Tennessee Williams may have had his glass menagerie. But I have a linen menagerie in my cabin.
Almost every evening I return to my stateroom to discover a new creature lurking in my room. On the bed. On the desk. Hanging from the ceiling.
An elephant. A turtle. A dog (often wearing my glasses). A monkey.
All made out of the extra towels and wash cloths from my bathroom.
The cabin stewards create these lint critters to amuse the cruisers. And it is consistent with the tone the cruise line wants to set for its customers.
That tone is FUN! The type of FUN! you could expect at an English holiday camp in the 1970s. Sexy leg contests. Belly flop competitions.
Activities that attempt to strip away the pretensions of sophistication and let people just have the type of mindless play we once knew as children. When we did not care if we looked silly to our peers.
Being silly was an end in itself.
Of course, stripping off adult restraints does have its costs. Such as, the middle-aged man who sat next to me in the front row for one of the production shows.
He had obviously been enticed there by his much younger companion -- grumpily plopping in the seat next to me. And when the show began, he covered his ears with both hands. Just like a petulant eight-year old. An adult would have endured -- or simply left.
When I am in the right mood, the towel animals are special. Because someone thinks enough of me to try to get me to laugh.
Or to, at least, enjoy my day just a little bit more.
Almost every evening I return to my stateroom to discover a new creature lurking in my room. On the bed. On the desk. Hanging from the ceiling.
An elephant. A turtle. A dog (often wearing my glasses). A monkey.
All made out of the extra towels and wash cloths from my bathroom.
The cabin stewards create these lint critters to amuse the cruisers. And it is consistent with the tone the cruise line wants to set for its customers.
That tone is FUN! The type of FUN! you could expect at an English holiday camp in the 1970s. Sexy leg contests. Belly flop competitions.
Being silly was an end in itself.
Of course, stripping off adult restraints does have its costs. Such as, the middle-aged man who sat next to me in the front row for one of the production shows.
He had obviously been enticed there by his much younger companion -- grumpily plopping in the seat next to me. And when the show began, he covered his ears with both hands. Just like a petulant eight-year old. An adult would have endured -- or simply left.
When I am in the right mood, the towel animals are special. Because someone thinks enough of me to try to get me to laugh.
Or to, at least, enjoy my day just a little bit more.
12 comments:
I admit - I like those towel animals as much as the kids ...
From the display in the windows of the Promenade cabins, lots of adults like them.
That is a very positive gesture and surely does not go to waste on most adults as well as children. And do you come 'home' to a mint on your pillow?
Unfortunately, the mints disappeared when passengers pressed to keep fares low. But, as you say, the animals are a warming gesture.
And those tiny shampoo bottles, or do you have to BYO.
This cruise line is a BYOB affair when it comes to shampoo.
I'm not wild about towel (or toilet paper, for that matter) animals. Just makes it harder to use them when the time comes.
Call me a grump, but that's how I see it. I'd rather have the mint.
Saludos,
Kim G
Boston, MA
Where we have some real animals (cats) which are far more entertaining than any towel ever could be.
Agree--would also like my towels hung in their proper place for easy reach. Nor would I want them handled so much -- fresh towels might be as good as a mint.
The towels are extras. Unless you start saving them up -- as some of my fellow passengers do.
Towels and cats. Certain pictures pop to mind.
I've never been on a cruise. You have reinforced that determination.
I thought that must be the case. Wait until you hear what I have been considering. It will give you the willies.
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