All about chair savers and line cutters

[Mrs. Wilburforce]

I've been reading about this in other topic threads. I don't believe it is a bad behavior trait that is exclusive to cruisers. Just try to muscle in on someone saving a space on the sky decks at the Sears Tower (or whatever they renamed it).

My question is this. Has anyone challenged the chair hogs by asking them to remove the objects or simply refused to give up their place in line. If the rule is no chair hogs or line cutters, is it a battle worth choosing?

I'm just anticipating my sister picking this battle if she can't get a chair after a few attempts. She's confrontational, but only when she knows she's right. She's not a bully, but she isn't going to be vying for Miss Congeniality if this happens continuously.

[cb at sea]

Well, if the person is IN or AT their chair, they aren't "hogging" it...they are using it. When referring to "chair hogs", you're referring to folks who put their towel or other personal object on a chair (usually around the pool) to "hold" it for themselves at a later time....they aren't USING it, but they are preventing others from utilizing it.

 

You are welcome to USE the chair all day long....that's NOT chair hogging.

 

Now, at shows, some folks will attempt to "hold" an entire row of seats so that their entire party won't have to come to the theater until the last minute. If that happens, and there are no other seats avail., get an usher...they will allow you to sit without YOU having to confront anyone.

 

As far as "line cutters"....never had a problem....if someone attempts to "cut", you simply tell them where the end of the line is...they may not realize!

[Mrs. Wilburforce]

What I had in mind by chair hogs were people who park a towel and leave. I think it's most people's nature to avoid conflict and that's why leaving a towel works...but not for my sister.

I don't generally attend the shows, but thanks for the heads up.

We didn't have line cutters on the QM2. It probably happened but we never had a problem. If someone had a spouse join them, they would invariably ask if we minded and the answer was always, no we don't mind. It helps if someone asks. If they ask, I'll always defer to politeness.

There were the towel holders on chairs on that cruise. I don't mind if someone returns within a few minutes. Sometimes nature calls, or you want to take a swim and you shouldn't lose your seat for that.

I wish cruise ships had little signs for chairs like "be right back" or "in the pool". Also a 30 minute clear the chairs midway through the day might give everyone a chance. Just a couple of ideas.

[RickEk]

Well, if the person is IN or AT their chair, they aren't "hogging" it...they are using it. When referring to "chair hogs", you're referring to folks who put their towel or other personal object on a chair (usually around the pool) to "hold" it for themselves at a later time....they aren't USING it, but they are preventing others from utilizing it.

 

You are welcome to USE the chair all day long....that's NOT chair hogging.

 

Now, at shows, some folks will attempt to "hold" an entire row of seats so that their entire party won't have to come to the theater until the last minute. If that happens, and there are no other seats avail., get an usher...they will allow you to sit without YOU having to confront anyone.

 

As far as "line cutters"....never had a problem....if someone attempts to "cut", you simply tell them where the end of the line is...they may not realize!

 

I think that the OP might be referring to the situation where one person is saving a block of chairs.

[sstrong]

My fiancee and I are going on a honeymoon cruise in February on the Island Princess. It will be our second cruise and first time on Princess. I've seen a lot of talk on these boards about chair hogs, and I don't get it. Why is this an issue? Is it a Princess thing? Only on specific Princess ships? On our last cruise (Carnival), there were plenty of chairs on every part of the ship. We never had to look very long to find one. Do Princess ships have a disproportionately small chair : passenger ratio? Is it difficult to find empty chairs at certain times of the day?

[beg3yrs]

My fiancee and I are going on a honeymoon cruise in February on the Island Princess. It will be our second cruise and first time on Princess. I've seen a lot of talk on these boards about chair hogs, and I don't get it. Why is this an issue? Is it a Princess thing? Only on specific Princess ships? On our last cruise (Carnival), there were plenty of chairs on every part of the ship. We never had to look very long to find one. Do Princess ships have a disproportionately small chair : passenger ratio? Is it difficult to find empty chairs at certain times of the day?

 

It is not a "Princess thing". I've seen it on Carnival, NCL, Celebrity and Costa. You were lucky on your first cruise to not have this issue. I believe it depends pretty much on 'demand'. Combinations of weather and passenger demographics (lots of sun-lovers or not) will increase or decrease demand for sun loungers.

 

Congratulation on your upcoming wedding, have a great time on the honeymoon cruise! ;)

[stoneharborlady]

Plenty of chairs on Princess, I think they are pretty much referring to the chairs in the first line or two directly around the pool.

[beg3yrs]

I've been reading about this in other topic threads. I don't believe it is a bad behavior trait that is exclusive to cruisers. Just try to muscle in on someone saving a space on the sky decks at the Sears Tower (or whatever they renamed it).

My question is this. Has anyone challenged the chair hogs by asking them to remove the objects or simply refused to give up their place in line. If the rule is no chair hogs or line cutters, is it a battle worth choosing?

I'm just anticipating my sister picking this battle if she can't get a chair after a few attempts. She's confrontational, but only when she knows she's right. She's not a bully, but she isn't going to be vying for Miss Congeniality if this happens continuously.

 

I know how your sister feels but over the years have developed methods to let someone else handle the confrontations! My suggestion comes partially from personal experience and the rest from others on this board.

 

Scope out the desired "hogged" chairs. If there doesn't seem to be anyone around, casually ask the neighbors if they know where the occupants are and if not, how long they've been gone. If the chairs have been unoccupied for over 30 minutes, ask one of the deck staff to remove the articles and take the chairs. If the occupants arrive and demand their chairs, you're covered! Simply say the chairs were empty when you sat in them (which is true) and suggest maybe the deck staff have their stuff.

[Mrs. Wilburforce]

I know how your sister feels but over the years have developed methods to let someone else handle the confrontations! My suggestion comes partially from personal experience and the rest from others on this board.

 

Scope out the desired "hogged" chairs. If there doesn't seem to be anyone around, casually ask the neighbors if they know where the occupants are and if not, how long they've been gone. If the chairs have been unoccupied for over 30 minutes, ask one of the deck staff to remove the articles and take the chairs. If the occupants arrive and demand their chairs, you're covered! Simply say the chairs were empty when you sat in them (which is true) and suggest maybe the deck staff have their stuff.

 

This sounds like a good approach. I'll tell both of the women I'm traveling with that this is how we're going to handle the issue. Who wants to deal with arguments on a vacation:eek:

I don't consider anyone with their body in a chair to be a chair hog. I just consider myself late to the party. I really was referring to the towel, book, name item, chair markers.

I don't think any cruise line has enough chairs at poolside. I'm not sure it's possible, so I just want to steer our group of three to the most diplomatic solution.

[andy11]

Or you could just sit somewhere apart from by the pool. Some of the best spot, for sun or views are worth searching for rather than just joining the crowd.

[PennyAgain]

My husband sat in an apparently empty chair in a row of about 9 that were empty. Turned out that one man was saving all 9 chairs for his family group.

 

He came over to my husband, called him a bunch of rude names and swore at him. My gentle, quiet husband!

 

The pool attendants did absolutely nothing.

 

I started taking photos. The bum shut up.

 

My husband got up and we walked away but watched that row of empty chairs. For at least 30 minutes they remained unoccupied. We departed the area so I don't know if they stayed empty all day.

[Mrs. Wilburforce]

My husband sat in an apparently empty chair in a row of about 9 that were empty. Turned out that one man was saving all 9 chairs for his family group.

 

He came over to my husband, called him a bunch of rude names and swore at him. My gentle, quiet husband!

 

The pool attendants did absolutely nothing.

 

I started taking photos. The bum shut up.

 

My husband got up and we walked away but watched that row of empty chairs. For at least 30 minutes they remained unoccupied. We departed the area so I don't know if they stayed empty all day.

 

That is so unfortunate. It's a shame that of all the nice, well mannered people

on board, your husband had to deal with a jerk.

It's probably wisest, though clearly not fair, that you walked away from the situation. Onboard ship when you find yourself in a shouting match over a

chair, the captain may decide the best solution is room confinement for all

involved. It's not worth it.

[Cruisin' Chick]

As noted above, it could depend on the cruise you're on, and factors such as weather and what activities are going on. On our last cruise, the weather ran to the cool and rainy so there were usually chairs to be found by the outside pool, except for perhaps on New Years Day when the Rose Bowl was being shown on the movie screen.

 

Our cruise before that (also the Hawaiian RT), there were much more sunnier weather and more sunbathers. I remember on one day my daughter (8 on that cruise) got some pizza for lunch, but we couldn't find any available chairs on both the pool deck and the deck above that. We did find an empty chair upstairs, but one person said their friend is using it, but currently watching the ice carving demo by the pool. I said, well in the meantime, my daughter will use the chair and eat her lunch. She was finished well before this guy returned. Sometimes you just have to be assertive.

 

On a couple of other days, we didn't have a problem finding a deck share in the shade for my use (reading) while the girl and hubby were in the pool. But one thing to be aware of is that many parents will want to be close to the pool if their kids are there. That should be acceptable to everyone as that means they are supervising their children.

 

On my last cruise, we had gotten lunch at the poolside grill and ended up eating on a bench. But I did watch a couple of deck chairs that had towels, books on them. The couple did return within the 30 minute period (not sure how long they were actually gone or where they were).

 

I wish cruiselines would put in cubby holes by the pool so that those who are planning to use the pool but not necessary a deck chair can stash their stuff in the meantime. Might be also a good place for deck workers to put items left on deck chairs for longer than 30 minutes. It seems that many workers don't want to risk the wrath of passengers by removing items, but if someone goes off for a spa treatment (as one CCer once said they did while "reserving" a chair) or otherwise abuse the deck chair system, it would be appreciated by passengers not able to get the spot (sun vs shade) they want. If I had that problem, and the others in the area don't know the reservers and say no one has been there in the long time they've been there, I wouldn't hesitate to move things off the chair and then play innocent whenever these people might arrive. It's not as if they can fingerprint their belongings and find my prints.;)

[mactrio]

I saw a cute little home made sign on a beach chair at a resort once that said

 

"I'm in the pool please don't remove my items" on 1 side and on the other side it said "I'm in the ladies room please don't remove my items" I think I might make some of these for our upcoming cruise. It was about 5"X7" & was laminated.

[RickT]

On our last cruise (Greek Isles), two of the pool attendants were very aggressive in removing towels/personal items when chairs were empty for more than 30 minutes. Most of the people who came by to find their stuff gone and chairs occupied by others understood what happened and generally just wanted to know where there stuff was.

 

30 minutes is a fair time.. it allows you to take a dip, run to your room, grab a quick bite. Longer than 30 minutes and it's only fair that you loose your spot.

 

Hope my next Princess cruise has attendants that are just as aggressive...

 

As a side note... on the 2nd day of our cruise, a lady sat down on a chair that had been empty only a couple of minutes... the lady in the next chair let her know that her husband was using the chair and just went for a quick dip in the pool... the lady who took the chair wouldn't listen to her and kept saying the chair was empty and she could take it (we chimed in and confirmed the original ladies husband had left only minutes earlier)...

 

When the husband came back 10 minutes later he wasn't pleased to find someone in his spot... and the idiot tried to argue with him. She finally packed up and left but it showed the other side of dealing with chair hogs.. so be careful, let the pool attendants handle things.

[navybankerteacher]

I am curious about these several references to "the pool attendant" - I do not believe that I have ever seen such a person. Sure, staff members will clean the pool, mop the area at times and perform maintenance as needed -- but a regularly visible "pool attendant" ? -- I don't think so.

[AltarEgo]

But the addition of three more doesn't hurt!

[Lionesss]

In my brief cruise experience, we have not been bothered by line cutters......................however................

Chair hoggs!!!

Wow they must flock to the Freedom

Two years ago walking the track at 6am. decided to go to the pool, and guess what...........towels and books on about 15 chairs................OMG:eek:.

If I was short on my towel count I guess I could have replaced them.........just kidding.

But wow,

Safe travels

[Wayfairers]

If I was short on my towel count I guess I could have replaced them.........just kidding.

 

If I were ever short at land resorts where they charge for lost towels, I would probably do this. And, I've told strangers who were upset about losing a towel that those towels next to me haven't been touched all day and they may as well take them.

 

I've never been on a cruise with limited number of towels - they are usually available at the pool.

[GlendaleCruiser]

I saw a cute little home made sign on a beach chair at a resort once that said

 

"I'm in the pool please don't remove my items" on 1 side and on the other side it said "I'm in the ladies room please don't remove my items" I think I might make some of these for our upcoming cruise. It was about 5"X7" & was laminated.

 

 

I've thought about making a sign like that or taking post it notes. I think the laminated sign is a great idea!

 

Chair hogs (those that leave a towel or a flip flop to reserve and chair and never come back for 6 hours) just make me sad. So do line cutters. Having said that, if I forgot to get butter, I will go to that area and ask if I may just get that item and leave.

[GlendaleCruiser]

I've never had problems getting a lounge chair until this last May on the Magic. I don't need to be by the pool--I'm happy to leave that for parents watching their children.

 

I usually go up a level and find one (just one!) somewhere, but this last time it was nearly impossible. I had to walk around for quite awhile and finally did find one. The lounger next to me had a towel on it and when someone tried to take it a lady ran over and said, oh that belongs to my friend. She just went to get something to eat. The next time it happened, I said, "Your friend has been gone for over an hour". The person waiting sat down and thanked me. I just did want to watch the big screen for awhile, but noticed that the loungers all along the side of the ship were filled, too.

 

BTW, don't even think about sitting on the orange chair looking things that look puffy over by the waterpark. They are hard as rocks and made my back hurt for hours even after I got up.

[SadieN]

Chair hogs by John Heald

here is that pic for those not on facebook:

 

Yes, those are towel animals on the chairs, several hogs among them.