Long lost towel animals!

[mcloaked]

At one time it was a wonderful tradition to come back to your room in the evening when the turn down service was completed, to find your mini chocolates, the news sheet for the next day and a wonderful surprise in the form of an animal, fish, or other sculpture made from one or two of the bathroom towels, sitting on the bed nearby. I can't even remember when I last saw that coming into our room in the evening after dinner.   It is a shame that this tradition seems to have gone in Cunard, unless we have simply been unlucky for the past few years and had a cabin steward who had not learned the art of towel folding.  Does anyone know if this tradition is still to be found?

Edited January 26, 2020 by mcloaked
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[lissie]

Its a common thing in Asia - its annoying bercause the towel is quite hard to untangle when you need to use it!  

[Host Hattie]

Never seen them on Cunard but I've only been cruising with them since 2008.

I have seen them on other lines but I can't say I miss them.

[BigMac1953]

Never seen one in two dozen trips, and sincerely hope I don't ever.

 

Towels live in the bathroom.

[majortom10]

Think stewards work hard enough and have more cabins to service these days to waste time making animals out of towels.

[Colin_Cameron]

Sailed with Cunard for 30 years, on 10 ships, and have never seen a towel animal.

 

I heard recently that one of the lines that does this is stopping it because of the unnecessary laundry required.

[Underwatr]

They're still quite prevalent on Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

[david,Mississauga]

My first Cunard voyage was in the 1970s. I have never seen one in any stateroom we have occupied - from inside to Queen's Grill.

 

We had them on  Holland America's Noordam  a few years ago.

[eroller]

I see it on most other cruise lines (mass-market/premium) but not on Cunard.  I really don't find it their style to be honest.  Also some lines have announced no more towel animals (NCL) due to environmental reasons.  It's a lot more washing of towels.  

[Docker123]

I have not had towel animals on Cunard. Does not really seem the style of the line.

 

On my first cruise on RCL, they were all into the things. But talking to my cabin steward one day, he said it was a lot of extra work. In particular for him as a number of the other stewards did not know how to make them, or could not make them very well.

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

Towel animals are very much alive (if you can say that) on HAL. On some ships with a lot of sea days there will be a towel animal display by the pool. I've never seen it, but I've seen pictures. I love coming back to my cabin to see what's sitting on the bed. The stewards are creative. If you leave your sunglasses sitting out on the desk, you may find that the elephant on your bed is wearing them!

 

It has been said that the HAL stewards keep a stash of pre-made animals so it doesn't take as long as doing it from scratch. And some animals transform into another fairly quickly. If you look closely, the puppy contains a lot of the same elements as the monkey. 

 

HAL is now on a mission to reduce paper waste, so no paper packets of sweeteners--sugar is in dispensers, you have to ask for other sweeteners, and things like that. So the little paper eyes they put on the critters are gone.  Of course, the fliers from the spa and future cruises and so forth continue to arrive, but no eyes for the animals. 

Edited January 28, 2020 by 3rdGenCunarder

[safarigal]

The only time I have seen towel animals on Cunard was in our teenage children's cabin. Their room steward made towel animals for them every night, and they loved it. 

 

I agree with others that it's not the thing for me, but they thought it was brilliant :)

Edited January 28, 2020 by safarigal

[tv24]

You can still find them on Princess and on some HAP ships.  This is not one of  my favorite cruise ship features.  The first time I saw a towel animal it was on a very down-market line and I was a down-market person.  I thought it was somewhat cute.  But the second time, and the third time, and the fourth time, etc., not so cute.