Pool Towels on Cruise Ships - Please Help!

[Howard Garland]

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

[Richard Whitlock]

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.

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

[Tom & Linda]

On the Zenith they implemented an enhanced alternative.

They give you an oversize, ship logo towel to use for shore excursions,
or wherever you want.

Plus there are also smaller "regular" size pool towels availabe around
the pool area.

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.

I think that option is the best of both worlds.

--Tom

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

[Howard Garland]

No problem with the big logo towels for going ashore. The problem is
that when people are responsible for their towels at the pool, the ship
also eliminates the practice of pulling towels from empty chairs. On
those Celeb and RCCL where they still provide towels at the pool,
deckhands pull the towels periodically from empty chairs.

Tom & Linda wrote:

> On the Zenith they implemented an enhanced alternative.
>
> They give you an oversize, ship logo towel to use for shore excursions,
> or wherever you want.
>
> Plus there are also smaller "regular" size pool towels availabe around
> the pool area.
>
> 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.
>
> I think that option is the best of both worlds.
>
> --Tom
>
> 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

[Charles]

In article >, Richard Whitlock
> wrote:

> 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.

On Princess they don't charge a $25 fee.

--
Charles

[Howard Garland]

> 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.
>
> Tucker in Texas

Hi Tucker,

What you describe above, is exactly how Carnival handles their recently
implemented Princess-like towel policy, except that Carnival charges
$25. Having been on numerous cruises both before and after the change,
I still HATE the practice for three following reasons:

1. Based upon my experience (lots of cruises, lots of laying out at
pools, lots of cruise lines), the newer practice (old already on
Princess) definitely causes more chair hogging.

2. They used to (RCCL and Celebrity still do, at least they did on my
last cruises) have deck personnel pull towels from long-vacated chairs,
which they no longer do, for obvious reasons.

3. When I want to change a wet towel or take more than one towel to my
chair, I don't want to get on line and fill out a form.

Howard

[Charles]

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.

--
Charles

[Howard Garland]

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.

Howard

Charles wrote:

> In article >, Richard Whitlock
> > wrote:
>
>
>>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.
>
>
> On Princess they don't charge a $25 fee.
>

[Howard Garland]

That's exactly what I'm talking about, Charles. I guess the newer
practice bothers me more than it bothers most other people.

Charles wrote:

> 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.
>

[Charles]

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.

--
Charles

[[email protected]]

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!

[ArleneL]

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

[Howard Garland]

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.
>

[Howard Garland]

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

[Charles]

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

[Rich Cacace]

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
>
>
>

[Jean O'Boyle]

"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

[Tom & Linda]

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

[Helen]

Charles > wrote in message >...
> 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

[Charles]

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

[Tom & Linda]

Charles wrote:
>
> 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.

I'm not sure I agree with that.

If I have an "out of the way" chair in the shade, and I was there
reading my book all morning, and want to go to lunch, why can't I leave
a towel and book on it to save it for a half hour? If I plan to spend
the afternoon there, why can't I save it?

--Tom




> In any case there were bins with
> plenty of clean towels if anyone needed a new or dry towel.
>
> --
> Charles

[Howard and Eileen Garland]

Because when a significant number of people do this, there aren't enough
chairs, Tom. This is exactly why there is a problem.

Tom & Linda wrote:

>
> Charles wrote:
>
>>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.
>
>
> I'm not sure I agree with that.
>
> If I have an "out of the way" chair in the shade, and I was there
> reading my book all morning, and want to go to lunch, why can't I leave
> a towel and book on it to save it for a half hour? If I plan to spend
> the afternoon there, why can't I save it?
>
> --Tom
>
>
>
>
>
>>In any case there were bins with
>>plenty of clean towels if anyone needed a new or dry towel.
>>
>>--
>>Charles

[Charles]

In article >, Tom & Linda
> wrote:

> If I have an "out of the way" chair in the shade, and I was there
> reading my book all morning, and want to go to lunch, why can't I leave
> a towel and book on it to save it for a half hour? If I plan to spend
> the afternoon there, why can't I save it?

Many times I have seen chairs with towels and stuff on them empty of
any human for hours. I have seen one person put towels on six or eight
chairs in the morning and return hours later. In the meantime others
can't find "unoccupied" chairs. If some people did not hog chairs there
would always be another available in the afternoon when you return from
lunch.

One nice thing on Summit. The pool attendents would take the towel off
an unoccupied lounge chair and move it to another location for me so I
never had to worry about someone returning after several hours and
saying anything, they had no idea where their saved chair went.

--
Charles

[Dick Goldhaber]

I agree. It has been two years since we last cruised, and since 1996 all of
our cruises have either been on Veendam or Statendam, and the last time we
sailed in 2001 towels in the cabin were white and towels at the pool were
blue.

We will be happy to include "The State of the Towel" in our review when we
come back from Hawaii, but let me say that we use the aft pool on a HAL
ship, and only in the morning so that when we are done after an hour or so
we return the towels and free the chairs.
--
DG in Cherry Hill, NJ


"Howard Garland" > wrote in message
...
> 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.
> >
>

[Tom & Linda]

But I was in the chair all morning. And want the chair all afternoon.
Why do you have a problem with me saving it during lunch? Why should I
lose the chair when I was in it all morning. It's not like I left it
empty after putting a towel on it at 7:00 am.

--Tom

Howard and Eileen Garland wrote:
>
> Because when a significant number of people do this, there aren't enough
> chairs, Tom. This is exactly why there is a problem.
>
> Tom & Linda wrote:
>
> >
> > Charles wrote:
> >
> >>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.
> >
> >
> > I'm not sure I agree with that.
> >
> > If I have an "out of the way" chair in the shade, and I was there
> > reading my book all morning, and want to go to lunch, why can't I leave
> > a towel and book on it to save it for a half hour? If I plan to spend
> > the afternoon there, why can't I save it?
> >
> > --Tom
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>In any case there were bins with
> >>plenty of clean towels if anyone needed a new or dry towel.
> >>
> >>--
> >>Charles

[Sue and Kevin Mullen]

Helen wrote:
I'd
> sure hate to come dripping back from a swim to find my towel gone and
> someone in my chair! Helen

This has happened to us, once or twice. We have come back from the
whirlpool and found someone in our chairs, our towels and belongings had
been moved.

sue

[Sue and Kevin Mullen]

Charles wrote:

> Many times I have seen chairs with towels and stuff on them empty of
> any human for hours. I have seen one person put towels on six or eight
> chairs in the morning and return hours later.

One morning on the Zenith I went up to the whirlpools, they are on a
separate deck. There was only a couple of people there and there were
lots of available chairs. There were two chairs with towels spead across
them, nicely tucked in and no one using them. Late in the afternoon I
went back to the whirlpool and those two chairs were exactly as they had
been in the morning, obviously saved and unused.

sue

[Peri Schacknow]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Howard, but on the RCCL's Navigator of the
Seas a couple of weeks ago we were issued pool towels IN THE ROOM, which were
only to be EXCHANGED (for a dry one, I guess) at the pool. You could request
one from a pool attendant, but they weren't out in the bins as they'd always
been before.

~ Peri

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

[Howard Garland]

Dick Goldhaber wrote:

> I agree. It has been two years since we last cruised, and since 1996 all of
> our cruises have either been on Veendam or Statendam, and the last time we
> sailed in 2001 towels in the cabin were white and towels at the pool were
> blue.

If I might ask, Dick. Why have ALL your cruises been on these two ships?

> We will be happy to include "The State of the Towel" in our review when we
> come back from Hawaii, but let me say that we use the aft pool on a HAL
> ship, and only in the morning so that when we are done after an hour or so
> we return the towels and free the chairs.

Always love the aft pools on HAL ships, where the Filipino deckhands go
out of their way to make you as comfortable as possible.

Howard

[Dick Goldhaber]

We fell in love with HAL's service on our first Hawaii cruise in 1997. This
will be our third Hawaii cruise and Statendam has been the ship in service
on the Hawaii run.

Coincidentally our first HAL cruise was in 1996, a fall foliage cruise on
Veendam, and we did two cruises in 2001, a quickie 7 day Caribbean cruise to
restore Danni's sanity after a tough couple of months as caregiver to my
mother-in-law. We had planned a Canal cruise for later in 2001 and both
times we were on Veendam.

From 1999 on we have used a travel agent that we first met in 1993 when she
worked for Rosenbluth and we booked through Prodigy. Because we have
special needs in that we travel with a guide dog, Susan has put Danni in
touch with people at Holland America who have catered to her needs. We get
to pick our table and have the refrigerator emptied so we have room for
bottled water and dog food. We always ask for room service to deliver two
juices the first day so that we have the ability to take our medicine when
we awake.

We have cruised RCI, Celebrity, and Crystal, and while we loved Crystal, HAL
comes close to matching them. We are not set against other lines, but right
now HAL has the cruises that match the places we want to go. I know that
Danni would love to go back to Alaska, and last I looked, Veendam was HAL's
ship in Alaska.

We look forward to meeting up with you and Eileen some day.
--
DG in Cherry Hill, NJ


"Howard Garland" > wrote in message
...
> Dick Goldhaber wrote:
>
> > I agree. It has been two years since we last cruised, and since 1996
all of
> > our cruises have either been on Veendam or Statendam, and the last time
we
> > sailed in 2001 towels in the cabin were white and towels at the pool
were
> > blue.
>
> If I might ask, Dick. Why have ALL your cruises been on these two ships?
>
> > We will be happy to include "The State of the Towel" in our review when
we
> > come back from Hawaii, but let me say that we use the aft pool on a HAL
> > ship, and only in the morning so that when we are done after an hour or
so
> > we return the towels and free the chairs.
>
> Always love the aft pools on HAL ships, where the Filipino deckhands go
> out of their way to make you as comfortable as possible.
>
> Howard
>

[Howard Garland]

Thanks for anwering Dick.

Howard

[Howard Garland]

Damn! I'd even trade the rock climbing wall (which I love) for a
constant supply of fresh towels by the pool.

Howard



Peri Schacknow wrote:

> Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Howard, but on the RCCL's Navigator
> of the Seas a couple of weeks ago we were issued pool towels IN THE
> ROOM, which were only to be EXCHANGED (for a dry one, I guess) at the
> pool. You could request one from a pool attendant, but they weren't out
> in the bins as they'd always been before.
>
> ~ Peri

[Mason Barge]

On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 18:02:07 -0400, Howard Garland
> wrote:

>Damn! I'd even trade the rock climbing wall (which I love) for a
>constant supply of fresh towels by the pool.
>
>Howard

See you on the Constellation <vbg>


Mason Barge

"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea. If this is tea, please bring me some coffee."
-- Abraham Lincoln

[Jeff Coudriet]

I'm a high maintenance towel user too. Can't have too many. I like two
on my lounge chair, one to dry off with, and one to roll as a pillow.
So there's 4 right there. I guess I'm not "saving the waves" enough
huh??

Jeff


Howard Garland wrote:
>
> Damn! I'd even trade the rock climbing wall (which I love) for a
> constant supply of fresh towels by the pool.
>
> Howard

[Howard Garland]

Four towels on one chair is definitely preferable to two towels on four
chairs.

I cruised on the Sun Princess during Christmas week, when the ship was
brand new. It was the first time that I encountered towel rationing on a
ship. The ship was quite full and there were a large number perfectly
quaffed princesses from Long Island aboard. It seemed that many of
these ladies used their rationed towels only as territory, or should I
say homestead, markers, because there was no way these lovely gals were
going to get anything wet. Lounges at the pool were constantly empty
and reserved at the same time. One woman had actually reserved 8 chairs
in the sun and 8 in the shade. Single towels were spread across
multiple, unoccupied chairs all day long. She didn't have enough
towels, so she added empty shopping bags (from only the best NY stores).
After a couple of hours, I asked if I could use one of her empty bag,
marked chairs for a friend who had joined me. He answer was "No"!

These days, when I encounter a similar (but honestly never this extreme)
situation on a ship, I just take the chair, despite protest, and promise
to return it whenever the reservee really needs it.

Howard

Jeff Coudriet wrote:

> I'm a high maintenance towel user too. Can't have too many. I like two
> on my lounge chair, one to dry off with, and one to roll as a pillow.
> So there's 4 right there. I guess I'm not "saving the waves" enough
> huh??
>
> Jeff
>
>
> Howard Garland wrote:
>
>>Damn! I'd even trade the rock climbing wall (which I love) for a
>>constant supply of fresh towels by the pool.
>>
>>Howard

[leek]

In article >,
Mason Barge > wrote:

> On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 18:02:07 -0400, Howard Garland
> > wrote:
>
> >Damn! I'd even trade the rock climbing wall (which I love) for a
> >constant supply of fresh towels by the pool.
> >
> >Howard
>
> See you on the Constellation <vbg>

In Feb 2004, for me :)