What to pack - towels

[Brissie45]

Hi 

Sorry I know this topic has been discussed

Whats the latest on beach and swimming towels? 

Do people bring their own? Or purchase the gift towel?

If we decide to hire from the boat can we exchange each day a new dry beach towel?  

[AshleyDillo]

13 minutes ago, Brissie45 said:

If we decide to hire from the boat can we exchange each day a new dry beach towel?  

You can check out towels for free and return them for fresh ones as need. If you don't return the towel they will charge you $25 for the towel, so don't lose them!

[asquared17]

as ashley said, you can swap out towels as you need to while on board, so there’s really no need to pack more!

however…. i will say i bring one microfiber towel for my long/thick hair because it helps cut down on drying time. 

i also pack one full size microfiber towel to use at the pool BUT. i am, admittedly, extra.

so, you certainly don’t NEED to bring towels. 

…then again, i don’t travel light, so take it with a grain of salt.

[CrimsonCruiser]

You can easily get towels for free from the pool deck on the ship at pretty much anytime and you can take them off board when in ports so you can use them at the beach. There is a fee if you fail (or seem to fail due to a card read error) to return the towel, so some people like to bring their own to avoid the potential of this fee or the headaches of remembering to take them to the pool deck after a long day in port

In regards to shower towels, the towels in the rooms are standard bath towels and I've traveled with many a fluffy person who prefers to pack their own towel because the ones on the ship do not wrap around them comfortably.

[Traveling Mike]

I don't know if it is just me or it is a normal process, but I just ask my room steward for the beach towels.  I will let them know how many days I will be off the ship and in water and they always bring me that many towels.  Then I just leave the wet ones in the bathroom for the room steward when he cleans the room.

[ChessE4]

If you are arriving at departure port a day or two early for a beach day, which we have done in Florida, you'll pack your own beach towel. Then the ship excursions are covered as discussed above.

[DoomSlayer]

I usually bring towels for beach day excursions, but for a very different reason and use case.  I have various logo towels, shirts, and backpacks that I bring for the video games I have worked on and my parent company, which is quite popular.  I find it invites people to come and start a conversation with me about these games and they feel privileged to have met someone that helped create the games they love to play.  But for most people, I would imagine just using the ship provided towels is the best option.

[Carlos A.]

12 minutes ago, DoomSlayer said:

I usually bring towels for beach day excursions, but for a very different reason and use case.  I have various logo towels, shirts, and backpacks that I bring for the video games I have worked on and my parent company, which is quite popular.  I find it invites people to come and start a conversation with me about these games and they feel privileged to have met someone that helped create the games they love to play.  But for most people, I would imagine just using the ship provided towels is the best option.

id Software games?

[DoomSlayer]

On 1/9/2024 at 12:58 PM, Carlos A. said:

id Software games?

Yes sir.  My main studio is with id, but have done some work with other Bethesda / ZeniMax studios whenever they needed a hand.

[jbrinkm]

19 hours ago, asquared17 said:

i also pack one full size microfiber towel to use at the pool BUT. i am, admittedly, extra.

My family also brings these lightweight, thin (yet full sized!) microfiber towels to use on excursions, at the recommendation of @asquared17. I like them for excursions so I don't have to worry about someone mixing mine up with theirs, or getting them so wet that they are useless. I find the microfiber to dry a little faster if they get wet. 

[asquared17]

6 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

I find the microfiber to dry a little faster if they get wet. 

this is a big one for me. 

when in st. maarten we go ashore at the holland house to spend the day and i am dry when we head back…. but J is not because she uses a ship towel hahah

[Pattycruise]

When my kids were younger I used to pack cheap pool towels to take on excursions.  If they lost them I did not care.  If I took the cruise towels no doubt they would lose or misplace them and I'd be paying $25 a towel.  

[CrimsonCruiser]

18 hours ago, asquared17 said:

this is a big one for me. 

when in st. maarten we go ashore at the holland house to spend the day and i am dry when we head back…. but J is not because she uses a ship towel hahah

I have never had a microfiber towel that actually feels like it's drying....it either sticks to me like static or the water just runs off of it and doesn't take it off of me....lol what is your secret

[JimnKathy]

On 1/8/2024 at 10:05 PM, Traveling Mike said:

I don't know if it is just me or it is a normal process, but I just ask my room steward for the beach towels.  I will let them know how many days I will be off the ship and in water and they always bring me that many towels.  Then I just leave the wet ones in the bathroom for the room steward when he cleans the room.

That's a terrific idea. Thank you for the tip.  

[Wheeler825]

We usually use ship towels, but we pack a couple of those microfiber for excursions/off ship.  Just easier and smaller.

[jbrinkm]

2 hours ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

I have never had a microfiber towel that actually feels like it's drying....it either sticks to me like static or the water just runs off of it and doesn't take it off of me....lol what is your secret

I feel like this might have something to do with a film or coating of some sort on the towel (either lack of, or too much of). Maybe they come new with something on them? Or fabric softener/dryer sheets? I use a fabric softener liquid during wash (an eco one, so very lightweight) and mine end up in that happy in-between. They do get a little staticky in the dryer but once I fold and separate them, it doesn't come back. 

[dmattinson]

short cruises or ones I'm driving to and have some extra luggage space, I'll pack a couple of colorful towels to take to the beach and/or the pool deck - they stand out in a sea of identical chairs so I can set-up and go swimming or hit the hot tub as the wife makes her way up to the pool deck after a late breakfast and she can find our spot or when in the water at the beach, can find where my stuff is because I always seem to exit the water at a different spot than where I entered

if I'm flying in, the cruise line towels are adequate

[jeffmw]

Packing towels is definitely a big waste of space when you're trying to be conservative with luggage anyway, but I will say getting and returning towels is one of the most annoying parts of cruising Royal. 

It just seems ridiculous with these massive cruise ships that there be only one desk in one place to get and return beach towels. It would be nice if there were multiple places (perhaps a second desk on the other end of the massive pool decks), or that there was another way to return towels that didn't involve having to physically go up to the pool deck and hand them to someone.

[jbrinkm]

On 1/8/2024 at 11:05 PM, Traveling Mike said:

I don't know if it is just me or it is a normal process, but I just ask my room steward for the beach towels.  I will let them know how many days I will be off the ship and in water and they always bring me that many towels.  Then I just leave the wet ones in the bathroom for the room steward when he cleans the room.

Two years ago, we were offered pool towels by our cabin steward, like @Traveling Mike said. We don't typically use the pool on the ship so we're not on the pool deck very often so we really appreciated that for our excursion. Towels were also available to check out down on the lower deck when we had port stops. You could get cold water, paying or via bev package, and towels right as you were leaving the ship. However, last year (same ship, Allure), we hardly saw our room steward, and they had nothing on the deck where we disembarked for port stops - no water and no towels. 

7 minutes ago, jeffmw said:

It just seems ridiculous with these massive cruise ships that there be only one desk in one place to get and return beach towels. It would be nice if there were multiple places (perhaps a second desk on the other end of the massive pool decks), or that there was another way to return towels that didn't involve having to physically go up to the pool deck and hand them to someone.

@jeffmw I agree! And not staffed into the evening - our last night of the cruise last year, we decided to go to the hot tub for the first time in the evening and there were no attendants & the station seemed closed. We had already packed up and put our luggage out, so we couldn't use the thin microfiber towels we brought along ourselves - plus we wouldn't have wanted to get them wet the last evening. My husband had to just go behind the desk and open a cabinet and grab us two towels! Otherwise we would have been walking back to our room dripping and freezing. Since we hadn't used our card to check them out, we just left them in our room afterwards. 

[asquared17]

11 hours ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

I have never had a microfiber towel that actually feels like it's drying....it either sticks to me like static or the water just runs off of it and doesn't take it off of me....lol what is your secret

also, not all microfiber towels are created equal??

i pay the premium for the aquis brand for my hair. the other ones i use for body i actually got at target but i found a brand on amazon that was pretty good too. 

i’ll add the link when i find it! ** ECCOSOPHY Microfiber Beach Towel - Sand Free Towels are Quick Dry, Light Weight, Super Absorbent - Perfect Pool, Travel, Cruise, Camping Essentials - Oversized Extra Large for Adults 71x35 in https://a.co/d/eVg0JVj **

also @jbrinkm might be on to something with the coating/fabric softener we use tide in the yellow bottle. i always wash my towels before i use for the first time. 

 

this is a similar one from the same collection i got at target last year (not my fave color combo but the cheapest i found): https://www.ebay.com/itm/276013955821?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=C14eqOPpS32&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=zdMAI3_QSYa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[CrimsonCruiser]

21 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

I feel like this might have something to do with a film or coating of some sort on the towel (either lack of, or too much of). Maybe they come new with something on them? Or fabric softener/dryer sheets? I use a fabric softener liquid during wash (an eco one, so very lightweight) and mine end up in that happy in-between. They do get a little staticky in the dryer but once I fold and separate them, it doesn't come back. 

12 hours ago, asquared17 said:

also, not all microfiber towels are created equal??

i pay the premium for the aquis brand for my hair. the other ones i use for body i actually got at target but i found a brand on amazon that was pretty good too. 

i’ll add the link when i find it! ** ECCOSOPHY Microfiber Beach Towel - Sand Free Towels are Quick Dry, Light Weight, Super Absorbent - Perfect Pool, Travel, Cruise, Camping Essentials - Oversized Extra Large for Adults 71x35 in https://a.co/d/eVg0JVj **

also @jbrinkm might be on to something with the coating/fabric softener we use tide in the yellow bottle. i always wash my towels before i use for the first time. 

 

this is a similar one from the same collection i got at target last year (not my fave color combo but the cheapest i found): https://www.ebay.com/itm/276013955821?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=C14eqOPpS32&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=zdMAI3_QSYa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I suppose it may be true that I just have bad ones. my first foray into microfiber towels are ones that came in a college room-in-a-bag set (2 towels, a lamp, pop up hamper and a whole bedding set for maybe $100) and then some kitchen ones from dollartree

 

I have washed both several times with multiple different soaps and fabric softener methods but they still suuuuuuck lol. maybe I'll give more pricey ones a try....maybe

[fireclan]

42 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

I suppose it may be true that I just have bad ones. my first foray into microfiber towels are ones that came in a college room-in-a-bag set (2 towels, a lamp, pop up hamper and a whole bedding set for maybe $100) and then some kitchen ones from dollartree

 

I have washed both several times with multiple different soaps and fabric softener methods but they still suuuuuuck lol. maybe I'll give more pricey ones a try....maybe

Just some advice from an old lady who has been washing towels a looonnnggg time - don't use fabric softener on microfiber,  it reduces absorbency.