A Travel and vacations forum. TravelBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » TravelBanter forum » Travelling Style » Cruises
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Pool Towels on Cruise Ships - Please Help!



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #11  
Old September 13th, 2003, 05:54 PM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Pool Towels on Cruise Ships - Please Help!

Well, here is a sad example of the good passengers being hurt by the bad
ones [you can't please everyone]!

Yes, having to be responsible for my towel is a pain ... but you can't
believe that having passengers responsible for towels is being done as a
cost savings for the cruise line [they will still give you fresh ones,
etc. as a replacement]!

However, this procedure does help somewhat to resolve the
ridiculous/unfair habit by some passengers of getting up at the crack of
dawn to save deck chairs.

I get up very early at sea to enjoy the outdoors in a peaceful setting
... but find that there already are lots of towels out on deck chairs. I
see people reserving one set in the sun and one set in the shade ... I
later on in the day see that some or none of those saved deck chairs
were ever used.

So, now, with issued towels, deck chair saving will be minimalized for
the good of ALL!

Don't complain to the cruise lines ... they are trying to respond to
concerns voiced by MANY OF YOU!

Do you have a better idea that will not cost the cruise lines $ by
requiring more help or having their help involved in arguments with the
unpleasant deck chair savers when their free towels are pulled by the
help?

Remember, there have been many threads here about the deck chair saving
problem!

  #12  
Old September 13th, 2003, 05:58 PM
ArleneL
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Pool Towels on Cruise Ships - Please Help!



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


  #13  
Old September 13th, 2003, 05:59 PM
Howard Garland
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Pool Towels on Cruise Ships - Please Help!

That's what I remember. And, I think it sucks!

Charles wrote:

In article , Howard Garland
wrote:


But can you get another towel by the pool, if you dont want to bring the
one from your room? As I remember (it's been over a year since I
cruised Princess), my trick was to get my towels from the gym on
Princess ships.



No you can't. You have to get the replacement from the cabin steward.
So I always request and get an extra towel from them the first day. I
like your trick though.


  #15  
Old September 13th, 2003, 07:11 PM
Charles
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Pool Towels on Cruise Ships - Please Help!

In article ,
wrote:

So, now, with issued towels, deck chair saving will be minimalized for
the good of ALL!


But it does not really work that way. The chair savers put their
"issued" towel and a book on a chair and there are no attendents to
remove them. With pool towels on deck the attendents could just remove
them from "saved" chairs every so often. It varies by ship but on
Summit they did a very good job of it. On other ships they were less
aggressive. With issued towels they don't remove them at all.

--
Charles
  #16  
Old September 13th, 2003, 08:58 PM
Rich Cacace
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Pool Towels on Cruise Ships - Please Help!

Lets face it, I can still hog a chair by tying a carry bag to it. The only
reason I can see for handing out towels in your room is to save the
laundering costs, which from the abuse I've seen must be considerable. I
seriously doubt if the cruise line cares about people hogging chairs.

"Howard Garland" wrote in message
...
wrote:

Yes, having to be responsible for my towel is a pain ... but you can't
believe that having passengers responsible for towels is being done as a
cost savings for the cruise line [they will still give you fresh ones,
etc. as a replacement]!
However, this procedure does help somewhat to resolve the
ridiculous/unfair habit by some passengers of getting up at the crack of
dawn to save deck chairs.


I disagree with you 100%. In my experience, it is the new policy that
IS responsible for people getting up at the crack of dawn to save
chairs. Princess, which first started this practice, has the biggest
deck chair hording problem of any cruise line that I've ever been on.

Do you have a better idea that will not cost the cruise lines $ by
requiring more help or having their help involved in arguments with the
unpleasant deck chair savers when their free towels are pulled by the
help?


I believe the cruise lines save a bundle by not freely providing clean
towels by the pool. So anything I suggest will cost them $. As for
chair hogs that get bent out of shape when their towels are pulled, tough.

Howard





  #17  
Old September 13th, 2003, 09:36 PM
Jean O'Boyle
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Pool Towels on Cruise Ships - Please Help!


"Tom & Linda" wrote in message
...
On the Zenith they implemented an enhanced alternative.
They DO say that they will charge you if you don't return the big logo
towel... but I'm not sure that they do... for example coming back from
Shelly Bay in Bermuda, we left with 4 towels and returned with 5. Our
group had about 15-20 people, so one of the cabins came back one short
(while we came back one extra). I don't think anybody got charged for
being one short.


But yet again, Tom, you have no way of knowing if that fifth towel was
charged to the person's account who left it behind.
I think the huge amount of laundry to be done on a ship may be one reason
that they limit towels. On one Princess cruise,we were shorted a towel and
our cabin steward said they were short and would have it there as soon as
the laundry sent more towels up.
The loss of those nice large and thick towels can also be costly.

--Jean




  #18  
Old September 13th, 2003, 10:09 PM
Tom & Linda
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Pool Towels on Cruise Ships - Please Help!

It was our friends George and Rita, and Maria and her gang. They'd have
let all hell broke loose if they were charged for the towel.

Our group didn't really come home with an extra towel... an extra one
ended up being returned out of our cabin.

--Tom

Jean O'Boyle wrote:

"Tom & Linda" wrote in message
...
On the Zenith they implemented an enhanced alternative.
They DO say that they will charge you if you don't return the big logo
towel... but I'm not sure that they do... for example coming back from
Shelly Bay in Bermuda, we left with 4 towels and returned with 5. Our
group had about 15-20 people, so one of the cabins came back one short
(while we came back one extra). I don't think anybody got charged for
being one short.


But yet again, Tom, you have no way of knowing if that fifth towel was
charged to the person's account who left it behind.
I think the huge amount of laundry to be done on a ship may be one reason
that they limit towels. On one Princess cruise,we were shorted a towel and
our cabin steward said they were short and would have it there as soon as
the laundry sent more towels up.
The loss of those nice large and thick towels can also be costly.

--Jean

  #19  
Old September 13th, 2003, 11:44 PM
Helen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Pool Towels on Cruise Ships - Please Help!

Charles wrote in message id...
In article , Howard Garland
wrote:

On those Celeb and RCCL where they still provide towels at the pool,
deckhands pull the towels periodically from empty chairs.


And on the Celebrity Summit last December that worked out well, there
were lots of chair saver types, but the attendents did remove the
towels, and there were plenty of towels available.


What if you leave your towel for a quick dip in the pool? or have just
dashed inside to the rest room? or to the Lido for an iced tea? I'd
sure hate to come dripping back from a swim to find my towel gone and
someone in my chair! Helen
  #20  
Old September 13th, 2003, 11:55 PM
Charles
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Pool Towels on Cruise Ships - Please Help!

In article , Helen
wrote:

What if you leave your towel for a quick dip in the pool? or have just
dashed inside to the rest room? or to the Lido for an iced tea? I'd
sure hate to come dripping back from a swim to find my towel gone and
someone in my chair! Helen


They did not pick up the towels that fast. They still did remove them
as fast as they should be removed. There were a lot of chair hogs on
that cruise. If someone goes to breakfast, lunch or bingo, the chair
should be freed up and not hogged. In any case there were bins with
plenty of clean towels if anyone needed a new or dry towel.

--
Charles
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
2004 LINERS & CRUISE SHIPS SCREEN SAVER Bob Europe 0 April 16th, 2004 12:55 PM
Cruise ships in Alaska bring money, concern residents !!! Mason Barge Cruises 14 September 25th, 2003 03:38 PM
Cruise ships in Alaska bring money, concern residents !!! Dennis P. Harris Cruises 0 September 13th, 2003 09:17 AM
The Food on Ships Thread (Ben Smith and Others) Becca Cruises 0 September 12th, 2003 09:22 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:13 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 TravelBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.