Amenity Kit

[dag144]

I was in a grand suite on RCL's Radiance of the Seas last year. The cabin is nicer than anything HAL has dreamed up. The marble bath had two sinks and lots of soaps and lotions in little bottles. In addition they had the same products in dispensers on the shower and tub. I found that I was using the dispensers because they are so convenient.

 

However, I did put lots of little bottles of stuff (not booze) and soaps in my luggage. I had the best of all worlds and thought of cruising every time I took a shower until my supply ran out. By then I was booked on my next cruise!:)

[InTheWASide]

To save money, HAL is putting dispensers in the showers. Nothing upscale or attractice about it. Mass market feel? Definitely.

 

People on these threads though have also said that Elemis makes slightly bigger "travel size" bottles as well as full size bottles the spa sells and they feel the line is cost cutting or being cheap by not having these in the rooms. I don't see how having more available to you is cheap. Of course there's a green aspect to this... can you fault HAL for giving a ____ about th earth?

 

Had the products changed, I could see it being an issue. Same products but different delivery? Not a big deal.

 

As for the onditioner separating... how do you know it doesn't do that in your opaque bottles of conditioner in your home... either in your shower or on the store shelf before you buy it?

 

Oh, and the above by the way... just my $0.02

[InTheWASide]

Carnival and NCL provide lovely baskets of amenities...

HAL gives you lotion, shampoo and conditioner... but they are Elemis, so at least they give you quality :D

 

 

NCL has Elemis too. They don't have the 2 different bar soaps but they have an Elemis lavendar/mint handsoap... also a dispenser... and I LOVE the stuff (and I hate lavendar so go figure). Other than that, same shampoo, conditioner and body wash. lso a shower cap. And that's it. No baskets of anything additional and the only bottles NCL has are the lotion and I don't recall right off if the conditioner is dispenser or little bottles.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The conditioner bottles that I use at home and take on the cruise are smaller than the dispenser ones on the ship.

 

Also -- I always shake the bottle before I use it. The dispenser you can not shake it.

[Bill B]

Ever seen such dispensers in a good hotel?

Not the same sort of dispensers, but at a 5-star luxury resort on Koh Lanta, Thailand they had large, beautifully shaped, ceramic, pump-top dispenser 'bottles' with the hotel logo and contents: Soap, Shampoo, Foaming Bath Wash and Lotion. The first three all contained exactly the same stuff (whatever it was)... LOL.

[m steve]

what you originally referred to is what you get on Carnival. Those are promotional samples provided free from the manufacturers. Don't forget the Life Savers.

[Squarestatesailor]

The Elemis products for all cabins include:

 

1.7 ounce bottle - Pure Shine Shampoo - infused with the aroma of Lime, Basil, and Grapefruit.

 

1.7 ounce bottle - Pro-Vitamin Conditioner - a citrus experience that replenishes with conditioning Vitamin B5 Panthenol.

 

1.7 ounce bottle - Sharp Shower and Bath Gel - an aroma-therapeutic blend of Mint, Charmonile, Wild Marjoram, Nettle and Thyme in a Mineral rich Sea Salt base.

 

1.7 ounce bottle of Vitamin Rich-Body Lotion - infused with Vitamin-rich Wheat Germ, Carrot and Sweet Almond Oil.

 

For the Face: Citrus Soap Slice - pure Glycerin soap is lightly infused with the aroma of Grapefruit, Basil, Clove and Lime.

 

For the Body: pure zest cleansing soap - infused with nature's own Lime, Clove Leaf, Lavender and Rosemary Extracts in Palm Oil.

 

Two ships that I know of now have the dispensers at the bath/shower for the shampoo, conditioner and bath gel -- Nieuw Amsterdam ans someone reported that the dispensers were being added onto the Noordam.

When we sailed in December 2010 on the Ryndam, they were installing dispensers.

[Squarestatesailor]

The Ryndam was changing over during our December 2010 cruise. They did installations when we could be off ship. No dry docking required.

[Vic The Parrot]

OP ...

 

Should you forget some essentials, your best bet is to get them in your embarkation port. As an example, there is a Walgreens in FLL. You can get anything you need before stepping on board.

[Boytjie]

As others have said dispensers are tacky, and Holland America keeps advertising itself as an upscale line at mass market prices. Eventually, I think, those mass market prices have to affect every aspect of the cruising experience.

 

To save money, HAL is putting dispensers in the showers. Nothing upscale or attractice about it. Mass market feel? Definitely.

 

I am sure when plastic bottles were first used it was also considered tacky. ;)

 

We had dispensers on our recent NCL cruise and I did not find it tackier than little plastic bottles.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I hope this works -- picture of the conditioner separating:

 

Attached Thumbnails

[bepsf]

I hope this works -- picture of the conditioner separating:

 

Attached Thumbnails

 

The ship clearly isn't vibrating enough or the seas aren't rough enough to keep the conditioner properly mixed!

;)

[bepsf]

Does HAL provide an in cabin amenity kit?

 

While sailing on other cruise lines, a single shaver, hand soap, shaving cream, and some aspirin has been provided in the stateroom. I am always worried that I will forget some of these important items and am curious if HAL has these amenities in the cabin.

 

Thanks

NickCDN

 

 

It occurred to me that some years ago, the Neptune had a stash of little blue zip bags with certain items - mini-toothpaste & toothbrush, shaver, etc...

...and last time we were in a Deluxe, the line provided spa slippers in the suite.

Don't know if that's still the case - will let you know in a few weeks.

[cruisin'mama]

Just off the Oosterdam and our VD cabin shower had the dispensers. It was 3/4 filled when we boarded and was refilled to that level the last night at sea.

[cruisinjudy]

Rotterdam installed the dispensers while we were on the ship in January. They were filled the last day or so. I prefer the dispensers!

[Davidson Duo]

I quite like the idea of the dispensers. Especially for someone with long hair, or if there are a couple of women in the same room.

 

I have poor hand grip and always found it hard to get the little bottles open, and to try to shake out enough product to do a thorough hair wash/condition. And I always felt I had to ration what I used as there was always only the one bottle in the room at a time, and not enough in the one bottle for both my husband and I to be able to do our hair with.

 

If we then went on a shore excursion where we got dusty or salt water filled hair, we couldn't wash it again until the steward had returned to our stateroom and replaced the empty container.

 

Soap dispensers are also properly cleaned by the stewards on a regular basis to ensure they are hygienic. When I was working, our company provided dispensers for use to the public, and our staff members had a cleaning schedule for them to ensure they were always sanitary. I know HAL has much higher cleanliness standards than our company had :D, so I feel confident I'm in good hands with them.

 

I also appreciate the green impact that will be realized. If you consider 1200-2000 passengers at 1 little bottle per day (very conservative usage in my opinion), on a 7 day cruise that is a lot of waste. And be it landfill or air pollution from an incinerator, no matter what form of disposal is used, that is a big impact on our environment from just a liquid container.

 

And for the passengers who are disappointed that they won't be able to take home their supply of little bottles to enjoy at home, I personally am glad that there is the cost saving advantage to HAL where my cruise price does not include paying for product for other passengers future home use. I don't consider wise cost management processes to always be considered "cheap". It is just good business sense to keep your costs under control, and this is one of those areas that I feel is a smart decision.

 

For me, the dispensers are a welcome improvement and I appreciate the changeover. I am so glad to hear that the Rotterdam has just changed over to them. I will be on her in less than a month and look forward to the chance to refresh my hair as often as I want without having to worry about the shampoo supply. :)

[mikeqube]

You are right -- they do sound like they could be served for the vegetarian menu for Le Cirque. :D

Does a vegetarian menu exist for Le Cirque?

[NMLady]

ok thanks for the info. I did have a small basket supplied on both Carnival and NCL.

 

Were you in a suite or something like that? I've done 7 cruises on NCL and never got a basket of amenities of any sort. Ditto for my Carnival cruises.

[kazu]

Were you in a suite or something like that? I've done 7 cruises on NCL and never got a basket of amenities of any sort. Ditto for my Carnival cruises.

 

from the op's description at the beginning it sounded like it.

 

As to the dispensers, they work great. We have to remember that HAL is an environmental line, so this has to be a lot better for the environment.

 

We had no problem on our NA cruise with this. We were in a suite so we had the dispensers and the little bottles as well.

 

I have been on NCL many times in the past (but not in a suite) and I never got an amenity package other than the same things that HAL gives us.

 

I'm probably missing the boat :eek: but i don't really see what the big deal is

[justluv2cruisewithhubby]

We just returned from the Oosterdam last week and we were pleasantly surprised to find the soap dispensers installed in the shower. They have three clear wall containers: Conditioner; Body Soap and Shampoo. I can tell you that we used quite a bit of each and the steward kept filling them up for us.

[momerath]

I hope this works -- picture of the conditioner separating:

 

Attached Thumbnails

 

It looks more like a layer of new conditioner on top of (or underneath??) old conditioner than product separation to me. I re-fill all kinds of products at home, and often see this same effect when new is added to old. The old stuff may have had some reaction to light, or the products ingredients may have changed slightly since it was last filled, making it appear different. I also have had bottles of shampoos and conditioners hang around for years and not seen any separation of product in clear bottles - so I sincerely doubt that is what is happening in the picture. Just my thoughts :)

[Oceanwench]

Westerdam is installing the dispensers.

We sailed Jan. 21 - the dispensers had just been installed in our cabin.

We were in a HC suite, and we had the dispensers in the roll-in shower and in the tub as well.

They were about 1/3 full, if that.

Our steward did not give us any bar soap - I had to ask for it.

I don't like the shower gel -- and of course we needed bar soap at the sink.

 

The dispensers did not work well, and the steward filled them to a higher level and got them working. I found it easier to use than the little bottles. :)

 

My sister, also in a suite, did not have the dispenser until mid-week. She was provided with the little bottles of Elemis, along with soaps.

 

They continue to provide the body lotion in the little bottles too.

[Krazy Kruizers]

It looks more like a layer of new conditioner on top of (or underneath??) old conditioner than product separation to me. I re-fill all kinds of products at home, and often see this same effect when new is added to old. The old stuff may have had some reaction to light, or the products ingredients may have changed slightly since it was last filled, making it appear different. I also have had bottles of shampoos and conditioners hang around for years and not seen any separation of product in clear bottles - so I sincerely doubt that is what is happening in the picture. Just my thoughts :)

 

As I had mentioned earlier in this thread -- I had asked our cabin stewards if they had added anything to the conditioner and they replied they had not.

I also asked if they had been cleaning our cabin for awhile -- they had been on the ship since July since the inaugural working that area and nothing had been added to the conidtioner.

The one item that was used the most was the shower gel.

[iceman93]

I was in a grand suite on RCL's Radiance of the Seas last year. The cabin is nicer than anything HAL has dreamed up. The marble bath had two sinks and lots of soaps and lotions in little bottles. In addition they had the same products in dispensers on the shower and tub. I found that I was using the dispensers because they are so convenient.

 

I agree that this would be the best of all worlds--provide both options and let the customer choose. We've seen just on this thread people who prefer the dispensers and people who prefer the little bottles. Providing both would address the green/economics aspect of wasting too many bottles, while also allowing the customer to choose which they prefer.

 

Oh, and I saw a show last night that showed the Grand Suite of the ROTS--it is hardly "nicer than anything HAL has dreamed up". If anything, I thought it looked very pedestrian and poorly laid-out compared to HAL's penthouse suites. The baby grand piano is a case in point--how many customers are actually going to use that, but look how much space it takes up!

[nannygoatjunction]

I understand the need for green and less packaging waste, but the wee bottles do make lovely fun gifts for our children when we return....