Does Royal Caribbean have irons? How laundry works on a cruise ship

You might be surprised at some of the things you cannot bring on a Royal Caribbean cruise, including clothing irons.

You’ll have shirts, dresses, suits, and pants packed in your suitcase, so one of the planning questions you might have for a cruise is related to ensuring those clothes look great when it’s time to wear it.

Royal Caribbean does not allow guests to bring irons onboard, and they do not have irons for passengers to use in their cabins (or anywhere).

Irons are a fire hazard, and fire is the biggest threat to cruise ships. Fires on cruise ships are rare, but it’s one of the most dangerous problems that could occur, so mitigating the threat is at the heart of many Royal Caribbean policies related to what you can and cannot bring onboard.

While there are not irons available to use in your stateroom, there are still ways to get your clothes looking their finest and adhere to the important rules of what you can and cannot bring onboard.

No irons allowed

You’re not allowed to pack, bring, or use an iron on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. And steamers are also not allowed to be brought onboard.

If you try to bring one, it will be confiscated and returned to you after the cruise is over.  The security team screens every piece of luggage coming onboard the ship and they look for irons (and other contraband items).

A lot of passengers are unaware of the rule, and bring irons only to have them taken away.  

When you disembark your ship on the final morning of the sailing, look for a table with all the confiscated items somewhere in the cruise terminal. You’d be surprised at all the things people try to bring on a cruise ship.

Read more: What can you not bring on a cruise

Unlike a hotel room, there are no irons available to use in your stateroom either.  In fact, there are no self-service laundry facilities on Royal Caribbean cruise ships either.

Laundry can be sent out

You cannot iron your own clothes, but you can pay to have Royal Caribbean do it for you.

Every ship has the option for guests to have their clothes washed, folded, pressed, or dry cleaned. There is a per-item fee for this service, but it’s the only way to get your clothes washed and/or ironed during your sailing.

The price of Royal Caribbean’s laundry services vary based on if you want it washed or dry cleaned, and each item has a specific cost. There’s a specific cost for shirts versus underwear versus a jacket.

Royal Caribbean offers a more cost-effective laundry option known as the wash and fold special. 

Ask your stateroom attendant, but there will be an option to fill a small bag with whatever clothes you can fit in there for the flat fee of $35.

This is great to launder shirts, bras, shorts, and other small clothing and have clean clothes to wear again during the cruise.

Read more: Royal Caribbean laundry services on your cruise

Laundry for suite guests

Are you staying in a suite? If so, Royal Caribbean provides complimentary pressing for the first formal night on your cruise.

It’s a lesser-known suite benefit, but all you have to do is ask your stateroom attendant about it on the first night of the cruise (usually formal night is on the second night) and they can arrange to have your clothes sent out and then ready for the first formal night.

In addition, if you’re staying in a Star Class suite on an Icon, Oasis, or Quantum Class cruise ship, laundry is complimentary every day. 

Star Class guests just need to fill out the form and put their clothes in the provided bag that’s found in the closet.  Leave it on the bed, and it will be done for you.

Star Class suites are the most expensive rooms you can book on a Royal Caribbean ship, but they do include free laundry every day and that means you could potentially end the cruise with clean clothes!

DIY solution to ironing

You want to get wrinkles out of your clothes but don’t want to pay Royal Caribbean to press it for you? There’s another option.

Cruise fans have devised a method for dealing with wrinkles without resorting to laundry services.

The first is to turn on your stateroom shower and get the bathroom steamed up. 

Spray the clothes with Downy Wrinkle Release (contains affiliate link, which costs you nothing extra to use but supports this site), which you are allowed the bring on the ship.

Then hang the clothes in the bathroom.

Other strategies to battle wrinkles

If you can avoid getting your clothes wrinkled in the first place, then an iron won’t be necessary at all.

Here are the strategies our readers have tried over the years that might work for you:

Roll your clothes

This works well for t-shirts or dresses, but if you roll clothes up (rather than folding them), it helps prevents wrinkles.

Rolling clothes can help a lot, but you just can’t do it quickly. Each item needs to be ironed, then when rolling make sure the pieces are flat and not creasing anywhere. 

Once you’re done and put them in the bag they won’t move or make any new creases, so if you’re careful it can work really well. The thicker roll helps prevents wrinkles on thin items.

Not only does rolling clothes help with preventing wrinkles, but it’s a good packing strategy too.

Unpack as soon as you arrive

Unpack your luggage as soon as your bags are delivered to your cabin and hang everything up.

The sooner you get clothes out of the bag, the better.

Anything that is wrinkled can be sprayed with the Downy Wrinkle Release spray.

Pack the right clothes

Certain clothes are going to be more likely to be wrinkled in the first place, so rethink what you’re going to pack for the cruise.

As an example, khakis tend to be my biggest culprit to the wrinkle monster.  Instead of khakis, I’ll bring dark blues or blacks. 

Ladies might consider yoga pants aa another good choice for casual clothes that won’t get wrinkled.  A reader said she wont wear blouses with elaborate ruffles or peplums or fluttery things.  Those adornments are thin and they will wrinkle and the shower trick even struggles to get ruffle wrinkles out. 

For men, ask your dry cleaner at home to pack dress shirts with tissue paper to help fight wrinkles.

Reuse clothing

If you choose to pay for pressing, pay for formal night clothes so you could reuse the formal night clothes.  

That means bringing bringing two dress shirts, having them pressed on night one, and then alternate your dress shirt wearing just for dinner, so your amount of wear is reduced.  

Embrace the wrinkles if all else fails

At the end of the day, no one on the ship will really care if your clothes are wrinkled. You’re not on a ship with your social circles that will hold it against you for decades; you’re on a ship for a few nights with people you’re likely never to see again.

Plenty of other people on the ship will have wrinkled clothes too, and the ones that pay a lot of money to have their clothes pressed will be in the minority.