Mar 1 - At Sea (Tour of the Laundry Facilities)

DONNA KAY PHILLIPS : Friends of mine are reading the heading to this entry and saying "of course she would want to tour the laundry facilities" I can hear their laughter from thousands of miles out at sea :-)

The truth is, I am a systems person, I love systems. Because of the systems, that took us years to develop, we are able to run our business from a ship halfway around the world.

Carnival Cruise Lines continues to be an innovator of some of the best systems in the industry. One of the best examples of this, is the Laundry. Head of Housekeeping, Mr. Marvin Contreras and his assistants, were our gracious guides today. They took time out of their busy schedules to enlighten us as to the vast innovations of this integral part of the ship's function.

Apparently, back in the day, the laundry was populated exclusively by Chinese crew. They had their own kitchen, crew mess, cabins - basically their own world in the forward decks below sea level. The tools of the trade were bare-bones and rudimentary and the heat build up from the old equipment was unbearable for an outsider.

Today, the Laundry is an air-conditioned engineering marvel, complete with the latest washers, dryers, iron presses and folding equipment. Being below sea-level, the Laundry requires special water-tight doors, that can be closed manually or automatically from the bridge in case of emergency.

As a matter of fact, Captain Pagano ordered these doors sealed closed while we navigated the dangerously shallow channel between Buenos Aires and Montevideo. This made daily activities more challenging for Housekeeping but reduced risk to the ship and her passengers, Mr. Marvin and his staff simply adapted to the change and laundry services continued.

One of the most impressive changes in my opinion in addtion to the ship's water creation and reclamation systems is the conversion to totally non-toxic plant/mineral based bio-degradable detergents. Another nice surprise was to learn that the washing machines are very reliable, solid workhorses made in Atlanta, GA. Technicians routinely check and calibrate the equipment to increase performance and proactively avoid breakdowns.

All items from guest clothes, to crew uniforms - from dining room linens to stateroom linens, are categorized using a number system, then separated and sorted prior to washing. To wash a specific item, crew need only enter the appropriate number from the system and the exact amount of detergent and softener is added to the wash. On Carnival's fleet, cross-contamination is not an option, bath towels, hand towels and bath clothes are all washed and dryed separately.

Guest laundry is placed into small nets keeping all items together throughout the entire cleaning/drying process. The nets are placed into washing machines that resemble giant ovens. These machines can handle up to 400 lbs of laundry at one time. The newest machines on Carnival's newest ship, The Carnival Dream, will be able to handle 600 lbs of laundry at one time.

Linens are set to dry to 80% so that the final pressing or folding can effectively smooth out the item during the final drying time. Avoiding over drying maintains the softness of the item increasing it's lifespan.

The folding machines are each the size of a small Pacific Grove Beach Cottages. The guys impressively demonstrated how fast an entire bed sheet is dried, folded and delivered in sets of 10 at the end of the conveyor belt. The beach towel folder is even faster. However, as quickly as they can turn these items around, in an effort to conserve resources, Carnival still asks guests to reuse their towels when possible and bed sheets are changed twice per week.

There is even an industrial strength sewing facility that converts damaged towels into cleaning rags for the Room Stewards and a separate set of rags for sanitizing the gym equipment. All items are repaired and reused when possible, nothing is wasted. This efficiency allows this bigger ship to run with a smaller staff then ships half it's size.

Due to Carnival's strict non-contamination policies, all items affected by the GI virus are incinerated; hence their 100% rating by the health board. Consideration is also given to linen rotation so that all items get used evenly. Rack fulls of separated linens are covered and only put into rotation after they've had a chance to rest. Despite the appox 14,000 towels in inventory, Mr. Marvin told us that he still runs short when guests create towel animal jungles in their staterooms.

I also learned that the beautifully rounded and perfectly welded racks that keep all items off the floor, were another one of my father's innovations. Most folks would be shocked at the time I spend setting up and reorganizing systems for our businesses. At least now I understand more clearly where I learned this. -dkp