Here's a cute little item that may come in handy the next time you're faced with trying to buy something for that person…you know, the one who has everything:
Make them a towel.
If you've been on cruise ships — and you surely have or you wouldn't likely be reading 
this — then you have certainly returned to your stateroom and found a towel that looks like a swan or a monkey or a bouquet of roses. Your stateroom attendant…aka, towel artist…has twisted and turned one of his towels into a work of, well, cotton. The next night, another one, usually different than the previous night's.
How do they do this?
Well, you can not only find out how, you can learn to do it. We were wandering past the atrium on the Norwegian Epic one day this month, and overheard that how-to CDs were available from the crew member who was demonstrating how to…for a modest price that we can't remember.That prompted us to dig a little deeper, which uncovered a different way of achieving the same end from Carnival. It's a how-to book called Towel Creations for $13.95.
It just never occurred to us that people would want to "monkey see, monkey do" or make "rally monkeys" with fancy towels — but maybe we don't know enough people who have everything. Or maybe that people want to know how to make it as room stewards!
Carnival Inspiration
4 nights
February 25, 2013
Long Beach (return): Catalina Island, Ensenada
Inside: $299
Cost per day: $74
www.carnival.com