NCL Towel Animals Update

[imacruiser99]

If they do something like I saw on the Carnival Freedom last year I would be totally happy with that.

 

[aeroo777]

 
This guy was my favorite, lol. 

Hey, that little guy gets around!


Glad they’re still making the towel animals!


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[newmexicoNita]

22 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

This is just my opinion of course.  It not about the towel animal itself, it's about making a passenger feel special.  It's the little things combined that make a passenger feel special and welcomed, the towel animals are just one of those little things.  The chocolates on the pillow were one of those little things too.  A friendly and smiling crew is another of those little things that mean a lot.  I guess the next thing they will do away with will be the nightly turn down service.

Cruising is slowly becoming nothing more than a boat ride from port to port.

 

And for those sticklers on the CC forum, yes I know it's a ship and not a boat.

How do towel animals, a little piece of chocolate or whatever make one feel special when everyone on the ships gets the same thing I feel special when someone does something for me, but not for 3000 other people. 

[erdoran]

47 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

How do towel animals, a little piece of chocolate or whatever make one feel special when everyone on the ships gets the same thing I feel special when someone does something for me, but not for 3000 other people. 

Different strokes for different folks.  If it matters enough someone votes with their wallet.  Not for us to tell others what "should be" important to them in selecting a cruiseline.

[newmexicoNita]

2 minutes ago, erdoran said:

Different strokes for different folks.  If it matters enough someone votes with their wallet.  Not for us to tell others what "should be" important to them in selecting a cruiseline.

Not disagreeing, just saying what the word "special means to me" and if everyone gets the same thing, I don't call that making me feel special. 

[Oakman58]

1 hour ago, newmexicoNita said:

How do towel animals, a little piece of chocolate or whatever make one feel special when everyone on the ships gets the same thing I feel special when someone does something for me, but not for 3000 other people. 

 

It's not about making one feel special versus the other passengers on the ship.  It's about making the cruise experience feel special versus other types of vacations.  There are plenty of options for spending vacation dollars so standing out against those other options is important.

 

It's not just the towel animals or the little chocolates, it's many other little things on a cruise that can make one feel special.  Little things like the server at dinner having the time to show you a little trick, or a bartender taking the time to spell your name on the top of a chocolate martini, etc.  It's these little things that can turn a good vacation into a great vacation.

[Rileyz]

If they aren’t doing this to cut staff but the room attendants get to bed an hour or so earlier, I’m all for it.  Their days are long enough as it is.  

[spanishguy1970]

39 minutes ago, Rileyz said:

If they aren’t doing this to cut staff but the room attendants get to bed an hour or so earlier, I’m all for it.  Their days are long enough as it is.  

you may get your wish, on our last cruise there was a discussion that " allegedly" NCL wants to get rid of the turn down service. I would not be surprised if they did...😁

[CruisingNole]

Give your room steward $20 on day 1 and tell him/her you'd like a towel animal every night.

 

You'll get them.

 

NCL is kind of like an economy airline. You pay for the base fare to step on the ship, and from there you decide what add-ons you want. 

[Gampy1967]

We got of the Dawn on 3/31 after sailing in the Owners Suite w/ 2 balconies (10006). They already had started not doing the towel animals.  Did not get a single one.  I did not say anything after the first night because I thought "ok they are busy getting all of the rooms ready and delivering luggage)."  They never did a single towel animal.  They also mentioned they would appreciate it if we could reuse our towels and only requested a replacement every other day.  All other services were excellent and the Butler took great care of us.  Basic room service not so much.

[davesgirl51]

On 4/13/2019 at 1:38 PM, Barb Nahoumi said:

It would be lovely if they would bring back the pillow chocolates in place of the towel animals.   

Especially the chocolate gold coins. REAL chocolate !

 

[stormynow]

On the Sky last week.  Towel animals 3 nites out of 4.  

[sparkygirlfamily]

Star last week, no towel animals at all in family suite.

[ithaca gal]

We were on the Sun last week for a four day cruise to Cuba.  I happen to love the towel animals, even after dozens of cruises.  My solution was already mentioned above:

 

We met our steward shortly after boarding.  I handed him a $10 tip and asked if I could get towel animals.  He made some very special ones … probably knowing that there would be another (bigger) tip at the end of the four days.  

 

I'm willing to pay my steward for his time making towel animals for me.  It is really a very short amount of time involved (our steward said he was responsible for 14 cabins, so at most it adds 15 minutes onto his day if everyone wants a towel animal).  

[newmexicoNita]

On 4/15/2019 at 8:33 AM, spanishguy1970 said:

you may get your wish, on our last cruise there was a discussion that " allegedly" NCL wants to get rid of the turn down service. I would not be surprised if they did...😁

A discussion,  where and by whom? It sounds more like something a cruiser with an agenda decided to start a rumor about!!!!!! 

[newmexicoNita]

On 4/18/2019 at 8:31 AM, Gampy1967 said:

We got of the Dawn on 3/31 after sailing in the Owners Suite w/ 2 balconies (10006). They already had started not doing the towel animals.  Did not get a single one.  I did not say anything after the first night because I thought "ok they are busy getting all of the rooms ready and delivering luggage)."  They never did a single towel animal.  They also mentioned they would appreciate it if we could reuse our towels and only requested a replacement every other day.  All other services were excellent and the Butler took great care of us.  Basic room service not so much.

I think the part about requesting not getting a clean towel once or twice a day is something we seel almost everywhere now days, not just on NCL or other ships but in all hotel rooms we have stayed in over the past 10 years. That, is for certain an envirornmental issue. 

[snee]

what would N.C.L. do if everyone reduced the service charge because of the reduction in services 

instead they keep raising them.

[erdoran]

15 minutes ago, snee said:

what would N.C.L. do if everyone reduced the service charge because of the reduction in services 

instead they keep raising them.

That's an easy one - DCL is DISCRETIONARY.  If you have paid the higher price and you think the loss of towel animals decreases the value of the daily service by 50c/day,  you have the option to adjust it down and to say why.  Of course, there are those who say  "don't punish the staff for management decisions" so take that into consideration.  If  you do this it would be nice (and appropriate) to add back the amount you removed from DSC directly to the steward's tip and make a special request.  HOPEFULLY the steward gets to keep this extra tip.

Edited April 22, 2019 by erdoran

[erdoran]

9 hours ago, ithaca gal said:

We were on the Sun last week for a four day cruise to Cuba.  I happen to love the towel animals, even after dozens of cruises.  My solution was already mentioned above:

 

We met our steward shortly after boarding.  I handed him a $10 tip and asked if I could get towel animals.  He made some very special ones … probably knowing that there would be another (bigger) tip at the end of the four days.  

 

I'm willing to pay my steward for his time making towel animals for me.  It is really a very short amount of time involved (our steward said he was responsible for 14 cabins, so at most it adds 15 minutes onto his day if everyone wants a towel animal).  

Yeah, exactly, and I had posted this is going to be the outcome.  DSC increases, towel animals disappear so asking for a towel animal is now considered "above & beyond" for a steward, resulting in the need to tip extra, over and above the INCREASED DSC.  So now pax are PAYING EXTRA for something that used to be included in fare + DSC--just like with straws - UBP price/fake grats has increased 10%, no more straws, so if you want a straw either you bring your own or pay NCL $8 extra onboard for their metal straw.  

 

Very very smart business IMHO.  Not "nice" or customer-focused, but it's also not a charity, it's a business.

Edited April 22, 2019 by erdoran

[newmexicoNita]

31 minutes ago, snee said:

what would N.C.L. do if everyone reduced the service charge because of the reduction in services 

instead they keep raising them.

If anyone wants to do that no one is stopping you, but it would be a pretty petty reason for reducing the DSC in my opinion. OK, so some people think it is awful they don't get their guys in the cabin at night, does this really take away from the overall enjoyment of a cruise. Most of you, apparently were not cruising before the late 1990s or you would know the towel animal thing has not always been part of cruising. How do you feel about the wait staff no longer marching trough the dining room with flaming baked Alaska or the horse races gone? Have these things changed the cruise experience for you? I am sure some feel they have, for us we realize things change as do we as time goes by. 

[spanishguy1970]

2 hours ago, newmexicoNita said:

A discussion,  where and by whom? It sounds more like something a cruiser with an agenda decided to start a rumor about!!!!!! 

Oh my goodness it seems me calling you a pom pom cheerer touched a nerve? since you must know it was during the meet and greet,  want to know more? 🙂

😉

[jackie101]

we just off the Dawn, no towel animal and no nighttime turn down service. Never met our cabin Steward, just awful

[lanceholt]

We stay mostly in Marriott hotels....at one time there was nightly turn down with chocolates....a number of years ago both were discontinued while the room rates continue to rise.  They give additional Marriott points if you are willing to have your room not serviced for a couple of days, make the reuse towels suggestion as well.  This from NCL and I am sure other cruise lines is just a reflection of what is happening in the rest of the hospitality world.  If all these services were left as they were years ago, then prices would even be higher.  We find that on every cruise we make connections with some very special crew members who make parts of the cruise very memorable....none are because of a chocolate or a towel animal....they are human interactions.  Just my two cents as I am sure many disagree.  

[newmexicoNita]

10 hours ago, jackie101 said:

we just off the Dawn, no towel animal and no nighttime turn down service. Never met our cabin Steward, just awful

That is really bad. When we were on the Jewel on her first venture from UK to America I don't remember the towel animals I don't think we got them. But we did get turn down service. that is how we got our freestyle dailies. We didn't meet our cabin steward either and I had to guess which one she was. That was probably the most disappointing thing about the entire 12 day cruise. 

[newmexicoNita]

8 hours ago, lanceholt said:

We stay mostly in Marriott hotels....at one time there was nightly turn down with chocolates....a number of years ago both were discontinued while the room rates continue to rise.  They give additional Marriott points if you are willing to have your room not serviced for a couple of days, make the reuse towels suggestion as well.  This from NCL and I am sure other cruise lines is just a reflection of what is happening in the rest of the hospitality world.  If all these services were left as they were years ago, then prices would even be higher.  We find that on every cruise we make connections with some very special crew members who make parts of the cruise very memorable....none are because of a chocolate or a towel animal....they are human interactions.  Just my two cents as I am sure many disagree.  

I thought about the same thing. Our hotel of choice is Hilton: it used to be, if you stayed in what was referred to as a tower room you got the turn down service as well. that is long gone or so I am told. We only stay in standard rooms so don't know, but it sounds like about the same as Marriott. Hilton does still give frequent guests a free newspaper. I think we are all going to have to accept things are changing. We may not like it, but what are we going to do about it. If NCL is going to stop turn down service, how long before the other lines do the same?