You don’t want to be spending too much precious holiday time doing laundry so here’s the complete guide to P&O Cruises Laundry with tips and tricks to save you time and money.
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Laundry Services on P&O Cruises
P&O Cruises offers two main laundry services on all of its ships:
- Professional laundry services
- Self-service launderettes
Let’s take a look at both options in more detail in this guide.
Professional Laundry Services
If you don’t fancy doing your own laundry on your P&O cruise (or you have a garment that needs specialist cleaning), you can use the onboard laundry service. To do this, simply complete the form and leave it in your cabin for your room steward to collect.
Laundry will be returned to your cabin within two days as long as you leave it for your cabin steward before 10.00am.
There are three options available depending on the item and the type of cleaning required:
- Wash and press
- Specialist cleaning
- Press only
Please note that these prices are subject to change and it’s best to refer to the laundry form found in your cabin. The following prices are from 2023.
P&O Cruises Wash and Press Price List
| Garment | Wash & Press Price |
| Formal shirt | £5.00 |
| Tie/Cumber-band | £2.00 |
| Knitwear | £6.50 |
| Polo shirt/T-shirt | £4.00 |
| Outdoor jacket/Coat | £12.00 |
| Trousers/Jeans | £6.50 |
| Shorts | £4.00 |
| Regular skirt | £4.00 |
| Casual dress | £6.50 |
| Undergarments x 5 | £3.50 |
| Swimwear | £3.00 |
| Nightwear | £4.50 |
| Accessories | £1.50 |
| Sports wear | £4.50 |
| Bag of 10 items | £32.00 |
P&O Laundry Specialist Cleaning Price List
Specialist cleaning involves a small amount of water and no solvents. Not all types of clothing are suitable and therefore it’s best to check with your cabin steward beforehand.
| Garment | Specialist Cleaning Price |
| Jacket | £8.00 |
| Waistcoat | £4.50 |
| Formal evening dress | £18.00 |
| Formal jumpsuit | £16.00 |
| Formal skirt | £9.00 |
| Formal top | £7.50 |
| Smart trousers | £6.50 |
| Knitwear | £9.00 |
| Outdoor jacket/Coat | £16.00 |
P&O Ironing Service
If your clothes just need a bit of an iron once you take them out of your case you can send them to the laundry to be pressed.
| Garment | Press-only Price |
| Suit jacket | £4.50 |
| Formal shirt | £3.00 |
| Waistcoat | £3.00 |
| Casual trousers/Jeans | £4.00 |
| Formal top | £4.00 |
| Formal skirt | £5.00 |
| Skirt | £4.00 |
| Smart trousers | £4.50 |
| Casual dress | £4.00 |
| Evening dress | £12.00 |
| Formal jumpsuit | £9.00 |
We found an excellent crease release spray by Lenor for our cruise on P&O Arvia, which meant we didn’t need to iron our clothes. We simply sprayed our clothes and wiped the creases away – magic!
It also made our clothes smell wonderful so it also helped to refresh our favourite items.
P&O Cruises Laundry Deals
On longer cruises, you may find special deals on laundry, for example, five small items cleaned for £10.00 or ten items laundered for the price of five. Keep an eye out for special offers on your cabin TV, leaflets delivered to your cabin and your Horizon newsletter.
Check out my guide to free things on Britannia, to find out how to make the most of your cruise without spending a fortune.
P&O Launderettes
If you don’t want to return home to a pile of laundry, this is a handy option.
As like some other cruise lines, such as Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises offers guests access to self-service launderettes. The best thing about the launderettes on P&O Cruises is that the machines are free to use! You will find them on your stateroom deck so there should be one near your cabin.
The launderettes are closed from 10.00pm every evening to (understandably) reduce the impact of noise to nearby cabins.
P&O Cruises even has it’s own ‘Launderette Etiquette’
Each launderette has washing machines, dryers, a sink and an ironing station. Machines and irons are totally free of charge. Machine cycles last approximately 45 minutes. It’s best to check the duration so you don’t leave your clothes in a machine after the cycle has finished. You may return to find your clothes have been removed for the next person to use it.
On Iona and Arvia, the machines are controlled by a touch screen panel on the wall. This is also a quick and easy way to see which machines are ready to use (green) and which are in use (red).
Washing tablets can be purchased from the onboard shop or alternatively, you can bring your own.
The ironing station is useful if you just need to do a few items that are creased from your luggage. Please be aware that irons cannot be removed from the launderette for fire safety reasons.
Top P&O Cruises Laundry Tips and Tricks
- Firstly, when choosing a cabin, avoid any near a self-service launderette as the machines will be noisy and there will be lots of traffic
- Consider bringing your own washing tablets so you don’t need to worry about buying less familiar ones from the onboard shop
- Choose your times to visit the self-service launderette wisely. At 8.00am (when it opens) and after 7.00pm are known to be quiet times
- Avoid doing laundry on sea days as it’s notoriously busy
- Set an alarm for yourself to get back in time to remove your clothes from the machine, you don’t want to return to find your clean clothes in a pile on the floor!
- If your clothes are a little creased after unpacking your suitcase, it’s easy to pop down to the laundry to give them a quick iron
- Pack this crease release spray, so there’s no need to iron your clothes!
- If you know when formal night is planned, send any laundry you need as early as possible to avoid delays
- Try to avoid visiting the laundry on the day of a formal night, when it’s likely to be busy with people ironing
- Be weary of sending any delicate or expensive items to be cleaned. P&O Cruises does not take responsibility for colours running, fading or shrinking
- Pack a foldable laundry basket or laundry bag if you’re planning to do a significant amount of laundry yourself
- You can wash smalls and swimwear in your cabin and use the small drying line in the shower cubicle, just don’t be tempted to dry clothes on your balcony – big no-no.
- Alternatively, pack enough clothes so there’s no need to do any laundry and have maximum enjoyment of your P&O cruise!
Laura is a UK cruise blogger based in Cornwall, UK. She founded Cruise Lifestyle in 2016 to share useful advice about cruising, destinations and food.
Last port visited: Bridgetown, Barbados
Next port of call: unknown, but she can’t wait for cruising to resume safely!
Find me on: Twitter
As far as laundry goes, P&O was the best ocean crossing we’ve ever done because of the free self serve laundries. So many other long cruises we’ve taken have involved hand washing in the cabin sink because they want a fortune for the crew to do your laundry and those ships had no launderettes. We liked a lot of other things about P&O too besides the laundries.
Author
It was a pleasant surprise to discover P&O offered free launderettes on our cruise in January. We only used the iron but our friend made full use and washed clothes before going home.