Hands Off My Knickers!

Talking to a client this week about her cabin location she told me she definitely didn’t want to be close to the launderette, not because of any potential noise from the washing machines and dryers but because of the potential fights that can break out!

The laundry room is the social hub of the ship! Like any social hub it’s a good place to get the gossip – who knew that there is a ‘Laundry Room Etiquette’ that MUST be followed – many passengers have witnessed  thoroughly unpleasant arguments – with some pushing and shoving – that occurred in the laundry and even the occasional flight!

If you thought ‘Sunbed Wars’ was bad just read below about the ‘Laundry Wars’

So what is the accepted practice if laundry is left in the machine long after the cycle is done? If I needed to use a machine and someone’s washing cycle has finished and they have a basket/bag on top of machine, is it acceptable for me to put their clothes in their bag and put on counter? – Apparently NOT !

”Some of the best entertainment on the ship was in the laundry room on our world cruise. There were hundreds of people that needed to use it because of long duration. Several fights, security called more than once, angry people when other people touch their laundry. Yes, a lot of people are very inconsiderate…put the laundry in and go to to a show or go to eat and leave it in for a long time. ”

If you aren’t back in time your laundry may be taken out by the next person so laundry was often removed but when people come back and find their laundry out of the washer there are often arguments. People are very touchy about other people touching her undies….

A gentleman passenger removed the laundry from a machine after waiting for over 20 minutes for the owner, (and placed it in a basket). The laundry contained items of ladies underwear which the owner took exception to when she ‘Eventually’ returned. After a few coarse words she slapped the chap who then pushed her. She got her husband and it all kicked off.

On another occasion a man punched a woman because she’d removed his laundry from the dryer and I heard how some women had a disagreement about the dryer, when one left the room the other went back to her cabin to get the chocolate left on her pillow and threw it into the dryer with the other woman’s clothes – how bad is that!!

A Princess cruise passenger posted an incident where the lady’s dress went missing and was seen on another passenger with the ‘Hey that’s my dress’ and the response of ‘prove it’, also stories online of bras going missing from laundry baskets left unattended

Passengers have even being offloaded the ship along with their luggage for causing damage and unruly behaviour as an argument started in the laundry room over machines being emptied and the clothes being dumped on the floor a fight broke out and two couples where put ashore in St Luci

A P&O passenger on board a 26 night cruise on Artemis posted ”I decided to wash my underwear. When I got there, all machines were in use, except one that had a notice on it saying “Out of Order”. As I stood there, a woman arrived with her washing, removed the Out of Order sign and proceeded to use the machine!! Another woman in the room ironing whispered to me that this person brought her own Out of Order sign!!”

”I noticed a machine had been stopped for some time, so I emptied out the things and put them in a basket and then loaded my stuff and set it going. The owner of the items I had removed into a basket then arrived and gave me such a mouthful”

”On our last cruise, there were clothes sitting in a dryer for over an hour, so I removed them and put mine in. I came back in 35 minutes to retrieve my wash, and my clothes were removed and the original person put their’s back in, even though (a) it was my money in the machine and (b) their clothes were relatively dry and left alone for one hour. To say I was a little upset would be an understatement. We had a few words, but at the end of the day, I wasn’t going to convince this person that they were wrong for doing what they did. After my anger subsided, I realized, “hey, I’m on a cruise, calm down”, and felt better for it.

So i think I will pack carefully and take enough underwear to avoid using the laundry rooms at all costs!!