Anyone done laundry on DCL? I think I read that they have laundry rooms and that you can charge the machines and detergent to your rooms. Are they decent? Do they take forever? Do you sit down there while your stuff is washing?
We are going on an Alaskan cruise in a month and with all the travel and such, we will be gone for 10 days. With having to take jackets and sweatshirts and pants (as opposed to just shorts and tees), space will be at a premium in luggage, so I’m guessing we will need to do some laundry while on the boat and was wondering how easy or difficult it can be.
The laundry was fine and I did not have a hard time getting a machine. I put it in and was in my stateroom while it washed, then returned to put stuff in the dryer and hung out in stateroom. I just set a timer for myself.
I have done laundry on the Dream. The laundry room was large and there was an iron and ironing board. I did need a 13 year old to teach me how to pay for it!
Thanks for the tips! The thought of taking that much luggage to fit everything for the trip is scary, especially for my wife. I’m hoping the number of shoes on this trip will be half what it normally is. Ha ha. We did a long stay at Aulani last summer, but had a villa with washer/dryer, so that one was super easy to pack for, plus it was all warm weather clothes that don’t take up as much room.
We did 4 nights on the Dream last fall and I attempted and failed to do laundry each time. There were women basically parked in the laundry rooms, literally sitting on the floor, as a line for the washing machines. It wasn’t worth it for me to miss cruising time to wait in line for laundry.
I think it’s the Wonder in Alaska? Maybe it has more washers or maybe you can find some off times but I do know that Alaskan cruises are port and excursion heavy so I wouldn’t want to be spending any time sitting on the floor of the laundry room!
An alternative view: this could be a good time to learn to get buy with a lot fewer clothes for the trip. Re-wear things, you’re around strangers who won’t care what if you’re wearing something again. Alaska cruises are a lot more casual in the main dining room so no need for formal gear. Think layers. DH and I do longer trips (B2B 7 night cruises, or a week at WDW plus 7 night cruise, or 12 night Alaska cruisetour) with just one carryon each and one backpack or tote bag each (no checked bags) each. And didn’t do laundry until we were back home.
If I remember correctly, there is a way you can see availability of washers and dryers on other decks on the machine in the laundry room where you buy the washer and dryer credits…I didn’t learn this until the last couple days of our trans-Atlantic cruise.
I did laundry my last cruise and will never do it again. I had to search from floor to floor for open machines and/or people who had not taken laundry out. Clothes didn’t get dry. Took forever. Missed the show I wanted to see.
I’d rewear stuff. I’ve done an Alaskan cruise. Dress in layers. Rewear the outer layer.
You can charge the machines and detergent to the room. I have preferred to bring my own detergent pods because I don’t love the detergent they provide (it does the job, but I like how my Kirkland or Tide pods vs. the Tide powder they supply).
Yes decent. The drying cycle needs to be run twice unless you do a really small load. Also, on the Wish I discovered their machines could be manipulated to lengthen the drying cycle to 40 minutes (not sure if the machines on the other ships could too but I didn’t mess with them as much and drying cycles were max 25 min so I needed to absolutely run them 2x). Even on the Wish, I found I usually needed 50-60 minutes sometimes so still needed to pay 2x. I did air dry a bunch of stuff (because I do air dry anything with a print I care about not cracking/disintegrating at home anyway, no way did I have the space or time to spend air drying everything that I had brought to wash). Also, I had the most trouble with machines working well on the Wish. I had to move washers several times to get one that worked well (the screen was a touch screen and some of them didn’t work already). And I seem to remember the Magic having some missing machines in the laundry room I used, but the machines there that I did use all worked.
Wash cycles are anywhere from 15-45 minutes and as mentioned above, drying is either 2-25 min-ish minute cycles or potentially one 40 & then another 20 min.
I’ve never needed to BUT I’ve also never been on the cruises where laundry is more high demand which from what I’ve heard sounds like 7 days particularly in Europe. If you experience the lines or people taking your other people’s stuff out I would hang around or stay close by (there’s not a ton of room in most of the laundry rooms), or come back earlier than the time on the machine. If you aren’t on a laundry high demand sailing, then you can rely on the app to notify you once your load is done (it does this automatically since it’s smart enough to link your laundryroom stateroom charge to you in the app & send notifications). I do also set a timer on my phone in case there’s a delay due to weaker Wifi signal (the app notifications work on the free Wifi, so when that’s working, they work, but it doesn’t always).
And finally I’ve done laundry mostly staying up late. And also in the evening ducking in just before the show/returning just after & then once more before dinner starts. And I’ve done laundry once in the middle of the Castway Cay day. I far prefer doing laundry by staying up late getting to walk through a blissfully quiet ship and enjoying a glass of wine on my verandah or just watching stateroom TV (re-watching that evening’s show usually if it’s on) while waiting between the laundry. If I’m doing laundry on that last night, I also use the time waiting for the machines to fill out my surveys for the cruise staff. So if you’re already a night owl, I do recommend using that to your advantage for the laundry.
