Towel charges are back

[Brandonclan]

That has happened to us twice, and it required in a 10 minute phone call to get the erroneous charge removed. However, I'd gladly accept this inconvenience if the re-imposition of the towel check-out procedure would result in significantly fewer incidents of chair hogging.

 

Always the voice of reason...... bring back the charges if it keeps people

"kind of" honest!!@

[Ocean Boy]

Yes, and loving every minute of it. Tonight the teen flow riders were out there. I was this afternoon. They also changed the sand artist routine in Frozen in Time to the Tin Soldier from Thumbelina.

 

 

 

 

Lat week I thought that Ice Games on Allure was one of the best ice shows that I have seen escept for the missing sand artist. That was something that I think I will never forget.

[melbur]

I am also back from the March 2nd Freedom. We looked down at the pier at Labadee just before sail away and watched the poor over loaded crew trying to drag on HUGE piles of towels they had to collect all over the beach that lazy passengers just left there. There were about 20 trailers full of them. The whole process of trying to drag in those piles actually made us later than usual.

 

If people would be polite and considerate of property, there would be no need for towel charges. But alas....that is not the world we live in. Count me in as another that does not want to have to pay higher cruise rates due to costs for the extra work involved in collecting and loss due to these lazy and inconsiderate people.

 

All the cabanas on both Nellies and Barefoot provide up to 6 towels each - this is usually the pile of towels returning to the ship

[kwazi07]

I love Royal Caribbean, but I fail to understand how they can be the only mainstream cruise line who has to totally inconvenience passengers in order to keep track of their towels.:rolleyes:

 

Actually, Carnival does/used to do this.

 

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[Dave85]

Actually, Carnival does/used to do this.

 

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At least as of my last Carnival cruise (disembarked in January 2013), Carnival employed a very logical system of leaving beach towels in your cabin for you, and you were responsible for leaving the same number of beach towels in your cabin at the end of the cruise. It's actually a very convenient system for guests that still helps the line manage towels, and I think it's far superior to the old RCI system.

[LetsGetWet!]

After watching chairs covered with towels and no one there for more than two hours, sweep them off and sit down--a "sit down rebellion." I know one woman came back after SIX hours of prime time (at least it was 6 hours after we sat down) and was furious but we let her rant (we had offered the chair to an elderly woman who could not find a place to sit). Everyone around us cheered which did not make her happy. She stomped away. I support the towel check-out! There is NO reason why 90+% of the chairs should be covered with towels at 7:30 in the morning. It is one thing to slip into the pool and leave your things but everyone around you realizes what you are doing. It is quite another to put a towel on it and assume that it is yours if and when you ever show up. Use it or lose it!

 

Too bad they don't have a marking device like the parking meter folks to mark when the towel was first noticed as unoccupied. I also support the towel check-out because it forces people to be responsible for turning those towels back in rather than leaving them around like my little kids used to leave them all over the bathroom (grrrrrrrh).

We would have most certainly joined in in the cheering! Good for you! :cool:

[LetsGetWet!]

I'm on the Explorer next week with 4 sea days. I hope the towel charge is back in effect! If people aren't returning towels there will be a big problem in the Solarium. I say Hooray! bring back the towel check.

 

The $25 is not a revenue thing, it's meant to be punitive so people won't just leave them laying all around the ship (or shore). If RCI really wanted it to be a revenue generator the fee would be twice the cost of a towel, or maybe $10. I think then there would be a lot of people that just wouldn't care and RCI would make some money.

 

Some posters have complained about wasting their vacation time checking out/in towels. What about my time roaming around 30 minutes in the Solarium trying to find a seat without a wet towel that I have no idea was just abandoned or not. Do I have to wait 30 minutes? Do you consider making MTD reservations or waiting for a MTD table a waste of your vacation time (I do). Do you consider the WindJammer seat hunt a waste? Do you consider waiting in line at the Park Cafe a waste of your time? My point is there are other lines. Fortunately for me, I can't remember waiting more than 1 minute to get a towel.

 

Enjoy your future cruises.

I was the one who posted about it being a revenue thing, and was trying to be facetious - sorry if that wasn't obvious. :)

 

You do bring up good points about the many other potential time wasters, but that doesn't mean that one or two less wouldn't be good! I think a couple alternative methods have been mentioned in this thread, which would accomplish the same objectives while being more time-efficient for the passenger. That's the kind of thing RCI should look at.

[bouhunter]

We have never been charged for a towel on any of our cruises. It's never been an issue and it's very easy to check it out and then just trade off everyday til the last when we turn in the towels. The fact that a lot of people are lazy, self-serving and slobs shouldn't surprise anyone. Anyway, point is, I read about erroneous charges and we've never had any erroneous charges of any kind on a cruise, so I do have to wonder just how common it is.

 

I prefer the towel charge. If people are going to behave like spoiled children, then they need to be treated that way. It's not a big inconvenience for us to check out towels and it's worth it to me to impact the chair hogs anyway we can.

 

I agree with every word of this!!! Add one thing in addition to lazy, self-serving and slobs ---- thieves :(

Edited March 13, 2014 by bouhunter

[TC1957]

I can't understand why people would purposely take the towels either. Except that I live in South Florida, and whenever I go to the beach I spot at least 2-3 people with "stolen" cruise line towels :(

 

 

Just curious...but how, in the name of horse feathers, do you know the towel was "stolen"? Maybe they liked the towel so much they willingly paid the $25 per towel charge for not turning them back in at the end of the cruise. I know you can buy Royal Caribbean towels (I think they used to be white with a large blue stripe down the middle and Royal Caribbean written in gold). If I wanted two or their towels I would much prefer the solid blue over those...even if they would cost $25 each.

 

On our last cruise they scanned my card when I checked out 2 towels on the first day and mentioned the charge if they were not returned. We exchanged them regularly and had them enter the return of two towels on the last day. No problem at all and took two minutes...maybe...on the first and last day.

[A&L_Ont]

Just sitting on our balcony enjoying a wonderful sunny day here on our Oasis. Sunny and hot. One more day of paradise then miserable winter awaits us.

 

Today when I picked up my pool towels I asked the workers about the no fee system and they are not fans. I asked them how many are lost a week and the said it averages 700-800.

 

I almost wonder if they are trying to "replace" all the old ones if the are having new ones come into the towel system. That idea doesn't make sense as they could hand them down to the crew, or slowly donate them to Labadee families.

 

As a business owner I would want to stop the hemorrhaging of towels. Even though the deposit is $25, let's say that their real value is $5. In one week Oasis could lose $3,500 in towels at that cost. That doesn't include all the other ships in the fleet, which should not be high but it is still a controllable cost. If they continue do disappear such a rate it would not surprise me to see the deposit or similar type system come into effect again.

[LetsGetWet!]

Most in this thread seem to be arguing in favor of one or two systems. The old, longstanding RCI way of scanning your SeaPass to check out towels, having to check them back in the same way - or being charged $25 if they were not returned and your card scanned. Or the new "system" which is simply a free-for-all grab whatever towels you want and leave them wherever with no penalty.

 

I agree that the former is better than the latter - particularly to stop chair hogs but for other reasons also.

 

But its silly to say those are the ONLY two options. As a few have pointed out, other lines have totally different systems, and the best of those to me sounds like the one where you're given a supply of towels in your room - and can request additional if needed - but at the end of the cruise you're charged if you don't leave the same number of towels in the stateroom upon departure. Deals with the chairhogs as well as the indiscriminate discarding of towels both onboard and in port - but doesn't inconvenience the passenger with standing in lines to check out or return towels.

 

C'mon, RCI, be a little creative for once - I'd say innovative, but its not, other lines already do it!

[Mango Tango]

We were on a B2B on Freedom in January. The first week the towels were available freely, then the second week they were back to checking them out again. They said they lost a lot of towels the first week. I'm not surprised :rolleyes:

[S.A.M.J.R.]

The problem I see with keeping the towels in the room...

 

If we wake up in the morning, get dressed, and are going to breakfast then straight to the pool, we have to carry our towels the entire time. Likewise, if we're going to get a snack after leaving the pool before going to the room, the towels come with us.

 

Maybe we weren't planning on swimming in the morning, then change our minds... we need to go back to our room to get our towels?

 

By having a "check out" station, that eliminates all those issues.

[Dave85]

Just sitting on our balcony enjoying a wonderful sunny day here on our Oasis. Sunny and hot. One more day of paradise then miserable winter awaits us.

 

Today when I picked up my pool towels I asked the workers about the no fee system and they are not fans. I asked them how many are lost a week and the said it averages 700-800.

 

I almost wonder if they are trying to "replace" all the old ones if the are having new ones come into the towel system. That idea doesn't make sense as they could hand them down to the crew, or slowly donate them to Labadee families.

 

As a business owner I would want to stop the hemorrhaging of towels. Even though the deposit is $25, let's say that their real value is $5. In one week Oasis could lose $3,500 in towels at that cost. That doesn't include all the other ships in the fleet, which should not be high but it is still a controllable cost. If they continue do disappear such a rate it would not surprise me to see the deposit or similar type system come into effect again.

 

Good to hear from you Andrew, thanks for sharing the thoughts from the Oasis crew... that's a staggering number of towels if true. Enjoy that last day and a half of your cruise!!!

[Ocean Boy]

I think the seapass scanning is going to come back very quickly. I noticed on Allure that all of the hardware is still in place at the towel stations. I doubt that they left it there for decoration. RCI listened to the complaining and provided the opportunity for us to all live with out the scanning. Too many people screwed it up. I say thanks for trying it RCI. Sorry the slobs proved your point.

[mickeymouse12]

On the second week of a B2B on the Freedom. Last week, no signing out of towels and no charges. This week- new Hotel Director- you must sign out your towels with your sea pass and the $25.00 charge is back.

 

Just back from a B2B on Freedom. First week Feb 23 we used our sea pass for towels and then the second week March 2 we didn't. Sounds like a random thing, looks like every other week here.

[LetsGetWet!]

The problem I see with keeping the towels in the room...

 

If we wake up in the morning, get dressed, and are going to breakfast then straight to the pool, we have to carry our towels the entire time. Likewise, if we're going to get a snack after leaving the pool before going to the room, the towels come with us.

 

Maybe we weren't planning on swimming in the morning, then change our minds... we need to go back to our room to get our towels?

 

By having a "check out" station, that eliminates all those issues.

I understand your point, to an extent. But if you weren't planning on swimming in the morning, then change your minds - you really need to go back to the cabin to change anyway - unless you always wear your swimsuits everywhere all day every day, whether you're planning on swimming or not.

 

I guess one can posit some amounts of inconvenience either way. If I wish to use the hot tub at midnight I have to go hunt down a towel, and the towel stations are not manned at that point. Likewise, I have to find somewhere to turn it in at 1 AM, and that's not an easy task either. I guess I can take it back to the room with me, but then I still have to carry the dirty towel back the next day to the towel station somewhere. The other way, I'd just have the steward change it out for a new one, and I'm all set. IMO, less nuisance and inconvenience that way than the other, but I guess opinions may vary.

[A&L_Ont]

Good to hear from you Andrew, thanks for sharing the thoughts from the Oasis crew... that's a staggering number of towels if true. Enjoy that last day and a half of your cruise!!!

 

Hi Dave. Just waiting for dinner to be delivered for a balcony sunset supper. Not sure if it will work or not, but I am ready to glue down the day of the week in the elevators tonight. :p

 

Thanks for the well wishes.

[Dick and Jane]

Nothing new to add - I liked not having to check out towels on the Jewel. It was also nice to have towels available as we disembarked at each port. On the reverse, it was nice to drop off our used towels as we boarded. The negative: the chair hogs were some of the best. My favorite was the man who used an enormous amount of towels to "save" 5 chairs in the Solarium as well as 5 chairs on the upper deck. He and his group wanted to be prepared based on their personal desire for sun or shade. Pool attendants were doing their best to clear unused seating.

 

 

Dick and Jane

Chicago, Illinois

[hellsop]

The problem I see with keeping the towels in the room...

 

If we wake up in the morning, get dressed, and are going to breakfast then straight to the pool, we have to carry our towels the entire time. Likewise, if we're going to get a snack after leaving the pool before going to the room, the towels come with us.

 

Maybe we weren't planning on swimming in the morning, then change our minds... we need to go back to our room to get our towels?

 

By having a "check out" station, that eliminates all those issues.

 

Isn't "carrying things" why people HAVE children?

 

You do realize that having towels in the room doesn't actually preclude the $25 checkout system. It just means that system is not the ONLY one, and the flaws involved with the checkout are, to me, 100% related to that the towel stations have such limited hours.

Edited March 13, 2014 by hellsop

[cujosmom]

I was on the Navigator March 2-9. No sea pass card needed to get a towel(s).:)

[S.A.M.J.R.]

Isn't "carrying things" why people HAVE children?

 

You do realize that having towels in the room doesn't actually preclude the $25 checkout system. It just means that system is not the ONLY one, and the flaws involved with the checkout are, to me, 100% related to that the towel stations have such limited hours.

 

You have it backwards... people have children and it ADDS to what they have to carry. Lol

 

No, I did not realize they also had a towel station checkout system if u had towels in the room. I figured you could exchange towels but not get additional to what u already had.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Just curious...but how, in the name of horse feathers, do you know the towel was "stolen"? Maybe they liked the towel so much they willingly paid the $25 per towel charge for not turning them back in at the end of the cruise. I know you can buy Royal Caribbean towels (I think they used to be white with a large blue stripe down the middle and Royal Caribbean written in gold). If I wanted two or their towels I would much prefer the solid blue over those...even if they would cost $25 each.

 

On our last cruise they scanned my card when I checked out 2 towels on the first day and mentioned the charge if they were not returned. We exchanged them regularly and had them enter the return of two towels on the last day. No problem at all and took two minutes...maybe...on the first and last day.

 

I'm fairly certain they were taken. As a native South Floridian this is common, starting well before the "charges" for not returning their towels. I have seen the yellowish ones (really, who wants to steal those???) as well as the blue and white ones. Often times it is the spring break crowd and college aged people that have them. I could be completely wrong but I am almost certain these were not purchased as souvenirs.

 

 

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[Llmtax2000]

No checkout process on Navigator this past week (March 9-16). Towels were simply handed out, and large collections bins were on deck (and in deck hallways, something new).

 

 

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[royalcruz]

On Liberty in February we did not have to sign out towels. They were very strict about not giving anyone more than 2 towels at a time. It was more convenient, but there were towels left on chairs all day. I also got the feeling that there was more towel laundry, as some of us before would carry around the same towel day after day unless it got wet, to avoid the longer check in/check out lines.