Has the towel policy changed again?

[cincicruisers]

I would be happy if this towel check in/out goes fleet wide. I am sure chair hogs will still be out, but there should be less. Last cruise went out to get chair around 8-8:30 and there were no chairs first row by the pools. :confused:

Edited September 24, 2015 by cincicruisers
Typo

[BND]

I totally understand espically in relation to the melanoma. I lost my dad to skin cancer and I too have had a few moles removed. Thankfully the ones they removed from me were free and clear.

 

I like the shade umbrella's at the beach pool on the Osais class ships. We will arrive there first thing in the morning and stay all day. Other than a quick bite to eat or a splash in the pool our loungers do not go unattended. It is the best spot for us as I sit in the shade and my DW sits in the sun. We exchange spots through the day, depending on the shade.

 

And, that's the way to do it. The people I saw each had a lounger in the sun and one in the shade so two seats saved for each person. And, I'd bet if you asked those people they would say they are just doing what everyone else does. sigh.

 

We also sit in our chairs pretty much all day except for the occasional bathroom break or run to the cabin for something. Most days, we run grab lunch and bring it back and eat it in our chairs. I think the longest we've ever been gone is probably 15 minutes.

 

Suites have never had to check out towels. We've stayed in GS several times back when they were doing towel check out/in and all we had to do was show our card and they handed us towels, no scanning required.

[love2cruise56]

I, too, think this is to discourage the crazy chair hogging. I've seen more than once, one person picking up 7-8 towels and placing them on loungers at 7 am in the Solarium and by the pool. I think it's cheaper for them to have employees check towels in and out than to buy new ones and police the many "saved" chairs. It drives me crazy to come out to the pool area at 9 am only to find no loungers in the shade. DH had melanoma 10years ago and I burn easily so we choose to sit in the shade. I've seen people with chairs reserved in both sun and shade and they move back and forth between the two. Wrong!!! I can hear the tantrums now, but tough, no one is entitled to have a seat "saved" for them all day, or until they choose to come out after they wake up at 11.

 

I'm glad they're going back to checking in and out for the chair hoggers, but for those of us that follow the rules, it's a bit more inconvenient.

 

 

I agree with you. My husband also had melanoma with two different surgeries within 3 years. We need to sit in the shade.

[cruisegirl1]

The ship's towel policy is no different than most hotels....they require your room key to check out towels!

 

Generally you just have to SHOW your hotel key in order to get a few towels. Your hotel room key is not swiped nor are you responsible for unreturned tales

 

M

[BND]

Generally you just have to SHOW your hotel key in order to get a few towels. Your hotel room key is not swiped nor are you responsible for unreturned tales

 

M

 

We've also stayed in hotels that just have the towels by the pool and you are expected to put your used ones in the bin when you leave.

[biomedbob]

The only reason we cruise is to augment our towel collection! :D

Edited September 24, 2015 by biomedbob

[SheehanDJ]

And, that's the way to do it. The people I saw each had a lounger in the sun and one in the shade so two seats saved for each person. And, I'd bet if you asked those people they would say they are just doing what everyone else does. sigh.

 

We also sit in our chairs pretty much all day except for the occasional bathroom break or run to the cabin for something. Most days, we run grab lunch and bring it back and eat it in our chairs. I think the longest we've ever been gone is probably 15 minutes.

 

Suites have never had to check out towels. We've stayed in GS several times back when they were doing towel check out/in and all we had to do was show our card and they handed us towels, no scanning required.

 

Am I the only one that would have taken their vacated seats? If I saw someone sitting in the sun, get up and move to the shade to another set of chairs I'd wait about 5 minutes for them to get the rest of their stuff then move it myself and take the seats. I wouldn't be an ass about it, but come on.

 

Not to long ago there was a thread about smoking on a balcony and people were emailing the CEO. Do most folks just tsk tsk chair hogs?

 

I've never experienced the above situation, but I've moved towels before and had people come up to me and say I'm in their seat after I've been there an hour. I've done similar at the shows, people reserving an entire row for people who are "coming", 10-15 minutes before show time I'll sit down.

 

I'm also the first guy who will move to different seats to accommodate larger groups. All of it should just be common courtesy.

[BND]

Am I the only one that would have taken their vacated seats? If I saw someone sitting in the sun, get up and move to the shade to another set of chairs I'd wait about 5 minutes for them to get the rest of their stuff then move it myself and take the seats. I wouldn't be an ass about it, but come on.

 

Not to long ago there was a thread about smoking on a balcony and people were emailing the CEO. Do most folks just tsk tsk chair hogs?

 

I've never experienced the above situation, but I've moved towels before and had people come up to me and say I'm in their seat after I've been there an hour. I've done similar at the shows, people reserving an entire row for people who are "coming", 10-15 minutes before show time I'll sit down.

 

I'm also the first guy who will move to different seats to accommodate larger groups. All of it should just be common courtesy.

 

Their seats were in the solarium and all of about 20 feet apart, so they weren't out of sight of either chair. That particular day we were only in there for a couple of hours and never saw them leave for any extended amount of time. Taking their stuff off would have been an immediate confrontation and I've seen a few of those over chairs before, no thanks. There have been plenty of complaints onboard and I'm sure others have written in, but they already do enforce the rules, just not all the time. The bigger issue to me is the entitlement attitude.

 

Honestly, I think most of us, while we care, just know you can't change selfish people's behavior. They need to come up with a better way to ensure that chair hogging is almost non-existent. In a perfect world, everyone would follow the rules, but we don't live in a perfect world and those of us that do follow the rules get walked over.

Edited September 25, 2015 by BND

[yogi636]

So we don't get pool towels in our room every night? NCL you have your pool towels in your room.

[John&LaLa]

Their seats were in the solarium and all of about 20 feet apart, so they weren't out of sight of either chair. That particular day we were only in there for a couple of hours and never saw them leave for any extended amount of time. Taking their stuff off would have been an immediate confrontation and I've seen a few of those over chairs before, no thanks. There have been plenty of complaints onboard and I'm sure others have written in, but they already do enforce the rules, just not all the time. The bigger issue to me is the entitlement attitude.

 

Honestly, I think most of us, while we care, just know you can't change selfish people's behavior. They need to come up with a better way to ensure that chair hogging is almost non-existent. In a perfect world, everyone would follow the rules, but we don't live in a perfect world and those of us that do follow the rules get walked over.

 

You could involve the deck attendants, sometimes they are a big help. On Freedom I saw a woman (no lady) have items on an entire row of lounges and the attendant made her move them. It was an interesting exchange, but attendant prevailed

[Clarea]

So we don't get pool towels in our room every night? NCL you have your pool towels in your room.

No, you have to get them on the pool deck.

[FLACRUISER99]

I cannot understand why they can't give you 1 towel pp in your room.:confused: I just got off Indy, we had a lot of quick showers. Being in an aft cabin it was quite a PIA to go to the pool deck to get new towels. Other lines I sail on don't have this policy.:eek:

[Turtles06]

We were on the recent Anthem TA. It was our 14th cruise, but our first with RCI. Particularly on a cruise with NO ports (and thus no towels going ashore), and also having cruised several times with Celebrity, where you no NOT have to check out pool towels, I was startled that we were required to check out towels on Anthem.

 

I can assure you this policy did nothing to cut down on chair hogs; I was typically up early for a walk, and would see just about every lounge chair in the huge, enclosed Solarium covered by a towel, but only a handful of people there.

 

As for the zillion lounge chairs around the pool or the other outside deck areas, they were mostly empty as this was a cold-weather crossing. So I don't know the reason for the check-out policy, but I hate being treated like a criminal.

 

How does Celebrity manage to get by without that policy?

[setsail]

I cannot understand why they can't give you 1 towel pp in your room.:

 

They used to, many years ago. If you wanted a clean one you had to leave the dirty on the floor in the bathroom like the regular towels. Maybe they stopped it to take some of the load off the cabin steward.

Edited November 26, 2015 by setsail

[Ethelfleda]

They were mostly requiring checking in and out of towels on the Liberty in early November, however I never had a problem when I told the attendant that my stateroom attendant had picked them up - they cleared my account without a problem every time. (I pick one or two up after I get off the Flowrider and use them to avoid dripping too badly in the hallways on my way back to my room to shower).

 

My cabin mate on that trip once took out 4 at once because she was tired of walking back and forth to swap out wet towels one at a time (she has some mobility issues) and they recorded her cabin number on a clipboard along with the number of towels, and then marked them as returned when she brought back the pile of dirties.

 

I don't mind them scanning them out, so long as they don't mind if I leave them in my cabin when I'm done using them.

[MommaBear55]

I also find that with the check in/check out system that fewer towels are left poolside after being used. The chairs look like they are in use, but people have just left their wet towels behind. Not exactly chair hogging, but having the same result that it looks like the chair is not open for use.

[roquejo]

I concur, on my Oct 10 Voyager, there is no check in check out, but come Oct 31 Legend, they went back.

[Mark-Sheffield]

I agree with check in / check out of towels with RCI as this discourages chair hogs. On P&O you get blue pool towels in your cabin so chair hogs are rife. Walk around any deck area at 8am and there is row upon row of blue towels with the assorted books and magazines and no bums on seats !

Edited November 27, 2015 by Mark-Sheffield

[JuliaNicker]

You may need a birth certificate or passport to board a ship, but absolutely no class or ethics are required.

 

Ha ha, so true.

[Jeannie333333]

Royal was forced to return to the old towel policy because too many people were taking multiple towels on sea days and then taking them ashore the next day, then leaving them on the beach. You may need a birth certificate or passport to board a ship, but absolutely no class or ethics are required.

 

that made me laugh :D

 

true...very true....

[BND]

Yeah, even though they were still having people check them out if you got them as you exited the ship from the guys either near the exit or outside on the pier but if you got them the day before from the pool deck, they weren't checking those out and people were just leaving them behind.

 

I hate that some people's behavior (chair hogging, leaving them behind) has impacted those of us that follow the rules. I've seen people grab multiple towels and drop them on chairs in the morning. It can be a pain to check them in and out, but it will help with chair hogging and the confrontations that sometimes occur.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

On Serenade of the Seas earlier this month you had to check it out towels if you went on shore. . . . but, on the ship there was no check out.

[Lionesss]

Last summer was the first time when you excited Barefoot beach you could deposit your used towels in a big bin.

 

Although some chairs had used towels for the workers to pick up. This was the first time we saw this.

 

Sea Ya

[island lady]

The last time we were at Labadee, it was one of the "no check out" policy cruises. It was one of the first times that ship was doing that, and it bit them in the foot.

 

The ship was delayed leaving due to the poor crew members dragging back huge carts stuffed full of wet, dirty towels that lazy passengers had left all over the beaches. We could see the beach loungers on the various beaches covered with blue towels as we checked it out from the ship with the binoculars just before all aboard.

 

People...your momma doesn't work here. Pick up after yourself and bring back what you brought on shore. :rolleyes:

Edited November 27, 2015 by island lady

[cruisinfanatic]

I cannot understand why they can't give you 1 towel pp in your room.:confused: I just got off Indy, we had a lot of quick showers. Being in an aft cabin it was quite a PIA to go to the pool deck to get new towels. Other lines I sail on don't have this policy.:eek:

You need a pool towel for showers? Why not ask for extra cabin towels?