RCL Towel Policy All Wet

[Bound4Bermuda]

On Explorer they're light blue and white striped and say Royal Caribbean International.

 

I'd like to order one of the "Gifts and Gear" RC towels to take along on my next cruise. But for the life of me I can't recall what the new onboard pool towels look like. Are they like the $25 gift and gear towels, which has the logo and name all along the length of the towel (see photo). If so, I wouldn't want to take mine along in case it gets "lifted"!

 

[ehfl]

With 10 people, no one in your party would look out for your towel while you stepped away for a minute? Ouch!

 

They really have only 2 choice....charge everyone for lost towels, or charge those that can't keep track of their towels. Personally, I don't want to have to pay for other people stealing towels.

 

Any system they put in place is going to be a compromise...I think this one is pretty fair.

[jmraggs]

Did you ever notice they were a little damp? The towel animals are not always made with clean towels my friend.

 

I am glad that we have never had your stateroom attendant! Ours are always clean.

[bcsurvivor2001]

I appreciate the need for the towel policy - like others have said....there are just some plain, lazy people. And if only 1/3 of the passengers on a ship didn't return towels - that starts getting to be a LOT of lost/missin towels.

 

However, what I have a slight problem with is the WAY they semi-execute it. Last December on our cruise with my sister and BIL - the 4 of us all checked out our respective towels, went to the pool, lounged, swam, etc. ......the boys ended up leaving before us - but didn't take their towels. My sister and I when we were done rightfully tried to hand in all 4 towels (2 each). They would not let us hand in or get credited for our own husbands towels. We were both told THEY had to turn them in with THEIR seapass

 

Now that is what is ridiculous. My husband and I are in same cabin - why couldn't I hand in the 2 towels taken out of our cabin????? We literally had to take the towels with us - and next time husbands were near the pool, THEY had to turn them in

 

They just need to simplifiy their system.

[smoosh21]

Not new.

 

Was in effect in 2008, but I think they only charged you $20 back then.

 

Yes, people steal towels. And lots of other stuff.

 

But what does this say about the people that sail Royal? :confused:

Having just gotten off the Celebrity Solstice, it is so much nicer not having to worry about it. They have hundreds of towels sitting in their cabinet on the pool deck. There is no need to stand in line at the towel station and give your room number.

 

They also give you really nice thick towels to take off the ship for the beach trips. All of their towels are a much better quality than Royal, in fact, I think Celebrity has the nicest towels at sea.

 

Anyway, it is the same dang company. Are there just that many more criminals on Royal that steal towels? :confused: Not that I would steal a towel, but I would rather steal a Celebrity Towel than a Royal Towel.

[cruisinfanatic]

I appreciate the need for the towel policy - like others have said....there are just some plain, lazy people. And if only 1/3 of the passengers on a ship didn't return towels - that starts getting to be a LOT of lost/missin towels.

 

However, what I have a slight problem with is the WAY they semi-execute it. Last December on our cruise with my sister and BIL - the 4 of us all checked out our respective towels, went to the pool, lounged, swam, etc. ......the boys ended up leaving before us - but didn't take their towels. My sister and I when we were done rightfully tried to hand in all 4 towels (2 each). They would not let us hand in or get credited for our own husbands towels. We were both told THEY had to turn them in with THEIR seapass

 

Now that is what is ridiculous. My husband and I are in same cabin - why couldn't I hand in the 2 towels taken out of our cabin????? We literally had to take the towels with us - and next time husbands were near the pool, THEY had to turn them in

 

They just need to simplifiy their system.

why didn't you just exchange them?

[klingoncruiser]

Sorry, don't blame them. So many people steal them. (as you found out....)

[Ocean Boy]

However, what I have a slight problem with is the WAY they semi-execute it. Last December on our cruise with my sister and BIL - the 4 of us all checked out our respective towels, went to the pool, lounged, swam, etc. ......the boys ended up leaving before us - but didn't take their towels. My sister and I when we were done rightfully tried to hand in all 4 towels (2 each). They would not let us hand in or get credited for our own husbands towels. We were both told THEY had to turn them in with THEIR seapass

 

Now that is what is ridiculous. My husband and I are in same cabin - why couldn't I hand in the 2 towels taken out of our cabin????? We literally had to take the towels with us - and next time husbands were near the pool, THEY had to turn them in

 

They just need to simplifiy their system.

I understand your point. However, each seapass has its own portfolio number that is read off of the magnetic strip. If a towel is checkout under one number there is no way to credit that number with a different seapass. Maybe the attendents have some way to manually go into the computer, look up your husbands number and credit it. But I think you can see how that would really slow up the process for everyone.

 

There is no way to make the system perfect. As someone else mentioned, you could have exchanged the towels for clean ones and brought those to your cabin for use the next day.

 

One thing that I am faily sure of, I doubt that RCI would have gone through the trouble of putting the system together, and paying a crew member to man the station, if they were not loosing a fair amout of cash on replacing towels.

[musicfam]

With 10 people, no one in your party would look out for your towel while you stepped away for a minute? Ouch!

 

They really have only 2 choice....charge everyone for lost towels, or charge those that can't keep track of their towels. Personally, I don't want to have to pay for other people stealing towels.

 

Any system they put in place is going to be a compromise...I think this one is pretty fair.

 

I happened to be the first one out on deck that morning. Five of our ten were small children AND it is not up to my family to WATCH my towel for me for crying out loud!!! You folks who carry the water (no pun intended) for these companies no matter what they do just kill me!

[dunblane.andersons]

I really don't know what the big deal is. You get towels swiped out at the beginning of the cruise and swipe them back in at the end. In between you simply exchange them when they are wet.

I sure wouldn't be running to the spa all the time just to avoid this.

 

We went on our first cruise last summer and realise we were super keen on the whole towel thing. We would sign towels in and out every day!! We would get them refreshed but at the end of the day we would be 'towel less'. We only needed to send DS up for towels on one excursion in France. Thanks SeaUs for the advice. We've booked for a B2B on FOS which will involve lots of excursions to beaches. We won't be flying from the UK with towels but we will make sure that we take fresh towels down to the room ready for the next day at the beach or the pool. This is why CC is great for all these tips!!

PS I agree with previous posters. Two weeks of unwashed towels...yucch. A freshly cleaned towel is great with no suntan lotion, sand etc.

[lovemylab]

One thing that I am faily sure of, I doubt that RCI would have gone through the trouble of putting the system together, and paying a crew member to man the station, if they were not loosing a fair amout of cash on replacing towels.

 

Agreed.

 

I'd prefer a system where the towels are in the cabin, but I don't find going to the pool deck to be that inconvenient. When we return from port we usually head straight to the Windjammer or pool deck anyways so we just exchange the towels while we're up there.

[linkerbink]

On Explorer they're light blue and white striped and say Royal Caribbean International.

 

Thanks! We were just on the Explorer in April but didn't use the pool because it was too cold! I'd still like to get one of those I showed in my original post, just because I like it. But maybe I'll just bring some old ones from home.

[Ocean Boy]

Agreed.

 

I'd prefer a system where the towels are in the cabin, but I don't find going to the pool deck to be that inconvenient. When we return from port we usually head straight to the Windjammer or pool deck anyways so we just exchange the towels while we're up there.

 

They used to be put in the rooms. However, the one thing that I like better about this system is that they used to just put two in the room. This way you can get more that one towel apiece if you want to without having to track down your cabin attendent and asking for them. I tend to use one for the chair and one as a pillow.

[johneeo]

But what does this say about the people that sail Royal? :confused:

Having just gotten off the Celebrity Solstice, it is so much nicer not having to worry about it. They have hundreds of towels sitting in their cabinet on the pool deck. There is no need to stand in line at the towel station and give your room number.

 

They also give you really nice thick towels to take off the ship for the beach trips. All of their towels are a much better quality than Royal, in fact, I think Celebrity has the nicest towels at sea.

 

Anyway, it is the same dang company. Are there just that many more criminals on Royal that steal towels? :confused: Not that I would steal a towel, but I would rather steal a Celebrity Towel than a Royal Towel.

 

It says people steal towels.

 

I guess that Celebrity just ups their price to take care of those that steal the towels.

 

Pretty simple.

[Sugar*Magnolia]

I agree that the towel policy is annoying. Stop putting "Royal Caribbean" on them and people will be less likely to take them.>>> SNP FWD >>>.

 

They only say Royal Caribbean the past few or couple of years. Before that they were an ugly bamboo-ish color (tan) and textured. :cool:

[Ocean Boy]

They only say Royal Caribbean the past few or couple of years. Before that they were an ugly bamboo-ish color (tan) and textured. :cool:

 

And we didn't have to sign them out.

[BillOh]

Not new.

 

Was in effect in 2008, but I think they only charged you $20 back then.

 

Yes, people steal towels. And lots of other stuff.

 

On my first two cruises, they would make you show your Seapass to get a towel, but if you can back at certain times to return your towel there was nobody there and we dropped our towels in the bucket and when we went to a late night soak in the solarium hot tubs they had a pile there with no attendants. I think people stealing towels is a minority and that the real problem in their eyes is people grabbing multiple towels to put on 8 chairs while their group only has 2 at a time on deck chairs.

[Bailey151]

I guess that Celebrity just ups their price to take care of those that steal the towels.

That may be the perception, the Celebrity is more upscale/expensive but the reality is that both lines cost about the same (not like say Azarama).

 

Someone running the Celebrity line has figured out that if you use non-logo mediocre towels on deck nobody (or few) steal them - eliminates the PITA of passengers stealing them from each other & dealing with charges.

 

Royal wants to be a bottom end line fine - then compete directly with others on this end, have the absolute cheapest prices you can find. Be the WalMart of cruise lines.

 

As I said before - holidays are coming, we'll visit family........"so I hear you're going on another cruise? Yep, we're going on Ghetto Cruise lines" What's that cost in terms of towels?

[KeywestK]

Did you ever notice they were a little damp? The towel animals are not always made with clean towels my friend.

 

I've never seen a towel animal made with a towel that didn't appear to be clean and dry. I think that's a ridiculous assumption.

[jmraggs]

I've never seen a towel animal made with a towel that didn't appear to be clean and dry. I think that's a ridiculous assumption.

 

Exactly!;)

[jmraggs]

I understand your point. However, each seapass has its own portfolio number that is read off of the magnetic strip. If a towel is checkout under one number there is no way to credit that number with a different seapass. Maybe the attendents have some way to manually go into the computer, look up your husbands number and credit it. But I think you can see how that would really slow up the process for everyone.

 

There is no way to make the system perfect. As someone else mentioned, you could have exchanged the towels for clean ones and brought those to your cabin for use the next day.

 

One thing that I am faily sure of, I doubt that RCI would have gone through the trouble of putting the system together, and paying a crew member to man the station, if they were not loosing a fair amout of cash on replacing towels.

 

We found this out when I checked the towels out and my partner returned them under his card. From now on, we return them under the card that it was checked out under, we have never had an issue.

 

A few people with sticky fingers are the ones that created this situation for everyone. Last year when speaking with a Diamond member in the overflow lounge on Jewel before the new rules for the CL were put in place, he told me that he takes the pool towels, robes and anything else he can get his hands on to give away as gifts to people. I just looked at him with disgrace; I wish they would bar people like that from ever cruising again. He even tried to take the chrome picture frame in the lounge until he looked up and noticed the surveillance camera staring down on him.

[koterry]

Exactly - humorous is Celebrity is the same company. Their policy is friendly & easy. Two logo beach towels in the room, take 'em you get charged. Deck towels are plain & use as you will. Staff walks around & removes unsed - seems to work.

 

If I can buy the cheap-o deck towels Celebrity uses for $5..........what do they cost Royal in to 50K+ quantities to purchase?

 

 

LMAO - yeah, that's the ticket!

 

 

Ya think? Their other line doesn't have the policy, are the going broke? How much does reputation cost in profits? Bet it's real profitable to be known as "Ghetto Chicken Stuff" cruise line.

 

Case in point - I have three booked within the next year, Feb is first on Royal. So far we have no 24hr coffee and $25 for towels. I'm about on more CS thing away from saying screw "Ghetto Chicken Stuff" line..................I've also got a big mouth & will tell anyone "stay away, better off booking a raft out of Haiti or Cuba, better amenities".

 

How many towels does that buy? How many towels can you buy for the permanent loss of a customer? Short sighted business logic. Costs more in ill will than it saves.

 

Call me a tightwad if you will, but I have zero problem with them making money. Drink prices are fine, I realize like movie theaters the cruise price doesn't cover the cost.............I do not however want to be screwing around with towels while I'm on vacation (I don't want it to even enter my mind).

 

So how exactly does it stop chair hogs? The ones I've seen simply use shoes or magazines.............drop something on each chair.

 

So if a towel is $25...............what the heck is a blanket on deck? $50? $100? :eek::D

LOL You just revealed your true colors..."ghetto chicken stuff"

[catlady27]

We simply took a couple of towels off our lounger on the balcony and brought them back to the room at the end of the day :D Never had any issues with towel charges or exhanges.

[BonTXNY]

Not to start new flaming but... am I to understand that only those of us in non suites tend to be seen as potential thiefs and therefore we're the only ones that the towel policy relates to? :rolleyes: I'm just askin........It really is no biggie. You take a towel or 2 and you return them, but it sure is one more thing that makes a cruise less carefree. Honestly, to have to now worry about towels on a cruise is just a bit much.

[sjb317]

We've had to checkout towels on our last 4 cruises and feel like it's no big deal. We checkout 4 on the first day, exchange them everyday after we're finished (nice clean towels for the next day!) and then return them when finished on the last day. Have not had any trouble with undeserved charges or grouchy towel attendants but maybe we've been lucky.

 

I don't think the issue is as much about stealing towels (why would anyone want one?) as it is about passengers taking towels off the ship for a beach day and losing them.

 

Sherri:)