Saving Chairs/Loungers etc...

I've been doing a lot of reading on here recently and I love to read about everyone's experiences on the ships. I've spent countless hours reading reviews, watching videos, and pouring through thousands of photos. And with that, I have some questions I was hoping could be answered by some experienced cruisers.

This will be our first cruise and depending on our experience, it could be our last. :( In my hunger for everything 'Getaway', I have noticed that there is a lot of talk/pics of people saving chairs/loungers for hours at a time (sometimes) without ever being used. I know I read that NCL has a policy regarding this, but also read that it is not enforced. Can anyone elaborate on this for me, please? After seeing empty chairs/loungers (even in Vibe) with towels or backpacks on them to save someone a place, (for who knows when?) I was hoping to hear what one does when they encounter this and have no place to sit/lay?

I don't want to rock the boat (no pun intended) but I am the type of person who likes to be fair about things. If I'm there and you're not, I think I should be able to have a place to sit. Seems reasonable to me. I read one person's review about a lady who was saving seats for people who never showed up and then instead of graciously giving them up, she stacked them under hers so nobody could have them! Say what??? :eek:

Anyways, any advice on this matter is greatly appreciated. TIA

Welcome to the boards. I see this is your very first post. I still haven't figured out how to put the :) in my posts! NCL doesn't have a monopoly on jack axes. I'm coming to NCL from Disney's DCL and you'll find the same 10,000 posts about chair savers there as you do here. Hate to say this on your first post but my advice would be to decide it won't ruin your vacation or splurge for Vibe passes.

I usually just tie my NCL towel to a deck chair the first sea day, and it's all mine till the end of the cruise...

j/k :D yes, the saving of chairs does take place. On my 6 NCL cruises, I have never had a real problem finding a chair tho.. Don't let something like this give you negative feelings about your first cruise, before you even step foot on the ship!! If you want a spot by the pool, get there by 8/9am and you'll find a spot.. stroll up at 10 or 11am, and it might be a bit harder. Have fun!

I got tired of the ugliness of chairs... I just go to my oceanview or balcony if I want a private place to sit.

For us, the last place we want to sit is by the pool... way to much sun and NOISE for us. We like to kick back, read, nap, etc. In shorter supply are loungers in the shade so we head out around 9am, find our spot, and sometimes literally camp out there for the day. We always have e-readers and cameras with us so one of us stays if the other wants to wander off to get something to eat or drink. Sometimes we'll give up those loungers in 3-4 hours and move to another location especially when the shade moves. We aren't "Chair Hogs" and never leave towels to reserve chairs, guess we're more courteous than some and certainly don't want to get confrontational over it. In our observation, most people are doing the right thing....

As someone mentioned, just DON'T let all of the chair hog stuff ruin your vacation. There's just so much more going on to enjoy about a cruise...

Yep I agree, the minority of people reserve chairs and loungers. It's a contentious issue as on a sunny sea day there is a shortage of prime spot loungers.

I am one of those who spend most sea days in bed, relaxing in a bar or lounge and then take advantage of an empty ship when in port. It doesn't bother me what the masses are doing up top.

I've been doing a lot of reading on here recently and I love to read about everyone's experiences on the ships. I've spent countless hours reading reviews, watching videos, and pouring through thousands of photos. And with that, I have some questions I was hoping could be answered by some experienced cruisers.

 

This will be our first cruise and depending on our experience, it could be our last. :( In my hunger for everything 'Getaway', I have noticed that there is a lot of talk/pics of people saving chairs/loungers for hours at a time (sometimes) without ever being used. I know I read that NCL has a policy regarding this, but also read that it is not enforced. Can anyone elaborate on this for me, please? After seeing empty chairs/loungers (even in Vibe) with towels or backpacks on them to save someone a place, (for who knows when?) I was hoping to hear what one does when they encounter this and have no place to sit/lay?

 

I don't want to rock the boat (no pun intended) but I am the type of person who likes to be fair about things. If I'm there and you're not, I think I should be able to have a place to sit. Seems reasonable to me. I read one person's review about a lady who was saving seats for people who never showed up and then instead of graciously giving them up, she stacked them under hers so nobody could have them! Say what??? :eek:

 

Anyways, any advice on this matter is greatly appreciated. TIA

I read the same thread about the lady stacking the loungers together and couldn't quite believe it myself:eek:. While we have never not been able to find a place to sit we have witnessed chair hogging on each of our cruises. If you see stuff on a chair and you know for certain that those things have been there longer than 30 minutes you can ask a staff member to remove them for you (but they may not take your word for it that it has been more than 30 minutes). Some people will take it upon themselves to move the stuff. Anyway, welcome to Cruise Critic and try not to let the muggles get you down.

The NCL Freestyle Dailies that are left in the cabins state items left for over an hour can be removed by staff.

I've never had a problem with the chair hogs, because I get myself out of bed early enough to pick out pretty much any chair that I want. I then save it by plopping my butt down in it. I've been told by some on these forums that even I am a chair hog, but I dispute that because I'm actually USING the chair, and those that snooze lose.

How important is it for you to be sitting right around the perimeter of the pool? Those will be the difficult spots to get. Especially if you don't go up top till later in the morning.

We typically didn't get up top till 11 or later, we prefer shade which there is far, far, far less of, and we were still always able to find a spot. We may have had to walk around for a few minutes looking, but, we were able to find a spot.

The NCL Freestyle Dailies that are left in the cabins state items left for over an hour can be removed by staff.

 

I've never had a problem with the chair hogs, because I get myself out of bed early enough to pick out pretty much any chair that I want. I then save it by plopping my butt down in it. I've been told by some on these forums that even I am a chair hog, but I dispute that because I'm actually USING the chair, and those that snooze lose.

Nope, that's not chair hogging. If there is a person in the chair I will not pay attention to how long they are in it.

How important is it for you to be sitting right around the perimeter of the pool? Those will be the difficult spots to get. Especially if you don't go up top till later in the morning.

 

We typically didn't get up top till 11 or later, we prefer shade which there is far, far, far less of, and we were still always able to find a spot. We may have had to walk around for a few minutes looking, but, we were able to find a spot.

Couldn't agree more, those shady spots are few and far between but we always manage to find a spot. That's my wife sitting on our loungers under the stairs. Not ideal but shaded and out of the way....

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6781558866_2dd0372812_b.jpg' alt='6781558866_2dd0372812_b.jpg'>

NCL Star 13 by KathyCat102, on Flickr[/img]

This problem is not unique to cruises. I have seen it happen at many land based resorts as well.

I agree with Lrg Pizza. We are early risers and on the days we want to sit near the pool we are there pretty early and we sit.

I would not even think to put a towel on a chair and walk away for hours.

When on our Princess cruise last fall there was no saving. The deck attendant's were right on top of it and if your chair was empty for 30 minutes they would come around and free up the chair. Exactly how it should be.

Thank you all for your replies, they are definitely appreciated. I've been on these boards reading voraciously about everything Getaway! I don't like showing up to the party not knowing what's what, if you know what I mean.

I've already decided that we are not going to hang around the human stewing pot during the day, and save the pool for later in the early evening if we aren't too busy. We go swimming at home all the time, so I don't need to do so in a tiny pool. And taking a lot of people's advice, I am going to try and get vibe passes, as I know my husband well, and he's going to be very happy with less people and a bar right there for his drinking pleasure.

I agree with a lot of people that your vacation is what you make of it, and although I don't like the practice of saving chairs, it's not going to ruin my much needed vacation. And folks already sitting in the chairs (even all day) aren't chair hogs IMHO.

Thanks for the warm welcome... see you around the boards :)

I have a suggestion on how Norwegian could solve the chair hog problem. They could offer a bounty of $10 cruise credit for each chair hog taken. One would turn in the ears to the cruise consultant and toss the body overboard. This would thin the herd in no time at all! Or they could have a deck attendant free up the unused chairs, but of course that wouldn't be as sporting.

I see nothing wrong with inquiring to those next to a seemingly "saved" chair" if they have seen anyone use it. A short conversation can determine whether you set their stuff aside (or hand off to a crew member) and use it. The rule says an hour and don't see why a passenger can't enforce it :-)

When I see other passengers wandering around looking for chairs, I will often point out to them the ones that have been unoccupied for really long periods of time.

When I go the pool I never bother with a chair. What I would like to see is someplace to leave stuff; like towels, t shirt while I am in the pool or on the slides with my kids. Kinda like lockers or something.

When I see other passengers wandering around looking for chairs, I will often point out to them the ones that have been unoccupied for really long periods of time.

I do that, too....but in reality, there are plenty of loungers...but they all can't be within spitting distance of the pool! Go up a level....less crowded! You can walk down the steps if you want to get wet!

I never realised pool side chair addiction existed to this extent. Happily passing the crowd on our way to breakfast or lunch, (usually at Cagneys on ncl to avoid the buffet zombies), I personally have never felt any desire to suddenly veer off and indulge in such pleasurable things as noise, barbeque smells and smokers

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

I've been doing a lot of reading on here recently and I love to read about everyone's experiences on the ships. I've spent countless hours reading reviews, watching videos, and pouring through thousands of photos. And with that, I have some questions I was hoping could be answered by some experienced cruisers.

 

This will be our first cruise and depending on our experience, it could be our last. :( In my hunger for everything 'Getaway', I have noticed that there is a lot of talk/pics of people saving chairs/loungers for hours at a time (sometimes) without ever being used. I know I read that NCL has a policy regarding this, but also read that it is not enforced. Can anyone elaborate on this for me, please? After seeing empty chairs/loungers (even in Vibe) with towels or backpacks on them to save someone a place, (for who knows when?) I was hoping to hear what one does when they encounter this and have no place to sit/lay?

 

I don't want to rock the boat (no pun intended) but I am the type of person who likes to be fair about things. If I'm there and you're not, I think I should be able to have a place to sit. Seems reasonable to me. I read one person's review about a lady who was saving seats for people who never showed up and then instead of graciously giving them up, she stacked them under hers so nobody could have them! Say what??? :eek:

 

Anyways, any advice on this matter is greatly appreciated. TIA

We take a couple dozen of this and have no fear on putting it on their towel by the lounges we have taken without incident and also after watching for 15 min.Make sure to print the card on yellow paper and knowing how to use your printer you can get four per paper. We have been using this for years.

We take a couple dozen of this and have no fear on putting it on their towel by the lounges we have taken without incident and also after watching for 15 min.Make sure to print the card on yellow paper and knowing how to use your printer you can get four per paper. We have been using this for years.

Love it! What a great idea.

We take a couple dozen of this and have no fear on putting it on their towel by the lounges we have taken without incident and also after watching for 15 min.Make sure to print the card on yellow paper and knowing how to use your printer you can get four per paper. We have been using this for years.

Your note says 30 minutes....actually Dailies say 60 minutes. Am I the only one that doesn't pay attention to how long a chair has or has not been occupied? I have better things to do than keep checking my watch to see if the "chair policy" is being "properly" observed.

We take a couple dozen of this and have no fear on putting it on their towel by the lounges we have taken without incident and also after watching for 15 min.Make sure to print the card on yellow paper and knowing how to use your printer you can get four per paper. We have been using this for years.

Don't forget to bring your kit on your vacation..

Anyone who would see a chair unoccupied for 15 minutes and take it is just as much of a jerkoff as the chair hogs are.