Towel Rant

[39august]

In our first GS on Mariner last May, we had beach towels every day. In GS's on Liberty in Sept. and Navigator this Jan., no beach towels. And I asked. We will see what happens on Serenade late this month.

[Gilgo Surfer]

I applaud RCI for the towel checkout system, and sincerely HOPE they charge people for unretrurned towels.

 

I have seen the worth of the system by almost eliminating chair hogs around the pools.

 

KUDOS to RCI!!!!!

 

Well they charged me for unreturned towels, even though they were returned.:eek:

 

As far as almost eliminating chair hogs, thats a BIG almost. There are still plenty of them.

[senrab]

Just off the Liberty of The Seas this past weekend, and finally get to weigh in on the pool towel system.

 

I could care less if they want to charge $25 for an unreturned towel. Makes sense to me. Heck charge $50 for all I care!

 

But what I can't stand, is WAITING IN LINE to obtain, exchange or return a towel. Seriously, on the last sea day, there were about forty people standing in line to return the towels. Not gonna happen. I left my two in my stateroom. No charge showed up on my statement (even thought they had the nerve to leave a reminder message on my phone while I was at dinner to return the towels by 11pm).

 

Seriously, just stick four of them in the closets in the stateroom and charge for any that aren't there on debarkation.

 

But waiting in line for towels? Absurd!

 

Agree! One of the little perks I liked about X.

 

To the OP:

 

If RCI isn't willing to just put towels out there, maybe they could follow Carnival's system. On CCL they put blue towels in your cabin to use whenever you want. The pool towels can be checked out, and are tan so they can be kept separate. You still get charged of you steal or lose them, but you can use your cabin towels if you don't want to wait to check one out.

 

The system is better on Carnival. Upon arrival your room steward brings you pool towels (which are blue and a tad nicer/bigger than on the Adventure) and is responsible to exchange it for clean pool towels throughout the cruise. Since stewards come into your room at least twice a day, there are lots of opportunity to get a clean pool towel. Or you could ask any steward in the hall or go to the spa for an exchange. Steward keeps track of who's not returned pool towels at the end of the cruise and also gathers up extras that just show up for no reason. So if you lose a pool towel tell him/her and they will fix you up by using one of the "extras".

 

I don't think most people want to steal pool towels, they're not that nice. But I know my kid has gotten confused and showed up in the cabin with yet another pool towel that didn't belong to her. I just give it to the steward and point out that she's blond and on vacation, they understand ;-) In the end nobody gets charged because the count works out overall.

 

I always mean to bring my own pool towels, but there's never enough room. And then how do you get it washed?

 

First off, I prefer Royal's product as a whole... HOWEVER, I think Carnival's pool/beach towel management process blows Royal's out of the water. (No pun intended). The cabin attendant exchanges pool towels just like the white bath towels, leaving them either on your bed (sometimes as a towel animal) or in some other conspicuous place. So much simpler, so much easier.

[cruisebunnies]

Just off the Liberty of The Seas this past weekend, and finally get to weigh in on the pool towel system.

 

I could care less if they want to charge $25 for an unreturned towel. Makes sense to me. Heck charge $50 for all I care!

 

But what I can't stand, is WAITING IN LINE to obtain, exchange or return a towel. Seriously, on the last sea day, there were about forty people standing in line to return the towels. Not gonna happen. I left my two in my stateroom. No charge showed up on my statement (even thought they had the nerve to leave a reminder message on my phone while I was at dinner to return the towels by 11pm).

 

Seriously, just stick four of them in the closets in the stateroom and charge for any that aren't there on debarkation.

 

But waiting in line for towels? Absurd!

 

To kill two birds with one stone and to avoid standing in the towel line here is my solution:

 

Watch for a chair hog using the towel to reserve a lounge,when they leave use their towel to dry yourself,naughty bits included and put it back .

No standing in line , and the chair hogs may learn a lesson.

Problems solved.

[DarthGrady]

First off, I prefer Royal's product as a whole... HOWEVER, I think Carnival's pool/beach towel management process blows Royal's out of the water. (No pun intended). The cabin attendant exchanges pool towels just like the white bath towels, leaving them either on your bed (sometimes as a towel animal) or in some other conspicuous place. So much simpler, so much easier.

 

That brings back a funny memory. One night on Carnival Glory we came back to two of the bath towels and both the beach towels all folded into a mini petting zoo.

[ehfl]

Was on Liberty in Oct. No lines...no waiting, for either pickup or dropoff.

[missholly24]

Yes the towel thing is annoying. Especially because they were faded and scratchy. Carnival towels are in the room and thick and great. We actually did keep one and we all fight over it for the beach.:)

[koterry]

Yes the towel thing is annoying. Especially because they were faded and scratchy. Carnival towels are in the room and thick and great. We actually did keep one and we all fight over it for the beach.:)

Thats why they have a towel policy, because certain people"STEAL" the towels:rolleyes::rolleyes:

[vtcruising]

I am curious as to the suite guest....is this accurate? The lines last year on Oasis were absurd and we will have a suite on Allure, so this would be nice if it's true.

 

Just had a suite a few weeks ago and there were pool towels rolled up on our lounge chairs on the balcony when we arrived. We asked for an extra since there were 3 of us. We left the used ones in the bathroom each day and had fresh ones daily when we returned to our clean cabin. It was great.

[CruisinGerman]

We were in Royal Suite on Explorer recently. Pool towels left in our room for use by the pool as well as the loungers on the balcony made up with those long gold covers plus pool towels.

 

We were in Royal Suite on Adventure last month. No pool towels in room and nobody understood how to make up the loungers on the balcony.

 

We made sure that pool towels were brought to the room for our use.

 

The towel issue for suites is non-existent because if you go to the section of the pool reserved for suites, every lounge chair has two towels placed on it ready to use -- so suite guests can just use those towels.

 

The pool towel system for suites doesn't appear to be consistent ship-wide. On Adventure last month, they seemed more willing to bring us a free bottle of wine than to give us a few pool towels in the Royal Suite.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[howee33]

I agree with the system. Just got back from AOS and never had to wait in line. I thought the towels were good. The system makes people pick up after themselves so you know if a person is using a chair or not. This way when they leave there chair, they will take their towel. Also, the attendants were always cheerful.

[mortagegourmet]

We will be sailing on the Serenade of the seas in April and I was wondering how big the pool towels were? Trying to decide if we will bring our own beach towels. Thanks

[mgg42]

Two of the problems on my recent Liberty cruise that made me go on this rant were that they only opened the one station most of the time. And even if the line wasn't long, it seemed to be inordinately complex and slow to have them "process" a towel pick up or return. It shouldn't take a minute and a half per person to get a towel. No, it's not a long wait, but there is just no reason for it.