Blue Dot?

[alwayscruizin]

I think most of our grievance is those people who 'reserve' a chair when they go to breakfast but don't show up to use it until afternoon.

 

Since my husband has been commenting on the prior posts, I thought I would catch up on all the comments and give my opinion. I agree with your comment above and I think that is what he was trying to say. Below are my observations and comments:

 

1. There are people who come "reserve" their chairs early in the morning who go about their day playing bingo, or whatever else and end up either not using the chairs at all or coming sometime in the afternoon to use them. I agree that this is unacceptable and the cruise employees should keep an eye on that. There are plenty of bartenders walking around that should have an idea on how long chairs are sitting there un-used.

 

2. The pool chairs are there for a reason...if you are using the pool area (ie. swimming with your kids, reading a book, etc.) and are there throughout the day, then there shouldn't be a problem. Whether it's 30 min or an hour. Sometimes we get in the pool for 10 min to cool off and other times it might be 45 min in the pool with the kids. What are we supposed to do, lay our towels down on the pool deck to get all wet while we swim? I also think if you want to take a quick break to go grab a bite to eat at the buffet that shouldn't be an issue. That normally doesn't take more than 30 min anyways.

 

3. I believe most of the people who are complaining, or are "blue dot" supporters are those who want to sleep late, have a late breakfast, and show up at the pool around 11 or 12:00 and expect to get chairs in a great location. Sorry, that's just not going to happen. I think as long as you are out on the pool deck by 9:00 or 10:00 you will get seats. I understand there are also those who choose to partake of the cruises daily activities outside of swimming or sunbathing. Unfortunately, when it comes to getting a chair, you are competing with those who choose to spend most of their day outside and get to the pool deck early.

 

4. Too many people just look for reasons to complain. If you can't "get a long with others" and are looking for something to complain about at every corner, you should probably not go on a cruise ship where there are 2,000-3,000 other people who might not do things exactly the way you would. You have to have some sense of flexibility or you are going to spend much of your life unhappy!

 

Now just to prevent any confusion...I understand this is a policy that NCL has put into place and I respect that. In my experience on the cruises we have been on, the bartender on duty normally knows that we are using the chairs throughout the day and therefore I am not concerned that there would be any issues with us "coming and going". Our day is spent out on the pool deck and USING the chairs even if we leave for 30 min to go eat or swim. Even though we have only been on a handful of cruises, we travel a lot and this is an issue even at the resorts. There will always be people who really abuse the policies but it's normally not that many and unfortunately they are starting to ruin it for the rest of us because there are those people who try to find the negative in everything. I'm all about just going and having a good time!

[swedish weave]

If the 30 minute policy is applied and enforced, you can leave and take your stuff with you. If everyone does that, there will be chairs open when you return.

 

If you leave your stuff on a chair, and it is moved to free up the chair, you can retrieve it and still expect to find a chair when you get back.

 

I believe 30 minutes is enough time to swim, eat, use the bathroom, etc.

[che5904]

2. The pool chairs are there for a reason...if you are using the pool area (ie. swimming with your kids, reading a book, etc.) and are there throughout the day, then there shouldn't be a problem. Whether it's 30 min or an hour. Sometimes we get in the pool for 10 min to cool off and other times it might be 45 min in the pool with the kids. What are we supposed to do, lay our towels down on the pool deck to get all wet while we swim? I also think if you want to take a quick break to go grab a bite to eat at the buffet that shouldn't be an issue. That normally doesn't take more than 30 min anyways.

 

If you are in the pool there is no reason you cannot hop out before 30 mins and remove the dot (which is what I think you are suppose to do when you return to your lounger). No one is saying if you are enjoying the pool area you have to give up your lounger. And the pool areas are not that big that you cannot see a blue dot put on your chair that you can't walk over and remove it.

 

 

3. I believe most of the people who are complaining, or are "blue dot" supporters are those who want to sleep late, have a late breakfast, and show up at the pool around 11 or 12:00 and expect to get chairs in a great location. Sorry, that's just not going to happen. I think as long as you are out on the pool deck by 9:00 or 10:00 you will get seats. I understand there are also those who choose to partake of the cruises daily activities outside of swimming or sunbathing. Unfortunately, when it comes to getting a chair, you are competing with those who choose to spend most of their day outside and get to the pool deck early.

 

!

 

I'm a little confused at the logic here. If I show up at 10 then apparently I can get a seat. If I show up at 11 after enjoying a late breakfast or partaking in a trivia challenge, I apparently can't. But someone could show up at 10, grab a chair and then return an hr or so later after having a late breakfast and that would be OK?

 

As Swedish Weave points out if NCL sets out a blue dot policy or whatever and enforces it then everyone can have a seat as there will most likely be a steady turn over. Then it won't matter when you show up.

[alwayscruizin]

If you are in the pool there is no reason you cannot hop out before 30 mins and remove the dot (which is what I think you are suppose to do when you return to your lounger). No one is saying if you are enjoying the pool area you have to give up your lounger. And the pool areas are not that big that you cannot see a blue dot put on your chair that you can't walk over and remove it.

 

 

 

I'm a little confused at the logic here. If I show up at 10 then apparently I can get a seat. If I show up at 11 after enjoying a late breakfast or partaking in a trivia challenge, I apparently can't. But someone could show up at 10, grab a chair and then return an hr or so later after having a late breakfast and that would be OK?

 

As Swedish Weave points out if NCL sets out a blue dot policy or whatever and enforces it then everyone can have a seat as there will most likely be a steady turn over. Then it won't matter when you show up.

 

You make a good point about getting out and removing the blue dot. That is what I would do if I chose to be in the pool for more than 30 min (although I'm sure many would disagree to doing that as well). There have been posts out here that insinuate if you are leaving your chair to go down to the pool for more than 30 min then you should remove your belongings (although not sure where you would put them). Hence the loungers by the pool!

 

As far as the time goes, I was just making an observation that many of the chairs are filled up by about 11 or 12:00 and if you wait until that time to come out to the pool you might not get a chair. I cannot tell you if people are dropping of their stuff at 10:00 and leaving to go eat breakfast (for more than the 30 min allotted time), then coming back as I am not on my vacation to worry about others and watching them come and go. I am just their to enjoy my time out by the pool.

[che5904]

You make a good point about getting out and removing the blue dot. That is what I would do if I chose to be in the pool for more than 30 min (although I'm sure many would disagree to doing that as well). There have been posts out here that insinuate if you are leaving your chair to go down to the pool for more than 30 min then you should remove your belongings (although not sure where you would put them). Hence the loungers by the pool!

 

Well some that just wish to use the pools or the hot tubs wish NCL would put in cubbies for them to deposit their towels etc.

 

As for the above statement I agree completely and I am not one of those people that believe that. I believe if you are utilizing the pool area for whatever reason, swim, hottubs, drink, party, sunbathing, reading etc that you have all the rights to utilize a chair for the time you are in that area. That would be like saying I don't have a right to a chair in spnnakers if I got up and danced too much.

 

The reason people like you would have to remove the dot is because NCL is trying to alleviate the 6:30/7am lounge grabbers that do not return to the pool area for hours. So yes it will slightly inconvenience those like you who are actually using the facility. Maybe they will find a way to meet both needs.

[js]

Please anyone?

Thanks!

 

I tried the cut/paste but not working and uploaded and still not working??

[racingfarmer]

Upper pool deck on the epic by 7:00am on a sea day

 

In Feb of 2012 the epic was using Yellow Dots, Here is a guy writing them out and applying them around 730am. This was the only time all day I saw them assigning dots.

 

So you can see the need for some sort of "chair hog" enforcement. By only tagging chairs early in the morning they weren't displacing people "running to the bathroom or just in the pool for a dip" The 4 chairs next to us were "reserved" at 6:30 am. I showed the dot to a family of 4 around noon and they alerted a crew member who awarded them the chairs. The "chair hog" group showed up about 2:30pm, confirmed with crew what happened, collected their things from the crew member, and went on their way to try to find open chairs themselves.

 

They put the stickers on the sides and backs of chairs so you have to look for them. They certainly were keeping a low profile doing this. I think they want to be able to help informed cruisers but don't want to devote hour after hour in policing this.

 

 

I thought it was a well thought out and well enforced policy.

[Need-a-vacation]

The whole lounger issue is just really ridiculous -- it's an artificial scarcity largely created by people worried they won't have a lounger. If everyone just cleared out their stuff if they left the pool area for more than a quick run to their cabin or the restroom or a drink, there would likely be plenty of chairs. It's ridiculous to claim a chair at 7am if you only plan to be in the pool area for a couple hours in the afternoon.

 

The other thing I've found is that often, larger groups don't actually need chairs for every member of their group, especially with kids. All the kids will very rarely be needing chairs all at the same time. A lot of people would probably also be just as happy with a cubby for their stuff and a bench to sit on while they do shoes or sunscreen or whatever. Many people using the pool aren't actually laying out in the lounger -- they just want a place for their stuff to be safe and dry or a place to sit for a few minutes at a time or a place to keep a drink handy.

 

I've seen the same thing with the shade umbrellas at resort pools. I've watched a group move the umbrellas and the tables so that their group of chairs are shaded all day while the next 20 loungers have no umbrellas at all and will have no shade. The irritating thing is that if the umbrellas are left evenly spaced among the loungers, most will have some shade for large parts of the day. People are just rude and selfish sometimes.

[IluvZ]

Well some that just wish to use the pools or the hot tubs wish NCL would put in cubbies for them to deposit their towels etc.

 

:)That is a great idea.

 

The reason people like you would have to remove the dot is because NCL is trying to alleviate the 6:30/7am lounge grabbers that do not return to the pool area for hours. So yes it will slightly inconvenience those like you who are actually using the facility. Maybe they will find a way to meet both needs.

 

We were on a land resort last year that had a towel enforment policy as well. It worked well as there were a number of pool attendants that help in each area. They left any offenders items on chairs until another group looked to be searching for chairs. They would remove the items to the side and offer the seats to you if needed. We were located one afternoon on a bed that had a lone towel on it. After sitting there for 2-hours, the towel owner returned asking if there was a towel there. He looked surprised that he seat was gone. People next to use said they had been there since the morning and had never seen the guy.

 

I think in most cruises, if it really easy to tell if people are in the area using the amenities (pool, buffet, etc) verses throwing a lone towel on a chair.

[phantomII]

I love the chair hogs....after my morning run I have a towel to dry off with and they conveniently have a place for me to put my dirty towel. ;)

I love it! I like the comment about the kleenex too. I am going to start doing this. Even after I get out of the pool!!! If everyone did it the chair hog a-holes would be gone!