Anyone take their own beach towels?

[PintSizedMommy]

I wasn't sure where to post this question, so I figured I'd do it on the family board. Has anyone ever brought their own beach towels on a cruise? How did you pack them, so they didn't take up so much space?

[cb at sea]

No--don't do that. Once they get wet/sandy, they will NEVER dry---they will start smelling mildewy...Ick! Use the ship's pool towels---you can take the ashore for excursions and beach trips.

That way, you can get clean ones whenever you want/need them!

[Kerry's Girls]

Ditto - there's no reason to lug yours around, since there's no way to get them clean. You get to trade out your dirty ones for clean any time you need.

 

Best,

Mia

[calikak]

Yep, cruise lines say it's OK to take the beach towels ashore--just don't lose them, or they'll charge you for them.

[Lady_Jag]

We actually take our own towels, but we drive to our embarkation port, so we don't have to worry about luggage limits.

 

We have 3 El Cheapo beach towels that we bought post-season from somewhere like CVS for about $4 each. They are thin, but they get the job done, and with a 3-year-old in tow, we don't have to worry about losing any $22 beach towels x 3! :eek:

 

We hang them on the clothesline in our cabin bathroom to dry, and have had no problem. One of the benefits to the towels being cheap and thin is that they dry fairly quickly! If they get too wet and nasty, we can either launder them on the ship (laundry room or laundry service), or just trash them because they were dirt cheap anyway. LOL!

[more cruises]

I have lugged my last heavy, bulky, did I say HEAVY, ship towel on an excursion. I'm going to invest in a couple microfiber towels for the next cruise.

 

I have heard of people bringing the plastic picnic tablecloths, the kind with the felt backing to use as beach blankets. Folds up nice and small.

[cyntil8ing]

We used ship's towels onboard, but took our own ashore. One bonus to your own towels is that you can easily find your chair in a sea of ship's towels. It made it easy for us to keep an eye on our stuff while we were in the water.

 

However, I will never bring them along again. Sandy and heavily wet towels that never quite dry just aren't worth it.

[sas80]

I have lugged my last heavy, bulky, did I say HEAVY, ship towel on an excursion. I'm going to invest in a couple microfiber towels for the next cruise.

 

I have heard of people bringing the plastic picnic tablecloths, the kind with the felt backing to use as beach blankets. Folds up nice and small.

 

 

I just found this site:

http://www.progroom.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=415

 

They are marketed as "pet towels" and only come in white but they are the cheapest, and largest, I can find for a reasonable price. Anything that is marketed as a beach item seems to cost 4 times as much for the same size. I figure I can fashion a cute tie or something for transportation....

[PintSizedMommy]

Thanks to everyone who responded! I think I'll probably leave our bulky, supersized towels at home. I will, however, take our Neat Sheet, for beach days. It's pretty compact and comes in handy.

[sas80]

Thanks to everyone who responded! I think I'll probably leave our bulky, supersized towels at home. I will, however, take our Neat Sheet, for beach days. It's pretty compact and comes in handy.

 

Is your neat sheet absorbent at all? Could you "pat dry" with your neat sheet?

[PintSizedMommy]

Is your neat sheet absorbent at all? Could you "pat dry" with your neat sheet?

 

No, the neat sheet isn't absorbent. It repels water, sand and dirt, which makes for a great beach blanket. I'll just use the towels from the ship as beach towels. That'll save A LOT of room in our suitcase!

[sas80]

No, the neat sheet isn't absorbent. It repels water, sand and dirt, which makes for a great beach blanket. I'll just use the towels from the ship as beach towels. That'll save A LOT of room in our suitcase!

 

thanks....back to the pet microfiber towels! :D

[MrsPete]

There's really no benefit to lugging around your own beach towels. Once they're dirty, you'll have to pay to wash them. Why not use the ship's towels for free?

 

If you're concerned about kids losing them, don't be. Here's the trick: After dinner on the first night of the cruise, LOADS of people will've left their towels behind at the pool. These are the people who've ignored their cabin steward's instructions on keeping up with their towels. Just go pick up one towel for each person in your party, exchange them for clean towels and put them in your closet. You now have an "extra" towel for each member of your group.

 

Don't feel bady about picking these up; the people who left them behind have put themselves into this bad situation, and on the first night there'll be at least 50-60 towels left lying about the pool deck. (People are awfully messy and thoughtless on cruise ships.) Anyone who realizes he should've been more careful can easily go up and retrieve "his" towel at that point. The people who leave their towels behind will be charged regardless of whether you pick up the towel or whether you leave them for the deck crew to clean up.

 

I would not advocate stealing towels from the ship, nor would I advocate leaving them ashore on purpose, or otherwise cheating anyone . . . but doing this assures you that IF someone takes your towel through no fault of your own, you're not going to be "out" any money.

[cyntil8ing]

If you're concerned about kids losing them, don't be. Here's the trick:

 

I have to disagree with this "advice". Justifying it by saying "Well, they weren't responsible" or "Crew will just pick it up anyway" doesn't change the fact that it is unethical to take something that wasn't intended for your use.

 

People treat things irresponsibly all the time. That doesn't mean that it's ethical to benefit from it.

 

If my kids lost a towel, they would pay for it, even if I had to lend them the money. I would not save them from their own irresponsibility. Some lessons have to be learned the hard way.

[MrsPete]

I have to disagree with this "advice". Justifying it by saying "Well, they weren't responsible" or "Crew will just pick it up anyway" doesn't change the fact that it is unethical to take something that wasn't intended for your use.

 

People treat things irresponsibly all the time. That doesn't mean that it's ethical to benefit from it.

 

If my kids lost a towel, they would pay for it, even if I had to lend them the money. I would not save them from their own irresponsibility. Some lessons have to be learned the hard way.

You're welcome to your opinon, but I'm going to continue to use my system. On a ship, my kids can't really LOSE a towel -- it's not going overboard or anything; this $20 is to keep people from putting them into their suitcases. I'm not going to punish my kids if their towel goes astray.

[sas80]

You're welcome to your opinon, but I'm going to continue to use my system. On a ship, my kids can't really LOSE a towel -- it's not going overboard or anything; this $20 is to keep people from putting them into their suitcases. I'm not going to punish my kids if their towel goes astray.

 

From what I understand, no one ever really gets charged for "losing" a towel. If people did get charged it would be a HUGE topic of discussion on the particular cruise-lines main board....and it never is.

 

Still, the threat of charging is there (probably to keep people more mindful) so that is always looming.

[cyntil8ing]

You're welcome to your opinon, but I'm going to continue to use my system.

 

Your "system", if adopted by everyone as you advocated above, would require Carnival to have twice as many towels -- one for each guest to use and one for them to reserve. Do you not see that this is a problem?