Laundry

Rudys

We are going on the Fire & Ice tour in July. Tauck says that the only laundry facilities are the valet-type arrangement commonly found in (and priced like) big hotels. Anyone have ideas how to get stuff like underwear etc done regularly (at lower cost)? Wash in sink and hang someplace?

Claudia Sails

We haven't been on one of the small ships but have not had trouble doing sink laundry on the river cruise ships which always have pullout clothes lines in the shower.

I pack travel detergent available in thin sheets. You can also buy Tide and Woolite in small foil packets (try Amazon or one of the travel catalogs like Travel Smith) or just put some liquid in a travel sized bottle. Be sure to put it in a ziplock if packing it in your checked luggage. Have also heard of people using the shampoo or body wash provided by the ship.

Some sinks may not have a stopper (the newer Tauck river cruise ships) so I bring a silicon sink stopper. Mine is made by Oxo and available at Target and Amazon.

I also pack an all plastic clothes hanger with clips in case there isn't a clothes line provided.

Also consider your fabric choices. Tauck always recommends cotton, but it can take a couple of days to completely line dry. I've had better luck with synthetic blends.

Hope this helps.

Yogagirl

I'm late seeing this, but I bring a large ziploc bag - the biggest you can find - and wash small things in that. Undies, socks...add water and detergent or shampoo, swish your stuff around and drain. Works great, plus ziplocs pack flat!

Claudia Sails

Can never pack too many ziplock bags. So many uses. I use them to pack lots of things like anything liquid in my checked bag and extra ones from snack size to the 2 gallon ones.

British

We are taking this tour next year. It's only 8 days, so we may wash a couple of pieces of underwear in the sink but would not anticipate needing to have any more laundry done. It's not as if we will be sweating in just 50 degree temperatures so we would anticipate being able to wear clothing more than one day.

Rudys

Just bought a couple of suction cups, to use with a piece of nylon rope to make a clothesline for the shower/bath. We just plan to do a little underwear on the 8 day Iceland cruise.