86 Countries and Still Counting: Friday, February 16 - At Sea

What a day this has been. It started with rough seas but not as rough as yesterday. For breakfast, I threw caution to the winds and got the Swedish "pancakes" which are actually crepes stuffed with a cheesecake-like filling. For the last couple of weeks of the cruise, I'm just not worrying too much about my diet.

At 9:30 a.m., Guam time, I met three other passengers for a tour of the laundry services. I'll explain how cool that was in the photo captions.

When I brought my dessert back from the Lido after lunch, I had a note waiting. An invitation to a private visit to the Bridge. I can't believe it will be just me, but even with a small group it should be very interesting. During the laundry tour I asked if we'd also have a chance to tour the kitchen. An officer took my cabin number and said he'd be sure I was invited for a tour.

The officers and crew have done a great job on this cruise to ensure the highest levels of service possible. Most of the time I feel like it's my personal yacht. Officers and staff have gone out of their way to interact individually and make sure all needs are addressed. I still can't get over how they arranged to have the whale put on a show as we sailed away from Hilo at sunset.

Photos!

My first view of the day at 6:30 a.m.

Swedish pancakes. So decadent. I don't bother with the butter or maple syrup.

My house/dogsitters are Nora and Eric. Eric has added three security cameras and today he painted the back wall. He's done a huge list of stuff around the house. Nice to know the house will be in great shape when I return. Speaking of great shape, Buddy the Big Butt has lost weight and looks great. I guess I'll have to up my "walkies" game when I get home

Antoine did it again

I stopped to say good morning to Mario and Rony as they were cleaning one of the aft-facing cabins. I had one for a Trans-Atlantic cruise a few years ago. They are stellar. I'm not in someone else's cabin, btw. I was in the hallway when I took this photo

The laundry area is on Deck C - three decks below passenger decks and under water

There are 23 staff who do laundry. They work 12 hour shifts

We started in the "tailor shop". That's a passenger, btw. Two tailors do all sewing from costumes to alterations. Normally, there are three but one guy had to leave the ship early

I didn't get the name of the guy who gave the tour. I also didn't count how many stripes he had. Rony was disappointed in that. He's in charge of all the cabin stewards and laundry. That's a big job

They have standard sewing machines as well as some kind of smaller machines. I was so busy looking around I didn't get details

This is one of the many uniforms the bar staff wear for special events

This is the smaller machine I was talking about. I haven't sewed in years and don't have a clue what it is

We got to see where all the spare uniforms are kept. There are over 600 crew on board. Two guys are responsible for keeping them well dressed

Obviously, most of the uniforms are purchased, but tailored to fit

So many uniforms

Don't forget the shoes!

Special thread and gold buttons. I don't think I was the only one who wanted to snag a button as a souvenir

I have a feeling that none of these jumpsuits, worn by the below-decks crew, would fit me. But I would love to try

Seriously, it's like a department store

Who's #42?

Next we came in to the place where two guys sort all the laundry. These are the two guys who "get" to touch all our dirty undies and sweaty clothes. They sort the clothes and tag them. I told them that sometimes, months after a cruise, I'll find a laundry tag and it always brings back great cruise memories

Rather than individually tagging underwear, it's put into a yellow mesh bag

After tagging, they sort the clothes into color groups and delicates and dry-clean. On a typical day, they get 200 of those navy blue bags full of dirty clothes each day. When we were in the hot and sweaty Amazon, they were getting 500 bags a day!

Somebody's dirty underwear

This is the area where the clothes are folded/hung and prepared for the room stewards to pick up and take to cabins. Some, like these, are kept to be re-treated for spots, etc.

These are the wicker baskets they put our clean laundry in. Wrapped in tissue paper

These are the ladies that "package" our clean laundry

There are close to 2,000 people on board. That's a lot of sheets, towels, napkins, table cloths, etc.

I own four sets of sheets and about eight towels

As with the crew on the rest of the ship, there's a lot of hard work and a lot of laughing

Somebody has to iron all those clothes

Yes, the room is as hot as you would imagine, given all the washers and dryers going

These are the six big washers

Dirty linens

This is a giant washer for the sheets and towels and other white items. It can hold hundreds of pounds

Clean sheets waiting to be ironed

More clean sheets. If my dog was here, he'd want to be sleeping on that pile

This machine handles hundreds of pounds and costs about $100,000 and requires a lot of regular maintenance from the company rep that makes it

HIT SQUAD UNIFORMS? WTF? This machine is dedicated to linens that need higher washing heat. If someone is quarantined with a contagious illness (think Covid) this machine is used. But they have hit squads? And special uniforms for the hit squads??

Our tour guide explained that the "big machine" (my term, not his) is computerized and needs workers with special training to operate them. That's this guy.

Scale to weigh loads. If I keep eating like I have lately, I'll have to weigh myself on this

I bought a low-end washer. Hot or cold are my options. This EcoLab has all these different cycles

Crew has to be specially trained to use the EcoLab. This is the $100,000 washer

They only use hypoallergenic soap/softeners made by EcoLab. No, you can't have your clothes washed with Tide but some have asked. Us world cruisers are a spoiled bunch. A technician comes on board to add supplies and check tubing/handle any problems. I thought we just gassed up and got groceries in port. Nope, more to it than that

Normally, HAL changes bedding every seven days. On Grand Voyages, like this one, they do it every five days. I'm obsessed with clean sheets and change mine every four days, at home.

But I don't iron my sheets. Two guys guide the wet sheets into a giant machine where they're dried, ironed and folded

Waiting for the sheet to come through. This machine is the width of a king size sheet

Some of the kitchen work towels

Ta da! Dry, ironed, folded sheets

This is impressive but not as impressive as my friend Aletha. She can fold a fitted king sized sheet in a minute. I can't fold a fitted sheet. Period.

If I had to work in the laundry, I want this job. It "irons" with air. Here, he's blowing a pair of pants. Which sounds dirty but isn't

I don't iron at home. But love how well they iron on board. This is the guy who does it

Not just passenger clothes. Waiters wear shirts that have to be ironed

This is the ship's version of dry cleaning. It is actually wet cleaning, using special "stuff" - he explained but this was the end of the tour and my brain was starting to explode. Instead of chemicals, they use natural ingredients

Some of the stuff they use for spot cleaning. It works. I was wearing a white blouse during the tour. Afterwards, at lunch, I dripped balsamic vinegar on it. They got it out!