River Cruise Laundry Service
Hello Tauckers!
I will be on the MS Emerald for an upcoming Savoring Paris trip. We are adding days to the beginning of the trip and may need to have laundry done on the river boat. Can anybody comment on the cost for this?
0
Comments
Expensive
…and is there self-service laundry on the MS Emerald?
Haven't been on the MS Emerald, but there hasn't been self-service laundry on any river boat I've been on.
If you have a category 7 cabin it will come with €100 credit. This can be used for laundry services. We packed a bit lighter on our recent trip on the MS Treasures and had some shirts, underwear and socks laundered. It was less than €50. The laundry is relatively expensive.
Here is the laundry price list from the Grace on our cruise Dec 2023. Sorry for the shadows on the photo.
There is a laundry bag in your room along with this form. If you put the items in the bag in the morning, leave it on the bed before heading out for excursions the items will be back that evening or the next morning. It's good for things like heavy pants, jeans, dress shirts. We always make sure at least some of our wardrobe includes items that can be sink washed/dried in a pinch.
For light items there will be a draw string in the shower. Clean those items while showering. Hang them on the string. I know many of u have done this.
Savoring France is a great trip. On the four river cruises we have done, we have never sent laundry out on the ship. Typically we add 5 days to the beginning of the trip. My wife easily fits all of her clothes into a 24 inch suitcase and a small cabin bag. She usually brings three Eileen Fisher tops and bottoms with a couple of scarfs and that gives her more than enough evening outfits. The rest is washable in the sink. We bring an additional camping clothes line for use in the hotels since they may not have a line in the shower along with a small amount of laundry soap. You should bring a sink stopper since many of the hotels do not have a stopper. For example an Ace 5 inch rubber drain stopper. If you are there several days early the hotel may be able to do it cheaper. Have a great trip
We go to Europe yearly for a minimum of 3 weeks each time - we do a river cruise often and have never needed to do laundry. We use packing cubes, pack light, rewear stuff. We take a 26in suitcase each and a backpack or tote each. You can certainly have your laundry done, but I bet if you practice packing and don't overpack, you won't need laundry done. Everyone is rewearing things and no one is paying attention to what you are wearing. Everyone is in the 'same boat' in regards to laundry.
My two cents on the subject of laundry. Pamper yourself, we deserve it. Who wants to do laundry on vacation. We are not young kids pinching pennies. Tauck trips are expensive so why quibble over a relatively small sum of money to have a few items laundered on the ship. Is it expensive? Yes. However, even if you spend $100 on laundry, it is a tiny amount of money compared to the overall cost of the trip. My husband and I only take carry on luggage when traveling so I have had laundry done on two cruises. On both trips, the only things I had laundered were perhaps jeans and a few tops/shirts. I think the most I ever spent was perhaps $40-50. Totally worth it. Plus, if you are adding on extra days or a week to your river cruise, have the items laundered on the ship and you will not have to worry about finding a laundry in the area or launder items in the sink at a Hotel.
I've only used the ship's laundry service once when my husband accidentally spilled wine on slacks. Luckily they did not need to be dry cleaned. They were picked up sometime while we were on excursion and found them neatly placed on the bed on a hangar when we returned that same afternoon. I don't remember what the charge was. The room attendant even left a note confirming they were laundered in cold water as I had requested. We always wash some quick-dry items in the sink because I prefer to use the very kind €100 credit in the gift shop!
On any of my travels I carry a small 8oz bottle of shampoo which I use to do underwear and some Tilley shirts or shorts and even long pants. Easy wash and dry, Dry overnight. Looking at the list Claudia Sails posted, you are almost paying for what some items actually cost ! Remember those are Euro prices !
If you do laundry in the sink on a river cruise, you will have to ask the front desk for a sink stopper or plug. We have also found laundromats on Google if you are spending days somewhere before a Tauck tour starts. We did this in France, and it was an amusing experience figuring out the washer and drying machines in a foreign language. You can also purchase travel laundry detergent in packets from Amazon.
I have done laundry in the sink daily on several river cruises, without using a sink stopper. (I bring my own bar soap.)
I couldn't agree more with Travel Maven. Enjoy the cruise and not the opportunity to do laundry. In our early ocean cruises, I would so some self-service laundry, but only on sea days where it wasn't competing with enjoying the scenery or on-board activities. Then I had an epiphany about why I was spending my time doing laundry rather than enjoying the cruise. Since there really aren't any "sea days" on a river cruise (though ypu may spend a d sailing past Rhine castles, etc.), I am even less willing to do laundry.
I agree with MCD. Washing one quick-dry undergarment daily as I shower takes no time at all. Whatever works for you is all that matters.
Exactly as MCD and kfnknfzk say, it only takes a few minutes to do. This is usually done in the evening when it’s dark out so you won’t miss any sights. We’re not talking about your grandma’s heavy bloomers. You waste more time figuring out what to wear and it’s not really that productive.
My 2 cents
I wish Tauck would have less emphasis on clothing. Their generic list is crazy. For example skirts are mentioned, how often does any woman wear a skirt these days, just one old fashioned example. If Tauck wants to appeal to the younger generation, they have to realize that people have more casual dress these days.
YES British. On vacation, I want a relaxed atmosphere. And I don't want to haul around a lot of ONE USE only items for 3 weeks in Europe (off & on trains, etc). I totally understand that dinners in a castle/palace/etc we need to 'dress the part' -- but other than that, I want to be comfy on vacation and pack practically. We can dress up and go out at home.
We work so hard all year long - vacation is our time to enJOY & decompress.
We love traveling with Tauck over the other companies we go with occasionally and I must say it is much more casual than it was when we 1st started traveling with them in 2002. We have 3 tours booked with Tauck in the next 15 months and thankfully only one night is a little on the dressy side as it's in some sort of palace.
I totally agree. I have to admit that traveling wardrobe has really changed throughout the years to a more casual and comfortable attire. I have nice dresses and evening wear at home and frankly, those unfortunately don’t get used much at all so why drag them along for a one-time use. I have even seen women pack high heels. Those were the good old days.
I guess we should leave bloomers, nickers (US), corsets, spats, etc. home?
I don’t recall which European tour it was, but we had a palace location for a dinner. The first thing the TD said on that day was, ‘It’s only us, Tauck, so there really is no need to change or dress up for this dinner’.
I remember a lady wearing high heels on a dinner at a castle during a river cruise, have no idea how she could walk coming to and from the boat.
We typically don't need to send out laundry, other than as a convenience. It is vacation, and the small amount extra against the cost of an expensive trip is a pittance and can be worth it. If we are staying beyond the Tauck even we sometimes like to have freshly laundered clothes. That said, some things you just don't want to send out and so we carry Woolite packets with us - safe for most anything to be laundered. Jeans are too heavy and we don't travel with them - travel pants are much more durable and light.
My experience with laundry on river cruises...
Last November/December, we were on a month long trip, involving 2 river cruises, with 2 different cruise lines.
We had some pre-cruise days before we boarded the first river cruise in Basel with Ama.
Then a week of "on-our-own travel" by train (Budapest/Prague/Vienna.)
We embarked in Vienna for the next cruise, Chrismas Markets on the Danube, with Tauck.
We had some post-cruise land days "on-our-own" in Nuremberg and Munich.
I didn't think much about the cost of having our laundry done on the ship, it was all about convenience, and we needed clean clothes.
We had roughly the same amount of clothing items in our laundry bag on both river cruises.
It cost about $30 on Ama, it was $83 on Tauck.
Both times the laundry came back quickly and neatly folded, and I was a happy camper.
I have hand-washed small items in the sink, many times. And, if they were not completely dry by morning, the hair dryer comes in handy!
Sometimes you just pay for the convenience of having laundry done for you, all while enjoying a wonderful vacation!