Just off NCL SKY - Towel Animals no longer standard

[rbalfour]

Just off the NCL Sky (great trip). We were meeting our room steward on embarkation day and mentioned towel animals. He told us they were instructed to no longer do them unless the guest specifically requested them. We did & he did w/ no problems. Just wanted to mention it so if towel animals is something you are looking forward to, I'd mention it to your room steward

[phillygwm]

5 minutes ago, rbalfour said:

Just off the NCL Sky (great trip). We were meeting our room steward on embarkation day and mentioned towel animals. He told us they were instructed to no longer do them unless the guest specifically requested them. We did & he did w/ no problems. Just wanted to mention it so if towel animals is something you are looking forward to, I'd mention it to your room steward

This has been the case since before the pandemic.  Like you, I always request them.  🙂

[ChiefMateJRK]

We didn't request them, but DD did.  She mentioned to her steward that she wanted them (and got them).  Then he told our steward (same deck, but less aft) that we were her parents and celebrating a meaningful anniversary.  We wound up with a huge pair of kissing swans that night.  Fun stuff!!

[UKstages]

had towel animals every night without asking for them on a ten night cruise on the gem this past april.

 

the monkey dangling from the wooden hanger was a stunner.

[BirdTravels]

10 minutes ago, rbalfour said:

Just off the NCL Sky (great trip). We were meeting our room steward on embarkation day and mentioned towel animals. He told us they were instructed to no longer do them unless the guest specifically requested them. We did & he did w/ no problems. Just wanted to mention it so if towel animals is something you are looking forward to, I'd mention it to your room steward

Actually, on most ships, the room stewards are told that they are not allowed to make the animals, even on request. Trying to be more "green" and avoid making the over worked stewards work longer hours. 

[GeezerCouple]

3 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

We didn't request them, but DD did.  She mentioned to her steward that she wanted them (and got them).  Then he told our steward (same deck, but less aft) that we were her parents and celebrating a meaningful anniversary.  We wound up with a huge pair of kissing swans that night.  Fun stuff!!

 

I hope you got a nice photo of that!

❤️

 

On a separate note, to me, those laundry animals (oops - sorry! 😲) are a waste of time for the stewards (and especially if it isn't even known whether they are desired/appreciated -- the animals, not the stewards!) and also a waste of laundry staff and resources.  Needless to say, *I* am not the target audience!  Those stewards are usually quite overworked as it is (at least in the past; we haven't traveled since Covid).

 

However, DH seems to get a real kick out of them, and likes to keep the increasing collection around throughout our trip.  At least he gets many days' pleasure out of them.  We've always thanked the steward each time we see them, and we also tip extra, something we would do regardless of the "excess laundry".  (No, I'm not usually such a Grinch!  These just seem so wasteful, but again, they aren't geared for me...)

 

  

8 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Actually, on most ships, the room stewards are told that they are not allowed to make the animals, even on request. Trying to be more "green" and avoid making the over worked stewards work longer hours. 

 

If they aren't supposed to make them even if requested, that changes things.  If that's the case, I'll mention it to DH... assuming we ever get on a ship again... assuming we ever take a trip again... assuming we ever leave the house again... 😱 

 

The one that I got a real kick out of wasn't one of ours, but from a photo posted somewhere on CC:  It was an elaborate "person", using a passenger's shirt, hat, sunglasses, pants, and shoes, etc., "sitting on the sofa".  It was *very* well done!

(However, if that had been our suite, I'd have been totally freaked out being surprised to find a stranger inside.)

 

GC

[Old Fart Cruisers]

3 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

The one that I got a real kick out of wasn't one of ours, but from a photo posted somewhere on CC:  It was an elaborate "person", using a passenger's shirt, hat, sunglasses, pants, and shoes, etc., "sitting on the sofa".  It was *very* well done!

(However, if that had been our suite, I'd have been totally freaked out being surprised to find a stranger inside.)

 

 

My wife was a little freaked out when she ran into the bathroom after returning from an excursion and saw this:

 

[GeezerCouple]

9 minutes ago, Old Fart Cruisers said:

 

My wife was a little freaked out when she ran into the bathroom after returning from an excursion and saw this:

 

 

 

WHOA!

 

We both think we'll take the complete person seated on the sofa!

😱

 

I'm glad they have a bit of comic relief.  That always helps! 😁

 

GC

[Old Fart Cruisers]

15 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

 

WHOA!

 

We both think we'll take the complete person seated on the sofa!

😱

 

I'm glad they have a bit of comic relief.  That always helps! 😁

 

GC

 

He was one of the best stateroom stewards we have had.  I don't think he would have put it in our room if he didn't think we would appreciate it.  It was very simple, just one towel, socks & shoes, but we all had a good laugh.  Much more memorable than any of our towel animals.  He also did messages with elaborate full color drawings of everything from cartoons to flowers on the mirror with dry erase markers.

[ChiefMateJRK]

4 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

I hope you got a nice photo of that!

❤️

[GeezerCouple]

9 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

 

Very nice!

Thanks for sharing.

 

GC

[lilant]

Could care less

[ChiefMateJRK]

41 minutes ago, lilant said:

Could care less

I'm guessing you meant to say "couldn't care less," but whatever....

 

A lot of folks here like to have fun on cruises, and anything that adds to that fun is great!   Why not come on over and join us on the sunny side of the street?  You may wind up a happier person. 😎

 

[Oakman58]

I don't care about the towel animals but I do miss the little chocolates on the pillows after turn down service.

[njkate]

5 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I'm guessing you meant to say "couldn't care less," but whatever....

 

A lot of folks here like to have fun on cruises, and anything that adds to that fun is great!   Why not come on over and join us on the sunny side of the street?  You may wind up a happier person. 😎

 

I understand especially since there is somewhat of a crew shortage and it’s time consuming but I will request just one for my 7 year old grandson as this will be his first cruise. 

[surfclam2003]

We always tell out steward that we don't need them as we know how busy they are. They are a cute touch but they stewards have more important things to do.

[Old Fart Cruisers]

3 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

I don't care about the towel animals but I do miss the little chocolates on the pillows after turn down service.

 

My wife would always remind me how nice it was in the “old days” with the chocolates on the pillow. So last year I started sneaking a package of Andes Chocolate Mints on each cruise.  I would run ahead of her when we returned to our cabin each night and put one on each pillow.  She was so happy that “they” started doing this again. In the morning she told her sister, who we usually travel with, and was is the next cabin. They couldn’t understand why she didn’t get any chocolates in her cabin. I let her sister know what what I was doing later that day. I repeated this every day of the cruise. She even told our steward how much she appreciated it and let him know he forgot them in her sister’s cabin, which really confused him. I let the steward know what was going on when I saw him and he had a good laugh.

 

I continued doing this on three more cruises over the next few months. It wasn’t until halfway through the fourth cruise that she finally caught me putting them out. The first thing she did when she realized that I was putting them on the pillow all the time was tell her sister about it, who of course already knew all about it.  She also realized that I wasn’t always running ahead of her just to get into the bathroom😈

[phillygwm]

23 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Actually, on most ships, the room stewards are told that they are not allowed to make the animals, even on request. Trying to be more "green" and avoid making the over worked stewards work longer hours. 

Was this ever publicized?  Last I heard, it was on request.  I'd hope, if it is now a "hard no" (and I'd understand the rationale behind that,) that there would be something on the website so as not to put the cabin stewards in an awkward position.  My guy (last December) did it when I requested, but I also tipped him up front when I made the request 🙂

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

Let's say that I am a hard working room steward who both a) wishes to delight the customer and b) wishes to exercise some creativity in my job (i.e. do more than just vacuum, change the sheets and towels and clean).  I might greatly enjoy the option to take a short break from the mundane and spend a couple minutes being creative.  "Seeing it as just more work" might be the last thing from my mind.  I heard on my last cruise that it was "upon request and probably not every night."  That would seem to be a very reasonable policy.

[CruiseQueen94]

This is the most recent topic I could find on the forums for NCL Sky. Does anyone have any information on the daily events or freestyle daily’s? 
 

I’m going on a 3 day Bahamas cruise on the Sky from Miami in July for a bachelorette party and am trying to see what the main daytime/nighttime events are. 

[casofilia]

Chocolates or animals?   Chocolates every time.

[cruisewingman]

Wow this is amazing. Thanks folks for posting pics.

 

I will definitely ask for it. I think it's silly but i think my preschool daughter will love it.

 

I'd prefer the chocolates myself but I'm more worried about her sugar intake than mine. lol

[ChiefMateJRK]

One can find chocolate in many places on a cruise ship.  One can only find high quality towel animals in a cabin cared for by a high quality steward.  Defense rests....  🤣