Towel fee eliminated

[39august]

A few years ago the beach towels were beige, not really brown. I am happy there is no towel check out now. I hope they go back to the policy of leaving beach towels in the cabins, or at least they used to for suites.

[Ocean Boy]

I never thought of it as a revenue generating proposition, but rather a loss prevention policy. Never bothered me in the least - in fact on our last trip, we missed the guy on the pool deck the last night. Went and turned my towel in @ guest services, no bother;).

 

Well, I'll tell you what was a bother. The first time we sailed Oasis for the first 2-3 days they had one towel station open to serve the entire pool deck as well as the solarium. Then, they were also limiting the number of towels that you could get per sea pass to two. After walking from the solarium to the station, waiting in line, being told that I could only get two towels, walking back to the solarium, collecting seapasses, walking back to the station, standing in line, getting towels, and walking back to the solarium I was NOT happy. If there had been any extraneous charges to my account at the end of the week it would have been the icing on the cake as they had already screwed up my account... Royaly.

[Havingfun2010]

Think about this. RCCL major competition is Carnival. RCCL wants to attract more customers, and they are rolling out a ship a year. The prices are more money. So how do you attract more customers? Better service. Remove all the annoying items and policies such as the towel and begin to "trust" the customer. Sure, some towels will walk. Did you notice they eliminated the policy everyone in the stateroom must purchase a drink package? Why, "TRUST". It was an annoying policy. I happy now that I can grab a towel, use it, and toss it in the bin when finished, without having to wait in lines. Think of all the families that don't have to tell their kids, to guard their towel. One less thing to be concerned about.

 

Way to go RCCL -- Be the leader.

[foxgoodrich]

A few years ago the beach towels were beige, not really brown. I am happy there is no towel check out now. I hope they go back to the policy of leaving beach towels in the cabins, or at least they used to for suites.

 

They still leave beach towels in full suites (GS and above.) But I remember the good old days when they left them in your balcony cabin, and presumably all cabins. Now that was handy…:p

Judy

[PORT ROYAL]

Possibly the cut will be in the number of vouchers issued to Diamonds while the D Plus have the lounge ;):D

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

I don't know the answer to your question but Happy New Year, Stacy.:)

 

Happy New Year! Very snowy here, dreaming of the Caribbean...but have to wait until May :(

[Ocean Boy]

Think about this. RCCL major competition is Carnival. RCCL wants to attract more customers, and they are rolling out a ship a year. The prices are more money. So how do you attract more customers? Better service. Remove all the annoying items and policies such as the towel and begin to "trust" the customer. Sure, some towels will walk. Did you notice they eliminated the policy everyone in the stateroom must purchase a drink package? Why, "TRUST". It was an annoying policy. I happy now that I can grab a towel, use it, and toss it in the bin when finished, without having to wait in lines. Think of all the families that don't have to tell their kids, to guard their towel. One less thing to be concerned about.

 

Way to go RCCL -- Be the leader.

 

Actually, I suspect that they want to see if the new policy increases sales of the packages as well as the bottom line.

[Ocean Boy]

Happy New Year! Very snowy here, dreaming of the Caribbean...but have to wait until May :(

 

We are getting a nor'easter starting tomorrow. Supposedly there will be 8-12 inches of snow in my driveway Friday morning.:rolleyes: I too, think about the Caribbean.... constantly.

[jb008]

Think about this. RCCL major competition is Carnival. RCCL wants to attract more customers, and they are rolling out a ship a year. The prices are more money. So how do you attract more customers? Better service. Remove all the annoying items and policies such as the towel and begin to "trust" the customer. Sure, some towels will walk. Did you notice they eliminated the policy everyone in the stateroom must purchase a drink package? Why, "TRUST". It was an annoying policy. I happy now that I can grab a towel, use it, and toss it in the bin when finished, without having to wait in lines. Think of all the families that don't have to tell their kids, to guard their towel. One less thing to be concerned about.

 

Way to go RCCL -- Be the leader.

 

That stupid towel policy was one of my biggest pet peeves on my recent sailing with RCCL. Princess used a similar policy to HAL where towels are left in your room by the cabin steward, and there are bins at the security checkpoint to collect towels as you embark at ports of call. I'm so glad RCCL is doing away with the fee and hope they move to the more pax friendly model used by CCL.

[BND]

Possibly the cut will be in the number of vouchers issued to Diamonds while the D Plus have the lounge ;):D

 

Yeah, that was a necessary addition to this thread.

 

I can see that the benefit for RCI is the person standing there scanning cards can be used elsewhere doing something really useful.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

We are getting a nor'easter starting tomorrow. Supposedly there will be 8-12 inches of snow in my driveway Friday morning.:rolleyes: I too, think about the Caribbean.... constantly.

 

Same here - originally it was supposed to be today...and we did get a good amount. But they're saying overnight and all day tomorrow will be the worst, so...driving into work should be fun.

 

Are you guys still going in March? Put your Chesney CD in!!

[Lionesss]

Happy New Year! Very snowy here, dreaming of the Caribbean...but have to wait until May :(

 

DITTO:

 

North of Youngstown Ohio here......................

 

Snowing pretty good right now.

 

Suppossed to get 5-8 inches by this time tomorrow...

 

Really need a cruise right now.

 

Sea Ya

[wwcruisers]

WOW -- two great policy changes in one year? First, RC eliminates smoking on balconies, and now, no check-out for pool towels? I'm really going to have to seriously consider booking with RC again! :cool:

[foxgoodrich]

DH has a theory about this policy change… He thinks the towel 'security program' was probably a major headache for Royal, and it probably really didn't save any money. If you think about the cost of staff time to man those towel stations for many hours each day, that cost probably exceeds the cost of lost towels on a given cruise. In a cost/benefit analysis, the towel program loses.

 

Plus…can you imagine how much staff would hate that assignment? They would rarely or never get a WOW card, and there are always tons of complaints. I don't imagine they would get tips either. And the towel police, in the big picture, don't really contribute anything perceived as POSITIVE by the guest about his/her experience aboard a RC ship.

 

It's a good move to eliminate this.

Judy

Edited January 1, 2014 by foxgoodrich

[critterchick]

All my RC towels have been blue. Do they have brown ones now too? I have no interest in taking the towels home but there are some people who will take anything as a souvenir.

 

The old towels were a plain beige. They are now in the spa locker rooms, which is where we have been getting our towels from since they implemented the checkout policy. I'm happy to be able to discontinue that practice.:D

 

All businesses have to have an allowance for loss, whether by theft, breakage or carelessness. Charging $25 for a towel that likely cost them la couple of bucks plus all of the aggravation on both sides of the Guest Services counter when people either had to return them late or argue about false charges likely cost RCI more than kissing a few dozen towels (if that) goodbye each cruise. And it made them look petty, cheap and a little sleazy, as the only line that did it. So I say yippee.

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

DITTO:

 

North of Youngstown Ohio here......................

 

Snowing pretty good right now.

 

Suppossed to get 5-8 inches by this time tomorrow...

 

Really need a cruise right now.

 

Sea Ya

 

Hi Sue, Happy New Year. Wish we were onboard!! This stinks, ha!

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

DH has a theory about this policy change… He thinks the towel 'security program' was probably a major headache for Royal, and it probably really didn't save any money. If you think about the cost of staff time to man those towel stations for many hours each day, that cost probably exceeds the cost of lost towels on a given cruise. In a cost/benefit analysis, the towel program loses.

 

Plus…can you imagine how much staff would hate that assignment? They would rarely or never get a WOW card, and there are always tons of complaints. I don't imagine they would get tips either. And the towel police, in the big picture, don't really contribute anything perceived as POSITIVE by the guest about his/her experience aboard a RC ship.

 

It's a good move to eliminate this.

Judy

 

Really good points.

[Ocean Boy]

DH has a theory about this policy change… He thinks the towel 'security program' was probably a major headache for Royal, and it probably really didn't save any money. If you think about the cost of staff time to man those towel stations for many hours each day, that cost probably exceeds the cost of lost towels on a given cruise. In a cost/benefit analysis, the towel program loses.

 

Plus…can you imagine how much staff would hate that assignment? They would rarely or never get a WOW card, and there are always tons of complaints. I don't imagine they would get tips either. And the towel police, in the big picture, don't really contribute anything perceived as POSITIVE by the guest about his/her experience aboard a RC ship.

 

It's a good move to eliminate this.

Judy

I suspect you are quite right there. Few people think about tipping when they are in the process of being annoyed.

[Ourusualbeach]

DH has a theory about this policy change… He thinks the towel 'security program' was probably a major headache for Royal, and it probably really didn't save any money. If you think about the cost of staff time to man those towel stations for many hours each day, that cost probably exceeds the cost of lost towels on a given cruise. In a cost/benefit analysis, the towel program loses.

 

Plus…can you imagine how much staff would hate that assignment? They would rarely or never get a WOW card, and there are always tons of complaints. I don't imagine they would get tips either. And the towel police, in the big picture, don't really contribute anything perceived as POSITIVE by the guest about his/her experience aboard a RC ship.

 

It's a good move to eliminate this.

Judy

 

I agree that this was not a money maker for Royal. I have seen many people at guest services the last evening or morning successfully getting the $25 charges removed.

[Wilda]

On 12/15 Allure there was no towel fee and no SeaPass needed to check out towels. The crew stated that was the first cruise for the new policy.

 

I am sure some low life will be packing away fresh towels day one and ruin this for us all, but I personally am plenty happy to leave damp towels in a bin and never give it another thought.

 

That sounds right...we were on the Dec 8 Allure sailing and had to use our seapass card for towels. While I have never been charged for towels I will say I am glad to see them getting rid of the policy.

 

Wonder if this will result in a head count reduction of the two full time employees that staff the towel stations on the Oasis class ships?

[thecleave]

They still leave beach towels in full suites (GS and above.) But I remember the good old days when they left them in your balcony cabin, and presumably all cabins. Now that was handy…:p

Judy

 

We were in a GS on the 12/1 Allure sailing and I asked our stateroom attendant about getting a couple of towels and was told I needed to go to the pool deck to get them.

 

Checking out towels was one of my pet peeves - glad they are changing the policy!

[7leagueboots]

DH has a theory about this policy change… He thinks the towel 'security program' was probably a major headache for Royal, and it probably really didn't save any money. If you think about the cost of staff time to man those towel stations for many hours each day, that cost probably exceeds the cost of lost towels on a given cruise. In a cost/benefit analysis, the towel program loses.

 

Plus…can you imagine how much staff would hate that assignment? They would rarely or never get a WOW card, and there are always tons of complaints. I don't imagine they would get tips either. And the towel police, in the big picture, don't really contribute anything perceived as POSITIVE by the guest about his/her experience aboard a RC ship.

 

It's a good move to eliminate this.

Judy

 

A very good analysis. I think you may be correct.

[foxgoodrich]

We were in a GS on the 12/1 Allure sailing and I asked our stateroom attendant about getting a couple of towels and was told I needed to go to the pool deck to get them.

 

Checking out towels was one of my pet peeves - glad they are changing the policy!

 

Our last GS was almost a year ago on Adventure, but we had pool towels (4 actually) stacked in our bathroom. We also had them in an OS on Voyager in 2012. On Adventure, our cabin steward asked us to bring them back to the cabin after use and he would exchange them. Maybe this is something that varied from ship to ship?:confused:

Judy

[thecleave]

Our last GS was almost a year ago on Adventure, but we had pool towels (4 actually) stacked in our bathroom. We also had them in an OS on Voyager in 2012. On Adventure, our cabin steward asked us to bring them back to the cabin after use and he would exchange them. Maybe this is something that varied from ship to ship?:confused:

Judy

 

I know, I thought it was strange. My sister and I were in a suite on the Allure in 2012 and our steward left pool towels for us.

[foxgoodrich]

I know, I thought it was strange. My sister and I were in a suite on the Allure in 2012 and our steward left pool towels for us.

 

Aha! We have the answer….it varied from steward to steward!;)

Judy