Towel charges are back

[audome78]

The new hd is Rodney Darwin

 

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[clean1owner]

As ryano and a couple others have explained, the REAL issue isn't the amount of time it takes to check them out and in, its the fact that they often mess up on the check out/in and you end up with improper charges on your credit card after the cruise which you have to call and deal with and which often take weeks to fix. THAT is the biggest aggravation of that system.

 

 

 

 

Not really much different than having to call and straighten out the phantom mini bar charges I seem to have at the end of my cruise. I always request to have all the mini bar items removed from my cabin, but am given a myriad of reasons why this can't be done. The way I see it, if I'm already going to have to call RCCL to fix that issue, I can just kill two birds with one stone.

 

 

When cruising the NCL Dawn last year, they had the pool towels in the cabin, with a note letting you know that your Cabin Steward will change it out for you when it is dirty, and you will be charged for it if it is missing at the end of the cruise.

To me, this is a very good way to monitor pool towels.

[Mark_K]

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.

The poster I replied to was on deck 17 (which is all full suites), so they did not need to check out towels, they just needed to go to the reserved area to get them.

 

 

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[PRH]

After watching chairs covered with towels and no one there for more than two hours, sweep them off and sit down--a "sit down rebellion." I know one woman came back after SIX hours of prime time (at least it was 6 hours after we sat down) and was furious but we let her rant (we had offered the chair to an elderly woman who could not find a place to sit). Everyone around us cheered which did not make her happy. She stomped away. I support the towel check-out! There is NO reason why 90+% of the chairs should be covered with towels at 7:30 in the morning. It is one thing to slip into the pool and leave your things but everyone around you realizes what you are doing. It is quite another to put a towel on it and assume that it is yours if and when you ever show up. Use it or lose it!

 

Too bad they don't have a marking device like the parking meter folks to mark when the towel was first noticed as unoccupied. I also support the towel check-out because it forces people to be responsible for turning those towels back in rather than leaving them around like my little kids used to leave them all over the bathroom (grrrrrrrh).

[Dave85]

Too bad they don't have a marking device like the parking meter folks to mark when the towel was first noticed as unoccupied. I also support the towel check-out because it forces people to be responsible for turning those towels back in rather than leaving them around like my little kids used to leave them all over the bathroom (grrrrrrrh).

 

Other lines have tried towel marking devices, at least Carnival and Norwegian to my knowledge, and it seems to work and make people happy... yet the policy never seems to stick. I imagine the reason is it becomes too labor intensive for the pool deck crew, which I can understand. The current situation with towels being abandoned everywhere isn't any better though IMO. Not sure how practical such a system would be on an Oasis Class ship with such vast pool deck seating areas.

[Sanz]

After watching chairs covered with towels and no one there for more than two hours, sweep them off and sit down--a "sit down rebellion." I know one woman came back after SIX hours of prime time (at least it was 6 hours after we sat down) and was furious but we let her rant (we had offered the chair to an elderly woman who could not find a place to sit). Everyone around us cheered which did not make her happy. She stomped away. I support the towel check-out! There is NO reason why 90+% of the chairs should be covered with towels at 7:30 in the morning. It is one thing to slip into the pool and leave your things but everyone around you realizes what you are doing. It is quite another to put a towel on it and assume that it is yours if and when you ever show up. Use it or lose it!

 

Too bad they don't have a marking device like the parking meter folks to mark when the towel was first noticed as unoccupied. I also support the towel check-out because it forces people to be responsible for turning those towels back in rather than leaving them around like my little kids used to leave them all over the bathroom (grrrrrrrh).

 

This will be my first cruise with Royal. On my relatively recent cruises (within the past 6 year or so), on Carnival and Princess, towels have been left in the cabin and you were charged for them if they were not in the cabin when you departed.

 

You don't need to place a Royal towel on a seat to save a seat. All you need is a cheap beach towel from home (the one with the holes), dollar store sun glasses and dollar store flip flops (or an old pair). Was there actually less seat saving before Royal did away with the sign out policy?

[PSCruiser]

Just off Freedom and hated the free towel policy. RC needs to come up with a system for determining which chairs are being used, and which are reserved for the day with just a towel.

My new attitude is that a crumpled towel alone does not reserve a chair. If the chair is being used, it should have some personal items.

[EaganCruiser]

so if you sign the towels out and don't return them then you get billed 25.00 per towel...do i have this right...must be loosing waaaaaay too many towels to home cities...

[Dave85]

so if you sign the towels out and don't return them then you get billed 25.00 per towel...do i have this right...must be loosing waaaaaay too many towels to home cities...

 

That was the old policy. The current policy eliminated the $25 charge. Someone who recently returned from Freedom of the Seas indicated that they returned to the old policy (with the charge), but it seems like that policy is dead across most of the fleet.

[Mark_K]

so if you sign the towels out and don't return them then you get billed 25.00 per towel...do i have this right...must be loosing waaaaaay too many towels to home cities...

The bigger problem was losing them to shore excursion beaches.

 

 

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Edited March 12, 2014 by Mark_K

[EaganCruiser]

so do you still sign out for the towels...and if you don't return what happens...or is this just another ploy by RCCL...Not sure where the 25.00 comes into play here if at all...i'm certainly not going to rent a towel at a cost of 25.00 per day...maybe they should charge 25.00 for the chairs that the hogs hold that never get used...with a hat...or a book or bottle of sun tan lotion...and then some one appears at 1pm and i love to see that person go crazzzy with rage that that was their chair...sounds like this issue is still hovering over RCCL...nothing has changed in the 3 yrs that i have been away...DO THE CHAIR HOGS STILL RULE...the pool police are worthless becuase they refuse to enforce any chair saving rules...

[steveru621]

I'm on the Explorer next week with 4 sea days. I hope the towel charge is back in effect! If people aren't returning towels there will be a big problem in the Solarium. I say Hooray! bring back the towel check.

 

The $25 is not a revenue thing, it's meant to be punitive so people won't just leave them laying all around the ship (or shore). If RCI really wanted it to be a revenue generator the fee would be twice the cost of a towel, or maybe $10. I think then there would be a lot of people that just wouldn't care and RCI would make some money.

 

Some posters have complained about wasting their vacation time checking out/in towels. What about my time roaming around 30 minutes in the Solarium trying to find a seat without a wet towel that I have no idea was just abandoned or not. Do I have to wait 30 minutes? Do you consider making MTD reservations or waiting for a MTD table a waste of your vacation time (I do). Do you consider the WindJammer seat hunt a waste? Do you consider waiting in line at the Park Cafe a waste of your time? My point is there are other lines. Fortunately for me, I can't remember waiting more than 1 minute to get a towel.

 

Enjoy your future cruises.

[PSCruiser]

That was the old policy. The current policy eliminated the $25 charge. Someone who recently returned from Freedom of the Seas indicated that they returned to the old policy (with the charge), but it seems like that policy is dead across most of the fleet.

 

Just back from Freedom (week of March 2). There was no charge for towels, and the chair hogs were out in full glory!

[DrD]

I don't think people are complaining about the brief time it takes to check out a towel once, or the even briefer time it takes to exchange one, but the time it takes to get erroneous charges removed. Although this didn't happen to me it seems several people here have been charged and had to spend time getting the charges off.

[Clarea]

I don't think people are complaining about the brief time it takes to check out a towel once, or the even briefer time it takes to exchange one, but the time it takes to get erroneous charges removed. Although this didn't happen to me it seems several people here have been charged and had to spend time getting the charges off.

That has happened to us twice, and it required in a 10 minute phone call to get the erroneous charge removed. However, I'd gladly accept this inconvenience if the re-imposition of the towel check-out procedure would result in significantly fewer incidents of chair hogging.

Edited March 12, 2014 by clarea

[Dave85]

Just back from Freedom (week of March 2). There was no charge for towels, and the chair hogs were out in full glory!

 

This has actually turned into a rather interesting discussion -- is the consensus here that eliminating the $25 penalty has increased the prevelance of chair hogs?

 

I haven't sailed Royal since they changed the policy, but I guess I'll see for myself in May.

[island lady]

I am also back from the March 2nd Freedom. We looked down at the pier at Labadee just before sail away and watched the poor over loaded crew trying to drag on HUGE piles of towels they had to collect all over the beach that lazy passengers just left there. There were about 20 trailers full of them. The whole process of trying to drag in those piles actually made us later than usual.

 

If people would be polite and considerate of property, there would be no need for towel charges. But alas....that is not the world we live in. Count me in as another that does not want to have to pay higher cruise rates due to costs for the extra work involved in collecting and loss due to these lazy and inconsiderate people.

Edited March 12, 2014 by island lady

[audome78]

I am also back from the March 2nd Freedom. We looked down at the pier at Labadee just before sail away and watched the poor over loaded crew trying to drag on HUGE piles of towels they had to collect all over the beach that lazy passengers just left there. There were about 20 trailers full of them. The whole process of trying to drag in those piles actually made us later than usual.

 

If people would be polite and considerate of property, there would be no need for towel charges. But alas....that is not the world we live in. Count me in as another that does not want to have to pay higher cruise rates due to costs for the extra work involved in collecting and loss due to these lazy and inconsiderate people.

 

Pat, great to meet you last week. Weather is fantastic this week, too...but imagine my surprise when I had to fork over my sea pass for a towel. not an issue, but interesting that there was a change from week to week.

 

Happy sailing!

 

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[island lady]

Pat, great to meet you last week. Weather is fantastic this week, too...but imagine my surprise when I had to fork over my sea pass for a towel. not an issue, but interesting that there was a change from week to week.

 

Happy sailing!

 

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Well hello there my cruise mate!! :)

 

Yes, we sure had perfect weather the whole time. A wonderful time was had

by all. Looking forward to the next time, and hope to sail with you again also! :)

[hellsop]

I don't think people are complaining about the brief time it takes to check out a towel once, or the even briefer time it takes to exchange one, but the time it takes to get erroneous charges removed. Although this didn't happen to me it seems several people here have been charged and had to spend time getting the charges off.

 

Erroneous charges, that it's a trip to guest services and a ten minute wait to exchange or check in a towel after a late-night hot-tubbing, that in order to save yourself from someone else saving themselves from a $25 charge you have to pretty much leave a member of your party with your stuff for even a five minute dip in a pool. It's funny that the don't seem to track the ROOM towels that well, or they wouldn't leave the carts unattended in the hallways.

[BND]

I don't think people are complaining about the brief time it takes to check out a towel once, or the even briefer time it takes to exchange one, but the time it takes to get erroneous charges removed. Although this didn't happen to me it seems several people here have been charged and had to spend time getting the charges off.

 

We have never been charged for a towel on any of our cruises. We've had a GS 3 times and not had to check one out, but on the others we've had to. It's never been an issue and it's very easy to check it out and then just trade off everyday til the last when we turn in the towels. The fact that a lot of people are lazy, self-serving and slobs shouldn't surprise anyone. I'm one of the people that would walk it to a bin, just as when I try clothes on in stores, I take them to the rack and hang them up and do not leave them in the changing room. I'm sure most think it's not "their job" to do it, but it is common courtesy. Anyway, point is, I read about erroneous charges and we've never had any erroneous charges of any kind on a cruise, so I do have to wonder just how common it is.

 

I prefer the towel charge. If people are going to behave like spoiled children, then they need to be treated that way. It's not a big inconvenience for us to check out towels and it's worth it to me to impact the chair hogs anyway we can.

Edited March 13, 2014 by BND

[sunsetbeachgal]

I think the towel sign out procedure is tacky...I do not like having to wait in line to check them out, and then again to return them. I have cruised Princess and Holland America in the last nine months and neither have this policy, and both have stacks of nice towels at the pool in addition to towels in your stateroom. I was happy to read that this towel policy had changed, and hate to see it back again.

Edited March 13, 2014 by sunsetbeachgal

[PSCruiser]

I think the towel sign out procedure is tacky...I do not like having to wait in line to check them out, and then again to return them. I have cruised Princess and Holland America in the last nine months and neither have this policy, and both have stacks of nice towels at the pool in addition to towels in your stateroom. I was happy to read that this towel policy had changed, and hate to see it back again.

 

It really has nothing to do with the towels or towel check out - its all about the pool chairs!

If RC would have an aggressive "chair patrol", or come up with another method to stop the chair hogs, I would be glad to see the towel checkout stopped. Until then its the preferable system.

[Sam.Seattle]

We were on the Navigator a few weeks ago. No signing out for towels, but they ran out of towels twice that we were aware of. The 2nd time I just walked into the gym locker room vs. waiting 20-minutes for towels. It was amazing the number of towels just being left on chairs or the ground.

[A&L_Ont]

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

 

Yes, and loving every minute of it. Tonight the teen flow riders were out there. I was this afternoon. They also changed the sand artist routine in Frozen in Time to the Tin Soldier from Thumbelina.

 

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

 

Yes we have. We also spotted towels left behind in St Martin today among numerous places. We are also enjoying the unlimited 2 device internet package. It makes going to CC at bedtime a nice night cap.;)

Edited March 13, 2014 by A&L_Ont