Richard Whitlock wrote:

Hi:

There are plusses and minus's of the towels being issued to the cabin (with
a $25 fee if they aren't turned in at the end of the cruise) Plus: people
don't want to leave those $25 towels unattended (saving lounges) for long so
I have seen less lounge saving. Minus: As Howard said, keeping up with
them, i.e., hauling them around.

I just got back from a land tour at the Mayan Palace in Acapulco which was
almost like a cruise without leaving the dock as they had many planned
activities (but no free eats darn it). Anyway, what they did was issue
you a card and when you checked out a towel(s) pool side, they marked it
down on the card. When you were finished with the towel, you turned it in
and they took it off the card. If you had no towels out, they gave you back
the card. If you didn't turn your towel in, you got hit for $3 (keep in
mind, this is Mexico). If you wanted a fresh towel, you just took your wet
one and exchanged it. This might work on a cruise ship but it would require
an "attendant" there all the time.

Hi Owen.......

We just got back from a six day all inclusive at a resort in Puerto Plata. And
yes.......food was included. Too much of it! grin.

When we checked in we were given 2 towel cards. We exchanged these cards for
clean beach/pool towels and when we returned dirty towels got new cards. They
didn't keep any kind of who's who record.......you give them a towel, they give
you a card. Worked very well. Upon checkout you return your cards to the
desk. If not......$18.00 per.

Arlene



Tucker in Texas

Howard Garland wrote:

In an earlier thread, I asked experienced rtc'ers to list those things
they would eliminate from today's mass-market cruise experience. One of
the respondants wrote:

Towels, on every lounge ,even though there are only three people in
the pool!
BILL
To which I responded:

" This comes from a practice first introduced by the Princess line many
years ago. They issue pool towels in your stateroom and provide no
fresh towels by the pool, thus making pax responsible for carrying
around their own towel. I complained like hell on my first Princess
cruise ... to no avail. Many years later, Carnival introduced the same
practice, which has continued despite my complaints to them. I feel so
strongly about this (because it does result in lots of empty but
reserved deck chairs) that I encourage all of you who are bothered by
this to write to the cruise lines about the practice and include
complaints on your comment cards. RCCL, Celebrity, and HAL have not yet
followed suit but I really think they unless they hear from repeat pax.
Although these lines still provide fresh towels and pull towels from
empty chairs, I have noticed on my last few cruises, that there are more
and more empty towel bins out on deck these days."

Pam responded to my post with the following:

"On my RCCL cruise, last week on the Enchantment... Towels were issued
in the stateroom. Same on Explorer, in March..."

I would like ask those of you who enjoy laying out around a cruise ship
pool (in or out of the sun), if you would be willing to paticipate in an
organized attempt (perhaps an e-mail campaign to the guest relations
depts. of all the majors) to get the lines to either change or refrain
from this cost-cutting practice.

Howard



T