Shared Toiletries in the Age of Covid

[Donna M]

To the people that are grossed out with the refillable bottles, have you thought about whether the toilet handle was cleaned? that's gross. Or what about the handles on the sink, doorknob, closet door handles, cabinet pulls? There are so, so many things that have germs. At least bottles in the shower are going to be used with water and washed off your body immediately, not like the door handle. If someone is concerned about the contents, at least you aren't eating it like what might happen at the buffet.

I like the large bottles, all but once the bottles have been very easy to use. We have never run out, on the ship or the resorts. The little bottles used too much plastic and probably too many were taken home. One gripe for the resorts is that they now have the laundry detergent in small plastic bottles, not boxes like years ago.

 

[FigmentSpark]

To the people that are grossed out with the refillable bottles, have you thought about whether the toilet handle was cleaned? that's gross. Or what about the handles on the sink, doorknob, closet door handles, cabinet pulls? There are so, so many things that have germs. At least bottles in the shower are going to be used with water and washed off your body immediately, not like the door handle. If someone is concerned about the contents, at least you aren't eating it like what might happen at the buffet.

I like the large bottles, all but once the bottles have been very easy to use. We have never run out, on the ship or the resorts. The little bottles used too much plastic and probably too many were taken home. One gripe for the resorts is that they now have the laundry detergent in small plastic bottles, not boxes like years ago.

My hands are dirty, so I turn on the tap to wash them. Nice and clean... then I turn off the tap, which is contaminated just seconds ago when I turned it on. I don't know if there's any perfect solutions, except if you are doing surgeries or are severely immocompromised. Usually, that all works out, but in this new infectious world, maybe things have to change.

So - changes... touchless taps, at least in the toilet rooms in the staterooms?

 

[somd mama]

I always worry that someone would deliberately tamper with the refillable bottles. For instance, putting something in the container that shouldn’t be there. 99% of disney cruise ship guests would never even think to do this, however, bad apples take cruises too.
My family loves staying at the Kingsmill Resort in Virginia. For years and years they had the wall mounted dispensers. I did not care for them and found them gross. I was disappointed that a five diamond AAA would have that sort of thing. Last time I visited the dispensers were gone and individual toiletries were provided instead. I was happy!!
I think a good compromise would be for DCL to provide family size eco conscious containers for the cruise with the h20 products. This way the guests would feel more comfortable and safer using the products and there is less impact to the environment.
A gracious touch by Disney would also be to provide one small travel pack of toiletries for each cabin to have something on the way home as well.

 

[Donna M]

I think a good compromise would be for DCL to provide family size eco conscious containers for the cruise with the h20 products. This way the guests would feel more comfortable and safer using the products and there is less impact to the environment.
A gracious touch by Disney would also be to provide one small travel pack of toiletries for each cabin to have something on the way home as well.

Lots of people would love that, a 12 oz bottle of shampoo for $27.99 to take home instead of those little things! Or lots of shampoo going to waste since they would have to throw out the half used bottles.

I bet most people don't mind the refillable bottles, and those that do, bring their own stuff.

 

[Karin1984]

I think a good compromise would be for DCL to provide family size eco conscious containers for the cruise with the h20 products. This way the guests would feel more comfortable and safer using the products and there is less impact to the environment.
A gracious touch by Disney would also be to provide one small travel pack of toiletries for each cabin to have something on the way home as well.

People can then still put stuff in it, your stateroom host, your own family (kids or partners who try to be funny) but also previous guests. If the package would look unused and full, the stateroom host wouldn't throw it away and replace it with a new one. Or if you want to go a step further, think about the people at the factory where it is made could do something with it as well. No system is tamper-proof.

******

To get back to the original question and not the endless discussion about how there are grosser things on a cruise. Disney is losing a lot of money due to this crisis, they will need to look for ways to save money, and individual bottles are more expensive than putting up a sign that they have doubled the cleaning process. Spending extra money on individual bottles is not bringing in more cash, how many people are going to cruise / cruise with Disney because of dispensers being replaced.

We should feel sorry for the stateroom hosts, as their workload will probably go up, but chances of Disney hiring extra hosts are as slim as people tampering with shampoo bottles.

 

[lklgoodman]

My hands are dirty, so I turn on the tap to wash them. Nice and clean... then I turn off the tap, which is contaminated just seconds ago when I turned it on. I don't know if there's any perfect solutions, except if you are doing surgeries or are severely immocompromised. Usually, that all works out, but in this new infectious world, maybe things have to change.

So - changes... touchless taps, at least in the toilet rooms in the staterooms?

I'm a huge germaphobe. As soon I get in the stateroom I start wiping down EVERYTHING with Lysol wipes. I know the hosts clean the rooms, but psychologically it just makes me feel better to wipe the things down before any of us use them. I love the smell of the shampoo on DCL, but it makes my hair look awful so I can't use it.

 

[AngelDisney]

I'm a huge germaphobe. As soon I get in the stateroom I start wiping down EVERYTHING with Lysol wipes. I know the hosts clean the rooms, but psychologically it just makes me feel better to wipe the things down before any of us use them. I love the smell of the shampoo on DCL, but it makes my hair look awful so I can't use it.

Same here. I brought hydrogen peroxide wipes with me on all trips. I wiped my seat area on the plane as well as everything in the stateroom including walls, doors and closets. For the toilet, use toilet paper to press the flush handle/button. Have clean napkins or tissue paper ready for turning the tap off after washing hands.

 

[AquaDame]

My hands are dirty, so I turn on the tap to wash them. Nice and clean... then I turn off the tap, which is contaminated just seconds ago when I turned it on. I don't know if there's any perfect solutions, except if you are doing surgeries or are severely immocompromised. Usually, that all works out, but in this new infectious world, maybe things have to change.

So - changes... touchless taps, at least in the toilet rooms in the staterooms?

I always use a paper towel to turn the tap off in public restrooms. Sometimes other people grab the paper towel I preemptively got ready so I have to wash them twice. My bigger problem is the places that don't have a garbage can next to the door - I don't touch that after I've washed my hands either if I can help it. In the stateroom I use my soapy hands to wipe off the handle, rinse them and the handle, then turn it off.

To the op, I'm sure they sanitize the pump handles between each family, same as they do the rest of the stateroom. I don't see the toiletries being a bigger issue than say, the remote or verandah door.

 

[travelmomof3]

To the people that are grossed out with the refillable bottles, have you thought about whether the toilet handle was cleaned? that's gross. Or what about the handles on the sink, doorknob, closet door handles, cabinet pulls? There are so, so many things that have germs. At least bottles in the shower are going to be used with water and washed off your body immediately, not like the door handle. If someone is concerned about the contents, at least you aren't eating it like what might happen at the buffet.

I like the large bottles, all but once the bottles have been very easy to use. We have never run out, on the ship or the resorts. The little bottles used too much plastic and probably too many were taken home. One gripe for the resorts is that they now have the laundry detergent in small plastic bottles, not boxes like years ago.

I do expect the entire toilet to be cleaned before going into my room, of course. Of course there are germs everywhere, on all surfaces. I don't think it's as much as "germs" on those refillable bottles as they probably are the least of our concerns for germs. Rather for me it's about the idea of other people using it to wash themselves. I know I am probably over thinking it but that is just me . Hence my bringing all my own toiletries all the time and never touching those refillable bottles .

I like the idea someone else had of offering toiletries for purchase. Maybe days of hotels and cruise lines supplying toiletries will be no longer.

 

[Bella29]

The shared toiletries absolutely skeeve me out, both pre and post coronavirus. I'll bring my own, but it really irritates me that a low budget place like Days Inn will provide me with individual shampoo and conditioner but DCL at a much higher price per night, doesn't.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

I wonder if the whole idea of reusable will be eliminated because of the virus. Reusable bags are banned from our stores and the dreaded thin one-time-use plastic bags are back. Bulk bins in the grocery stores are empty and cordoned off. Buffet and self serve are gone. The whole idea of someone else touching and reusing an object is taboo.
Bring back the individual toiletry tubes.

 

[spiders]

I wonder if the whole idea of reusable will be eliminated because of the virus. Reusable bags are banned from our stores and the dreaded thin one-time-use plastic bags are back. Bulk bins in the grocery stores are empty and cordoned off. Buffet and self serve are gone. The whole idea of someone else touching and reusing an object is taboo.
Bring back the individual toiletry tubes.

This is a phase that will pass over time. I'm not on the ban everything train. However, there is nothing wrong with reusable anything. The problem has and always will be disgusting people who cannot clean anything -- that includes their body and their personal belongings.

And as I said before, if you're really grossed out by a reusable shampoo dispenser then you're going to be really grossed out if your hotel mattress could talk.

 

[grx]

It would be even cheaper to discontinue supplying any toiletries for free.

"Oh, you didn't bring any aboard? We've got a toiletry kit you can order for $14.95"

I can see this happening and to be honest, would completely endorse it.

 

[cmph]

My hands are dirty, so I turn on the tap to wash them. Nice and clean... then I turn off the tap, which is contaminated just seconds ago when I turned it on. I don't know if there's any perfect solutions, except if you are doing surgeries or are severely immocompromised. Usually, that all works out, but in this new infectious world, maybe things have to change.

So - changes... touchless taps, at least in the toilet rooms in the staterooms?

Now that I have a severely immunocompromised person in my family - we have paper towel holders in all our bathrooms at home so we can do as we have always done in public restrooms: use the paper towel to turn the handle off. I removed the hand towels for post-toilet usage, b/c (based on how well kids generally wash their hands) I decided they were probably germy annoyingly quickly. What drives me crazy are the kind of faucets in public restrooms that are timed but don't last long enough to wash your hands. I try to use my arm to push it down again for more water. In an ideal world, everything would be touchless or controlled by a foot pedal.

Shared toiletries bother me no more and no less than pre-COVID, to answer the original question. Anyone who hated the reusable bottles before certainly doesn't like them more now. I kinda doubt that anyone who was ok with them before is now suddenly turned off enough to avoid them AND still plans to go on cruises, etc. Meaning, if your formerly cool-with-it perspective on reusable toiletries suddenly swung in the other direction, it's probably not just about toiletries but sensitivity to everything outside of your home environment. I doubt DCL puts much energy into trying to satisfy that category of (former) customers.

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

The shared toiletries absolutely skeeve me out, both pre and post coronavirus. I'll bring my own, but it really irritates me that a low budget place like Days Inn will provide me with individual shampoo and conditioner but DCL at a much higher price per night, doesn't.

The single nicest and most expensive hotel I stay in for business travel - a hotel/social club in the City of London that charges upward of $700 a night for rooms - has shared toiletries in its bathrooms so it can offer multiple types of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Individual vs shared toiletries is not a marker of whether a hotel is cheap or not.

When on a cruise, you are exposed to risks from other people in all sorts of ways, like those detailed elsewhere in this thread and beyond. Concern that someone may have messed with the bulk toiletries in your room seems like a strange hang-up to me if you're willing to go on a cruise to start with.

 

[MomOTwins]

I'm a huge germaphobe. As soon I get in the stateroom I start wiping down EVERYTHING with Lysol wipes. I know the hosts clean the rooms, but psychologically it just makes me feel better to wipe the things down before any of us use them. I love the smell of the shampoo on DCL, but it makes my hair look awful so I can't use it.

Me too! My routine is wipe down door/drawer handles, light switches, toilet handle and faucets, remote control for TV, bedside phone, and wave phones. Don't let the hubby and kids into the room until I have sanitized and checked the bed for bed bugs (and yes, I did find bed bugs once, not a Disney resort, but still a very nice resort... EEK). I also go nuts sanitizing the airplane trays and armrests. My DH laughs, but then, he was the one who got noro on our first DCL cruise, not me or the kids

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

I am a psychologist. I have heard stories... I am not a germaphobe, but some people are "just weird", they get their kicks doing "weird" stuff, stuff that would gross you (and me) out. I am not going to use a community soap/shampoos/conditioner dispenser that contains a white substance that looks like (you know)... I bring my own products. Just saying... Disney needs to find a solution to provide individual soap/hair products to their customers, products that are packaged in decomposable containers. IF Disney were truly environmentally friendly (and not just trying to pad their own pockets) they would not sell balloons, products made out of plastic or polyester; they would provide paper bags instead of "selling" plastic bags that do not decompose, etc. Off my soap box now.

 

[MomOTwins]

I am a psychologist. I have heard stories... I am not a germaphobe, but some people are "just weird", they get their kicks doing "weird" stuff, stuff that would gross you (and me) out.

--se

So true.... but true for most things in life we consume or use on our bodies. I also wouldn't be surprised if some food workers put nasty stuff in my food without me knowing. And that is just intentional contamination of food--don't even get me started on some of the horror stories of things people find that accidentally made their way into factory processed food (e.g. severed fingers in chicken nuggets). Plus a lot of contamination in the food industry is just accepted as an FDA approved level of foreign object contamination--for example, in every 25g of paprika, there are on average 11 ground up rat hairs.

End of the day, I am willing to roll the dice on eating out/eating factory processed food and using shared soap dispensers. But the more you know about the world the more it will gross the heck out of you.

 

[FigmentSpark]

--se

So true.... but true for most things in life we consume or use on our bodies. I also wouldn't be surprised if some food workers put nasty stuff in my food without me knowing. And that is just intentional contamination of food--don't even get me started on some of the horror stories of things people find that accidentally made their way into factory processed food (e.g. severed fingers in chicken nuggets). Plus a lot of contamination in the food industry is just accepted as an FDA approved level of foreign object contamination--for example, in every 25g of paprika, there are on average 11 ground up rat hairs.

End of the day, I am willing to roll the dice on eating out/eating factory processed food and using shared soap dispensers. But the more you know about the world the more it will gross the heck out of you.

Excuse me while I go toss out my paprika

They need to stop providing liquids at all. You get a bar of soap. If you want something more, then there should be a for sale kit on the room service menu and refills available at the main store. You could pick and choose what you want in your kit, like 2 items for one price, 3 for another, buy 5 and get one free. You could even then choose the products - H2O or Elemis, for example. Concierge should get theirs free, but still have to "order" it from their host.

People would be angry that they have to pay for what used to be free, but they wouldn't be stealing and they'd likely take home what they wanted, not what they're trying to sell on eBay or give as gifts to whomever at home.

If you don't want to buy... bring your own.

 

[Rob1872]

for example, in every 25g of paprika, there are on average 11 ground up rat hairs.

It's amazing what you can learn on the DIS boards!!!

Edited to add: Now that I think about it, I remember reading once about there being a specification on the allowable amount of insect parts in jars of peanut butter...