Any suggestions?

 

Why don't you bring 2 suitcases full of clothes and do the laundry when you get home?

I fit all my stuff in one suitcase for my last 7 night cruise plus flew down two days before the cruise left Ft. Lauderdale.

You can buy an extra 29" suitcase for much less than $400 at eBags or Kohls (Kohls has them on sale about every 3 weeks or so.) If you don't have one.

[Alexru12]

lets see....

seven day cruise...

14 polo shirts

7 shorts

5 bathing suits

5 dress slacks

10 t-shirts

14 underwear

2 jeans, (disco, Formal NIGHT) just teasing, tee hee

1 tux

1 dark suit

1 dinner jacket

1 casual blazer

2 light v neck cashmeres

5 dress shirts

5 ties

7 pair socks

7 pair sockies ( lil half sox)

2 sneakers, white/ black

tux shoes

2 deck shoes, 1 leather, 1 fabric

flip flops, 2 pair ( pool & town)

leather sandals brown

leather sandals, black

4 gym shorts

5 belts

lets see... did i forget anything?

not counting toiletries or jewelry, that all goes in carry on

oh yeah, a few baseball caps, in case wind musses hair...

of course on 14 day cruise, just double list:cool:

 

and yeah, my friends wish i were joking, there have been major "disagreements" over closet space both on a cruise and at home!

[Captain Jake]

I always bring old jockeys' and throw them away at the end of the day.Also you can buy socks and underwear at places like Marshalls,TJ Maxx for less than it cost to clean them.Dockers for supper you can wear twice ,same for shorts.For warmer climates you can wear sandels some days without socks.Most people tend to overpack and after 8 cruises I still do.You can take advantage of the cleanning specials that others have mentioned,besides you may end up buying a top or two.I think you'll find your cleanning bill to be lower than you planned

[katerkat]

lets see....

seven day cruise...

14 polo shirts

7 shorts

5 bathing suits

5 dress slacks

10 t-shirts

14 underwear

2 jeans, (disco, Formal NIGHT) just teasing, tee hee

1 tux

1 dark suit

1 dinner jacket

1 casual blazer

2 light v neck cashmeres

5 dress shirts

5 ties

7 pair socks

7 pair sockies ( lil half sox)

2 sneakers, white/ black

tux shoes

2 deck shoes, 1 leather, 1 fabric

flip flops, 2 pair ( pool & town)

leather sandals brown

leather sandals, black

4 gym shorts

5 belts

lets see... did i forget anything?

not counting toiletries or jewelry, that all goes in carry on

oh yeah, a few baseball caps, in case wind musses hair...

 

:eek: I don't think my husband even owns that many shirts and pants.