New Chair Hog Idea on Royal, Hope Celebrity Follows Suit

[kidz_rn]

4 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

They do have a smaller much more obscure placard in the Retreat that they set out in the morning. There's always "that guy" the group leader that wakes up at 4am to commander the group prime seats. That will never change. 

Sadly, I agree

[binro01]

Here is the little card X places on loungers with unattended items.

 

[Zignewt]

I just got off the Equinox and saw those signs but not on chairs with unattended items but on chairs that had not yet been claimed.  I didn’t understand why they weren’t put on the many chairs that got reserved at 7am but not used until after 10. 

[debsjc]

They would need to put a time limit on it, such as 'If you leave unattended items for more than an hour'
People should be able to go to the bar to get a drink, or go for a quick swim, without risking having their things removed. 

[davekathy]

I do enjoy the early morning comedy entertainment while I walk the track early in the morning and look down at the pool deck to see the chair hogs frantically scurrying about marking their territory.   😂

[Pickels]

21 hours ago, bEwAbG said:

 

I agree completely, if that was not clear by my initial comment.  I also think X doing regular sweeps to clean up after people would help, too.  The problem is you never really know.  I've seen it go both ways, even late in the afternoon.  I also think it is unhelpful when X staff put fresh towels on the chairs.  It would be much clearer if everyone needed to retrieve a towel and then pick a spot.  Timed rentals would be even better.  Chair hogs are not unique to X or even to cruises, of course; there are plenty of things X could adopt but haven't.

We've been cruising since 2003 and have seen this issue many, many times.  That's why, IMHO, vacationing at a resort like Sandals, has it over a cruise vacation.  At a resort, you can reserve a lounge chair by the pool for you entire stay.  Their rule is, if you don't occupy your chair by 10:00, your chair reservation is cancelled and it's available to anyone.  We've done this on several vacations and it just made for a very enjoyable, relaxing stay, knowing that we would always have a lounge chair when we come back from breakfast, lunch, etc.  I know that Princess Cruise line has The Sanctuary where you can reserve a chaise lounge for the entire cruise; we've done that; and it also made for a great cruise vacation.

[STLCRUISIN]

We were on the pool deck of Reflection last month but under cover since the sun was too strong for us. This was around 10:30. So many of the loungers surrounding the pool were occupied with books, shoes, towels, you name it....but no people. About 11am the ship ran into a squall and the wind was blowing so hard it took all the "stuff" from the chairs (including the cushions on the double loungers) and blew them into a big pile by the bandstand, or into the pool. Seating in the undercover area was not affected. That was one quick way of clearing the loungers!! 😄

[davekathy]

When I sit out on the deck it's always the deck above the pool deck and I always find a lounger to enjoy a drink or two while looking out at the port or water. Apparently hogs are drawn to water (pool, hot tubs).  Balcony for quite times. 

[Oceansaway17]

18 hours ago, binro01 said:

Here is the little card X places on loungers with unattended items.

 

I bet a lot of folks chuckle and say to themselves, does NOT apply to me.

 

I find the deck loungers low and hard to get out of.  I would never be a good chair hog.

[Random Cruizer]

I'm kind of surprised everyone respects the towels, etc.  I don't sit out in the sun, but if I did and get there at 8 am, I'd sit somewhere quietly for 10 or fifteen minutes, then take my pick of whatever wasn't claimed.  I'd lay their towel or whatever on the deck beside the lounger, and move and let them have it if they ever show up.

[momofmab]

The signs will never mean anything unless the policy is uniformly enforced by the ship's staff, which will never happen because they don't want to be the bad cop.

 

I don't know how people have the kahones to lay stuff out on a whole row of loungers that they know are going to go unoccupied for at least the next several hours (probably the same people who send their 80-year-old grandmother to the theatre to save 10 seats before the show).

 

On a spring break cruise, I witnessed man come early in the am to save 8 loungers.  He sat on the end of the row and spent two hours battling for those loungers, having multiple confrontations before the other seven dribbled in.  Sign me up for his vacation 😆

[t18c97]

Why not bring up to the hotel director if their staff isn't following through on the procedure. It's the old if they don't know about it they can't fix it line. 

[cbfb]

On our cruise last month the people on the loungers next to us also had loungers in the shade. This was a full ship. A crew member came over and started to clear their shade chairs if the towels. The man ran over grabbed him by the arm and told him he was making him angry and ruining his vacation, he also told him his children were sitting there. I never saw any children all day long! What a POS. 

[IDL]

On 3/27/2023 at 1:54 PM, bookitdanno said:

How about it you are actually using the pool or in the bathroom? 

[bookitdanno]

12 minutes ago, IDL said:

How about it you are actually using the pool or in the bathroom? 

The pool attendants are supposed to give you 30 minutes.

This is meant to stop people grabbing chairs before breakfast and keeping them while they go on a tour. 

 

.

[Tinknock50]

It has been a very long time since I was on cruise where I wanted to use a lounge chair. But one time there were two guys patrolling their territory and I just said I will move when your group gets here.

He didn’t know what to do or say since that was a reasonable response and essentially I was indirectly “saving” the chair for  them.

[sweetp0618]

I was on Infinity in February. There were two "gentle"men who saved 4 loungers by the windows in the solarium along with a table for 4. They hardly sat in the loungers. After watching the loungers go unused for 2 hours one day, I went over and started clearing the towels off one of them. One of the men shouted, "lady, lady, leave that alone, it's our chair." I saw the same thing happen to someone else the next day. On the third day, someone got a pool attendant to remove the towels from these guys' loungers. One of the guys jumped up and started screaming at the employee. Security appeared in no time. The guy yelled at security. I thought (hoped) they would take the guy away, but he promised to stop being a chair hog and security departed. It was a 14-day cruise and the two men kept their agreement not to hog chairs for the rest of the cruise.

[sweetp0618]

Duplicate post, sorry.

Edited March 28, 2023 by sweetp0618
duplicate post

[jryan110]

6 hours ago, Random Cruizer said:

I'm kind of surprised everyone respects the towels, etc.  I don't sit out in the sun, but if I did and get there at 8 am, I'd sit somewhere quietly for 10 or fifteen minutes, then take my pick of whatever wasn't claimed.  I'd lay their towel or whatever on the deck beside the lounger, and move and let them have it if they ever show up.

Nailed it!  Thanks @Random Cruizer

Unpopular opinion: Don't rely on others to solve a problem that you can fix yourself through patience and positivity.

 

[davekathy]

7 hours ago, Random Cruizer said:

I'm kind of surprised everyone respects the towels, etc.  I don't sit out in the sun, but if I did and get there at 8 am, I'd sit somewhere quietly for 10 or fifteen minutes, then take my pick of whatever wasn't claimed.  I'd lay their towel or whatever on the deck beside the lounger, and move and let them have it if they ever show up.

No way would I do that. You are opening yourself up to a possible unwanted confrontation especially if you are touching/removing someone's personal belongings. If you can't find a lounger and you're going to wait then have a staff member remove the items when you're ready to use the lounger. You don't know who you might be dealing with. 

[jryan110]

1 minute ago, davekathy said:

No way would I do that. You are opening yourself up to a possible unwanted confrontation especially if you are touching/removing someone's personal belongings. If you can't find a lounger and you're going to wait then have a staff member remove the items when you're ready to use the lounger. You don't know who you might be dealing with. 

Likewise, they don’t know who they’re dealing with…

[Germancruiser]

Oh you cheap people- do book a suite and go to the Retreat- no problem there.

Just kidding of course- forgive my black kind of humor. I never booked a suite on board X- ships.

I do not like to stay around the pool- toooooo loud, to crowded. However I know the RCI follows the checking in and out programm with their towels. That I find really disgusting!

I also prefer the cards X does put on loungers- much more sophisticated and the passengers are treated as adults.

On the other side passengers really should behave as adults and not blocking lounge chairs for hours on end.

I suppose those chair hugs are staying as long as there are cruise ships sailing the 7 seas.

[wineoclock]

A few land hotels we go to assign your loungers on arrival. You can request a change of location as people vacate the hotel. They are yours the entire stay. Absolute bliss, no chair hogs. 

[Random Cruizer]

9 hours ago, davekathy said:

No way would I do that. You are opening yourself up to a possible unwanted confrontation especially if you are touching/removing someone's personal belongings. If you can't find a lounger and you're going to wait then have a staff member remove the items when you're ready to use the lounger. You don't know who you might be dealing with. 

 

You are absolutely right!  What I wrote was foolish.  What I would do instead would be find a staff member to do it for me.  And if nobody in the pool area would, I would walk the ship all the way to the captain until I found someone who would enforce the rules.

[Frenchkona]

On every Celebrity cruise, I’ll wait the required 45 minutes then remove their belongings and give them to one of the pool attendants. When they return and ask where their belongings were, I tell them the pool attendant has them. I usually get a dirty look, but I just smile and wish them a good day.  One couple I did this to 3 times on the same cruise. They finally got the point. I hate entitled people.