Cruise Packing Hack & Tips: What to Know About Ship Laundry

What do you do when you need clean clothes on a cruise? In this episode, we break down the three ways to handle laundry while sailing: self-serve washers and dryers, onboard send-away laundry service, and simple DIY options, like handwashing. 

We also share cruise line differences you should check before packing, why some ships don’t offer laundry at all while others unexpectedly do, and a few travel items that make washing clothes while on vacation much easier. If you’ve ever wondered how to pack less and the best way to stay fresh while traveling, we’ve got you covered.

Here are vital items that we’ve personally used to help us launder our clothes so we’re fresh and clean while traveling:

• Hegs clothespins (the most amazing clothespins that help you hang more with fewer pins - great for travel): https://amzn.to/4biuA1k
• Laundry travel kit, including Tide packs: https://amzn.to/4cGPw4I
• Refillable containers (refill one with laundry detergent, and be sure to properly label it): https://amzn.to/40qc16w
• Laundry detergent sheets (eliminates the risk of liquid detergent leaking in your luggage): https://amzn.to/3PuY057

Transcript

Dan (00:01)

Hello and welcome to another edition of Small Ship Cruise Talk. Today we're talking about dirty laundry.

Mikkel (00:42)

We are airing dirty laundry….but truly.

Dan (00:47)

But truly, we're talking about what happens and what you need to know about doing laundry on a cruise ship.

Mikkel (00:55)

This is vital info for how to pack really, because you want to know, can I do laundry? Is there a laundry service? Do I need to pack double the amount because I'm not going to be able to wash things or is packing on a carry on for example, ample for my cruise. So today we're going to talk about three options of how to get clean clothes during your cruise and reveal some info for you to check before you pack.

Because you might not have thought of the things we are going to reveal. So the three options are self-serve laundry machines. These are washers and dryers on board. Not every ship has them. We're going to tell you some info about that when we get into the details momentarily. Of course, there's laundry service that you could send it away with the crew and then get it back. And we are going to share some things that you really need to think about with that option.

And lastly is good old sink and hang dry in your room, right?

Dan (01:57)

Yeah, like frontier times.

Mikkel (01:59)

Frontier times, yes. On the Conestoga wagon on the Oregon Trail. Out to dry. OK. So self-serve, right? So this is something that we really appreciate on small ship cruises. Now, we are talking about small ships in particular. We've seen some beautiful laundry rooms, like on Disney Cruise Line. But we are not talking about that here. We are Small Ship Cruise Talk. So we are talking about the smaller ships.

I would say a luxury that we've seen kind of in, you know, the 2020s and beyond is that people want the option to do their own laundry on board. A lot of time people are traveling for weeks surrounding the cruise, maybe before and after they get on board and they want to do their own laundry. And so I don't forget to say this. You and I have seen that as soon as you get on board, what are people doing? Right?

Dan (02:52)

Absolutely.

The laundry room is the busiest the first day, like on the embarkation day, because everybody's washing all their dirty stuff from the probably it may be days or weeks of travel prior to the cruise.

Mikkel (03:06)

Right. So that's a hot tip for you that the first day, if you can hold out to not do your laundry the first day, then wait perhaps until the second day or at a weird hour at night if you're a night owl or really early in the morning because they will be really busy. 

And this is even on shifts of, you know, we've been on like Emerald Azzurra and it's a hundred passengers and people are in that laundry room. just because it's a small ship and it's a luxury cruise doesn't mean they're not going to have washers and dryers for you because today it is a luxury to be able to do your laundry on board.

Dan (03:43)

But bear in mind not all ships have laundry, so just make sure you do your homework prior to packing so you're really prepared because something like a barge cruise, they're not going to have a washer and dryer. And some of the Expedition ships also don't have that, so just make sure you do your homework.

Mikkel (03:59)

Right. So like we were on Uncruise and they did not have laundry facilities on board. We've been on Alaskan Dream Cruises. They didn't have it either. Kontiki is another ship I'm thinking of in Ecuador and Costa Rica. They didn't have it. So it really depends on the ship, like Dan said. So you want to do your research ahead of time and find out if they do have it. So again, you can pack accordingly. You know, the other interesting thing is that some cruise line brands have it on some ships, but not the other. So a really good example of this is that Viking river ships do not have self-serve washers and dryers on board. However, Viking Ocean ships do, and they have it on every deck with staterooms for their guests.

Dan (04:44)

Right, yeah, that's a good tip. Similarly, another example would be Emerald Cruises. So they have them on their yachts. They have the laundry on the yachts, but they don't have it on the river cruises.

Mikkel (04:55)

Yes, and they also on the yachts have an ironing station. Viking had that as well. And then another example is AmaWaterways. They don't have it on most of their ships unless you're on AmaMagna, which sails the Danube, which is a double wide, extra large river cruise ship. And they have a beautiful laundry room. And I also really love that American Cruise Lines also has laundry on board washers and dryers for guests to use.

Dan (05:20)

So let's jump into the third way to do your laundry and that's send it away through the service that's provided on the ship. So onboard send away services, the crew actually does it for you onboard and we did this on Windstar, I think it was, and really loved how they presented it and brought it back to your room in a reusable bag. So it was just a nice experience that felt a little bit higher end, but yet still very approachable.

Mikkel (05:48)

And something to keep in mind for this that's really important is that it could take 48 hours to get the laundry back. So there's often a cutoff at the end of the cruise that you're, for example, not going to be able to do laundry to send it out on the last day because you're not going to be able to get it back in time. Right.

Dan (06:06)

And then keep in mind too, the places or the locations in the world that you are, prices are going to vary quite a bit. like we found that prices were extremely cheap on the Mekong river cruise with Ama and then maybe a little bit more expensive in Europe.

Mikkel (06:22)

Yeah, that's definitely something that's great to keep in mind. And then also, sometimes it is included in your cruise fare or the suite level. So it really just depends on what cruise line you're on. Some suites include it. Some include pressing, for example, if you need something pressed. So just be aware of that. I would say that's less common, that it's like a suite level. I know Celebrity Cruises does it.

Mostly they're big ships, but they also have another ship that's even smaller in the Galapagos, for example, Celebrity Flora. But that's just to say, understand what you're getting ahead of time, again, like we keep going back to, so you know how to pack.

Dan (07:00)

Your third option, it's like we teased it at the top of the show, it's frontier time, so it's do it yourself laundry, socks in the sink.

Mikkel (07:13)

So, to keep in mind for doing your own laundry in your room, and I do think this is a really great option, even if you just hand wash some socks like Dan said, or underwear if you need it, is to bring some soap. So, if you don't have any, of course, use the soap in the room. But something great that we have started doing and something great that we did in the past was two things. 

One: We bought some of the travel-size Tide packs that we have linked in the show notes for you. And these are travel portions of the Tide detergent. So you can just open the packet, add it to the sink, and the instructions are, you know, how long to leave it in there and such, and kind of like, you know, it's self-explanatory. 

But I did find it was helpful to read what it said just for a little tips of how to get those clothes extra clean. And then the other thing that you can do is also buy your own reusable travel-size container and refill it with laundry detergent, which we have started doing too, if we're going to hand-wash. If you're going to do your own laundry before or after your cruise, you have some options as well.

Dan (08:21)

One thing I would like to add that we also travel with, is clothespins.

Mikkel (08:25)

Yes, my gosh, yes.

Dan (08:27)

You usually have the cord in the shower that's there that you can put your bathing suit or something like that on, but sometimes they don't have that. So we do travel with clothespins. We are those guys. And then, just in case we need to do socks in the sink, laundry service, we can hang them up throughout the

Mikkel (08:46)

room. And I want to add to that and say that we don't just travel with clothespins. We travel with the best clothespins we've ever seen. Those are also linked in the show notes. They're called Hegs pins, I believe. And what makes them different is that there's a clip on the side of the clip. So it's like the main clothes line clip and then a clip on each side. So you can really maximize only bringing a few of these clips in your bag. So we usually have, I would say about six of them.

And you can hang even more things. So we could put a little sock on each side and then a t-shirt with two pins. So you could do two pairs of socks and one t-shirt on two pins. So that's really cool and something that we discovered years ago and I nearly forgot.

Dan (09:33)

Could you forget about the clothespins? They are the best.

Mikkel (09:37)

And then if you're going to do your laundry before or after your cruise, you have options. Obviously, at your hotel, again, we recommend checking if your hotel has self-serve washer and dryers or if you need to send it away. Sometimes I think it's just astronomically ridiculous. So that would determine whether or not we did send it away with them. 

Another option is a laundromat. We've done laundry in laundromats and looked up where the closest one is to our hotel or our Airbnb. And then lastly, of course, if you're going to rent an Airbnb, for example, before or after your cruise, when you extend your trip and you want a washer and dryer, well then make sure that you filter your search by stays that have a washer and dryer, which I'm not sure everybody realizes that you can do that, but you can. And in a lot of European countries, it's very common to have a washer but not a dryer.

Dan (10:32)

Right, yeah. And I think that's why we started carrying clothespins initially. I think when we were in Spain for so long, it was all about just doing our own laundry. Right.

Mikkel (10:42)

So keep that in mind too, if you're traveling and need to do laundry the day before a cruise, but it's early March, maybe it's not going to dry as fast as it would in August. So keep that in mind. 

And lastly, just want to say that obviously, don't forget you can do a combination of all these things. On the Mekong River cruise, we sent some of our laundry away, but my gosh, was it so hot and sweaty every day? This is like no matter the time of year you go, but we did go in August.

And we just had to wash things by hand and put them out on our balcony to dry. And we did a combination of things. So keep that in mind as well.

Dan (11:18)

Yeah, so really the big takeaway is if you want to get to know the locals, go to a laundromat.

Mikkel (11:26)

Yeah, and you might need to have cash for those laundromats too, but some of them take credit cards too. yeah. So we hope that you have learned something from today's short, but jam-packed with quality info episode. And this will help you pack smarter, more informed, and be more of a happy traveler on your happy trails.

Dan(11:51)

and you smell better too.

Mikkel (11:52)

and you'll smell better too. Well, so until next time.

Dan(11:55)

Keep cruising.