A jewel in the crown for Saga Sapphire
For passengers on Saga Sapphire, the promise of an atmosphere comparable to a home away from home is something that keeps them coming back year after year. With comfort a key focus at all times, Saga Cruises required a laundry solution that would not only be able to cater for the most delicate of garments and staff uniforms, but would also avoid the use of perchloroethylene (PERC).
Sustainability
Having taken the decision to ban PERC for use on its ships in 2012 due to its potentially hazardous effects, the purchasing department at Saga realised the need to introduce a more environmentally-friendly alternative to the traditional dry cleaning process
Terry Wiseman, Hotel Purchasing Manager at Saga Cruises, commented: “As the lagoon® system uses water as a natural solvent, items are handled with the utmost care, and with no environmental consequences. Our staff also enjoy using lagoon® as there is no longer a requirement for them to handle potentially hazardous solvents either before, during or after the cleaning process.”
Quality
With each member of staff required to wear one of a variety of different uniforms, lagoon®’s status as the first and only professional fabric care system to be approved by The Woolmark Company meant the laundry staff could be assured of the technology’s ability to handle the most delicate of garments to the highest standards.
Terry adds: “We’re finding that the process is not only much cleaner than it was before, but that passengers are commenting on how pleasant their clothes smell after being treated by lagoon®.”
Usability
From an operational point of view, the quality of the laundered garments is matched by lagoon®’s ease of use for laundry staff. The transition from dry to wet-cleaning may have initially required a step change in behaviour, but this transition was made smoother thanks to a three day training programme, which allowed each operator to benefit from the experience and support of Electrolux’s B2C and lagoon® Segment Manager.
Earl Gutierrez, Laundry Master on the Saga Sapphire, said: “Any challenges we’d anticipated before using the lagoon® system were overcome very easily before we started using the equipment as part of our routine.
“Having now used Lagoon® for a number of months, I can certainly say I’d never go back to using a system with a requirement for perchloroethylene. The wet-cleaning method has proved to us that it can clean garments to a higher standard without posing any risks to staff, guests, or the environment.”
In addition to its wet-cleaning-based valet service, the Saga Sapphire also boasts a main laundry comprising of six Electrolux W5240H commercial washing machines and five T5300S tumble dryers to process the ship’s linen. A combination of W555H commercial washing machines and T5130 tumble dryers in its smaller crew and passenger laundries meanwhile, complete the vessel’s overall offering.