Do You Like HAL Letting us take Beach Towels.........

[cyntil8ing]

On our Westerdam cruise last month, we were surprised there were none in our cabin. We're used to Carnival and Celebrity where there are thick, high-quality fluffy towels in the cabin.

 

Instead, when we left the ship, they asked our cabin number and handed us two towels that could hardly be classified as beach towels. I don't know why they asked our cabin number because there was no one checking them back in when we returned. We just tossed them into the bin.

 

Personally, I prefer the higher quality towels and being responsible for them.

[sail7seas]

I have never actually heard of anyone being charged for not returning a beach towel to a HAL ship.

 

Does anyone specifically know if they, indeed, have charged anyone?

 

I fully agree they should if people cannot be responsible enough to return them.

[startwin]

On RCI we pick up beach towels on the Lido deck, sign for them and if we don't return them at the end of the cruise our account would be charged $25 per towel. They are nice beach towels, too. I have no problem with that system.

[GPoll189]

I have to agree that I think charging for lost beach towels is the way to go. I was on Carnival and they give you two beach towels in the room. If you need to change them out after a day at the beach you just leave them on the floor and the steward will give you a replacement. However, if you don't have the amount of beach towels you started your cruise at the end of the cruise then you have to pay for it.

 

On Royal Caribbean it is much easier. They scan your card on the Lido deck ask you how many towels you need. Once you do that they put a notation on your card and they will charge you for the missing towels if you don't return them then you are charged also.

 

It seems that most of the poster here return their towels after a day ashore so if HAL started charging for unreturned towels it wouldn't make a difference to us. The other mass market lines are doing it why can't HAL start. They might make some money from it.

[Sea42]

This is one of those things that seems to me to simply be bad management on HAL's part. People in the modern age understand that such things as signing for a beach towel are not sacrifices in quality and do not reflect poorly on HAL.

 

Truth of the matter is that in contemporary society, some people simply do not care enough and do not appreciate that they need to be responsible about such a thing as returning a beach towel.

 

That's sad, but I think it is the truth of the matter.

 

If HAL is/was losing 10 or 15 percent of their towels, it's their own fault.

 

IMO

I agree. There is a very simple solution to the problem that shouldn't concern anyone who returns their towels. Scolding those people who don't bother returning their towels won't work. Charging them will.

[vbmom87]

Guess HAL will have to start doing what some other cruise lines are doing. There will be a towel for each person in the cabin when you embark. And if there aren't -- say 2 towels for 2 people in the cabin at the end of the cruise -- then you will be charged for missing ones.

 

That is what NCL claimed they would do on our Hawaii cruise.

[lvz2cruz]

Am I the only one who has left the ship with one or two towels, and returned to the ship with three or four?

 

I guess some people are living their lives hoping others will be there to pick up after them...

:cool:

 

 

I picked up towels in the shopping area at Crown Bay in St. Thomas last year. It was so annoying to me that people threw them down outside the stores. Funny they were able to hold onto their personal possessions...

 

 

It's the same way onbaord around the pool. Every day people get up and walk away leaving their towels on the chairs. I will ask if they are coming back and when they say no I get up, pick up their towel, and put it in the bin. It's shocking the amount there when we leave very late afternoon/early evening.

[Hlitner]

We have been on many cruise lines (11 to date) and they all let us take towels off the ship at ports. Some lines try to keep track (and charge for missing towels) but most of the time its similar to the HA policy.

 

Hank

[winged wheel]

Sadly, I fear the days of honor system beach towels on HAL are numbered. Shipboard life seems to be a harsh miror on our declining society where entitlement rules and personal responsibility and respect for others property (HAL's in this case) are things of the past. :mad:

[Krazy Kruizers]

This is exactly what they did last week on Eurodam. We took towels off in Grand Turk and St Thomas. They require your room# now and if it is not returned you are charged $20.00 per towel.

 

When we returned them they again asked for our room # and showed them as returned. It was really an easy process and had no problem with it.

 

If the percentage of loss towels is as high as reported here -- HAL should do this on ALL ships.

[Krazy Kruizers]

It has been a number of years since we have sailed on Princess -- so I don't know if this is still their policy -- but when we arrived in our cabin there were 2 beach towels that we were to use for the entire week.

We really didn't like the idea as we had to laid them out in the bathroom to dry out. Using the same beach towel for a week is not my cup of tea.

[FrankNJ]

It never ceases to amaze me how inconsiderate some people are . We would never think of not returning the towels they were so gracious to lend us . So a few bad apples may end up ruining this too .

[bcd2010]

It's a matter of being responsible for what you borrowed. For some people, it takes forced accountability (having to pay for towels). OTOH, they can probably argue their way out of a charge because HAL will probably not stand firm on this policy, either.

 

I can imagine the rare accidental losing of a towel, but cannot fathom making a conscious decision to leave one behind.

[Viesczy]

I agree about making us sign them out and charging the room. The sheer # of towels on Vista class might make it a chore, but if the amount lost is truly 10-15% and they're charging $25 a towel... that'll make some coin and discourage folks from not returning the towel.

 

Now let's do some fingering... basing the #s off of 15% of the ships total towels and assuming there are 3 (?) towels per passenger & Vista class with approx 2k pass (for round #s). 3 towels x 2k passengers = 6k towels 15% of that is 900 towels x $25 = $225,000.

 

As far as using "public" towels, I'll pass. I don't go bowling because I'm wearing someone else's shoes, you think I'm going to use a towel that could've been used for ANYTHING, acts that are so vile that even demons would turn away, by the person before me? PASS on that. I'll bring my own.

 

Derek

[cyntil8ing]

As far as using "public" towels, I'll pass. I don't go bowling because I'm wearing someone else's shoes, you think I'm going to use a towel that could've been used for ANYTHING, acts that are so vile that even demons would turn away, by the person before me? PASS on that. I'll bring my own.

 

You bring towels and washcloths from home? Do you bring your own sheets too? I would think those would be worse! ;)

[cyntil8ing]

We really didn't like the idea as we had to laid them out in the bathroom to dry out. Using the same beach towel for a week is not my cup of tea.

 

We've always just left ours on the floor with other wet towels and they've been replaced. We've never had to use the same towel! Ewwww.

 

I prefer having the towels in the room so they're at hand when I pack my backpack. Much easier than trying to shove a towel into a backpack while you're walking off the ship and trying to dodge the photographers.

[VioletHorse]

It has been a number of years since we have sailed on Princess -- so I don't know if this is still their policy -- but when we arrived in our cabin there were 2 beach towels that we were to use for the entire week.

 

We really didn't like the idea as we had to laid them out in the bathroom to dry out. Using the same beach towel for a week is not my cup of tea.

 

Having sailed on Princess recently, I can vouch for the fact that used beach towels are replaced by the room steward as needed. Those Princess bathrooms are so small that there isn't any extra room to dry out beach towels - heck there's barely any room for a person to move around without hitting a wall (I am so spoiled by HAL's bathrooms).

[1 HappyCruiser]

It has been a number of years since we have sailed on Princess -- so I don't know if this is still their policy -- but when we arrived in our cabin there were 2 beach towels that we were to use for the entire week.

 

We really didn't like the idea as we had to laid them out in the bathroom to dry out. Using the same beach towel for a week is not my cup of tea.

 

On Princess there are 2 towels in the room and replaced as needed + all the towels you want at the pools for the taking.

They don't check them in or out from the ship.

Charging for missing towels only encourages one thing - finding one laid out on a chair near the pool & turning it in as yours if you forgot yours at the beach unless they resort to using this tactic.

http://tech2.in.com/news/lifestyle/hotels-get-sick-of-missing-towels-install-rfids/213902

[GeriatricNurse]

On Princess there are 2 towels in the room and replaced as needed + all the towels you want at the pools for the taking.

They don't check them in or out from the ship.

Charging for missing towels only encourages one thing - finding one laid out on a chair near the pool & turning it in as yours if you forgot yours at the beach unless they resort to using this tactic.

http://tech2.in.com/news/lifestyle/hotels-get-sick-of-missing-towels-install-rfids/213902

 

 

If you don't mind, could you please consider increasing the size of your font! :) I, for one, find it difficult to read your interesting & informative posts with such a small font! :)

[peaches from georgia]

HAL has been giving beach towels out at the gangway for years and years with no check-out or -in procedure. Has there even been a hint of this policy changing?

 

I'm sure we can rely on the beancounters to be monitoring loss and if it was a big problem the policy would have changed long before this. Are we just looking for something else to worry about?

[scdreamer]

We take and use towels from the ship whenever we're going to the beach. DH puts them in a backpack and we bring them back that way. Yes, it's tempting to leave wet and sandy towels on the beach, but we never do and hope that more people would be considerate and thankful that HAL provides this service.

 

Not tempting at all for me. I hadn't even considered that towels would not be returned! I guess I am an innocent ...

[Boytjie]

We recently sailed on Celebrity and had the opposite experience -- too many beach towels in our stateroom lol. We couldn't figure out why they kept leaving more beach towels in our cabin. We never used any of them either. :p

 

We had the same thing happen on NCL's Prode of America last year - and we were using the towels too! I think at the end of the 7 day cruise we had 12 beach towels! The steward would replace the ones we took to the beach and then replace the used ones we brought back.

[gelo7]

Never occurred to me that someone would just leave the ships towels at the beach.....

[bozemanman]

On Princess there are 2 towels in the room and replaced as needed + all the towels you want at the pools for the taking.

They don't check them in or out from the ship.

Charging for missing towels only encourages one thing - finding one laid out on a chair near the pool & turning it in as yours if you forgot yours at the beach unless they resort to using this tactic.

http://tech2.in.com/news/lifestyle/hotels-get-sick-of-missing-towels-install-rfids/213902

 

 

...Sorry to tell you but on our last trip to Hawaii on the Golden Princess last March they DID ask for name and cabin # as you took towels from the ship.

[cruz chic]

On Princess there are 2 towels in the room and replaced as needed + all the towels you want at the pools for the taking.

They don't check them in or out from the ship.

Charging for missing towels only encourages one thing - finding one laid out on a chair near the pool & turning it in as yours if you forgot yours at the beach unless they resort to using this tactic.

http://tech2.in.com/news/lifestyle/hotels-get-sick-of-missing-towels-install-rfids/213902

I've been on several cruises on Princess and have never been able to get a towel by the pool. I was told you need to bring them from the room.