NCL Towel Animals Update

[Greenpea2]

Sounds fair to me. If you want them, ask for them. 

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/norwegian-cruise-line-testing-no-longer-providing-towel-animals-for-guests

[tallnthensome]

I’m fine with that ..... We are on board the Bliss right now and have been getting towel animals from our steward every other night without request. I think they’ll continue to do so for cabins with kids like ours but I may be wrong. 

[Dagent145]

Article said it's not fleetwide yet,. If I get them, cool. Will I ask if they aren't making them,  probably not.  

[BirdTravels]

We are just off the Escape and we had a new friend each night. 

[jvsnana]

We were on the Star the week they implemented "no towel animals".

We were travelling in 3 suites with our 7 young grandkids. The room steward in one suite was happy to make a special monkey one night when my grandson asked.  The other 2 suites never asked and never received 😋

Worked just fine for all.

[hawkman402]

We received them on the Getaway last week.

[MJSailors]

Just MHO,but I don’t see the need for towel animals left in our cabin.

We generally sail Princess and Celebrity where there are no towel animals at all.

Chocolates on the pillow with the nightly turndown service however, are much appreciated.

[Greenpea2]

22 minutes ago, MJSailors said:

Just MHO,but I don’t see the need for towel animals left in our cabin.

We generally sail Princess and Celebrity where there are no towel animals at all.

Chocolates on the pillow with the nightly turndown service however, are much appreciated.

I don't see a need either, but I do really enjoy them. Which is exactly why having the choice to have them or not have them is a fair (and wise) decision by NCL.

[Oakman58]

I enjoy the fun aspect of towel animals left in the room every night.  What I really miss are the little chocolates that were left during turn down service every night.  I also miss lobster tails (sigh).  Oh well, it's all good as long as NCL continues to increase net profits.  Since Del Rio took over, NCLH net profits have increased annually from $427 million in 2015 to just shy of $1 billion in 2018.  It seems like all the cruise lines are cutting back to increase profits.

[david_sobe]

I like the article does not use the fake original excuse (environmental concerns) and is honest about manpower.  Towel animals are cute but they don't account for any value on the cruise IMHO.  However, the first time I had one on the Jewel in 2009, I was very surprised and impressed.  I love it when they incorporate your personal items into the animal.  The animal had my sunglasses on.  Sadly, NCL keeps trying to do more with less.  I am reading between the lines. How do you get more rooms cleaned with fewer or the same amount of employees?  Cut back on making animals. Less time on simple pleasures and more time scrubbing those toilets.  This is an aspect that worries me.

Now chocolates, I don't quite understand why people want them.  Those cheap waxy thin mints are ok but not at night coming back to the cabin to go to bed.  Who wants to eat chocolate before brushing their teeth: 😬  I could not think of something that I would want less than chocolate on my pillow before heading to bed.  Our last suite on NCL (2015), our room attendant did leave chocolates but I told him not to because we did not want them.  Am I the only one that turns down night time candy?

Edited April 10, 2019 by david_sobe

[MichaelCMTX]

2 hours ago, MJSailors said:

Chocolates on the pillow with the nightly turndown service however, are much appreciated.

 

Amen to that, just what the doctor ordered for the next morning's oatmeal.

[TonyB17]

41 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

 Am I the only one that turns down night time candy?

I save it for the next day.  Unless it's Palmer, I never turn down chocolate.

[spanishguy1970]

44 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

I like the article does not use the fake original excuse (environmental concerns) and is honest about manpower.  Towel animals are cute but they don't account for any value on the cruise IMHO.  However, the first time I had one on the Jewel in 2009, I was very surprised and impressed.  I love it when they incorporate your personal items into the animal.  The animal had my sunglasses on.  Sadly, NCL keeps trying to do more with less.  I am reading between the lines. How do you get more rooms cleaned with fewer or the same amount of employees?  Cut back on making animals. Less time on simple pleasures and more time scrubbing those toilets.  This is an aspect that worries me.

Now chocolates, I don't quite understand why people want them.  Those cheap waxy thin mints are ok but not at night coming back to the cabin to go to bed.  Who wants to eat chocolate before brushing their teeth: 😬  I could not think of something that I would want less than chocolate on my pillow before heading to bed.  Our last suite on NCL (2015), our room attendant did leave chocolates but I told him not to because we did not want them.  Am I the only one that turns down night time candy?

Well, the person i travel with is a diabetic and we appreciated those chocolates, when his sugar was low, along with the Godiva chocolates, but now we grab cookies at the buffet and take them with us to have them in our room or take our own candy with us in our luggage.

[spanishguy1970]

5 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

Sounds fair to me. If you want them, ask for them. 

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/norwegian-cruise-line-testing-no-longer-providing-towel-animals-for-guests

sounds good, very fair option.

[njhorseman]

52 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

I like the article does not use the fake original excuse (environmental concerns)

 

They certainly do use the fake original excuse...it's just more subtly worded:

"“We are committed to being a responsible corporate citizen by fostering a culture of awareness and respect for our world’s resources. Our mission is to continually improve our sustainability culture through fresh innovation, progressive education and open collaboration. As such, from time to time we explore opportunities to expand our efforts. In this instance, we are assessing the impact of reducing the number of towel animals we showcase aboard a few of our ships,” a spokesperson for Norwegian told Fox News in a statement."

[newmexicoNita]

16 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

I don't see a need either, but I do really enjoy them. Which is exactly why having the choice to have them or not have them is a fair (and wise) decision by NCL.

agree with you. Will we ask for one, I serious doubt it, do we enjoy them? yes, except it seems like a waste of towers,thus a waste of money. Interesting seeing someone mention there are other lines that do not offer them. I know, when we have sailed some lines we have not gotten them. It still is nice, people will have a choice.    

[ProfCruise]

Glad we'll have the option to request one.  I'd hate to burden our room steward asking for one every night, but maybe one or two during the length of a cruise.  My young son LOVES coming back to the cabin to a surprise animal.  Might be even more special if he doesn't get one every night and can't predict when one will show up. 

[Aldeya]

I remember how happy was our daughter to see a towel animal every night, how she was waiting to be surprised every time we opened a cabin door at night. To see  our child's smile was precious.  To me getting rid of towel animals or any other "saving measures" is not about saving this and that. It's about taking away, little by little, something that made cruising special. 

Edited April 11, 2019 by Aldeya

[spanishguy1970]

1 minute ago, Aldeya said:

I remember how happy was our daughter to see a towel animal every night, how she was waiting to be surprised every time we opened a cabin door at night. To see  our child's smile was precious.  To me getting rid of towel animals or any other "saving measures" is not about saving this and that. It's about taking away, little by little, something that made cruising special. 

I completely agree, to me it says and asks the question " what about the customer?" these little details for some people count. Each day you see the cruising industry not like a vacation but a floating selling machine. IMHO.

[FWCruisers]

My family went on the Getaway last week and we did not receive a towel animal during our cruise. We had 2 children with us, 5 and 7, and were excited for them to see the animals. We were unaware of this policy change and didn't say anything to our steward thinking he may be newer to the ship. It wasn't a big deal to us and I understand their change in policy. 

[Seminole1975]

I actually told our room steward that he did not have to make us towel animals every night when we were on the Getaway last fall. It was a case of "been there, done that". He stopped making them. That being said, if I had small children traveling with us, I would definitely ask for them at least some of the nights. 

[Greenpea2]

I see this as good news--you only have to request them and you can have them. For those who don't care or don't like them, they won't have them. Perfect solution, no?

[mianmike]

54 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

I see this as good news--you only have to request them and you can have them. For those who don't care or don't like them, they won't have them. Perfect solution, no?

 

The perfect solution was to leave the policy alone.  Cruisers already had the option to decline towel animals.  They weren't mandatory.  In the past we have asked our cabin stewards to not make them for us as they don't provide much value to us.  Not a problem. 

 

Many first time cruisers won't even know towel animals are an option and won't ask.  Win for NCL squeezing move cabins per steward.  

[Greenpea2]

Just now, mianmike said:

 

The perfect solution was to leave the policy alone.  Cruisers already had the option to decline towel animals.  They weren't mandatory.  In the past we have asked our cabin stewards to not make them for us as they don't provide much value to us.  Not a problem. 

 

Many first time cruisers won't even know towel animals are an option and won't ask.  Win for NCL squeezing move cabins per steward.  

I respectfully disagree. It sounds like a number of people didn't want them but felt badly saying anything. Most people research their cruise lines before going. Easy enough to find out beforehand (for people who find them important to their cruise experience) that they are available. There clearly will never be a situation that everyone finds perfect. It's a compromise. The next best thing to pleasing everyone.

[mianmike]

20 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

I respectfully disagree. It sounds like a number of people didn't want them but felt badly saying anything. Most people research their cruise lines before going. Easy enough to find out beforehand (for people who find them important to their cruise experience) that they are available. There clearly will never be a situation that everyone finds perfect. It's a compromise. The next best thing to pleasing everyone.

 

Well, we agree to disagree.  To varying degrees most people do research their cruise.  Talk to first timers on your next cruise and see how much detail they know and how many relied on a travel agent.  Most first timers don't research every minute detail.  Most cruisers aren't on cruise critic.  

 

For those who do know about NCL's cutback, people will feel worse asking their hard-working steward to make them towel animals rather than telling their room steward to take it easy and skip the towel animals.