Charged for pool towels

[Spurschick]

12 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Why not just do the responsible adult thing and just return them when you're supposed to?

I know, I know.. I just got busy and forgot.   Not acceptable in my opinion. If your kid left their iPad at the beach or on the chair by the pool, would we accept their excuse of, but I got busy and just forgot.

No,, you would go ballistic and tell them they have no sense of responsibility and blame society on kids these days are spoiled.

 

 

We did and the attendant didn’t scan them in properly and we got charged

 

Just saying that people that have done the right thing can still get charged if they are not paying attention..

[Spurschick]

11 hours ago, davekathy said:

Celebrity doesn't have you check out or check in towels. No matter if staying on the ship or leaving the ship. Stateroom attendants will usually will leave pool towels in the stateroom if it's a port day. Something that makes you say, hmmmm. 🤔

It was lovely on the Beyond not having to check in/ out towels and just returning and picking up fresh towels whenever we needed. (And don’t get me started on the ice cold face clothes to cool off that they brought around the deck as well ) 

 

Sad I don’t have time to fit in another Beyond trip this year as had already fully booked my year up 😭

Edited January 31, 2023 by Spurschick

[Spurschick]

9 hours ago, jencruzin said:

We had an issue like this on our last cruise! It was our last night, we had left two pool towels in our suite. In the am right before leaving, our room attendant told us, no worries, because we were "in a grand suite." Without thinking ahead, I said OK. Lesson learned! Take the towels yourself and turn them in, never rely on a room attendant that would properly scan back in your pool towels - he probably just dumped them into a laundry bin! Subsequently, we were charged for two "missing" pool towels. DH called RCL after he noticed the extra charges and it was resolved with a refund after around 10 business days.

Agreed, we have been on plenty of RC ships that don’t put towels in cabin, and others that have put towels in our cabin without asking if we want. We always sail in a suite but the consistency across the fleet varies. We have even had some that just turned up the night before arriving in Cococay without asking us.

[DallasGuy75219]

18 minutes ago, Spurschick said:

We did and the attendant didn’t scan them in properly and we got charged

 

Just saying that people that have done the right thing can still get charged if they are not paying attention..

And I had an attendant scan out two towels when I only took one. And I got charged for second towel because I couldn't turn in a towel I never took in the first place.

 

So no need for @klfrodo to be calling other people irresponsible when many of the mischarges are due to RC employees not doing their jobs correctly, whether towel attendants not scanning in/out properly or room stewards taking used towels without replacing them or accounting for them as turned in.

[HappyTexan44]

OK, so the plan is:

1. Get a towel on the first day.   
2. Swap out as needed.
3. Ask the room attendant if they'll swap out the towels.   
4. If the room attendant removes the towel from the room instead of swapping, tell them they need to replace it.    (After all, why should I have to wait at guest services?)  
5. Return towel at end.   I guess that is the last night since no pool time debarkation morning. 

 

[sft429]

There are plenty of abandoned towels all over the ship at the end of the day.  I might just grab one of them and trade it in for a fresh one on the first day and just keep swapping them out all week.  That way my account is never on the hook for a towel and shouldn't be at risk of being charged for an unreturned towel.

 

I'm sure that if there are any flaws in my plan they will be pointed out to me here 🙂

[HappyTexan44]

3 hours ago, sft429 said:

There are plenty of abandoned towels all over the ship at the end of the day.  I might just grab one of them and trade it in for a fresh one on the first day and just keep swapping them out all week.  That way my account is never on the hook for a towel and shouldn't be at risk of being charged for an unreturned towel.

 

I'm sure that if there are any flaws in my plan they will be pointed out to me here 🙂

I am an early-riser.   I guess I could just grab one for each of us after an hour from the chair hogging.  :)  
 

[Mum2Mercury]

 

On 1/30/2023 at 2:27 PM, cruiseguy1016 said:

We always check out a towel on the first day using our Seapass. After that, we just bring our used towel to the stand and swap it out for a clean one. When not using our towels, we always leave them in our stateroom. Our cabin attendants have never taken our towels. We did get charged once but called and had the charge removed. I think if my cabin attendant removed my towels, I would ask him/her to bring them back so I didn't get charged for them.

I always do this very thing:  On the first day, I get 2 towels per person ... and I "exchange them" rather than returning them (obviously, until the last night of the cruise).  Why?   

- I figure the fewer times our cabin number goes in /out of the computer system, the fewer opportunities for a mistake. 

- I always "exchange" when we're done at the pool or hot tub and bring only clean towels back to the room.  I keep them on a shelf in the closet, so the cabin steward never sees them ... actually, the cabin steward seeing my beach towels never occurred to me.  

- This means I always have clean towels, in case I want to go to the hot tub early or late (before the towel station is open).  

1 hour ago, HappyTexan44 said:

I am an early-riser.   I guess I could just grab one for each of us after an hour from the chair hogging.  :)  

I have no sympathy if bad things happen to selfish people who take more than they're due. 

[JJK2008]

In years past, many of the cruise lines had really nice pool towels with embroided logos on them. Of course, many of them disappeared. Hence, today we have cheap towels and a charge if you don't return them. 

[Biker19]

[The Fun Researcher]

5 hours ago, JJK2008 said:

In years past, many of the cruise lines had really nice pool towels with embroided logos on them. Of course, many of them disappeared. Hence, today we have cheap towels and a charge if you don't return them. 

No doubt, why they think they need to charge for scratchy used pool towels, i don't know.

 

We've been charged a number of times.  As a family of 5 we've always booked two rooms.  Sometimes we'll check towels out with one room's card and forget and return them with the other room's card.  Fortunately we've caught the charges ($100+)  each time but it's a hassle to go down to guest services to fix it.

[cruiseboy89130]

On 1/31/2023 at 3:51 PM, sft429 said:

There are plenty of abandoned towels all over the ship at the end of the day.  I might just grab one of them and trade it in for a fresh one on the first day and just keep swapping them out all week.  That way my account is never on the hook for a towel and shouldn't be at risk of being charged for an unreturned towel.

 

I'm sure that if there are any flaws in my plan they will be pointed out to me here 🙂

I alway throw 3 in the box and claim 4 new ones as exchange.....until I'm ahead and have nothing on my account!👌

[SRF]

On 1/30/2023 at 10:41 AM, smokeybandit said:

I never understood why you'd get charged for pool towels, but no real concern about room towels.

 

Because in the past, people would take them to the beach and just leave them.  The beach would be covered with blue towels.

 

Since people could not be responsible, now everyone pays the price

[cruiselvr04]

I complain on every survey. Last cruise we left wet pool towels in the cabin because we were late to dinner and didn’t have 15 min to wait for elevators to take them back up to the pool deck.  Our steward took them and I had to work to get them off our bill.  The stewards should at least have a stack to replace them if they remove them.  He said he checked it in for us but it did not happen.  It can be such a pain. 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Royal shouldn't charge for the towels even if people steal them. Imo, they are the worst pool towels at sea.....

[deepcman]

21 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

I alway throw 3 in the box and claim 4 new ones as exchange.....until I'm ahead and have nothing on my account!👌

I do the same. On the last day, do you ask for a credit for your extra towels you're turning in. 🤣

[SRF]

21 hours ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Royal shouldn't charge for the towels even if people steal them. Imo, they are the worst pool towels at sea.....

 

In that case they will raise the cruise fare to cover the losses.

TANSTAAFL

 

[doghog]

No checking out pool towels on Celebrity or Princess.  

[baileybrad]

Several times on the first day on the ship, I have approached the towel station without a paper boarding pass or my phone and been asked what my room number was when receiving towels. That can lead to an issue for you someone gives the wrong room number.

[LB_NJ]

On 1/30/2023 at 11:01 AM, Fouremco said:

Before lines started introducing these charges, all too many passengers would take a towel or two to the beach while in port and simply leave the now wet and sandy towels there at the end of the day. There was never a problem with bath towels from the cabin. 

Not all lines do this.  Last time I sailed on them the following didn’t: Cunard, Oceania, and Celebrity.

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, LB_NJ said:

Not all lines do this.  Last time I sailed on them the following didn’t: Cunard, Oceania, and Celebrity.

Correct, not all cruise lines followed this course of action. That said, I know that Celebrity certainly did. Here's a January 17, 2018 "Today" describing the policy, posted by a passenger aboard the Eclipse.

 

[LB_NJ]

31 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Correct, not all cruise lines followed this course of action. That said, I know that Celebrity certainly did. Here's a January 17, 2018 "Today" describing the policy, posted by a passenger aboard the Eclipse.

 

However, they don't make you sign out towels at the pools.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

26 minutes ago, LB_NJ said:

However, they don't make you sign out towels at the pools.

Wonder what happens if you take a pool towel ashore with you.

[Mum2Mercury]

On 4/14/2024 at 8:01 AM, SRF said:

Because in the past, people would take them to the beach and just leave them.  The beach would be covered with blue towels.

Yes, this used to be a real problem for the cruise line.  I know we used to see on this board "Take towels, then just dump them on the beach -- nothing happens". 

Yeah, past cruise passengers earned us this new system.  

On 4/14/2024 at 8:01 AM, SRF said:

Since people could not be responsible, now everyone pays the price

Well, we don't pay literal money as long as we return our towels -- but, yes, everyone now has another responsibility onboard.  

18 hours ago, baileybrad said:

Several times on the first day on the ship, I have approached the towel station without a paper boarding pass or my phone and been asked what my room number was when receiving towels. That can lead to an issue for you someone gives the wrong room number.

In theory, this shouldn't happen -- just like people shouldn't be able to charge drinks to your room. What should happen in, the crew member puts in your number, and your picture pops up on his computer.  

I had a little SNAFU on Coco Cay once.  I gave my card and room number to buy a drink, and the crew member said, "No, that's not you."  He turned the computer around and showed me a picture of a black man.  I am a white woman.  Before I could even formulate a thought, he said, "Oh, no -- what ship are you on?"  I said I was on Independence.  He laughed and said, "This is the man in the same room number on Liberty."  That's a thing that could only happen on Coco Cay, but it illustrates how the crew sees your picture /easily verifies your identity.  

10 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Wonder what happens if you take a pool towel ashore with you.

You're allowed to take towels ashore -- you just have to bring them back.  Otherwise, you'll be charged $25 for each missing towel. 

[SRF]

2 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

You're allowed to take towels ashore -- you just have to bring them back.  Otherwise, you'll be charged $25 for each missing towel. 

 

Most port stops with beaches will have a towel station in the disembarkation area or on the dock near the end of the gangplank