Chair hogging

[slidergirl]

My little resort town is all paid parking, either in a city lot or with the park & pay machines on the street.  Locals have hang tags with timers on them that give us a discounted rate.  Unless it's off-season, I park outside of town and take in the bus because it's a PIA to try to find a space because tourists do not know how to parallel park and not take up too much space. 😉 

I did witness a knock-down, drag-out fight over chairs at a resort in Puerto Rico.  I was in my chair for a good 2 hours (I had an umbrella) and the next 4 chairs had towels & books, but never saw anyone for those 2 hours.  Dad and little kid come down and ask - I saw I haven't seen anyone for 2 hours.  Dad takes off stuff from 1 and uses it.  People come back an hour later and start screaming at Dad, one of the entitled twit girls of about 20-something age starts hitting Dad and telling him to get the &*^$% out of HER chair.  I got up, told her they hadn't been there for 3 hours and they weren't supposed to hold chairs for that long.  I then told Dad he and the little kid could have my chair.  I put my towel down on the sand for a little while longer.  

 

A reason I book a balcony for myself is so that I don't have to deal with finding a chair on the deck!   And, I can drink my own wine and listen to my own music undisturbed!!!

Edited April 7, 2023 by slidergirl

[shorne]

59 minutes ago, slidergirl said:

one of the entitled twit girls of about 20-something age starts hitting Dad and telling him to get the &*^$% out of HER chair.  I got up, told her they hadn't been there for 3 hours and they weren't supposed to hold chairs for that long.

 

You were good to stand up to those obnoxious people. I hope that management, if not the police, received notice of the violence.

[BklynBoy8]

1 hour ago, 2wheelin said:

With that system, who gets first choice? If you get there last and are stuck with undesirable spot or not enough chairs together for your family, you are screwed for the whole cruise.

 

Not to worry, at that time, Plenty of Space, All spaces desirable, it worked. Plenty of space with enough chairs. Never heard anyone complaining about this. All were happy and satisfied.

 

On the QM2 no problem on Sun Deck.... 

[jsn55]

On 4/7/2023 at 12:59 PM, d9704011 said:

Too philosophical for me to understand.  I was just commenting on shorne's inference that cheap and selfish people can't afford cruises that attract passengers who would not be chair hogs; whether the well-heeled are immune to the scourge of chair-hoggery is not entirely clear to me.

I think a quality cruiseship will have enough deck chairs for all the pax, thereby avoiding the whole topic entirely and causing no insults or meanness.  

[Markanddonna]

In January and February of this year, I was on a sailing where a pool attendant vigorously controlled chair hogs. I witnessed it early on in an adult area where he confronted a man who was ready to put down five towels early in the morning. The crew member won and I noted folded towels and books at the side of the pool on other days. He was a big dude. The main pool area was not monitored.

 

While you might think this is great, it turned many of the passengers very surly. It was the worst, rudest group I had ever traveled with (mostly central and south Americans.) I witnessed the first fight at the pool and experienced hostility from those who wanted our chairs- the ones we SITTING IN, not saving! It was unreal. 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Markanddonna

[shorne]

14 hours ago, jsn55 said:

I think a quality cruiseship will have enough deck chairs for all the pax, thereby avoiding the whole topic entirely and causing no insults or meanness.  

 

I see two sensible approaches:

 

1) Provide enough chairs for everyone, at least most of the time. Noöne will have to worry about reserving a chair if plenty are available.

 

2) Manage the scarcity through one of the means that have been proposed here, or another.

 

Of these, (1) requires money and space. On ships that cannot afford the outlay, (2) is probably the best approach.

 

What makes no sense is

 

3) Impose rules but never enforce them.

 

[BruceMuzz]

What makes even less sense is someone sailing on a big mass market cruise ship where the chair hog problem is nearly guaranteed - and then complaining about it.

[Flatbush Flyer]

6 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

What makes even less sense is someone sailing on a big mass market cruise ship where the chair hog problem is nearly guaranteed - and then complaining about it.

Yes - “you get what you pay for.”

OR, actually, “you don’t get what you don’t pay for.”

[BklynBoy8]

On 4/7/2023 at 6:07 PM, BklynBoy8 said:

 

Not to worry, at that time, Plenty of Space, All spaces desirable, it worked. Plenty of space with enough chairs. Never heard anyone complaining about this. All were happy and satisfied.

 

On the QM2 no problem on Sun Deck.... 

 

As I said before, under certain conditions and civilizatied, everyone could enjoy the same facilities and pleasure.

 

Everyone needs to be considerate to each. Not think the ship is theirs alone.

[navybankerteacher]

On 4/7/2023 at 4:51 PM, slidergirl said:

…

A reason I book a balcony for myself is so that I don't have to deal with finding a chair on the deck!   And, I can drink my own wine and listen to my own music undisturbed!!!

And (if you are on a civilized line which lets you bring your own wine) what you save over buying ship’s wine will cover much of the cost of upgrading to a balcony cabin.

Edited April 9, 2023 by navybankerteacher

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Yes - “you get what you pay for.”

OR, actually, “you don’t get what you don’t pay for.”

Very true - of course there will be times when you won’t get what you pay for,  but you surely will not get something you are not willing to pay for.

[slidergirl]

4 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

And (if you are on a civilized line which lets you bring your own wine) what you save over buying ship’s wine will cover much of the cost of upgrading to a balcony cabin.

Well, I can bring my own wine if I wanted to pay $20 "corkage" for a $20 bottle... 

[Flatbush Flyer]

57 minutes ago, slidergirl said:

Well, I can bring my own wine if I wanted to pay $20 "corkage" for a $20 bottle... 

$20 for a bottle of wine? Don’t you mean a “box ‘o wine?”😉

[mammajamma2013]

On 4/8/2023 at 10:42 AM, jsn55 said:

I think a quality cruiseship will have enough deck chairs for all the pax, thereby avoiding the whole topic entirely and causing no insults or meanness.  

I've only sailed mass market (Princess, Norwegian, and (gasp!) Carnival) which many people on this thread see as "non-quality" cruise lines. But even on my classless cruises, I've seen plenty of deck chairs. Maybe  not enough for "all the pax" to each have their own, but plenty.

 

I think one of the problems is that (some) people want a chair directly by the pool for their private use, or maybe one by the pool and one in the shade.  There are always empty chairs up a short flight of steps, but they are directly in the sun.

 

I personally do not hang out by the pool, so people can certainly have my lounger.

[navybankerteacher]

6 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Well, I can bring my own wine if I wanted to pay $20 "corkage" for a $20 bottle... 

I was referring to a civilized line which lets you bring your own wine on board - and only charges corkage if you drink it outside of your cabin.

[jsn55]

19 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Well, I can bring my own wine if I wanted to pay $20 "corkage" for a $20 bottle... 

Far as I know, 'the rules' state that a corkage fee is charged if you want to drink the wine outside your cabin.  For consumption in your cabin, there's no charge.  But how much effort hauling around wine are you willing to expend to save a few bucks?

[cruisemom42]

4 hours ago, jsn55 said:

Far as I know, 'the rules' state that a corkage fee is charged if you want to drink the wine outside your cabin.  For consumption in your cabin, there's no charge.  But how much effort hauling around wine are you willing to expend to save a few bucks?

On Holland America, which the quoted poster is sailing, corkage fees apply to every bottle of wine brought onboard, regardless of where you intend to consume it.

 

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

On Holland America, which the quoted poster is sailing, corkage fees apply to every bottle of wine brought onboard, regardless of where you intend to consume it.

 

I wasn’t aware of a particular line being named (or who, precisely, “the quoted poster” is).  But, in any event,  I am disappointed to hear that HAL has joined the lines applying universal corkage.  The last time I sailed HAL, now a couple of years, this was not the case

[navybankerteacher]

15 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

$20 for a bottle of wine? Don’t you mean a “box ‘o wine?”😉

With a little testing it is possible to find a very enjoyable (if unsophisticated and unpretentious) wine for $15 (and sometimes less) a bottle.  There is a universe out there between Two Buck Chuck and grand cru.  Yellow Tail Australian reds, for example, and San Marino Italian Pinot Grigio do very well on cruise ship balconies.

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

With a little testing it is possible to find a very enjoyable (if unsophisticated and unpretentious) wine for $15 (and sometimes less) a bottle.  There is a universe out there between Two Buck Chuck and grand cru.  Yellow Tail Australian reds, for example, and San Marino Italian Pinot Grigio do very well on cruise ship balconies.

Sorry but I’ll disagree and it has nothing to do with pretentiousness. “Cheap” wine (e.g., most of the <$15/bottle US retail stuff on cruise ship wine-by-the-glass menus) is generally mediocre at best - particularly when it comes to delivering what you expect from a varietal.

 

That said, I have found that better wines in the US do tend to be more expensive than like foreign products (e.g., California vs Chile). But, I assume that, in part, has more to do with the various costs of production (e.g., even just the bottles/labels).

[shorne]

3 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

With a little testing it is possible to find a very enjoyable (if unsophisticated and unpretentious) wine for $15 (and sometimes less) a bottle.  There is a universe out there between Two Buck Chuck and grand cru.  Yellow Tail Australian reds, for example, and San Marino Italian Pinot Grigio do very well on cruise ship balconies.

 

Sorry, but Yellow Tail and Pinot Grigio aren't anywere near grand cru. Enjoyable wines for $15 exist, but undrinkable Yellow Tail, in my view, is not among them.

[shorne]

32 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Sorry but I’ll disagree and it has nothing to do with pretentiousness. “Cheap” wine (e.g., most of the <$15/bottle US retail stuff on cruise ship wine-by-the-glass menus) is generally mediocre at best - particularly when it comes to delivering what you expect from a varietal.

 

That said, I have found that better wines in the US do tend to be more expensive than like foreign products (e.g., California vs Chile). But, I assume that, in part, has more to do with the various costs of production (e.g., even just the bottles/labels).

 

Most people on a mass-market cruise ship couldn't tell wine of real quality from cheap plonk, so the ship provides the latter—and passes it off as the former. I'd sooner have water than a lot of the $6-a-bottle rubbish that is fobbed off on the public.

 

Good wines from the US tend indeed to be expensive nowadays. To get better value for money, look to Chile, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, even France and Italy.

 

[navybankerteacher]

6 minutes ago, shorne said:

 

Sorry, but Yellow Tail and Pinot Grigio aren't anywere near grand cru. Enjoyable wines for $15 exist, but undrinkable Yellow Tail, in my view, is not among them.

What I posted was “…there is a universe between Two Buck Chuck and grand cru.” :END OF SENTENCE —  which in no way suggested that Yellow Tail was comparable to grand cru.

 

I simply mentioned that in my opinion Yellow Tail does well on cruise ship balconies.  I am curious about what inexpensive labels you might not designate as “undrinkable”.

6 minutes ago, shorne said:

[navybankerteacher]

46 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Sorry but I’ll disagree and it has nothing to do with pretentiousness. “Cheap” wine (e.g., most of the <$15/bottle US retail stuff on cruise ship wine-by-the-glass menus) is generally mediocre at best - particularly when it comes to delivering what you expect from a varietal.

 

That said, I have found that better wines in the US do tend to be more expensive than like foreign products (e.g., California vs Chile). But, I assume that, in part, has more to do with the various costs of production (e.g., even just the bottles/labels).

Of course US products (of virtually any nature) tend to be costlier — it just takes more pay to get people here to do the work.  Which may at least partly explain why things like New York City subway cars are made in Japan (using steel made from iron ore shipped from the Great Lakes smelted using coal shipped from Virginia).

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

… most of the <$15/bottle US retail stuff on cruise ship wine-by-the-glass menus) is generally mediocre at best - particularly when it comes to delivering what you expect from a varietal.

…

I think you should check your sources :  I just looked at NCL’s wine list — it showed nothing in the “<$15/bottle…” range.   The cheapest was $26 per bottle.  And I doubt that could reach “mediocre”.