Can anyone who has previously sailed on Millenium tell me a bit about the hair dryers on board? I believe all cabins have them....

Are they in the lounge/dressing area? Or are they in the bathroom? Are they the hold-button-down-as-you-dry type? Are they fairly powerful?

May sound like daft questions to some people, but I have below shoulder length hair that can be a pain to dry without the right tools! I'm grateful for any hair dryer related info...

The hairdryers are located in the bathroom area. I don't care for the hairdryers on any cruise ship; they don't have enough power for me. I also like to dry my hair in the cabin area.

I agree. I have really thick hair and they are never powerful enough.Trouble is, taking your own dosen't help much--they never seem to operate at full power.

Hmm thanks for your answers guys.

I think it's sounding like I'm better off taking my own dryer and hoping for enough power. (I like to dry my hair in the cabin area also). It's such a shame since this was one piece of luggage I thought I could get away without taking.

My hair is waist length. The dryers in the balcony cabins on Princess are in the cabin next to the vanity. It takes me about 35 minutes to dry my hair with their hair dryers.

Well I air dry in about 3 second but when I sit on the balcony and hear my wife drying her hair, I know it is a good 30 minutes before peace resumes.

Oh how I envy you Chef Ken! Believe me I've seriously considered cutting my hair really short before a holiday before now just so as I can eeek out those extra few minutes by the pool instead of slaving over a hot dryer. But alas, I still have the hair!

I used to have long wavy hair but alas the waves are gone and there is nothing left but beach. Wasn't a tough decsion to take it down to a #1 on the old trimmer! Keeps it out of my eyes.

quote:

Originally posted by Seafaring Ted:
Hmm thanks for your answers guys.

I think it's sounding like I'm better off taking my own dryer and hoping for enough power. (I like to dry my hair in the cabin area also). It's such a shame since this was one piece of luggage I thought I could get away without taking.

Hi I see you are from the UK. Well on these class ships there are two types of socket. One is USA and the other is European so bring your European adaptor and your hair dryer.

You may get more power from the european conversion rather than the USA one.

I tend to dry my hair naturally cos it frizes if I blow it and then I spend about 40 minutes using the GHD straightners. Once I used the dryer in the bathroom just to dry my fringe, I then uplifted the rest of the hair. Well the dryer they provide is a joke. AFter about 2 minutes the thing got so hot I had to switch it off. It was burning my hand but the funny thing is that the power coming out of the dryer end was useless.

Wow!

Now I wouldn't want you to think I'm hair dryer obsessed here but....

On Explorer I had problems with a dryer that was attached to the vanity, had to have the button pressed down to activate (not easy) and had zero power. I tended to give up on that after about 30 mins, looking more frizzed than when I started, and use my straighteners. But also found they had zero power and refused to warm up enough to actually straighten my hair!

Then on Legend I had more luck, the dryer was also in the vanity (thumbs up) and seemed to have a reasonable power. Straightners fine too.

So you see, different ships, different drying experiences. What's a girl to do??? Hence my question about Millennium specifically....

Phew....feeling better having got that off my chest. My husband thinks I'm nuts too by the way. Says I should just dry my hair naturally on the balcony. Hah. There'd be a divorce....

WOW! (Again!) Glad you're feeling better. I am too! I know I'm nuts! Enjoy the Millenium!

So, anyone know the hair dryer situation on the Mercury? That was one item I was going to leave at home to make room for more clothes. Now I don't know. I have think hair and it sounds like I may be there all day, or just wear a hat!

Maybe start at the top of the thread and where it says, "Millennium", insert Mercury and then go from there.

The problem of the hair dryer seems to be universally true on cruise ships.

It sure is. It has something to do with c.p.s.(cycles per second). The outlets are 120 volts but only 50 c.p.s. instead of the normal 60.

I schlepped a Hammond B3 organ all the way up to the Starlight lounge on the old Sun Princess because it wouldn't fit in any elevator, only to find out it was not in tune with the grand piano because of the cycle issue--it was a quarter-tone flat--and couldn't use it. Talk about excess baggage!

It would be interesting to know if there is a converter or some device that would boost c.p.s.

Million dollar idea?

My Husband has just come up with what he thinks is the ideal plan for me - use two dryers at once and boost the c.p.s. to 100! If only it were that simple....

Interested to hear about whether that converter idea exists. The cruise lines are missing a trick there. They could be selling those in the stores and making a fortune on us ladies of a certain hair length!

There have been converters forever for European and U.S. current, but I think the market's wide open for a c.p.s. booster.
Any electrical gurus out there?

Am I slow or has anyone else not noticed that the ads above the thread title are related to the topic being discussed?