Saving Deck Chairs

[Dorset Cruiser]

On our last cruise I pretty much hung out by the pool on sea days. I got there early, had no problem finding a chair. My observation: Yeah, people would put their stuff on their chair, and they would come and go, but I NEVER saw a chair that was "reserved" that was left all day and no one came to use it. Not even for an hour. I mean, when you are looking for a deck chair are you really standing in one spot for an hour watching to make sure that that person comes back or not??? Seems like there would be better things to do.

 

 

No - when you are trudging round the sundecks trying to find a spare deck chair when a great many of the chairs are occupied only by a towel, with not a backside in sight - that IS what you are doing, walking round and round the decks. As for finding something else to do, that is not the answer, I want to sunbathe:confused: I cannot count the amount of fruitless trips I have made over the years looking for deck chairs and having to finally give up and go and sit on my balcony (usually in the shade). I would never save a deck chair with a towel and then go off and do something completely different. People have gone off on shore excursions and left towels on chairs and I have even heard of people having two deck chairs, one in the sun and one in the shade:mad: It is extremely rude and only serves to demonstrate a "me, me, me" attitude.

[Sweetest Sin]

Why is reserving a chair "me, me, me" but just assuming that there should always be open loungers available whenever you feel like wandering up to the lido not "me, me, me". Both sound selfish to me. I get up early to make sure I have a lounger. If you don't want to go sunbathe until later in the day it's the risk you run that there won't be available chairs.

[Dorset Cruiser]

Why is reserving a chair "me, me, me" but just assuming that there should always be open loungers available whenever you feel like wandering up to the lido not "me, me, me". Both sound selfish to me. I get up early to make sure I have a lounger. If you don't want to go sunbathe until later in the day it's the risk you run that there won't be available chairs.

 

 

Well it just my opinion which is every bit as valid as yours. Would you go into a restaurant, put your coat on a chair and then go out and look round the department store and expect to come back to sit in that restaurant seat?? I think not. It is the same thing. I do not go on deck, expecting to find a chair waiting for me. But equally I do not expect to go on deck and see rows of chairs with only towels on them and know, as you and everone else who cruises knows, that some selfish people obviously think that is their given right to reserve chairs for considerable periods of time with no intention of using them. They are the ones who expect a chair to be available to them the moment they decide to use them. I certainly do not expect to have to get up at cock-crow, to sit in a deck chair. If every chair on the deck had a person on or near it I would accept that I was out of luck but the sight of just towels blowing in the breeze does, to me, demonstrate a "me, me, me" attitude.

[Sweetest Sin]

Well it just my opinion which is every bit as valid as yours. Would you go into a restaurant, put your coat on a chair and then go out and look round the department store and expect to come back to sit in that restaurant seat?? I think not. It is the same thing. I do not go on deck, expecting to find a chair waiting for me. But equally I do not expect to go on deck and see rows of chairs with only towels on them and know, as you and everone else who cruises knows, that some selfish people obviously think that is their given right to reserve chairs for considerable periods of time with no intention of using them. They are the ones who expect a chair to be available to them the moment they decide to use them. I certainly do not expect to have to get up at cock-crow, to sit in a deck chair. If every chair on the deck had a person on or near it I would accept that I was out of luck but the sight of just towels blowing in the breeze does, to me, demonstrate a "me, me, me" attitude.

you've never made a reservation at a restaurant, and walked in to be seated before a person that has not made a reservation?

[richwmn]

you've never made a reservation at a restaurant, and walked in to be seated before a person that has not made a reservation?

When you make a reservation at a restaurant they have the use of the table until your reservation time. In the case of the chair hogs no one else can use the chair. In addition, with a restaurant reservation, you are not always reserving a specific table, just the first table open at a specific time. If you reserve a specific table, or quite often with a general reservation, you still have to wait a few minutes for the previous party to clear the table

 

Rich

[Dorset Cruiser]

you've never made a reservation at a restaurant, and walked in to be seated before a person that has not made a reservation?

 

Yes I certainly would expect to be seated before someone without a reservation if I have made a reservation in a RESTAURANT - but the rules on all ships is that SUNBEDS CANNOT BE RESERVED and that has been what the discussion has been about.

 

From your comments, I suspect that you might indeed be one of those passengers who get up very early and reserve your sunbed with a towel, then return to your cabin to carry on sleeping:rolleyes: There again I suspect you will tell me that I am wrong.

 

Anyway, no more comment from me on this subject.

[ehfl]

I would simply take their belongings to lost and found or give them to an attendant. After all, if someone left their items unattended for so long, they must have misplaced them, and you are doing them a favor by helping to return them. You are also freeing up a deck chair held hostage. So go for it....it's a win win situation for everyone.

[pauline664]

While i would not normally reply to this kind of thread i have to say....I think it is very bad manners to leave your things. If you must leave to get food or go to the spa then that's the chance you take of not having a lounge chair when you get back. I took my stuff with me when i left. That was my choice, because it was my choice to leave the chair.

[Racegoer]

Only Bottoms reserve deck chairs.I saw that sign at a maui hotel once and I think cruise ships should have it posted. Again I have moved many a towel and some books and even a few flip flops after a 1/2 hour "watch", when nobody is in the chair for 30 minutes IMO its open season. I have had many people on CC say " you wouldn't do that to me" I only have one answer to them "hide and watch me" Anyway its absurd to think that you should be able to come and go all day to a chair you are not in for hours.

 

The reality is you see people walking round and round looking for an open seat. What I do when I am poolside is watch other chairs to see if they are empty for a while and when I see people looking I tell them to take the seats and give the stuff to the pool attendant. I am a chair hogs worst nightmare. More people need to do this and eventually the people saving chairs will realize that its not "their chair" unless they are in it.

 

I mostly blame the cruise ships for this problem as they could solve it if only they would enforce the rules. What ends up happening is there are a lot of empty chairs and lots of people wanting to sit in them but they are occupied but not by people but towels, old paperback books and flip flops. The analogy of a restaurant reservation is weak. I don't know people that reserve a seat for a restaurant ALL day and only show up for a 2 hour meal that would be closer to what the chair hogs do.

[iheartbda]

Here's another slant on chair hogs.

We've had this happen on a number of cruises where there is an outdoor seating area to eat breakfast or lunch from the buffet. I'm not taking about anywhere around the pool but an area that is obviously a place to sit down and eat. People will be sitting at a table reading a book while others, with their food in hand, are trying to find a place to sit.

[happy cruzer]

I agree with so many, move the stuff. I typcially ask the folks near by and typically they say that they have never seen anyone there. And typically it is an item of zero value holding the chair. Those are sure signs it's a chair hog and they don't really have a plan to return anytime soon.

 

And does anyone really expect their chair to remain unused in prime territory for more than 30 minutes, that's pretty selfish. Someone else could use it and you could get back in line for the next available chair. If we did not save chairs, the chairs would either be filled with someone happy using it or it would be empty waiting on your return.

[DonnaK]

Rick-cruiser: Hats off to you for handling the problem by speaking to the Hotel Director, initiating action from the Deck Crew. :) Everyone who notices chair hogs should minimally make sure to comment about this on their comment card.

 

On my first cruise on Home Lines Atlantic, we had to pay a small fee for our deck chair, and then it would be tagged with our name and reserved for us for the day! Imagine that!

 

We like to sit in the shade, and we've rarely had a problem finding 4 chair together, although sometimes we've had to move the loungers around a bit.

 

One concern I would have about removing the items myself is that the person might be in the pool, and not have wondered away leaving the chair unattended.

[moniquet]

If everyone used the chairs sensibly there would be enough to go around on a rotating basis. Some people save them early morning although they are around the ship doing different things. I saw one man putting towels on eight loungers at 8am one morning and noticed about 11am they were still empty.

 

Don't know what the solution is as we have saved them too (or we cannot get one!) Only two of us though and we don't wander off for hours.

[Cruisin' Chick]

On our last cruise, my little one had gotten a plate of pizza (at the outside pizzaria) and we spent a long time looking around for a chair that she could use. Found an empty deck chair and the person next to it said that person was watching the ice sculpture demo at the pool. Finally found a chair after more looking around and my girl and I shared it while she ate her lunch. If I had just found a chair with a towel and didn't see anyone in the pool, I would have "borrowed" the chair for the time being.

 

If you are going to be up on the deck and need a chair, and there isn't any spare ones (including any stacked up, as sometimes there are), check to see if there are any crew members you can ask for help. If you do notice any chairs that are unattended (but has belongings on it) for over 30 minutes, check the pool to see if passengers in there may be using the chairs...if they say yes, you can ask if you can borrow the chair for a while. If the chairs are obviously being "hogged" and the crew members won't help...remove the stuff and place on a table. If these people finally show up, you can always just say, "oh, a crew member noticed these chairs were abandoned and removed the towels, etc."