Towel Test FAIL

[DivasDare]

We found that our steward changed our towels after use, even if they were still hanging. I loved him. It was so funny when I realized that he was also bringing me room service every morning... I almost felt guilty getting him up so early. Almost... I tipped well... :D

[hughdm]

OP is a bit on the OCD side. I'd never dream of rigging such a thing!

[Cruising89143]

If your towels at home are so dirty that they can't be used a second time, you need stronger soap! :eek:

 

My towels are clean thank you very much. If I want clean towels then that's my choice. If you choose to use dirty towels over and over then knock yourself out.

[americandream]

The little card in the stateroom (and hotels) about conservation is totally for green-washing/marketing/fad/appearance purposes and means nothing.

 

We use a clean fresh towel everyday at home and we expect the same away from home.

 

I know it shocking but their are a huge number of people that do not believe in on the "Green" hoopla. :eek:

Here here!

[NewSalt]

Once again we have the case of "This is not important to me so you're OC/nitpicking/unable to enjoy the wonder of a cruise because it's important to you."

 

I never thought too much about reusing towels until a friend pointed out her aversion to using a towel to dry her face when it previously been used it to dry "special" parts. I was immediately converted.

 

I have always been somewhat humbled by how hard our room stewards have worked; however, that doesn't mean that the lazy or disgruntled room steward doesn't exist. I think the OP was right to determine whether his suspicions were correct before confronting the steward lodging a complaint against him.

[MicCanberra]

I never thought too much about reusing towels until a friend pointed out her aversion to using a towel to dry her face when it previously been used it to dry "special" parts. I was immediately converted.

 

I think I may have just converted to clean towels every day.:D

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Found this thread, decided to look it over before hitting the hay. (I work nights.) So I'm not terribly awake right now.

 

Because I'm half-asleep, can't imagine what right now, but I wonder if there's some circumstance where someone wipes up something nasty with a towel (not toxic, but you wouldn't want to use it again), left it on the floor, and had it rehung instead of replaced. (Edit-- thought of something-- urine. Or other *ahem* bodily fluids.) The towel is not dirty to outward appearances. If it gets rehung, that makes this a very relevant topic.

 

If we don't have folks like the OP who take it upon themselves to do a little checking-up, we don't find out about something that's potentially very disgusting. And I think it speaks to the overall work ethic and honesty of the steward (and/or assistant). If they're cutting corners with towels, what else are they doing or not doing that we take for granted is getting done?

 

A few minutes of effort on the OP's part has provided some information for us all. It's his vacation; he's free to spend his time however he wants. If it's information you yourself cannot use or feel is unimportant, please refrain from disparaging comments. OP was trying to help. Negative comments have a chilling effect, both on the OP of an article and to others who would post but are wary of the backlash. A good rule is not to post anything that you wouldn't say to someone's face.

 

Sorry, I'm tired. And cranky.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Well said. Rather than resort to "scientific" towel testing or engage in a game of "Gotcha!," the OP's efforts would have been best directed speaking to his attendant. Wonder what these folks do when they're not all laid back, relaxed and on vacation!

 

First line of first post said it was a non-scientific test. I didn't interpret it as an ambush situation, just a simple way of ascertaining if the steward was properly doing his job. It was a clever way of finding out something about a steward that he felt was not doing his job. OP also stated that this little test was run only because he felt that he had one of the rare stewards who was lazy.

 

And you assume the OP did not speak to the steward first. Since that's what most people would do at the first instance of a problem, it's reasonable to assume for now that that did happen, but the lazy behavior continued. OP (if he's still around) might come back to tell us if there were any efforts made to address the perceived problems by simply saying something.

 

Sorry if this came out nasty. Still cranky.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

I think the OP was right to determine whether his suspicions were correct before confronting the steward lodging a complaint against him.

 

Another good point. It carries more weight if you go to complain to the head of housekeeping if you have evidence to back it up, and is better than assuming the steward is not doing his job, saying so to the head of housekeeping or on the comment card, and being wrong.

[teajak]

My towels are clean thank you very much. If I want clean towels then that's my choice. If you choose to use dirty towels over and over then knock yourself out.

Me too. Our towels are not really dirty after one shower but they go right in the laundry. I don't mind washing and folding them but we want a clean towel each shower.On a cruise all of the used towels except for one hand towel go on the floor of the shower.Guess we have a little OCD,putting dots on the towels, too funny.Probably wasn't so funny to the room steward.:eek:

[phoenix_dream]

Good grief! People you are on vacation - this is how you spend your time...putting ink dots on towels - what makes for a lazy steward - he didn't come running down the hall waving at you and calling you by your name! What else did you do with your time - scope out all the stains in the carpet and smudges on the windows. Life is too short to nit pick everything - again the key word is VACATION!!

In fairness to the OP, he was talking about a situation where he had placed dirty towels on the floor, only finding them later back on the rack. His test confirmed his suspicions. He was not doing it on a lark to try to catch the room steward in a no-no or playing petty games. What the room steward did in this case was uncalled for, unsanitary and therefore potentially putting the OP's health at risk, and not the smallest bit disgusting. Maybe you would be ok drying your face on towels that were on the floor and we previously used for heaven knows what, but I sure wouldn't - vacation or no vacation.

[NukeIT]

I find the whole argument of "what you do at home" irrelevant...

 

When I am on vacation I like to splurge and be pampered... Including a fresh towel every time I shower, and clean sheets every night when I crawl into bed....

 

Nothing like fresh crisp sheets the first night.

[NukeIT]

Duplicate post

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Guess we have a little OCD,putting dots on the towels, too funny.Probably wasn't so funny to the room steward.:eek:

I placed a pin sized blue dot on the label of each towel.

 

For those who are not aware, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) can be a serious psychological condition, affecting some people's ability to function in everyday life. The OP made it clear that this was a one-time experiment, not a compulsive behavior pattern. I'm not trying to accuse anyone who innocently does this of being insensitive, but referring to OCD in this way is akin to referring to someone as retarded. I'm sure no offense was intended.

 

To clear up any misconceptions, it's not like someone placed a large, indelible mark on the towel, forcing the steward to do extra work to try to clean it. The whole idea was to leave a mark that would not be seen by anyone unless they were looking for it. And it was on the label, not the towel itself.

[besberry]

I never thought too much about reusing towels until a friend pointed out her aversion to using a towel to dry her face when it previously been used it to dry "special" parts. I was immediately converted.

Err, don't most people have two towels in the bathroom? A hand towel and a bath sheet. Use the hand towel for face and hands and the bath sheet for the rest of body. Apart from which, if you're drying 'special' parts, one would hope that they're clean, having just been bathed or showered or whatever!

[JRJARS]

In fairness to the OP, he was talking about a situation where he had placed dirty towels on the floor, only finding them later back on the rack. His test confirmed his suspicions. He was not doing it on a lark to try to catch the room steward in a no-no or playing petty games. What the room steward did in this case was uncalled for, unsanitary and therefore potentially putting the OP's health at risk, and not the smallest bit disgusting. Maybe you would be ok drying your face on towels that were on the floor and we previously used for heaven knows what, but I sure wouldn't - vacation or no vacation.

 

OMG are you serious...again I pose the question...who are you sharing a cabin with...I would certainly hope that the towel on the floor was used previously by you or your other half...you act like the towels were used by some homeless person - more than likely it's the person you're sleeping with, do you find them disgusting?

[teajak]

For those who are not aware, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) can be a serious psychological condition, affecting some people's ability to function in everyday life. The OP made it clear that this was a one-time experiment, not a compulsive behavior pattern. I'm not trying to accuse anyone who innocently does this of being insensitive, but referring to OCD in this way is akin to referring to someone as retarded. I'm sure no offense was intended.

 

To clear up any misconceptions, it's not like someone placed a large, indelible mark on the towel, forcing the steward to do extra work to try to clean it. The whole idea was to leave a mark that would not be seen by anyone unless they were looking for it. And it was on the label, not the towel itself.

I have been properly reprimanded and will never try joking again.Maybe.:rolleyes:

[Sascol]

OMG are you serious...again I pose the question...who are you sharing a cabin with...I would certainly hope that the towel on the floor was used previously by you or your other half...you act like the towels were used by some homeless person - more than likely it's the person you're sleeping with, do you find them disgusting?

 

Seriously you ask this someone question? If I use a towel to wipe my feet (or any other part of my body for that matter) I would not want the person I am sharing a cabin with to use it on their face - regardless of this towel had been on the floor or not. Common sense man.

[sportsmum]

I think it was brillliant. You suspect something, you're curious, you find a way to get the answer. We're just off NCL- first and last- and had a very lazy stewardess. Also a thief. We had boxes of those Hawaiian individually wrapped cookies in our room(s). We noticed them disappearing and started to count before we left the room and upon return. Yep, she was helping herself. Did we talk to her? No, we actually only found out it was a girl on the 6th day when we had to call down to get our room made up at 3PM. We had by then run out of cookies so our room was left. Did we talk to her superior when we suspected/found out? No, we too had better things to do on vacation than go to an office and file paperwork, etc. and as valuables are always locked up, we just shook our heads. Emailed NCL upon return and have had no reply. Glad we didn't waste vacation time on the ship.

 

So, for those who think OP had nothing better to do with his time, I believe he spent his time wisely. Quick test, figured it out and moved on.

 

Towels: towels left on floor/not on your hook, whose towel is whose? I don't care how much I love someone, if the last place they dried and the first place I dry is not compatable then it's gross. But, where you would like to put your nose is none of my business. :D What comes to mind are my kids and their cruel and unusual punishment with each other. "I'm sitting on your pillow......." comes the taunt from upstairs. "I'm not wearing pants........."

 

Where we are they have bath towels with a nice soft side for faces and then the regular nap on the other side for your body. On holiday, I like fresh towels, thank you very much!

 

Glasses: We usually wash them ourselves before use or get them from the buffet and keep a supply in the room. We've seen the video's!

 

Ice container: We had never given that a second thought until the NCL cruise. We passed by a cabin whose door was propped open. A man was soaking his foot in the ice container. We phoned down and asked if there were plastic liners for the ice bucket when we got back to the room. No, we were told. They 'sterilize' the buckets twice a day. YA RIGHT! NCL had an orange cooler filled with ice in the hall that they all scooped from. We got ice from buffet in the buffet glasses too. We'll now do this for all the cruises without bucket liners.

 

Call us nuts, but not to our faces.........I'm sitting on your pilllllllowwww...

[tserface]

LOL!!!

 

Ironically, my peeve is I hate anyone else using my pillow.

 

Tom

 

Call us nuts, but not to our faces.........I'm sitting on your pilllllllowwww...

[tserface]

This has been a very enlightening thread. The reactions are varied, but I've been overwhelmingly surprised at how many people don't care who else used their towel on which parts of their body or if the towel was on the floor contacting who knows what. I would have thought people would be appalled by this, but there are so many, like you, who don't mind if the attendant just picks up the towel and puts it back on the rack.

 

I wouldn't expect to find a homeless person in my cabin, but even if my wife used the towel and threw it on the floor I wouldn't want to use it and I respect her more than any other person I know. I'm pretty sure she feels the same.

 

It kind of disturbs me that so many people don't care. I'm not trying to make a judgment, but it has been in interesting thread.

 

Tom

 

OMG are you serious...again I pose the question...who are you sharing a cabin with...I would certainly hope that the towel on the floor was used previously by you or your other half...you act like the towels were used by some homeless person - more than likely it's the person you're sleeping with, do you find them disgusting?

[Sascol]

Ice container: We had never given that a second thought until the NCL cruise. We passed by a cabin whose door was propped open. A man was soaking his foot in the ice container. We phoned down and asked if there were plastic liners for the ice bucket when we got back to the room. No, we were told. They 'sterilize' the buckets twice a day. YA RIGHT!

 

Call us nuts, but not to our faces.........I'm sitting on your pilllllllowwww...

 

OK we are now getting way off topic but this is quite entertaining. Bottom line...a lot of people are gross. Reminds me of a story too...

 

My cousin was on a commuter train. He witnessed a guy across from him take two slices of pizza that he had just purchased out of a bag, put them on the seat (not on a plate....directly on the seat) and then proceed to eat them. He snuck a photo of this with his BlackBerry for proof becasue he did not think anyone would believe him. Now if it is not gross enough that this guy was eating seat flavored pizza, imagine the next poor slob who unknowingly comes along and sits in the pizza oiled seat. Money says this was the very same guy that used the ice bucket as a foot soaker.

[teajak]

Sportsmum you just made my day, I can just hear our grandsons doing that, loved it.

[BosoxI]

Three brief points:

Just off the Solstice and even though we hung our slightly used towels on the rack, our steward replaced them every day.

 

Through no fault of our own, raw sewage flooded our bathroom on a previous cruise. Nothing that touches the floor on any ship will ever be reused unless it can be boiled.

 

I am sick and tired of "Green"

[ali-ali-oh]

 

I wonder if there's some circumstance where someone wipes up something nasty with a towel (not toxic, but you wouldn't want to use it again), left it on the floor, and had it rehung instead of replaced. (Edit-- thought of something-- urine. Or other *ahem* bodily fluids.)

Ewww why would you wipe urine up with a towel?!! Surey you would use tissues or toilet roll for that and then dispose of it rather than something that would be re-used??? Gross!