Dumb question #127 - BEACH TOWELS

[yankeegirllost]

Any sense in bringing many beach towels? Does the ship provide decent ones or do we need to pack our own? They take up so much room...arggh

[shof515]

ship provides you with beach towels. You can take them off the ship, however make sure they are returned to your room or a pool attendant otherwise you can be charged a hefty fee

[johneeo]

Any sense in bringing many beach towels? Does the ship provide decent ones or do we need to pack our own? They take up so much room...arggh

 

Just get to the pool area in the morning. There will plenty of towels reserving seats by the chair hogs. Just help yourself to them.

[Colorado Kat]

We usually travel with a couple of thin ones. The heavy ones provided by the cruise ships are tough to pack and carry. We take old ones, so we can always leave them on the ship if too much to pack on way home. It is also easier to spot your chair on a beach if you have distinctive towels.

[Mom2B&Z]

We usually travel with a couple of thin ones. The heavy ones provided by the cruise ships are tough to pack and carry. We take old ones, so we can always leave them on the ship if too much to pack on way home. It is also easier to spot your chair on a beach if you have distinctive towels.

We travel with camping towels, which look like a chamois for your car. No one would ever take them (!) and we can spot them from a distance. I hate to say it, but I don't trust that someone wouldn't grab our towels and we'd get charged for their error.

[Keith1010]

We just use the ship towels.

 

By the way, this is not a dumb question.

 

Keith

[isujim]

No need to bring beach towels.......although we could debate the definition of "decent" beach towels........what cruise line are you sailing?

[cb at sea]

Use their towels...decent or not... (and they are fine for the beach or pool!)...let their towels get sandy/wet!

[trish1c]

I would never waste precious luggage space & weight on them but some cruisers prefer their own towels for two good reasons:

1. Carrying the ships' towels automatically identifies you as a tourist & allegedly makes you vulnerable to theives.

2. If you lose your cheap towel you don't have to pay $25 to the ship.

[John Bull]

Just get to the pool area in the morning. There will plenty of towels reserving seats by the chair hogs. Just help yourself to them.

 

 

Love this response ;)

John Bull :)

[johneeo]

Love this response ;)

John Bull :)

 

Gotta have some fun with the chair hogs.

 

Here is another one. Chair hog takes 4 chairs and leaves for 45 minutes. Take all their stuff, and put in on one chair.

 

Then another chair hog comes, and takes those three empty chairs.

 

Makes things interesting.

[Snorkel Dawg]

We have some towels from REI that are great for drying off after snorkeling. They wring out & dry super quick. They fold up into a really small bag & weigh next to nothing. The ship towels are usually huge & take up a lot of room in our snorkel bag.

 

 

That being said, our REI towels are not a good towel to lay on at the beach (too small), really more for just for drying off.

 

No question is a dumb question. :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

No need to bring your own beach towels -- they are provided by the ship.

[ducklite]

We made that mistake on our first cruise. Never again. The ships towels are fine. Bringing your own takes up way too much space in luggage.

[yankeegirllost]

Thanks to all who responded. You just lightened my load (or else made room for more outfits for me!!!)

[LoveByrds]

We were hoping to buy some inexpensive towels at each port to use throughout the day. Then i will have a fun souviner to take home, but it wouldn't be a huge loss if they were lost or didn't fit in the luggage.

 

*has anyone ever bought towels at the ports? can you get them cheaply?*

[yankeegirllost]

We were hoping to buy some inexpensive towels at each port to use throughout the day. Then i will have a fun souviner to take home, but it wouldn't be a huge loss if they were lost or didn't fit in the luggage.

 

*has anyone ever bought towels at the ports? can you get them cheaply?*

 

That is a pretty good idea!

[griffy116]

We choose not to carry them for the following reasons:

 

(1) Valuable luggage space taken up by something provided onboard.

(2) Who cares what the quality is for a sandy beach?

(3) The sand is IMPOSSIBLE to shake out of the beach towel and manages to find it's way home with you in spite of packing it in a garbage bag.

 

My nephew bought one in 2 of the ports (teen). He was running to his Mom's cabin on the last night because his great bargains wouldn't fit into his luggage. She ended up having to go to the gift shop and purchase another bag to carry these "great bargains" home in. Had it been me, his purchases would have been left onboard. She got home and sand was in every crevice of her new carry-on bag she had to buy to get the towels home....GRRRR. I'll take my chance on a $25 charge any day. We've never gotten charged and no one has ever wanted these generic looking beach towels. As to spotting you as a tourist? You arrived on a cruise ship, you have a camera around your neck, you're on a caribbean island (usually speaking with a southern drawl); you have all your "tourist" gear with you....you don't BLEND, folks.

[mitsugirly]

Gotta have some fun with the chair hogs.

 

Here is another one. Chair hog takes 4 chairs and leaves for 45 minutes. Take all their stuff, and put in on one chair.

 

Then another chair hog comes, and takes those three empty chairs.

 

Makes things interesting.

 

That is hilarious. It sounds like something my husband would just for the heck of it.

 

 

We have some towels from REI that are great for drying off after snorkeling. They wring out & dry super quick. They fold up into a really small bag & weigh next to nothing. The ship towels are usually huge & take up a lot of room in our snorkel bag.

 

 

That being said, our REI towels are not a good towel to lay on at the beach (too small), really more for just for drying off.

 

No question is a dumb question. :)

 

Please enlighten me. What is REI?

 

On our last cruise NCL provided us with huge plush towels so we didn't have to use our own. However, it does tag you as a tourist. But I like the fact that you just keep trading them in for a clean and dry towel. No worries about waiting for yours to dry or getting sand out. :D

[John Bull]

However, it does tag you as a tourist.

 

Yep. But virtually everyone on the beach is a tourist.;)

Or a bauble-hawker :D

 

Does mark you out as being from a given ship, which can actually be useful. It also marks out others from your ship, which can be even more useful - esp if you need someone to look after your gear while you go for a swim :)

 

JB

[mitsugirly]

Yep. But virtually everyone on the beach is a tourist.;)

Or a bauble-hawker :D A WHAT???? LOL

 

Does mark you out as being from a given ship, which can actually be useful. It also marks out others from your ship, which can be even more useful - esp if you need someone to look after your gear while you go for a swim :)

 

JB

 

Yes, they do come in handy when needing someone to watch your items while you swim. However, I have found that people no matter what cruise line they are on will do that. We've struck up a convo with just about every cruise line and chatted. :D

[John Bull]

Yes, they do come in handy when needing someone to watch your items while you swim. However, I have found that people no matter what cruise line they are on will do that. We've struck up a convo with just about every cruise line and chatted. :D

 

Agreed. Perhaps I should have said that the towels mark out cruisers.:)

Badge of honour if its an expensive cruise-line :rolleyes:

 

Baubles. As in baubles, bangles & beads.

And sugar-cane hats.

And coconut bird-feeders.

And wooden camels

And plastic elephants.

And beach towels. errr, no, skip that one

And hair-braiding

And flip-flops made from old tyres

And XXL tee-shirts

Yawn

And rope animals

And banana-boat rides

And fruit

And shells

And ......... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

JB :)