Those Darn Pool Deck Chairs

[Athankfulheart]

Aboard the Freedom last month we had an interesting experience. My husband went to reserve a clamshell on serenity with his body at 7am. At about 7:30 a woman came up and sat in the shell next to him for 2 or 3 minutes and then left. Turns out she left a plastic bag with a couple of books inside. I came up at about 8:30 and joined him and noticed the bag. The shell was held by the bag of books until about 11am when some friends of ours came up to join us. Knowing exactly when the bat was set there, we assumed it had been left accidentally but did wonder if they were trying to reserve it. Pay no attention to the fact that when she sat on the chair, she would have been staring straight at the no reserved chairs sign. We moved the bag, allowing our friends to have a seat. We set the bag on an adjacent sofa that wasnt being used. Around 11:30, the owner of the bag came asking our friends about "thier chair and thier bag". Friends said chair was empty when they arrived (true) and that they hadnt touched the bag (true). The woman went on and on while her husband mostly stood there. She was mad and as all in the area denied seeing her chair snd stuff "stolen" from her, she insisted she would "get the security tapes" and find the criminal. After she left, we thought it was over. Low and behold, she returns with security ! She stood back around the corner while security grilled each of the guests in the 7 clamshells. We all kept our mouths shut and friends in "her" clamshell again stated that the clamshell was empty when they arrived. Oddly, security never acknowledged that this woman should not have been reserving a chair. We were shocked that this was never even mentioned. Security left and shortly afterwards, I went to use the bathroom in our nearby cabin. On my way there I noticed same security guy sitting by the door with book lady. They werent talking but just sitting there. She sitting and he standing. On my way BACK from the cabin they were now standing inside by the stairwell and an OFFICER was now with them. I heard the officer explaining how his security man had spoken to everyone and nobody saw anything, so basically telling the husband that its his wifes word against thiers and bla bla bla.... Husband then states that they will "drop the charges" . Keep in mind that she had her bag with the books the entire time, which was on the ajdjacent sofa . I couldnt believe how the whole thing was handled by security... and that they even gave her the time of day. He grilled each of us down the line and even asked the name of our friend who was sitting in the stolen chair.

 

One funny thing is that not 3 minutes after BOTH of her visits to the fwd end of serenity, a clamshell opened up. Has she simply waited her turn she would have had one.

 

The big question for me is why didnt security inform her that reserving chairs is against policy and leave it at that ?

 

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[Staceman225]

The problem is space. Because of certain factors such as the width of the Panama Canal, etc, the width and length of these ships have limits. Therefore, the total "deck footprint" is limited. Howeverver, ships are growing vertically. This adds more people without adding a proportional amount of deck space. My only experience was is with the Fantasy class ships and the Triumph. The Fascination had a lot more free chairs than the Triumph. I'll be able to further this investigation in Oct when we go on the Dream. :)

 

So long as the passenger counts are higher, deck space will be at a premium.

 

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[Sitzmark]

Ok, so where are all these chair hoggers to defend their actions. With all the "Hoggers" onboard, I know some of them are reading this.

 

Please try and defend your actions, theres a lot of people that don't think what you do is right, so please respond...Thanks

 

While I'm sure that some do visit these chat boards, most people that cruise probably don't know or care that these exist.

[Sitzmark]

Husband then states that they will "drop the charges" . Keep in mind that she had her bag with the books the entire time, which was on the ajdjacent sofa .

 

I would typically avoid this issue once it was moved to this point as other peoples problems. However I doubt I could keep myself from laughing at the notion of "charges" in this situation. With all seriousness though this is probably a good example of why you shouldn't move things yourself but rather get an attendant and let them deal with it. (assuming an attendant is available)

[jsglow]

Aboard the Freedom last month we had an interesting experience. My husband went to reserve a clamshell on serenity with his body at 7am. At about 7:30 a woman came up and sat in the shell next to him for 2 or 3 minutes and then left. Turns out she left a plastic bag with a couple of books inside. I came up at about 8:30 and joined him and noticed the bag. The shell was held by the bag of books until about 11am when some friends of ours came up to join us. Knowing exactly when the bat was set there, we assumed it had been left accidentally but did wonder if they were trying to reserve it. Pay no attention to the fact that when she sat on the chair, she would have been staring straight at the no reserved chairs sign. We moved the bag, allowing our friends to have a seat. We set the bag on an adjacent sofa that wasnt being used. Around 11:30, the owner of the bag came asking our friends about "thier chair and thier bag". Friends said chair was empty when they arrived (true) and that they hadnt touched the bag (true). The woman went on and on while her husband mostly stood there. She was mad and as all in the area denied seeing her chair snd stuff "stolen" from her, she insisted she would "get the security tapes" and find the criminal. After she left, we thought it was over. Low and behold, she returns with security ! She stood back around the corner while security grilled each of the guests in the 7 clamshells. We all kept our mouths shut and friends in "her" clamshell again stated that the clamshell was empty when they arrived. Oddly, security never acknowledged that this woman should not have been reserving a chair. We were shocked that this was never even mentioned. Security left and shortly afterwards, I went to use the bathroom in our nearby cabin. On my way there I noticed same security guy sitting by the door with book lady. They werent talking but just sitting there. She sitting and he standing. On my way BACK from the cabin they were now standing inside by the stairwell and an OFFICER was now with them. I heard the officer explaining how his security man had spoken to everyone and nobody saw anything, so basically telling the husband that its his wifes word against thiers and bla bla bla.... Husband then states that they will "drop the charges" . Keep in mind that she had her bag with the books the entire time, which was on the ajdjacent sofa . I couldnt believe how the whole thing was handled by security... and that they even gave her the time of day. He grilled each of us down the line and even asked the name of our friend who was sitting in the stolen chair.

 

One funny thing is that not 3 minutes after BOTH of her visits to the fwd end of serenity, a clamshell opened up. Has she simply waited her turn she would have had one.

 

The big question for me is why didnt security inform her that reserving chairs is against policy and leave it at that ?

 

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Great story. Was this the nice little row of clams facing the bow? Love that spot.

[frayedend]

I often stay in the pool or hot tub for more than 10 minutes. God forbid the person who moves this MENOPAUSAL woman's stuff. Lol! I heard a few people say 10 minutes and move the stuff. That is insane :eek:

 

 

Yup, one time I was in the pool with my kids for literally about 10 minutes. I got out and went to the chair my family (4 of us, one chair) had put our belongings on and found all of our stuff on the deck getting soaked with water. We had t-shirts, towels and sandals. I'm no fan of chair hogs but this really made me angry. Somehow I managed to just take my stuff and walk away without starting a fight.

[TheDTeam]

I have to say that I think the Carnival staff are very good at enforcing the 30 minute waiting rule. On both Vista and Sunshine, vacant beds were duly stickered, and then items removed and bagged after 30 minutes (removed items were stored at the towel kiosk). People returning from their lengthy lunches, or in some cases from day trips on shore (!) were upset. Quite why people feel the need to reserve beds when they have no intention of using them for hours is beyond me.

[JusBeachn]

Like I said before something has to be done besides the chair security team. (Which is usually one person) The only option you have is one person staying behind to watch the chairs. Other than that things will be moved, or disappear. Guaranteed you will see 2 to 3 arguments throughout the day over chairs.

That's not even considering the groups that pretend to be drunk, and crazy. Individually not a problem, but as a group loud and obnoxious.

[JusBeachn]

COUNTERPOINT..... I have to add this though as a question. You want to be by the pool during the day as a couple. Do you take the (Everyone else is doing it) approach? Start laying out towels and things to reserve 2 chairs. If not, it could be mid afternoon before finding chairs together.

[Mallutts]

I thank God every day that I don't enjoy being anywhere near the main pool. Too crowded, too noisy and too much drama about deckchairs. Go up one deck and you'll find plenty of empty chairs and you can actually hear and see the ocean.

 

Same, our group always ends up at the aft pool one deck up. I can't stand the forward/main pool area. I've only been on two Carnival cruises and they were the Triumph Class ships (Triumph and Victory) and never had a chair problem in "our spot" on either of those ships. It might be different on the larger ships. This was also when the back of the boat was the outside smoking area before they moved it to the middle on the lido deck. This might have had something to do with it also no one sitting in the smoking section.

[sanger727]

Athankfulheart- this story is really weird. It sounds like no one ever said that they were gone from their chair for hours and moved the books to a different chair? It seems like if that had been said to security it would have settled the issue quickly.

 

 

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[Doggielover68]

So does it happen yep, is it as bad as every chair taken at breakfast with no one in it????? Never ever saw that .. unless your talking when they put out the towel animals

 

 

We saw that on our last cruise. 10am on a sea day, every chair was reserved by the aft pool but only 5 people were in the pool. Luckily the wind blew someone's towel off of the chair and I took that opportunity to claim it lol. We were there for about an hour and a half and no one came to any of the reserved chairs that were near us.

 

Here is what we do. We locate chairs, put our stuff down, and if we want to leave the area, one of us stays behind to watch our stuff while the other gets food or whatever. When we are done, we remove our things so others can use it. Not sure why others can't do the same. I don't want to spend the whole day at the pool, just want a chance to cool off for a little bit.

 

 

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[sk8rmomof3]

It's no better on RC. They had signs everywhere that seats are not to be saved, and any unattended chair for over 30 minutes would have the items removed but that never happened. I had a heck of a time finding somewhere to sit outside to read a book. I walked all 3 outside decks to find one lone chair didn't matter how close to the pool and I couldn't find one to save my life! It sucked!

[RTRMom]

We were on the Sunshine last week and it has the reputation for being crowded. But, we only had one day out of the 8 that we couldn't find two chairs together. We also never went to get a chair until after 10am. I guess it helps when it doesn't matter where the chair is for us. As long as it is in the sun...we were good to sit anywhere.

[Athankfulheart]

Great story. Was this the nice little row of clams facing the bow? Love that spot.

 

 

Yes it was. To answer a couple of questions from other posters, no there was not an attendant up there or we would have asked for sure. It had been hours and I can't tell you how many people we heard walk by and complain about it being "reserved" and how that was so wrong. The reason why nobody admitted to moving the bag was because of how irate the woman was. When security showed up and started asking questions, we didn't know what thier motivation was. The whole thing was very bizarre .

[jsglow]

Yes it was. To answer a couple of questions from other posters, no there was not an attendant up there or we would have asked for sure. It had been hours and I can't tell you how many people we heard walk by and complain about it being "reserved" and how that was so wrong. The reason why nobody admitted to moving the bag was because of how irate the woman was. When security showed up and started asking questions, we didn't know what thier motivation was. The whole thing was very bizarre .

 

HA! I left flip flops there back in October so that clam is actually MINE!

[cruisenovice2017]

Is this a problem on the smaller ships? Say Elation? Heading out next month and I'm worried I need to get to the pool by 6 a.m. to make sure I get one (actually, we'll need two)..

[Florings]

We just go up one or two decks to finds chairs that aren't so crammed together. Most of the time, we have not problems finding two together. Then take turns leaving to get food or drink if necessary.

 

If all the ships start putting the 30 minutes stickers on the chairs and removing the "saving" articles, in time the practice will stop. But it will take some time....

[hmm364]

I believe the deck chair problem can be resolved by removing ALL deck chairs and everyone can just spread their towels on the deck and enjoy the fun under the sun . Because the towels are smaller this will allow twice as many people in the same space . This will be implemented as soon as I become the CD .

[jma624]

I don't really need a deck chair while I am in the pool or hot tub or buffet line etc. What would be ideal is if they provided some kind of cubby to keep my stuff in while swimming. Then when I got out of the pool and wanted to sit, I could take what ever chair is available. Basically, if you are not in the chair, it would be up for grabs. This sounds harsh, but since you never see someone in EVERY chair, there would always be a place to sit when you actually wanted to sit in a chair.

[Athankfulheart]

I don't really need a deck chair while I am in the pool or hot tub or buffet line etc. What would be ideal is if they provided some kind of cubby to keep my stuff in while swimming. Then when I got out of the pool and wanted to sit, I could take what ever chair is available. Basically, if you are not in the chair, it would be up for grabs. This sounds harsh, but since you never see someone in EVERY chair, there would always be a place to sit when you actually wanted to sit in a chair.

This is actually my solution of choice as well. Personally, I have never left my stuff to save my chair. This is the most clear cut way to deal with it. Some ships have hooks on the wall, but storage cubbies would be ideal along with tags on chairs stating that unattended belongings will be moved to cubbies.

 

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[JusBeachn]

Let's face it. The Chairs are an issue because of the "Im the most Important" attitude we have today. I think this will always be an issue unless Carnival assigns more than 1 person to the problem.

[Megan_Strick]

Something has to be done about the pool deck situation. Several times I have heard about the "No reservation policy" onboard. But passing by the deck on the way to breakfast, every chair on the deck has a towel or handbag on it.

Carnival has a chair monitor now that travels the deck, but in no way is able to cover the entire area, and doesn't have the means of monitoring the deck chairs for time limits.

Spend a little time on deck and you will see several arguments take place throughout the day over chairs, and or articles left on chairs.

What do you think a solution for this could be?

The only thing that I see feasible is some type of chair reservation before the cruise starts. Other than that, there will continue to be problems.

Thoughts?

 

I move peoples stuff. I'll sit in an undesirable location for 30-45 mins. If there is a spot I want and no one has shown up I'll move it.

[First and Ten]

Is this a problem on the smaller ships? Say Elation? Heading out next month and I'm worried I need to get to the pool by 6 a.m. to make sure I get one (actually, we'll need two)..

 

 

I recently sailed the Elation. Granted, i spent most of my time on the Serenity Deck. By mid day it was pretty crowded, but if you got there by say 8-830, plenty of seats....We stayed on the ship when we docked in Nassau and went to the main pool around 11 am. There were about 5 passengers on the Lido Deck and i was the only one in the pool. It was great!!!!

[sammee]

You know where this is also starting to happen? The darn town July 4th parade. Folks thinking the can set up 50 yards along the street 24 hours in advance with tents and everything. All for a darn 45 minute parade with the fire truck and local kids soccer team. In MY day you went out there an hour ahead, set up your single chair, and chatted with the neighbors while you waited.

 

OMG, yes, Halloween parade where I live. There were chairs chained to the trees along the road. I even saw a couch and a recliner. I think they put a stop to it just this past year. It was really out of hand. When I grew up it was the same, hour before and bring a lawn chair