Towel charges are back

[Shekim]

Is there such a thing as spring break week? I thought it was different everywhere. My kids are still over a month away from spring break.

 

Some Houston area schools are out this week for Spring Break.

[trev71]

This is great news no more chair hogging.. I agree with some of the posters who would want to steal one of them towels. I think they are ugly and are rough on the skin. I have nice beach towels at home from Costco :) I can picture tons of towels being left at the beaches everyday

[Spurschick]

Is there such a thing as spring break week? I thought it was different everywhere. My kids are still over a month away from spring break.

 

But maybe this particular sailing had a demographic that the HD was worried about and that is why they are doing this. I will be quite happy if this is a temporary thing.

 

I think it is regionalized through the country, but most southern states are the same week, east coast a different week etc etc. we always find spring break week fully booked no matter where you are sailing out of. And I think I read this year the universities spring break is this week as well.

[bilyclub]

I'm fine with it either way. If the slobs are stealing and leaving towels all over the Caribbean so be it.

[OCruisers]

While it is more convenient to us for the beach towels to be left in our cabin, we are OK with having us check them out.

:o Does RCCL have more of a problem than other cruise lines do with passengers stealing beach towels?

LuLu

~~~~

[akcruz]

Is there such a thing as spring break week? I thought it was different everywhere. My kids are still over a month away from spring break.

 

But maybe this particular sailing had a demographic that the HD was worried about and that is why they are doing this. I will be quite happy if this is a temporary thing.

 

This week starts college spring breaks. I know my son is home this week and my daughter next week. March is usually college and depending on Easter/Passover the younger kids can be any time from late March to late April.

 

As for the return of checking out towels, we have never had an issue. We take 2 out the first day and exchange as needed, returning those we have on the last full day. Never had an extra charge for towels (now the honor bar . . .).

 

I am another happy to see it back as I think it helps with chair hogs. Of course in the long run we can only thank our fellow cruisers for changing the policy :-/

Edited March 11, 2014 by akcruz

[tlw440]

I can't understand why people would purposely take the towels either. Except that I live in South Florida, and whenever I go to the beach I spot at least 2-3 people with "stolen" cruise line towels :(

 

They may not be "stolen", they may have been purchased, I know that Carnival sells them.

[A&L_Ont]

I have not been a fan of the check out procedure for towels in the past but after cruising Allure last week I may have second thoughts about it. It seemed that many people were just leaving towels on their chairs when they were done with them and had no intentions of returning. So seats looked taken that really were not. I also noticed that the staff, at times, seemed to become quite quick to remove towels from seats where people were gone for just a short time.

 

So now there is the problem that if you leave your seat for just a short time the chances are good that your towels will have been picked up and someone else is in your seat. This means you now need to leave some personal belonging on your seat with the towels if you want the staff to realize that the chair is still being used.

 

It seems that sometimes ya just can't win.

 

I am sorry.... People are pigs. On our last cruise on the Legend, people were grabbing 3-4 towels first thing in the morning and plopping them down on their selected chairs. Nothing new there, but they don't care. They just leave them there. If the crew did not pick them all up overnight, they would still be there the next morning marking "their" chairs. We saw towels dropped all over the ship because people did not care.

 

Welcome back to the $25 charge.

 

We are currently on Oasis and I can honestly says bring back the $25 fee. There are towels left at the flow rider, mini golf, one in the arcade, and all over the pool deck. I overheard someone says that the main beach pool loungers were all towelled up at 7:30am and at 9am when I walked by only half the chairs had people on them.

 

I feel for those for had wrong towel check charges but the lazy sloths and chair hogs can be greatly reduced by bringing it back. I have seen a big difference from my November sailing and today when there was fee VS no fee. I will also add that both of the cruises on Oasis were sold out.

Edited March 11, 2014 by A&L_Ont

[Spurschick]

Is there such a thing as spring break week? I thought it was different everywhere. My kids are still over a month away from spring break.

 

But maybe this particular sailing had a demographic that the HD was worried about and that is why they are doing this. I will be quite happy if this is a temporary thing.

 

I understand colleges are out this week on spring break. Dallas area schools are also on spring break this week.

[time4u2go]

I understand colleges are out this week on spring break. Dallas area schools are also on spring break this week.

 

Actually college spring breaks start anywhere from February 15 to April 12:

 

https://www.studentcity.com/blog/when-is-my-spring-break/

[Morecruisesplz]

Celebrity way is definitely better...always a nice fresh towel near the pool ... Sometimes warm! It is kind of a pain to keep track of them. And surely no one steals them...I guess it prevents leaving them at the beach?

 

Thanks however for the heads up! We may bring our own beach towels to save the lines or hassle.

 

Just keep an eye on them so that those terrible kids don't steal them!

[fluffysue]

I didn't mind so much having to check the towels in, I was just always worried someone would take mine to check in after losing theirs. (No, I am not a "chair hog", but I do have to leave the towel somewhere when I go in the pool :) ). Given what people are finding is happening without the threat of a $25 charge...I'm willing to go back to that.

Edited March 11, 2014 by fluffysue

[cage keeper]

I never had an issue with the checking out of towels. The towel stands were in convenient locations and it never took more than a minute out my day to check out/in towels. It reduces chair hogging, it reduces clutter of abandoned towels and it reduces theft/laziness of leaving towels ashore. I'd welcome the return to this policy fleet wide.

 

Well said, I totally agree.

[seaofwonder]

On navigator and no charges.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[A&L_Ont]

Still on Oasis and we just returned from the Aqua Theatre show. We watched a family of 8 leave their towels on their chairs as they walked away just prior to the end of the show. They are on deck 17 along with us, and I am sure they would have felt a $200 hit, if the fee existed. We also took towels, as it had been raining previous to the show, but we had no problems carrying them back.

 

I never felt belittled having to have my card scanned when ever I had to check them out. I continue to say bring back the fee, to financially remind the lazy to return what they have used, and refused to return.

[Spurschick]

Actually college spring breaks start anywhere from February 15 to April 12:

 

https://www.studentcity.com/blog/when-is-my-spring-break/

 

Ty

I assume depends on location. Still trying to get used to the US system. Am originally from UK so am only used to north texas over here:D

[travelplus]

This reminds me of a flight I took in First Class where they gave you the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones to use inflight. Well some dufus tried to steal the headphones thinking they were for the taking since paying the high ticket price.

 

The pursuer happened to be standing there and said "Excuse me sir but these headphones are for our guests to enjoy entertainment onboard". The passenger still remained oblivious and started to pretend those were his headphones. But the case clearly stated" Property of American Airlines". So the pursuer asked him again nicely to return them. No dice.

 

As soon as we landed at the airport two Police Officers met our plane and filed a report for theft, not obeying the instructions of the cabin crew.

 

Now I wonder what was his sentence. Those $300 headphones could cost this man a lot more and he may never be able to fly on American.

Edited March 12, 2014 by travelplus

[Sumisid]

While I found it more convenient to not have to sign out towels, I saw people on Indy grabbing 4-6 at a time--per person!

 

Certainly makes it easier for the chair hogs to save 6-8 chairs at a time, where before they would have been limited to 2! :D

 

And, while I returned my towels to the station every day, I did notice a lot of people just leaving them on the chairs--even saw a few in some of the indoor venues. Would not be surprised if this led to the occasional towel shortage, not to mention the staff having to scout around and pick up towels.

 

That was exactly our experience on the Allure sailing Feb 9, 2014. We went on a excursion in Labadee at 11 am and all towel-stations were out of towels. Great if you have to go to the Sandbar-Getaway without a towel...

 

For me it was never a problem on cruises before to have the 2-towels-per-person policy with scanning my seapass. You let them scan your seapass the first day and then only exchange used towels with fresh ones, no big deal!

[The_Big_M]

Well, the vast majority would not - but let me tell you, when you have spent the day at the beach and your towel is soaking wet and heavy......would you think twice about bringing it back if you knew that it didn't matter?

 

Yeah, I would.

 

It's their property, which I've borrowed, so why wouldn't I return it to them instead of creating waste?

[eldolko]

On our recent cruise on the Oasis I spoke to a pool attendant. He told me that the first stop they made at Labadee after removing the check out procedure - they had to collect over 700 towels from the beaches.

 

Maybe not a big problem since it's Royal Caribbeans private resort. But the pool attendant also told me they lose towels by the hundreds at each port they make.

 

I'm not a big fan of standing in line just to check towels in and out. But I'm not a big fan of paying more for my cruise just because people are lazy either.

[Mark_K]

Still on Oasis and we just returned from the Aqua Theatre show. We watched a family of 8 leave their towels on their chairs as they walked away just prior to the end of the show. They are on deck 17 along with us, and I am sure they would have felt a $200 hit, if the fee existed. We also took towels, as it had been raining previous to the show, but we had no problems carrying them back.

 

 

 

I never felt belittled having to have my card scanned when ever I had to check them out. I continue to say bring back the fee, to financially remind the lazy to return what they have used, and refused to return.

Even when the fee existed, suite (gold card) passengers on Oasis were not required to check towels in and out. The attendant in the reserved sun bathing area would bring them to you.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[A&L_Ont]

Even when the fee existed, suite (gold card) passengers on Oasis were not required to check towels in and out. The attendant in the reserved sun bathing area would bring them to you.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

The only time on Oasis we did not have to check out our towels was our first cruise on her in July 2011 when we were in an OS. Four towels were in our cabin on embarkation day. Since then we have always had to check them out, at the deck 15 towel station. That includes staying in the RLS (2 times), SLS (3 times) and the CLS this sailing.

 

We do not use the area exclusive to suite guests above the pool deck area as it sounds like you did. I am sure that since you were in the area exclusive to suite guests they would not make you check them out as it wasn't for the masses and they brought the towels to you. We have never used that area which is available so I am not 100% sure how it is run.

 

We have cruised on Allure two times in a SLS and RS and on we did not have to check them out. They had towels waiting in our cabin. Different ship, different policy.

 

I still say bring back the fee, and let chair hogs and lazy non-returners pay the price. To me, it makes no difference if you are in a inside cabin or a suite. If I can do it, others can too.

[Ocean Boy]

Still on Oasis and we just returned from the Aqua Theatre show. We watched a family of 8 leave their towels on their chairs as they walked away just prior to the end of the show. They are on deck 17 along with us, and I am sure they would have felt a $200 hit, if the fee existed. We also took towels, as it had been raining previous to the show, but we had no problems carrying them back.

 

I never felt belittled having to have my card scanned when ever I had to check them out. I continue to say bring back the fee, to financially remind the lazy to return what they have used, and refused to return.

 

I see you are in the high rent district again!;):D

[mo&fran]

OP said that had a new hotel director. Sounds like the policy is now at the discretion of the HD rather than being fleet wide.

[Dave85]

I still say bring back the fee, and let chair hogs and lazy non-returners pay the price. To me, it makes no difference if you are in a inside cabin or a suite. If I can do it, others can too.

 

Andrew, are you noticing a problem on the Oasis this week with chogs and abandoned towels left all over the place?