Public Restrooms

[Shipcats6]

Doing 1st Med cruise in September. We were told by a frequent traveler to Italy that public restrooms are not free and that there is also a charge for toilet paper. Is this true?

 

Feel silly asking.

[jmkennett]

Never was charged for TP. (-: But they do charge a Euro or two for the restrooms. My advice. Find a Hard Rock Cafe or McDonalds and go there. Many of the large hotels will never stop you from entering. Look like you belong and find a beautiful, clean restroom, just off of most lobbies.

[Florissouri]

Never was charged for TP. (-: But they do charge a Euro or two for the restrooms. My advice. Find a Hard Rock Cafe or McDonalds and go there. Many of the large hotels will never stop you from entering. Look like you belong and find a beautiful, clean restroom, just off of most lobbies.

 

In Rome I was miffed I had to go all the way downstairs in the Termini station to find a restroom and then it was 1 Euro to pee, so I went into the McDonald's across the street. The women's restroom was closed so both sexes stood in line to use the two stalls in the men's room.

 

I find it ironic Europeans like to taut their "free healthcare" but are unable to provide free, clean, public restrooms. If you do find one you're lucky if it does have a toilet seat and paper.

[buchhalm]

so, there you are spending thousands on a holiday and then complain for spending a Euro or two (IF that much) for a clean, public restroom?

 

Tell me, where in - for example - New York will you find a clean, free-of-charge and SAFE public toilet? One that actually does have all seats, no graffity, drug adicts or other unsavoury characters lurking around?

Facilities in hotels, restaurants (fast food or otherwise), department stores, libraries etc do not count.

[Blue Elephant]

In lots of places, you will need to pay a small fee to use the public toilet. I have seen fees ranging from 0.30 euros to 1.5 or even 2 euros. The cleanliness will vary from disgusting and smelly to quite clean and well equipped.

 

I have never been charged separately for toilet paper. Last year, we learned to keep a collection of small denomination coins ready for the public toilets. There is no consistency whatsoever to the charges, so you need to be prepared with multiple coins.

 

However, restaurants, bars and coffee shops do not charge customers to use their toilets, so make use of them when you stop for refreshments.

[lisiamc]

In lots of places, you will need to pay a small fee to use the public toilet. I have seen fees ranging from 0.30 euros to 1.5 or even 2 euros. The cleanliness will vary from disgusting and smelly to quite clean and well equipped.

 

I have never been charged separately for toilet paper. Last year, we learned to keep a collection of small denomination coins ready for the public toilets. There is no consistency whatsoever to the charges, so you need to be prepared with multiple coins.

 

However, restaurants, bars and coffee shops do not charge customers to use their toilets, so make use of them when you stop for refreshments.

 

Very good advice. I'd go a step further and say to plan your breaks so that you stop for a coffee/bottle of water/gelato when you need the loo. bars and cafes are easy to find. Public toilets are often NOT so easy to find. And fold up a couple of tissues in your pocket. It's not unusual to find a loo that's run out of paper.

[stowaway2k]

find it ironic Europeans like to taut their "free healthcare" but are unable to provide free, clean, public restrooms. If you do find one you're lucky if it does have a toilet seat and paper.

 

 

Sounds much like the USA, along with notoriously unafordable health-care.

 

A supply of coins and traveller-size tissue, you're set. As mentioned before, hotels are a great option.

 

I'd be quite satisfied having to pay an occasional a buck to use a clean public restroom and having free healcare. :rolleyes:

[Gracie115]

Ha! I had no problem paying a euro or two while on our 1st Med cruise and in all but one place had clean sanitary conditions......and imagine my chagrin upon arriving back in the States at an eastern USA airport (I'll leave out the city so as not to anger anyone) and standing in line to get thru customs only to rush to use a bathroom that while free had NOT ONE stall that didn't have urine or worse on the floor, broken locks on the stalls and a horrible odor....... it wasn't a great "welcome home" for sure!!!:eek:

[Baseball fan]

If you are in Rome, bathrooms at the Vatican are free ....and very clean.

[cruisemom42]

If you are in Rome, bathrooms at the Vatican are free ....and very clean.

 

That may be true, but the Vatican is a long way from most of the rest of historic Rome! ;) Too far, at least, for a bathroom break.

[maryann ns]

I agree with the others. Between museum stops and cafes I almost never need to find a 'public' washroom.

[slidergirl]

I always buy a little drink from a bar/restaurant if I dive in to use the restroom, even Mickey D's. They are there for their customers. If I go into someplace else, I will go up to the Desk and ask if I may use the facilities. It's just me.

Europe is not the only place where you may have to pay for using the toilet and maybe for TP. If you plan to travel anywhere in the world, be prepared to pay. I remember the old days in the US where there were plenty of pay toilets where you had to put the coin in the door...

[FTLcruisers]

the only place we stopped that charged for toilet paper (in addition to using the toilets) was Monaco. We went to the changing of the guard and several women were outraged. Luckily I always have a roll of travel-size Charmin in my bag!

[cruisemom42]

The only place where anyone has tried to charge me for toilet paper was in Egypt. I always travel with either one of those Charmin travel rolls or at worst a packet of tissues.

 

I generally have no problem stopping for an espresso or something and then using the restroom. At least that way I get something out of the cost! (For the record, you can get a simple espresso for less than a euro at less touristy bars.) I can only think of one public restroom in Rome that I've ever used, at the metro stop near the Spanish Steps.

 

Toilets in restaurants/bars in Rome rarely have seats. It seems much more common in Rome than anywhere else I've traveled. I can only assume Romans have an aversion to them......! ;)

 

Edited to add: I should have specified that it's much more common than other places I've traveled in Europe. There are a number of places I've been where even a seatless toilet would be a vast improvement on the facilities offered.

[euro cruiser]

In Rome I was miffed I had to go all the way downstairs in the Termini station to find a restroom and then it was 1 Euro to pee, so I went into the McDonald's across the street. The women's restroom was closed so both sexes stood in line to use the two stalls in the men's room.

 

I find it ironic Europeans like to taut their "free healthcare" but are unable to provide free, clean, public restrooms. If you do find one you're lucky if it does have a toilet seat and paper.

Are there really plentiful free, public (as in funded by tax money, which is what you imply with your comment about Europe), clean facilities in Florida?

 

Most of what I find in the States are private (as in part of a store or other business) but people assume they are "for the public" (and perhaps they are). In any event, public funds are not used to provide facilities in most of the places I travel in the States.

 

I've been to places in the world where I was happy to find some kind of privacy screen around the designated hole in the floor/ground.

 

Prepared travelers carry at least tissues, some of us who are a tad more phobic (me) also carry antibacterial wipes. A good friend and I have been known to leave public restrooms considerably cleaner than we found them.

[ssb]

Buy something!

 

Even at some McDonalds

we had to have the code off your receipt

to get into the restroom!!!

[helpthejuggler]

I hear "when in Rome" so very often on CC.

For once it makes sense. :rolleyes:

[Florissouri]

so, there you are spending thousands on a holiday and then complain for spending a Euro or two (IF that much) for a clean, public restroom?

 

Tell me, where in - for example - New York will you find a clean, free-of-charge and SAFE public toilet? One that actually does have all seats, no graffity, drug adicts or other unsavoury characters lurking around?

Facilities in hotels, restaurants (fast food or otherwise), department stores, libraries etc do not count.

 

Just about every fast food restaurant, gas station/convenience store, public buildings and yes, they do count because offering clean restrooms has been a selling point in American business for decades. When I was growing up in the 1960s offering clean restrooms was part of advertisements. Today, it is simply expected and even demanded that a business offer clean restrooms. I've been in restaurant management half my life for several different corporations and dirty restrooms is one of the quickest ways to get fired and/or have your restaurant shut down by the City Health Department.

[Florissouri]

Sounds much like the USA, along with notoriously unafordable health-care.

 

A supply of coins and traveller-size tissue, you're set. As mentioned before, hotels are a great option.

 

I'd be quite satisfied having to pay an occasional a buck to use a clean public restroom and having free healcare. :rolleyes:

 

Providing public restrooms is the very basis of public health. Perhaps you've never heard of Typhoid Fever?

 

It's a myth that healthcare is unaffordable in the US, but costs could be brought down if there were changes in the system that are unrelated to patient care itself. Also, the entire world piggybacks on drug and medical innovations made possible in the United States.

 

Healthcare is also not rationed and patients are not wait-listed for medical test and procedures in the US as they are in the rest of the world. If a patient goes for a doctor's visit and the doctor wants a MRI he can order it and the patient will get it within an hour. In Canada, for example, the average wait for a MRI is 67 days.

 

Living in Florida I am around Canadians every day and they tell me they thought their healthcare system was great until they got older and actually needed it for something other than minor ailments.

[Florissouri]

I agree with the others. Between museum stops and cafes I almost never need to find a 'public' washroom.

 

And my guess is you are not a senior. Seniors need restrooms more often and in short order even if they are wearing Depends.

[Florissouri]

Are there really plentiful free, public (as in funded by tax money, which is what you imply with your comment about Europe), clean facilities in Florida?

 

 

First, keep in mind I brought up Termini station. Is that not a government entity? Only one restroom in the entire station located downstairs and you have to pay?

 

Second, as I stated above, providing clean restrooms for the public in restaurants is required by Municipal Health Departments in the US. Yes, you can always find a nasty restroom somewhere, but they are the exception and not the rule by far.

[euro cruiser]

Come to New York and try the rest rooms at Penn Station or the Port Authority. They are free, but you sure get what you pay for.

[MarleneAm]

Prepared travelers carry at least tissues, some of us who are a tad more phobic (me) also carry antibacterial wipes. A good friend and I have been known to leave public restrooms considerably cleaner than we found them.

________________________________________________________________

To be prepared in Europe and everyplace else, including the USA, bring small packages of baby wipes. You can use them as TP, to wash your hands, to wipe the sweat off your face, to clean your eyeglasses and sunglasses and to wipe off the table and the silverware if necessary and remove pidgeon dodo. Also have a supply of 50C Euro coins and 1 Euro coins to pay for the bathroom when you need it. The first time we were in France, my friend who was traveling with her 3 year old did have the baby wipes and neither she nor her son got sick. The rest of us got bad respiratory infections from using the linen rolling towels, along with everybody else in the world, in the clean public 50C Euro bathrooms.

[Florissouri]

Come to New York and try the rest rooms at Penn Station or the Port Authority. They are free, but you sure get what you pay for.

 

That's because you have these things called unions. If a few more people got fired for not doing their jobs your restrooms would be cleaner.

[D4]

Be aware that it is common in Rome for bathrooms in restaurants and cafes to be upstairs or downstairs, often via a tiny spiral staircase. These can be difficult for those with mobility problems.

 

Also it is common to just have one unisex bathroom and no toilet seat.