Of all the extra fees that come with a Royal Caribbean cruise, one in particular seems to be more problematic because of how easy it is to get overlooked.
It's no secret that the Royal Caribbean cruise fare does not include everything during your trip. Alcohol, shore excursions, souvenirs, and the spa all cost extra and for the most part, that comes as no surprise to new cruisers.
The one fee that seems to "get" people the most is the unreturned pool towel fee, and it's far more prevalent than you might think.
The cruise line offers as many pool towels as guests would like to use during the sailing, but they all need to be returned before the conclusion of the cruise.
The official policy states, "If guests do not return the same number of towels they checked out, a $25.00 fee per unreturned towel will be added to their onboard account. "
Sounds simple enough, but a lot of cruisers overlook ensuring their towels get back - and they are recorded as returned.
"Check your final invoice, you probably got charged"
On Reddit, IJustWorkHere99 shared a warning to other cruisers why you want to verify you don't have any towels left unreturned prior to the end of the cruise.
This person returned to their ship after a fun day at Royal Caribbean's private island of Perfect Day at CocoCay with towels they borrowed from the ship to use during the day.
Upon returning to the ship, they thought they returned the towels properly, but it didn't get recorded.
"We were met just after security by two crew members accepting pool towel returns. They did NOT scan anyone's SeaPass or write down stateroom numbers for accountability of the towels," the person posted.
According to the post, the crew members were trying to expedite the return process because bad weather had forced everyone back early and they didn't want a huge line.
"They assured us that we would not be charged for the towels and that everyone's' accounts would be zeroized for towels that evening."
Sure enough, it turned out they got charged for the towels.
"Well guess what happened? They charged my mom $25 for a pool towel and they charged me $100 for 4."
A lot of other past cruisers reported similar situations.
"Family we were traveling with on Icon got slapped with the towel fine twice, even though I was with them the entire time that day and watched them scan and return," wrote Julianus.
"We had a random towel charge right before leaving that morning. Still waiting for the credit to come through," added theresketo.
Downtown-Ball6994 actually had $300 in pool towel charges after the cruise ended because of a mix-up in how returned pool towels were scanned, "It turned out that when the attendant scanned my wife’s card, instead of returning the towels that I checked out, it checked out an additional 6 towels to her."
"It took a few days to get the charge removed because they said that they had to call the ship and verify what happened."
What to do if you get charged for towels
The first thing to do is verify there are no unreturned towels on your onboard account before you debark the ship.
To verify you're in the clear, you just need to go to Guest Services and ask them to confirm it.
It takes a few seconds to do so, and you should go over on the last day of the sailing to make sure you're walking off the ship without any surprise charges.
In fact, having Guest Services print out a summary of all your charges on the last day is a good idea to verify there are no surprises waiting for you.
If you don't realize you are getting charged for unreturned towels until you get home, the good news is you can still call and get it fixed. It just takes longer to process this.
If you returned all checked-out towels but still received a charge, you can call Royal Caribbean's Post Cruise department at 1-800-256-6649 to assist with taking care of it.
It's much easier and faster if you can double-check the charges before you leave the ship.
Why do they charge for towels at all?
You might wonder why Royal Caribbean charges for unreturned towels, and it has to do with reducing waste.
The cruise line doesn't think guests covet towels enough to want to steal them and bring them home. After all, they're not great quality to begin with and have been reused many times.
The origin of the rule has to do with passengers leaving them behind in port, or elsewhere, rather than returning them.
If passengers leave towels behind at a beach somewhere, not only is it wasteful and littering, but it's quite noticeable where the trash is coming from to the locals.
The fee makes sure the towels get back to the ship, and not left for the local population to have to take care of.
Don't pack your own towels
Some people might be reading this article and think bringing your own pool or beach towels is a great workaround, but I think that's overkill for the problem.
Royal Caribbean offers towels for you to use onboard the ship or to bring to a shore excursion, and it's a terrific service (despite the issue of occasionally not recording those towels were indeed returned).
I don't recommend bringing your own towels because not only are they going to take up a lot of room in your luggage, but once they are soiled, it's going to be difficult to properly clean them.
It's my experience wet towels take a long time to air dry, especially if you don't have access to the outdoors.
Even if you have a balcony, then you need to ensure they don't fly away due to the wind or get soiled again from a passing rain shower.
Let's put it this way: going to Guest Services is a lot easier than packing and caring for a bunch of pool towels.
