Would you PAY for towel animals?

[dunrobbin]

In a Grand suite last May for 7 nights cruise to Alaska.  Got 2 Towel animals only.    

[moposh]

I LOVE towel animals, but I would not pay for them.  I'm not taking them home.

[jean87510]

Cute but not my thing.  Same goes for ducks.  Cute but not my thing

[loman]

I hardly pay any extra for anything on a cruise as it is .  

The included stuff is more than enough for me.

The last thing i would pay for is a towel animal .

[cruisegirl1]

I tell the cabin attendant not to bother with a towel animal for us.  

m

[dani negreanu]

42 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

I tell the cabin attendant not to bother with a towel animal for us.  

m

 

Same here.

d

[broadwaybaby123]

I can make the towel animals myself, so no.

[GetToLivin]

But but but! They're recovering from the pandemic and then there's inflation AND who are we to say that just because we've always gotten towel animals for FREE that it means things don't change and we need to adapt?! 

 

Adapt!

 

For anyone who disagrees RCI isn't forcing you to give them your money and you can just hightail it to another cruise line. Hmph!

 

😎 🍿

[LobsterStalker]

5 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

I'll deal with any of them except for the psycho monkey hanging from the ceiling.

I REALLY didn't want to respond to this thread but this was Tooo funny

We came in to find the "psycho"monkey hanging on his hanger and also noticed our attendant was right across the hall . I proceeded to put DW's skimpiest on the monkey and we called attendant over to have a look . I never would have dreamed a man with such dark skin could turn so red 

...It was priceless

 

Cheers 

[PashaPoo]

For years we have told the steward that the towel fairy would stop by each night and he might leave a tip if he liked the towel animal.     We did this instead of tipping at the end.  And the animals were fantastic.  By the end of the trip the towels were spectacular more and more each night.    

And we tipped twice more than usual and had great fun. The last seven day trip, the steward built an alligator with an apple in his snout and it was so big he had to put it in the middle of the bed.   the steward could not wait to see if we liked it, he told us they were no longer permitted to do animals every night, but since we were in a suite he gave us one every night and he enjoyed our appreciation of his work and he felt certain we would not complain.     We have done this for years, but I guess we will have to stop on our next trip since rules have changed.   so sad.  What is the UEUP?  Unlimited Elevator?

 

[luckyinpa]

at the captains question thing they did say all their hot water is free. so much heat from the engine makes it so. so i dont feel so bad about the animals.

[Ret MP]

8 hours ago, Ret MP said:

That was on the Symphony, the 4 bedroom Family Villa.  One thing for sure, with that thing, I'd be able to take several showers a day with fresh towels. 

 

[Tatka]

I am struggling with this. We don’t cruise with kids anymore so we don’t need towel animals , year most of the time we get it. I feel bad that stewards feels need do this and don’t feel comfortable to ask not too. 

[Ret MP]

11 minutes ago, Tatka said:

I am struggling with this. We don’t cruise with kids anymore so we don’t need towel animals , year most of the time we get it. I feel bad that stewards feels need do this and don’t feel comfortable to ask not too. 

If you feel guilty about having the towel animals and/or the steward feels uncomfortable about asking if you want them, just tell him/her, on the first day, that you don't want any, ever, zip, nada, nothing.  

[JupiterTwo]

16 hours ago, Cayman1 said:

I am purchasing the UTAP on my next cruise (Unlimited Towel Animal Package). Waiting on the prices...

 

 

You can only get the UTAP if everyone in your cabin gets it, too. No sharing!

[Ocean Boy]

12 hours ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

I can make the towel animals myself, so no.

I can't make them myself and my answer is still no.

[cargopilot]

Here is a side story to towel animals. My wife and I were on a cruise out of Bayonne and we met our cabin attendant right away, and he seemed personable. During the week, we entered our cabin at night and the tv was on a cartoon channel and a towel animal was watching the tv from the top of the couch. Well, this made us feel so good that we had to mention it to the attendant. He thanked us for acknowledging his work. Our extra tip made sense.

[adolfo2]

20 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

The pizza thread got me thinking of other things Royal could or might plan to charge for in the future; would you pay a fee for getting towel animals throughout your cruise?  Let's face it, they are MASSIVELY wasteful  - Need extra towels, more laundry (one of the biggest consumers of energy on the ship), laundry staff/labor, more work for stateroom attendants each day if everyone wants them. I personally don't care if we get them or not and would never, under any circumstance, pay for one. But I do see where some people will pay for absolutely any/everything. Curious where YOU fall in this; Yes, No, Maybe? 

AS an aside... Carnival is the largest "Towel Animal" purveyor (offender) yet they had the nerve to justify the elimination of table cloths in the MDR's due to environmental considerations... GO FIGURE!     

[Engineroom Snipe]

Great fun topic with so many serious and funny responses.

 

I do think questions regarding services are going to become more and more based in reality.

 

The question about pizza has been asked.

 

We are down to once-a-day room service (unless in a suite).

 

MDR choices have been reduced.

 

MDR ordering requests have been reduced.

 

"Gratuities" are automatically charged unless one "opts out".

 

The majority of ships have been "amped" requiring a fee to be paid for sauna use after the "amp".

 

The beautiful views from the trademark "Viking Lounges" are slowly disappearing as the older ships are replaced.

 

Diamond lounges seem to be an afterthought on many of the larger ships.

 

24 hour free room service has been reduced to select breakfast items with all else requiring a fee.

 

I know times change but many of these things made a cruise vacation stand-out to me against a land based vacation.

 

Sigh.....

 

😞

[toxicfairy]

We still enjoy the towel animals. I take a picture of everyone we get. Of course we then dismantle and use the towels lol. But NO we would never pay for them. 

[Nunagoras]

Back in the day, when lady Allure first come Europe for her 1st dry dock, I receive one such towel animals in my first day. A simple no more thanks suffixed for my cabin steward not to do more. We don't have kids, so no purpose. As far as things go: If you have kids with yourselves, it might to be interesting, otherwise better to discontinue that practice. Cabin assistants are still very overworked, no more needed.

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

Great fun topic with so many serious and funny responses.

 

I do think questions regarding services are going to become more and more based in reality.

 

The question about pizza has been asked.

 

We are down to once-a-day room service (unless in a suite).

 

MDR choices have been reduced.

 

MDR ordering requests have been reduced.

 

"Gratuities" are automatically charged unless one "opts out".

 

The majority of ships have been "amped" requiring a fee to be paid for sauna use after the "amp".

 

The beautiful views from the trademark "Viking Lounges" are slowly disappearing as the older ships are replaced.

 

Diamond lounges seem to be an afterthought on many of the larger ships.

 

24 hour free room service has been reduced to select breakfast items with all else requiring a fee.

 

I know times change but many of these things made a cruise vacation stand-out to me against a land based vacation.

 

Sigh.....

 

😞

And don't forget that while making these changes (cuts) they have also amped ships by stuffing more cabins (people) into the ships creating more competition for public space, deck loungers, Windjammer seating, bartender attention, etc.

 

One only has to have cruised during the restart at reduced capacity to realize what amazing experiences those cruises were. Imagine bartenders with the time to actually practice their craft learning your particular likes and making concoctions they thought you might like. Walking into the Solarium at 10 AM and not having to go on a hunt for seating was a treat.

 

Yeah, now go ahead and charge for Sorrento's...🙄

[topnole]

21 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

The pizza thread got me thinking of other things Royal could or might plan to charge for in the future; would you pay a fee for getting towel animals throughout your cruise?  Let's face it, they are MASSIVELY wasteful  - Need extra towels, more laundry (one of the biggest consumers of energy on the ship), laundry staff/labor, more work for stateroom attendants each day if everyone wants them. I personally don't care if we get them or not and would never, under any circumstance, pay for one. But I do see where some people will pay for absolutely any/everything. Curious where YOU fall in this; Yes, No, Maybe? 

Every single thing about cruising is massively wasteful.   Other than for the workers, it’s entirely unnecessary pleasure travel.  
 

As far as towels, I don’t care, but they put a lot of smiles on faces every day in every cruise and that is the reason many love cruising (the joy of the experience).  They aren’t going to charge for them anyhow, so it’s irrelevant.  
 

Nothing wrong with Royal doing surveys to determine what customers want and more importantly what they are willing to pay for.  This is a sign they are behaving strategically with justification as opposed to just guessing and implementing strategies without data to back up the choice.   

[Jetdriver787]

I say “get rid of the bloody things!” I assumed it was them that ate all the pillow chocolates!

 

I have always doubted that the room attendants spend their afternoons slavishly performing “Bath sheet Origami.” Surely there is a department somewhere  in the Bowels of deck 1, where children are (or should be) forced to turn out thousands of these things for the delight of returning late-night revellers? 
 

I just can’t bring myself to believe that international recruiters from Miami travel the globe and throw a handful of rags at some poor interviewee and say, “Here! Make me a Platypus!”  

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

Great fun topic with so many serious and funny responses.

 

I do think questions regarding services are going to become more and more based in reality.

 

The question about pizza has been asked.

 

We are down to once-a-day room service (unless in a suite).

 

MDR choices have been reduced.

 

MDR ordering requests have been reduced.

 

"Gratuities" are automatically charged unless one "opts out".

 

The majority of ships have been "amped" requiring a fee to be paid for sauna use after the "amp".

 

The beautiful views from the trademark "Viking Lounges" are slowly disappearing as the older ships are replaced.

 

Diamond lounges seem to be an afterthought on many of the larger ships.

 

24 hour free room service has been reduced to select breakfast items with all else requiring a fee.

 

I know times change but many of these things made a cruise vacation stand-out to me against a land based vacation.

 

Sigh.....

 

😞

Future charges might be for specific lectures

A rated entertainment

Autographs from famous passengers

Drinking water

Entertainment on tenders

Extra napkins in MDR