Just off the Escape, new changes

[qdog123]

We just got off the Sun and experienced what the other Sun cruiser mentioned with the nicely printed trifold showing the benefits, and we’re only Gold.  The one interesting thing I noticed about the towel station is that the towel guy did not request my room number when I flashed my card, so I’m thinking they are not putting lattitudes members through the pain of signing towels out, unless it was just me. This was similar to my experience on RCCL where they didn’t make me sign out towels as a diamond member. 

[PTC DAWG]

15 minutes ago, qdog123 said:

We just got off the Sun and experienced what the other Sun cruiser mentioned with the nicely printed trifold showing the benefits, and we’re only Gold.  The one interesting thing I noticed about the towel station is that the towel guy did not request my room number when I flashed my card, so I’m thinking they are not putting lattitudes members through the pain of signing towels out, unless it was just me. This was similar to my experience on RCCL where they didn’t make me sign out towels as a diamond member. 

Having recently sailed on Celebrity, the lack of a towel dance was nice, you want 3 towels, take them...I would have a hard time going back to the towel rationing on NCL after that...not a deal breaker,  but a nice touch once you experienced it..

[Gershep]

I liked the convenience of just having clean pool towels in my cabin.

[grovesteve]

On 10/28/2019 at 10:28 PM, Aldeya said:

We just off the Escape and discovered new changes since our Escape cruise in March of this year.

There are no more beach towels left by an attendant for you in the cabin. We were informed by our cabin attendant this was implemented just 2 weeks ago. Now you have to go to the deck 16 pool area if you want these towels and then return them afterwards. Quite an inconvenience if you have few beach days in port one after another.

 

We were looking for a little nice voucher booklet with our Platinum perks for specialty restaurants. We couldn't find it until we saw that those vouchers are now a simple printout on a piece of paper. Another little touch lost.

 

I know I'll get the responses "go get your own towels!", "who needs nice paper for the vouchers" and such. Every time we cruise with Norwegian something is taken away, little by little, and IMO it's cheapening the whole experience.Well, this is MY opinion and  things along with non-existing towel animals and such it's what made cruising special for us.

 

I agree. The cost of the specialty restaurants is getting ridiculous. We have already paid for food for the cruise, the prices NCL wants is more then I pY for a similar restaraunt at home

[DinaS]

On 10/29/2019 at 5:43 AM, Beer Belly said:

I agree with the towel issue....PITA. I thought you can get Towel Animals upon request ?

 

You can get towel animals on request, as well as an ice bucket.  

[dcipjr]

I agree that it's a bit more convenient to have the towels already in the room, but it didn't affect us much. We aren't poolside people—and if we were, the towels are by the pool, so it's not a big deal. 

 

We got our towels for Bermuda on the day we arrived in port. The towel station was close to the Garden Cafe, where we headed for breakfast (so we could get in, out, and onto the island). We picked up the towels after breakfast, and there wasn't even a wait.

 

Not saying that what they're doing is an improvement, or that everyone will find it convenient (they won't), but I suppose it'll save some work for the busy stateroom attendants, and it'll save some unnecessary washing of towels, for passengers that aren't beach or pool people.

[nautica34]

Does the pool towel have to returned the same day or just by end of cruise? Ideally would like to get the towel day before port day to save time in the morning and then hopefully exchange for a clean one getting back on the ship. 

[hladygirl]

Still another amenity taken away. Not as good as it used to be. No towel animals or ice bucket unless requested and now no pool towels in the cabins. What will be next? We will see. We know something else will be cut out soon.

[Starry Eyes]

51 minutes ago, nautica34 said:

Does the pool towel have to returned the same day or just by end of cruise? Ideally would like to get the towel day before port day to save time in the morning and then hopefully exchange for a clean one getting back on the ship. 

End of cruise

[OceanBlueWaters]

Escape 10/13/19 Cruise to Bermuda:

I left a note for Cabin Steward to please leave me a beach towel for excursion next day. I received a phone message stating I had to go down to pool deck to get the towel.  No problem.  Just take a towel, no key/room card required.

Upon disembarking ship, there was also a "towel station" set up on pier (clean towels to take and used towel bin).  Upon returning to ship, you just threw the used towel into the bin on pier.  No key/room card needed.

I am just wondering... how are all these towels accounted for and how many will mysteriously fly away to unknown destinations? How does this reduce cost and why the change? 

 

Not a big deal, but hmmm.

 

JMO 🙂

[Newleno]

2 hours ago, nautica34 said:

Does the pool towel have to returned the same day or just by end of cruise? Ideally would like to get the towel day before port day to save time in the morning and then hopefully exchange for a clean one getting back on the ship. 

i got off the escape last week, in bermuda we walked off the ship, gave our room number, got our towel and went to the beach, on the way back told the great worker our room number, gave him the towel and walked on the ship.  When using the pool area it was pretty much the same type of program, it worked better for me than having bunch of dirty towels in the room, but to each his own.

Edited October 31, 2019 by Newleno

[Caroldoll]

Well we are Platinum, but never had to encounter this.  My first hit with realization was that we don't get water in the Owners Suite in The Haven.  Now I hear about towels.  We were going to take a family cruise on Norwegian and all of this just puts the chill on it.  We have always paid for soda packages for the younger ones and drink packages for others, but this really takes the cake.  We have paid the final amount and will take this cruise, but seriously thinking about the future!  OMG

[Oakman58]

12 hours ago, hladygirl said:

Still another amenity taken away. Not as good as it used to be. No towel animals or ice bucket unless requested and now no pool towels in the cabins. What will be next? We will see. We know something else will be cut out soon.

 

It is a small thing but what I miss the most are the little chocolates the room steward would leave during turn down service in the evening.  I'm a chocoholic and I loved those little things.

[Sabiney]

10 hours ago, Caroldoll said:

Well we are Platinum, but never had to encounter this.  My first hit with realization was that we don't get water in the Owners Suite in The Haven.  Now I hear about towels.  We were going to take a family cruise on Norwegian and all of this just puts the chill on it.  We have always paid for soda packages for the younger ones and drink packages for others, but this really takes the cake.  We have paid the final amount and will take this cruise, but seriously thinking about the future!  OMG

 

Is this something new? We've always received an unlimited supply of water and soda in the Owners Suite or above.

 

Pat

[richg35]

13 hours ago, Caroldoll said:

Well we are Platinum, but never had to encounter this.  My first hit with realization was that we don't get water in the Owners Suite in The Haven.  Now I hear about towels.  We were going to take a family cruise on Norwegian and all of this just puts the chill on it.  We have always paid for soda packages for the younger ones and drink packages for others, but this really takes the cake.  We have paid the final amount and will take this cruise, but seriously thinking about the future!  OMG

 

Oh no, no water! How will you manage without bottled water in single use plastic containers that go right in the trash? I hope you're able to somehow pick up the pieces and carry on. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by richg35

[jacksonx]

19 hours ago, Caroldoll said:

Well we are Platinum, but never had to encounter this.  My first hit with realization was that we don't get water in the Owners Suite in The Haven.  Now I hear about towels.  We were going to take a family cruise on Norwegian and all of this just puts the chill on it.  We have always paid for soda packages for the younger ones and drink packages for others, but this really takes the cake.  We have paid the final amount and will take this cruise, but seriously thinking about the future!  OMG

try an MSC cruise in the yacht club- their version of the haven.

unlimited drinks of all types- alcohol or not, in both your room as well as anywhere on the ship.

Cheaper than the Haven with far more perks and better service.

[Megalyn]

Has anyone actually been charged for a towel though?  I feel like it is simply going through the motions.  I cannot fathom that they are going through a ton of handwritten papers to match them up.  And since it’s purely verbal, the possibility of a recording error is too great to end up arguing with a guest over.

 

For me, the larger irritation was the cabin steward taking them every time.  We would pick up towels in the evening so we could go directly to Spice H2O in the morning.  Then the steward would take the clean, freshly folded towels during turn down service.  We even tried hanging them up - the signal for “don’t replace” with bath towels.  Taken every single time.  

[Langham1865]

Unfortunately changes like this are happening on all major cruise lines.  I see people complaining on the other boards i follow.  Its all about what gives you the cruise experience you want for the price and itinerary. 

[Starry Eyes]

28 minutes ago, Megalyn said:

Has anyone actually been charged for a towel though?  I feel like it is simply going through the motions.  I cannot fathom that they are going through a ton of handwritten papers to match them up.  And since it’s purely verbal, the possibility of a recording error is too great to end up arguing with a guest over.

 

For me, the larger irritation was the cabin steward taking them every time.  We would pick up towels in the evening so we could go directly to Spice H2O in the morning.  Then the steward would take the clean, freshly folded towels during turn down service.  We even tried hanging them up - the signal for “don’t replace” with bath towels.  Taken every single time.  

If towel charging errors are not being reported, your supposition might be correct.  I hang around the Royal Caribbean CC boards enough to know that post cruise towel charge complaints pop up there; if such never pop up on NCL boards either NCL is doing an amazingly accurate job tracking towel check out/return or maybe they are not charging now.  Of course, if they are logging, they could start charging any time.

 

I agree that disappearing towels would be more frustrating than current system.

[salty dingo]

We are just off Escape last week also. Towels are a pain, but by the way they are handling it, they do NOT comb through the handwritten logs to see who did and did not turn in their towels. They should just trust us, since they don't enforce the policy.

[Turtles06]

Every time I have to give a cabin number for a towel on NCL, I feel like they think I'm a criminal. I do love the fact that, on Celebrity, the clean towels are stacked up at stations on the pool deck, and you just take them.  Blankets as well.  Very nice touches.  

[cincicruisers]

So can anyone confirm that you can sign out a towel when getting off at the port?  Not sure if we need to go and get towels before we get off the ship on port days.

 

also can my husband get two towels?  I am disabled and it would be easier to have him get both.

Edited November 1, 2019 by cincicruisers

[Megalyn]

51 minutes ago, cincicruisers said:

So can anyone confirm that you can sign out a towel when getting off at the port?  Not sure if we need to go and get towels before we get off the ship on port days.

Yes, they now have towel stations just off the gangway in port.  You just state a cabin number and request the number of towels.  They might question a request for 20, but 2 is complete normal.  You can also turn in the towels when getting back aboard instead of hauling wet towels all the way up to the pool deck.

[CookieShip]

Forgot to mention in my trip report that we experienced this on the 10/6 sailing. 

A little annoying, but I signed out 2 towels after breakfast in the buffet one day. We exchanged them through out the trip and I turned them in the last day. 

 

I don't know if you need to turn them in the same place you got them (on Deck 16 pool area vs gangway off the ship). 

 

And one person can sign out a bunch of towels, a mom lady had like 5-7 of them when I was exchanging one time. 

[Zippeedee]

I am willing to bet that requesting a cabin number that no one writes down is the equivalent of the empty police car parked at known speeding areas. It gives just enough impression of law enforcement to keep people honest.   

 

As long as I don't have to return one every night, I'll be fine.  I hope a nice tip to the cabin steward will keep my "bath sheets" from disappearing from my shower.