At what point is it ok to take a "saved" deck chair?

[spike007]

Don't forget when taking a deck chair, that the port (left) side of the ship is non-smoking. Nothing is more iritating the going out of your way to be in the non-smoking area only to have a smoker light up next to you.

[hockeyluver]

I think i will make up some small signs that say "just gone for a little swim" or "had to use the bathroom" hmm wonder if that would work

[funinthsun]

Just as it's "not ok" to save chairs, In my opinion, it's not ok to take "saved" chairs. I'm on vacation, it's not nice but I deal with it. Who needs to ruin their day over it. Think of all the crap we go on vacation to escape. Road rage, etc. No need to recreate it on board. It ususally " all comes out in " anyway. Chair hogs probably lose lots in the casinos!!!!!:D (or get a really bad sunburn!!!) Don't worry, be happy!!

[*CruiseFan*]

I agree. If you have been there and leave long enough for lunch, etc. Your chair should be left alone. I guess I wasn't clear in my other comments, sorry.

 

I agree :) I also agree with cruisecastle to a point. It is crappy to see people roll in at 11 and steal others chairs even when their stuff is on it and they are quite obviously just running to grab a bite. If you're up there later, around 11 and you see people getting up you ASK. Honestly though my BF and I always get there before then - normally 8 or 9 - sleeping is for home when you're not on vacation, haha!

[Charlie_n_Sandy]

Never, just because you are too lazy to get up early and get your own chair doesn't mean you should steal from others that aren't.

 

Oh, you mean rather than inconsiderate? I suppose saving a chair for four hours while you are off doing whatever isn't the height of arrogance? The cruise lines should do a better job of policing the pool areas and then there wouldn't be a problem. Never had a problem at a hotel where there were pool porters.

[2112]

You mean when people leave stuff on chairs they are saving them? I always figured that people were just finished with their towels, sunscreen, books, etc and just left them for other people to enjoy! Why else would people just leave their stuff around? How can people leave there stuff around unattended and expect it to still be there when they get back?

 

Because I'm a curtious guy, I'll take a seat after 20 minutes. If they come back with 45 minutes they can have it back. Otherwise, the answer is I don't know what happended to your stuff. You can't expect to leave your stuff around and have it still there when you get back.

[crazidude1400]

You mean when people leave stuff on chairs they are saving them? I always figured that people were just finished with their towels, sunscreen, books, etc and just left them for other people to enjoy! Why else would people just leave their stuff around? How can people leave there stuff around unattended and expect it to still be there when they get back?

 

Because I'm a curtious guy, I'll take a seat after 20 minutes. If they come back with 45 minutes they can have it back. Otherwise, the answer is I don't know what happended to your stuff. You can't expect to leave your stuff around and have it still there when you get back.

 

I think your policy should be if they come back at all, then you should give it back.

[mfan]

Wow, 3 pages?! I didn't expect such outpouring of opinions!

 

Thanks to all for sharing your thoughts. Like most people, I'd hate to get into a confrontation on my vacation, especially in front of my young kids! I will definitely watch a "saved" chair for a reasonble period of time and will ask others sitting next to it before assuming it's "available".

 

Cheers!

[cruisecrazytoo]

Demos: I had a similar situation on a past cruise. There was a row of 5 or 6 chairs being saved with a couple towels laying sideways over the chairs. I asked the people around the chairs if anybody was sitting there and they all said no they hadn't seen anyone and they had been there for an hour or more. So I moved the towel from the end chair and enjoyed some sun for about an hour when this lady came over to me and started yelling at me. She said the chairs were for her family and I was pretty embarrassed. I apologized and moved to another area. It pretty much ruined my afternoon as well because I don't like confrontations. So now I usually sit away from the pool area on the top decks where there are plenty of free chairs. Just isn't worth the hassle if the rude chair hog comes back.

 

Its too bad you felt embarassed! We all have seen this thing going on and I am not sure if it is just the first time cruisers. Me and my DH had to laugh our first day out on the Liberty a few weeks ago, early in the morning, when we saw a woman wandering towards a chair with a banana. For sure, she used it to save a chair! She had ran out of 'items' to put on the line of chairs she was saving and went to the buffet. How funny. Of course, it was not very funny the last few days at sea when the wind was so bad they closed upper decks so chairs did not go flying into passengers. Chairs were a real premium. I sun bath without DH and usually wait until after 1 p.m. After getting kicked off of the Spa deck, I and a mom and kids from Ohio spotted 4 empty chairs with thongs jammed in the chair corners on the balcony over the pool. No adjacent passengers had seen the chair savers for a while but they had left the message they could use the chairs in their absence (how nice considering they already had one) but they had not been around for a while. I encouraged the mom to use the chairs with me. One hour later, a man and three women strolled up eating ice cream cones indicating the chairs were theirs. I said otherwise and that you could not save chairs. He was angry but I WAS NOT EMBARRASSED AND I DID NOT MOVE! Of course, during that time I did leave the chair for a short time after letting my neighbor know who watched my chair. I returned the favor. Now THAT'S what it is all about.

 

Carnival Sensation 2004

Carnival Glory 2005

Carnival Celebration 2005

Carnival Liberty 2006

[cruising3times]

Similar problems arise in t he ship's laundry rooms. People do not come to take their clothes our of the washers or dryers. And this is especially aggravating because the laundry rooms are small and only have a few machines. I have taken clothes out and used the machine. I put the clothes on top of a used washer. Unfortunately people are rude and inconsiderate, as with the lounge chairs.

[Kokamo]

I'm a chair saver in that I wake up early (not intentional), after I throw my stuff in a chair (I really don't care to be right by the pool-just in the sun), I usually do a couple laps around the desk, sleep in the chair for a bit, grab a bite to eat, then I'm in the chair (except for necessity breaks) until I'm done, bored, can't sleep or want to go do something else. When I am ready to leave I will look around for someone looking for a spot, wave them over and offer them the spot. If my DD (11) wants a chair, but really isn't using it, I will make her give it up and we share. I believe the chair wars will continue forever as unfortunately people will be rude forever. Good Luck to all and I promise not to throw your belongings into a heap on the deck:eek: if you do likewise. Thanks:)

 

I think I will have a little fun on the next cruise. I am going to get up early and go on the deck and if I see any one saving chairs, I will wait till they leave and remove their stuff. Oh, I won't sit on "their" chairs, but will find and neutral corner, sit back and watch all the fun.:D

[Zaniac]

Ok, I can only go by my own experience, but we never had a problem getting deck chairs before 10 am. We never woke up early or ran up to lido to save chairs before breakfast. I was usually in the Casino until 4am so I wasn't getting up any earlier than required ;) . What I did see was the people complaining about saved deck chairs who came out to the pool area around lunch time or 1 pm. Of course there won't be any chairs in the "Prime" area. There were still chairs free along the sides in the shade and up top in the adult's only section. It was always the same people too, coming out midday and whining about saved chairs. I absolutely had no sympathy for them and even enjoyed a laugh or two at their expense, especially after the third day. We honestly did not see alot of empty "saved" chairs throughout the day so it is hard to say what is being saved and what is legitimately being used.

 

Bottom line people is if you can't get your butts out to the pool area before noon, you shouldn't complain that there are no chairs available.

 

Happy Cruising...

[dappledumpling]

I personally like the 30 minute rule. If I see a lounger vacant for longer than 30 minutes I will go up to the area and ask those around they have seen the occupant in a while.. If they have not I will ask one of the carnival employees to remove the abandoned items and order a drink from them. Only one time has a person come back and confronted me I told them that i didn't touch thier stuff but maybe they shouldn't leave thier belongings lieing around. They left in anger but that is thier problem... My day was not ruined

 

I would love to watch someone confront me as I am a fairly large dude. 6'4" 280 pounds an an amateur mixed martial arts fighter.

[martdm]

I think the previous poster's method seems to be the most reasonable/safest method. Frankly, 30 minutes should be plenty of time to run back to your cabin for something, use the restroom, or go get a snack/refreshment to bring back to your seat. If someone plans to be gone longer than that, decorum dictates that they should surrender the chair.

 

For those that don't have that level of consideration, waiting 1/2 hour prevents erroneously snatching the seat of someone who truly did just step away for a quick errand, and having the employee remove the items allows you to honestly say you didn't touch the stuff and also protects you from any accusations about missing items. Seems the smart way to go! Thanks!

 

Although I might be embarrassed by someone who came back an hour later and caused a scene, I think I absolutely would stand my ground if I had followed the above steps. I'd simply tell them I waited a reasonable amount of time for someone to return and use the chair and, when that did not occur, I had the staff remove the items because chairs cannot be saved. SOL for them.

[Hootsie]

He was angry but I WAS NOT EMBARRASSED AND I DID NOT MOVE!

 

Good for you! You had nothing to be embarrassed about since you did nothing wrong.

[itrek]

On my last cruise I listened to 5 girls talking about how they were taking books from the ships library to put on the chairs to reserve them. I saw 12 chairs with those books and a neatly folded towel on them for 3 hours 15 minutes before the 5 girls showed up to use the chairs at about 1:00 in the afternoon. They bragged about having devised the best way to save chairs. If someone took one of the books, so what, it wasn't their book anyway. They reserved more chairs than they needed just in case someone did take one or more of the chairs before they decided to use them.

 

The next day I came to the pool deck and saw a whopping row of 16 chairs reserved with the ship's library books in a prime location so I promptly picked up all 16 books and the towels and took the books to the Purser's Office. This was at 9:30 in the morning. I hung out until about 2:30 that afternoon when a couple of the girls finally showed up and boy were they mad. They couldn't believe the nerve of people to take ALL of those seats they reserved. They yelled at everyone in the area including 2 servers that tried to explain to them that reserving seats was not allowed and that the people using the seats had been there for several hours.

 

Once the girls left I told several people around me what I had done. The next day I didn't have to pick up the books because some nice woman that got to the pool deck before me told me she already took care of it. I left at 1:00 that afternoon so I never did get to see the fireworks on the last day.

[Cuizer2]

I may be completely wrong about this , but don't you think that it is usually pretty easy to tell when a chair is being used and its "owner" is just away getting wet, or grabbing a drink, etc, as opposed to being saved?

 

Okay, I've got to ask. How can you tell if a chair has been empty only 2 minutes as opposed to being empty for two hours?

[Cuizer2]

I think I will have a little fun on the next cruise. I am going to get up early and go on the deck and if I see any one saving chairs, I will wait till they leave and remove their stuff. Oh, I won't sit on "their" chairs, but will find and neutral corner, sit back and watch all the fun.:D

 

I was waiting for a post like this.

 

Perhaps I lead a sheltered life, but I have never had a problem getting a chair when I need one. Okay, sometimes I had to wait two minutes, but chairs are always avaliable.

[habby]

Bottom line people is if you can't get your butts out to the pool area before noon, you shouldn't complain that there are no chairs available.

 

Happy Cruising...

 

Seems to me that the complaint deals more with those people who think it's OK to come out at 9:00 a.m., put towels or whatever on chairs, then leave and expect that when they come back at 11:30, noon, whatever, "their" chairs will be there waiting for them.

[robntawn]

I think i will make up some small signs that say "just gone for a little swim" or "had to use the bathroom" hmm wonder if that would work

 

Actually, I wonder if this would work. We are not chair hogs, but it would be nice to be able to go to the bathroom or take a quick dip and not lose our chair. Would it be feasible to leave a little sign with the time, and be back within 10 minutes?

[Zaniac]

I was waiting for a post like this.

 

Perhaps I lead a sheltered life, but I have never had a problem getting a chair when I need one. Okay, sometimes I had to wait two minutes, but chairs are always avaliable.

 

Exactly as I stated earlier. Looks like some people will be up to no good on their next cruise:rolleyes:

[Zaniac]

Actually, I wonder if this would work. We are not chair hogs, but it would be nice to be able to go to the bathroom or take a quick dip and not lose our chair. Would it be feasible to leave a little sign with the time, and be back within 10 minutes?

 

If the sign says 10 minutes, then you better make sure you are not gone longer. Some of these cruisers bring a stopwatch I'm sure:D

[habby]

I just needed to bump this up to make it easier to find.

[OCDACTIVE]

Wow, many heated opinions on this. I think it is terrible that we have to make up our own rules. Some say 30 min, some say 1 hour etc. The bad part about this whole thing is there is a rule already made that should settle this. Carnival's policy, and from what I have seen, All Cruise Lines Policies are "no saving seats". IF (and that is a big IF) but IF they would just enforce that rule everything would work out fine.

 

Now, does that mean when I go in the hot tub I am reliquishing my seat.. NO!. But I am definately going to tell my neighbor where I am and when I will be back. (never longer then 30 min)

 

Overall, we have to realize that we are all there for fun in the sun and that carnival will never do anything about enforcing "their" rule. So until then I think a little common courtesy is the best policy.

 

Also, quick note on the same lines. When a spa is "ADULTS ONLY" Parents, this does not mean that children are allowed if you say so. It means "adults only". It drives me crazy when you are trying to relax and 5 kids jump in the spa and start a splashing contest. When I politely mention to thier mother that this is an "adults only spa" her reply simply was, "no its okay, they are with me." little hint: NO ITS NOT OKAY..

[CruisingKitty]

So I admit I am blonde, but how does one know if a chair is being saved so someone can go to the loo or get a snack or take a dip, versus keeping a chair 'reserved' for hours on end?