Hotel rooms used to always offer certain amenities, but some of them have gone away,
Even low-end hotel brands used to offer little bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion. If you stepped up to a slightly nicer chain you might get a shower cap, one of those little kits with a cotton ball as well as two off-brand Q-tips, and maybe some mouthwash.
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Now, unless you stay in a luxury hotel, chances are you're getting the shampoo, body wash, and conditioner dispensers in the shower. In some cases, like you do on Royal Caribbean cruise ships in non-suite rooms you might be stuck with a single dispenser full of a combined shampoo/conditioner/body wash.
At that point, they might as well also call it a dessert topping, because it's likely that something that tries to be three things does none of them well.
Hotel rooms also used to have a pen with the chain's name on it and a little branded pad of paper. That has largely gone away, partially because it's an added expense, and partly because people don't use pens and paper nearly as much as they used to.
Royal Caribbean does not provide any sort of free writing implement in its cabins. Carnival Cruise Line, however, used to offer pens, and now it offers small pencils.
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Image source: Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival explains why it got rid of pens
While people write less, there are still situations on cruise ships which require a pen or pencil. That includes filling out room service breakfast hanging cards and marking laundry bags.
It can actuall be frustrating when you need a writing implement on a cruise and don't have one. Neither Royal Caribbean nor its sister line Celebrity Cruises offers pens, pencils, or anything else you can write with.
Carnival still does, but not everyone is happy with the choices the cruise line has made. That was made clear to Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald in an angry email.
"Carnival still provides pencils in the cabin. Really? LOL. Carnival pencils are unusable. Every other cruise line in the world gives pens, nice pens to take home. What are we supposed to do with a pencil? I hate pencils and so do most adults. My guess is a passenger is less likely to take one as a souvenir. WE WANT PENS.
Heald was diplomatic in his response.
"Thank you and yes, we have for some years now replaced the pens with pencils as we work hard to stop single-use plastic. And respectfully I don’t have time to ask Uncle Google if 'every other cruise line in the world has pens in the cabin.' Something tells me that that this may not be correct," he wrote. "Iknow the pens were great, of course they were, and I know people miss them. I am staying at the Hyattcontinentalariott and there is no pen in the room at all but there is a pencil."
Carnival passengers have mixed opinions
While many Carnival passengers were understanding and found the pencils useful, many did lament the loss of the pens.
"I use the pencil to fill out my laundry bag and then leave it for the next guest in the room. I do still have several of my Carnival pens," shared Glenn Hughes.
Over 3,000 people commented on Heald's post.
"I do not use the pencils in the room. I always kept the pens for a souvenir," Susan Natale added.
Some people took issue with how the person asked the question.
"People really need to stop talking for everyone and realize that their opinion is not the opinion of all. This adult likes her pencils. I'm currently using one. And quite frankly I'm not taking home a pen as a souvenir so I'm happy that Carnival is trying to get away form single use and promote something more sustainable," wrote Nadja Griffis.
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Others took a more neutral attitude.
"I bring a pen to use for debarkationluggage tags and the laundry form. The pencils don't write very well on the smooth luggage tags. No I do not like the pencils and miss the pen. But don't find it worth complaining about and just bring my own," shared Tess Almond.
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