Towel fee eliminated

[reney313]

I applaud this move. When they started with the check in/check out policy it was just a petty inconvenience. It didn't ruin my experience, but has always been a PITA for me.

[trev71]

I guess you were lucky. Plenty of us have been charged by mistake after we returned the towels.

 

Dw and I always brought our towels back by 4pm the night before to make sure. But I am sure most of you did the same thing.. Did they ever end up reversing the charge for you ?

[A&L_Ont]

We were in a CL on the Allure last July.

 

Our cabin attendant Marva left 6 towels on the balcony.

 

She said she would replace, just turn in used ones at pool.

 

It was a nice feature of this cabin.

 

Sea Ya

 

Marva is the greatest. We have had her in the past on Allure in the SLS, and we hear she might be on Oasis in March when we return. A transfer after her break is what we were told by the loft stewards in November.

 

On Allure the towels have been in the lofts waiting for your arrival. On Oasis as a suite guest you need to check them out. We have also given WOW cards to the towel attendants with some extra thanks tucked in to them. ;)

 

Oasis has a great towel steward from Guyana named Jarren. We cruised with him in August and on the first night of our November Oasis cruise we bumped into on the pool deck. He recognized us immediately and called us by name. By the middle of that cruise he was calling many people by their first names. At the end of the cruise you could see a few folks giving him the special handshake. If you have met him, you would not forget his big smile and friendly nature.

[jamin jul]

I was on the Oasis in November and agree that the pool towel guy was soo nice- always smiling. In fact- I thought all the employees were very nice. I was on the Carnival Dream April 2013 and they do charge for unreturned towels. Also- the towel station lady was terrible- very rude, and unhelpful to the point that my room attendant just changed the towels for us. As for pool chair hogs- I saw a couple on the Oasis that saved chairs with towels/book in the sun and a few chairs down in the shade at 8AM and then left for breakfast. So- the couple had saved 4 chairs in the same area!:) But - even though Oasis is a large ship- I usually could find a chair which was nice.

[DiamondSuiteCruiser]

All my RC towels have been blue. Do they have brown ones now too? I have no interest in taking the towels home but there are some people who will take anything as a souvenir.

 

I've only had gold towels, didn't know they had blue. :confused:

[Spring Valley]

I've only had gold towels, didn't know they had blue. :confused:

 

Suite, Pinnacle ad Diamond Plus cruisers get GOLD towels to prove that they are special cruisers and get a special place by the pool!:rolleyes:

[impatientlywaiting]

I just got off the Serenade 3 days ago and we had to check out the pool towels with our Seapass card and if we didn't turn them back in by the last day, we'd be charged $25.

[Big_G]

Suite, Pinnacle ad Diamond Plus cruisers get GOLD towels to prove that they are special cruisers and get a special place by the pool!:rolleyes:

 

Wow! Rolling eyes. Not a fan? I'm not sure why anyone would care what others get for perks. It has never lessened my cruise experience. ;)

[Kellie Poodle]

WOW -- two great policy changes in one year? First, RC eliminates smoking on balconies, and now, no check-out for pool towels? I'm really going to have to seriously consider booking with RC again! :cool:

 

You have to book Royal for the tutti salad in the MDR for lunch on sea days. We've been cruising Celebrity a lot lately, but in 2012 went back to Royal for an Eastern Med cruise on Grandeur and, I felt as though I was home. Better breakfast pastries, better lunch choices, pretty ship.

 

You should come back. It's a warm feeling.

[Kellie Poodle]

Great news!!!

I think I am recaliing the "old"policy correctly. The cabin steward replaced our dirty beach towels the same way bath towels are replaced. No dirty towels on the bathroom floor = no replacement.

 

That is the policy I remember. The cabin came with two clean beach towels as well as the bath towels. If you left the used beach towels on the floor, you got fresh ones. This was not just for suite guests as we had that service in both outside and regular balcony staterooms.

 

I'm one of those who hates the element of distrust that the towel monitors imply. If I steal something, then punish me, but don't IMPLY that I am going to steal towels by taking my seapass number and threatening me to charge me if I don't return the towels.

 

For heaven sakes, I'm an adult!

 

I also freely admit that I got my towels from the locker room as I really did resent the seapass for a towel business.

 

It's nice to know that Royal Caribbean has restored their trust in their guests. :)

[foxgoodrich]

Suite, Pinnacle ad Diamond Plus cruisers get GOLD towels to prove that they are special cruisers and get a special place by the pool!:rolleyes:

 

I do remember gold towels in our GS on Adventure in 2013 and our OS on Voyager in 2012, and I think they might have had gold towels on the loungers in the reserved suite section at the pool on those ships, but I don't know how they would get gold towels to D+ and Pinnacle guests who are not in suites! How could that work?

 

We are D+, and when we cruised Freedom in a balcony in Sept this year, we checked out towels at the pool with our sea passes and checked them back in at the end of the cruise. Seems like those towels were blue. (We didn't pay the big bucks for a suite on that cruise, so we didn't get the pool towel perk!:()

 

We've had a full suite three times (in 19 cruises on RC), and the last two times the towels were gold. In 2010 in the RFS on Voyager I think they were blue

Guess I had never noticed the difference in the color of the towels before!:p :p

 

Judy

Edited January 2, 2014 by foxgoodrich

[critterchick]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Royal-Caribbean-Cruise-Line-Deluxe-Beach-Towel-NEW-/131082579866?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e85216f9a

 

That looks a lot nicer than any of the pool towels that I've seen, even on the Liberty pre-inaugural when the blue towels were brand new.

[setsail]

That looks a lot nicer than any of the pool towels that I've seen, even on the Liberty pre-inaugural when the blue towels were brand new.

 

It does to me also, but there are around 4 kinds for sale on there, I just picked that one. There are around 20 pages of stuff on there, even the new December calendar for around 20$

Edited January 2, 2014 by setsail

[wolfcathorse]

Suite, Pinnacle ad Diamond Plus cruisers get GOLD towels to prove that they are special cruisers and get a special place by the pool!:rolleyes:

 

I'm sorry, I've been Diamond Plus for a couple of years now and I've never had a gold towel. I've even been in a Grand Suite and never had a gold towel.

[wwcruisers]

You have to book Royal for the tutti salad in the MDR for lunch on sea days. We've been cruising Celebrity a lot lately, but in 2012 went back to Royal for an Eastern Med cruise on Grandeur and, I felt as though I was home. Better breakfast pastries, better lunch choices, pretty ship.

 

You should come back. It's a warm feeling.

 

Hi Janet! :) Yes, we've experienced the MDR salad, on our last several RC cruises. You are right -- it's excellent! And, while we love X for X, there are several places where we thought they were better than RC -- and one of those was the pool towel policy.

 

When we first started cruising RC (back in '02) pool towels were available everywhere -- in your cabin, as well as the pool deck. And, they were in big bins at the pool (just like X) -- none of this standing in line to check them out nonsense. Then suddenly, a few years ago, the policy changed. If you were cruising in a full suite (those of us poor slobs in Junior Suites didn't count), you could have all the pool towels you wanted, delivered to your Suite. The rest of us had to have our SeaPasses swiped -- because we couldn't be trusted to not steal a ragged old towel with a Crown and Anchor on it. :rolleyes:

[riclop]

Not sure if this has been posted but effective today RCI has eliminated the $25 fee for unreturned towels.

 

 

Starting today, January 1, 2014, Royal Caribbean has eliminated the $25 (per towel) fee for unreturned towels.

 

 

 

Previously, you could rent towels from the pool deck but would be charged $25 per towel if you did not return it before the end of your cruise.

 

The change is being cited as a result of guests feedback and Royal Caribbean wanting to offer guests "greater convenience and help them enjoy their Royal Caribbean vacation even more."

 

Here is the full statement by Royal Caribbean as to why they decided to get rid of the penalty fee.

 

"We think this policy adjustment will offer guests greater convenience and help them enjoy their Royal Caribbean vacation even more. We’re constantly evaluating our policies and implementing feedback. This is just one of many ongoing changes and improvements we’ve made to ensure Royal Caribbean International is giving guests the Royal Advantage - the most innovative cruise ships, exciting itineraries to popular destinations, and world-renowned friendly and engaging Gold Anchor Service. "

Thanks for posting.

[nascargalinfla]

Shoot, my cruise on the Vision last month the towels were really nice... blue one side white the other, the white side had the Royal Crown/Anchor and it said Royal Caribbean International on it. Very nice towels.

Royal Princess had blue/white striped towels also nice and thick.

[royalcruz]

Good point, it's hard to know what changes if any it made in chair hogging.

 

Let me rephrase, at the end of the day chairs at both pools would be littered with towels left by fellow cruisers just getting up and leaving them on the chairs. After the policy was implemented everyone took their towels with them. We like to go to the Solarium late afternoon and it was difficult to find an open chair until the pool attendant cleaned up the towels.

 

Yes, when they don't have to sign out towels, people do leave towels on chairs when they are done, even when there are bins everywhere. So I figure that if the only thing on or under a chair is a towel it is not being saved by anyone. This has always worked for me.

 

If you have to get towels from your cabin and can only exchange them on the pool deck, people won't leave them around. I think RCL did it like that for a while.

Edited January 2, 2014 by royalcruz

[satxdiver]

About time they realized the error in their ways. Thanks for posting.

[Lionesss]

Suite, Pinnacle ad Diamond Plus cruisers get GOLD towels to prove that they are special cruisers and get a special place by the pool!:rolleyes:

 

Wow The 5 RCI cruises we sailed, I did not know this about the towels.

 

I thought everyone was treated fairly even though those cruisers paid more for their cruise.

 

I knew about the pool seating.

 

Sea Ya

[pe4all]

Just off first RCCL cruise this past Sunday. Had a Grand Suite. No beach towels were in the suite- neither blue or gold. We carried towels off ship at Labadee - only to find that Barefoot Beach attendents handed us 2 towels each as we got our wristbands for that area. Had we known that we wouldn't have shlepped towels! :p Used beach towels left in bathroom were never replaced with fresh ones. Had to do that at pool. BTW- loved the cruise!:)

[DrD]

This is too funny! Showing your seapass to get two towels at the beginning and end of your cruise seems to be a major burden. Yet creating your own luggage tags was not a chore!

 

I believe this new policy will aggravate the chair hog problem.

 

I'm not so sure, it could mean that deck staff is less reluctant to remove towels from unattended chairs, since they won't be taking someone's signed-out towel. I could see it going either way.

[cruiselvr04]

Happy about this....hated having to check in and out towels, just a hassle. After excursions it would be nice if there was a bin right inside the entrance back on to the ship for used towels. This would save getting sand all over the ship and in the staterooms. Hated having to lug heavy wet towels back up to the pool deck but would never dream of just leaving them on the beach. I am sure there is some abuse if you do not check them out. Guess RCL will just have to see how much they lose in towels and evaluate later. To me it felt cheap to not be trusted with a towel. I have plenty of beach towels at my house and do not need any of theirs.

[Llmtax2000]

I'm sorry, I've been Diamond Plus for a couple of years now and I've never had a gold towel. I've even been in a Grand Suite and never had a gold towel.

 

Ditto--We were in a GS in August 2013 (FOS) and we received blue towels like everyone else -- and from the deck, not from our cabin.

[A&L_Ont]

I'm sorry, I've been Diamond Plus for a couple of years now and I've never had a gold towel. I've even been in a Grand Suite and never had a gold towel.

 

Same story here... we are Diamond and suite cruises and have never seen gold towels. We have stayed in the RLS twice and the RS on Oasis and had to get our towels same as everyone else. :)