Beach Towels

[VillaHappy]

I've been charged for a turned in towel, and did not appreciate that one bit :mad: Sure, it's a call to Guest Services to have it removed. But I'm on vacation, I don't want to have to dispute anything!

[kmf3933]

On my last RCI cruise in Dec 2012, beach towels were available at the pool not in the stateroom.

[Lionesss]

wrong post

 

 

 

sorry

[emeraldcity]

Nagging question ... been turning this one over in my mind since I watched a couple of unsuccessful runners get left behind in Nassau -- wrapped in those $25 RCI beach towels. Do they get to turn them in later in Miami, or does that become a memorable RCI $50 souvenir?

[Seaworthy01]

So let me get this rite, in order to use R.C. beach towels, you must pick them up at certain locations around the ship (Pool and Spa Areas) by giving them your stateroom card?

[kmf3933]

Yes. You go to the towel station near the pool to ask for towels and the attendant swipes your room card. Your card is also swiped when you return the towels. The cabin steward doesn't remove the beach towels from the room or at least didn't when I cruised in December.

[Seaworthy01]

So now you have to worry about someone swiping your beach/pool towel while you are swimming or getting something to eat or drink.

[Big_G]

So now you have to worry about someone swiping your beach/pool towel while you are swimming or getting something to eat or drink.

 

No worries unless you leave it out there unattended for more than 30 minutes and even then usually nothing happens to it. Haven't lost a towel yet.

[labeachcomber]

We've always arrived a day early and stay at the typical Cruise Port hotel and there is usually an outlet type store within an easy walk. On our way to purchase our 2 bottles of wine we'll stop at the outlet & I'll hit the clearance section - usually pay $3/$4 for a towel. I like the fact that the towel is different than others around us - makes it easier for one of us to spot the other (husband is always getting up for drinks, hit the pool, etc). At the end of the cruise we leave the towel behind.

This is a great idea and one I've never thought of.

Since you have no way to wash your own towels, it's much better to use theirs.

Oh, I guess this is a reason not to have your own towels unless you're only planning on one beach excursion.

 

Just a few short years ago, RCI used to have a guy standing at the towel station at the pools and you had to just tell him your room number and he'd write it down. No Sea Pass swiping, nothing. You could give him a wrong stateroom and he wouldn't even know. Cabin numbers were just written down on a piece of paper. Not even a numerical order list that you would check off. I thought, what a stupid system. Guess they wised up and now have made it much more difficult.

 

The stupid thing is, would cruisers really want to steal a generic beach towel that hundreds of people have used already? Why not go back to the old ways, put two towels in each room and make sure they're there when you leave otherwise you'll be charged?

 

I hate that you now seem like you have to guard your own towel otherwise you'll end up having to pay. I suppose if somebody takes my towel, I'm going to end up taking somebody else's...

[soprano]

Two beach towel questions...

 

We reserved a cabana on Labadee, does this mean we don't have to bring beach towels with us off the ship?

 

If we deactivate the charging ability of our kids SeaPass cards, does this mean that they can't check out their own beach towels?

[Clarea]

Two beach towel questions...

 

We reserved a cabana on Labadee, does this mean we don't have to bring beach towels with us off the ship?

 

If we deactivate the charging ability of our kids SeaPass cards, does this mean that they can't check out their own beach towels?

Can't help with the cabana question, but you can check out multiple towels on one SeaPass card. No need to use your kids SeaPass cards to check out their towels because you would have to use the same SeaPass cards to check the towels back in, and that might be more of a hassle then using your own card for all the towels.

[negc]

I like to bring my own beach towels (just a couple, but then again only 2 of us travel). I don't like fooling with the towel exchange process. This year I will be bringing a beach roll mat so I can forgo using a towel for laying out in the loungers. :D

 

"fooling with the towel exchange process"? not sure I understand what you mean by that. It is a very simple process in my experience. Turn your used, wet, and possibly sandy towel at the towel station and pick up a new, dry towel for future use. Our luggage space is far to limited to waste some of it by bringing towels that can easily be obtained onboard and as others have already mentioned, any errors by the crew which fail to account for the fact that you have returned the towels is easily and quickly resolved by contacting guest services. It doesn't even happen frequently, but on those occasions where it does, the problem is quickly fixed.

When you use the towels that you bring with you, how do you clean and dry them for subsequent use. Seems like more of a complicated "process" than the one devised by the cruise line.

[BecciBoo]

We take ours too, I always manage to find a pocket on the bag to stuff them in. Mine dry fine and I only use it twice on excursions...I don't like having to go back and forth to the pool deck to turn theirs back in and anyways, I have special pirate towels I've monogramed with all the ships names that we have cruised on them and I just like to take them along.:D

Different strokes for different folks.

[sunnysavannah]

I love reading threads on topics I've seen before, because often, a comment will spark a question that I haven't thought of before.

 

Does there happen to be a towel exchange on Coco Cay or Labadee? Say that your checked out towel needs to be replaced while on the island, what do you do? (A drink is spilled, it blows into the water, etc.) Do you have to go all the way back to the ship?

I usually take extra beach towels with us to the pool or beach here at home, but I really don't want to check out 8 towels for our family of 4 and have to keep up with them in the cabin. Maybe just check out one or two extras?

[cruzeluver]

Just be aware that the towel exchange is not open all the time, and on Freedom in April the hours were all over the place! Then they often had no clean ones available. Wish Royal would treat their guests like adults and stop this check in/ check out nonsense. Other lines do not do this, even Carnival leaves beach towels in your room. Loved our Freedom cruise, in fact it was pretty near perfect, but the towel policy is idiotic.

[Clarea]

I love reading threads on topics I've seen before, because often, a comment will spark a question that I haven't thought of before.

 

Does there happen to be a towel exchange on Coco Cay or Labadee? Say that your checked out towel needs to be replaced while on the island, what do you do? (A drink is spilled, it blows into the water, etc.) Do you have to go all the way back to the ship?

I usually take extra beach towels with us to the pool or beach here at home, but I really don't want to check out 8 towels for our family of 4 and have to keep up with them in the cabin. Maybe just check out one or two extras?

There's no towel exchange on Ladadee or Coco Cay.

[akcruz]

Just be aware that the towel exchange is not open all the time, and on Freedom in April the hours were all over the place! Then they often had no clean ones available. Wish Royal would treat their guests like adults and stop this check in/ check out nonsense. Other lines do not do this, even Carnival leaves beach towels in your room. Loved our Freedom cruise, in fact it was pretty near perfect, but the towel policy is idiotic.

 

The problem is that people don't act like adults and when you get a group that take the towels, or in other ways break the rules, the cruise lines put in these silly policies to make up for it.

 

Not defending the cruise line, but they are not the ones causing the policy to be in place, they are just protecting their assets from the idiots that don't follow the policies. Maybe people think they paid more for the cruise and I want something to show for it??? Who knows, if you figure it out let us all know.

[RockeyBullwinkle]

Use the beach towels provided by the ship and don't worry about it. :)

 

Not only do I not want to haul beach towels in our luggage, I don't want to have to deal with wet, sandy beach towels in our cabin.

 

LuLu

~~~~

 

This ^^

 

Why take up my luggage space, then have to deal with drying wet icky towels all week long. Just make sure you return the towels you check out and if there is a charge dispute it (which truly is the exception).

 

agreed..

 

beach towels take up valuable luggage space and once they get damp and sweaty then what?

[reallyitsmema]

We've always arrived a day early and stay at the typical Cruise Port hotel and there is usually an outlet type store within an easy walk. On our way to purchase our 2 bottles of wine we'll stop at the outlet & I'll hit the clearance section - usually pay $3/$4 for a towel. I like the fact that the towel is different than others around us - makes it easier for one of us to spot the other (husband is always getting up for drinks, hit the pool, etc). At the end of the cruise we leave the towel behind.

Yuck. There is no way to wash that towel that has been pawed over in the outlet. Who knows what is on it!

 

I will stick with the ship towels.

[monkeyluis]

Take a microfiber towel.

 

http://www.amazon.com/MicroNet-Suede-Ultra-Compact-Microfiber-Towel/dp/B003V4RDT8/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1370434094&sr=8-7&keywords=microfiber+towel

[FLACRUISER99]

RCI's towel policy is one of the few things I do not like about RCI! Please put them my room like the old days. I do not appreciate trotting up to the pool and stand in line to get a towel to use on my balcony!

[cariad1000]

We got towels in our suite on Adventure at the end of March.

[bethc1952]

When you return your towels, make sure that they swipe your card and that your room number gets credited.

 

On our TA in April, we took two towels each on the first day. Two days later, when we went to return/exchange, it showed that we had already returned them. Someone would probably be charged for not returning towels that were "credited" to our room. The attendant took our towels back and gave us fresh ones, and I made sure that it registered that we had four towels. After that, we had no problems, and had an amazing cruise!

 

Beth