Carnival's new "trick" to reduce chair-saving

[snorkelman]

My wife and I just returned from cruising on Carnival’s Victory from June 12-19, 2005. On this cruise we noticed the following: The large blue beach towels are still provided by the cruise line for use on the beach and pools. These towels are still collected by the room stewards in the evening, but instead of replacing them that evening with clean towels, they now do not replace them until the following morning after 8am.

Although this can be annoying if you are planning on getting off the ship early (such as going to the beach in the morning), we assumed that the purpose of this change is to reduce the amount of chair-saving by the pools.

We did notice that the available chairs on the first sea-day was much lower than on subsequent sea days.

I am not sure whether this is the intended reason for this apparent change (we never noticed this before) or whether it is limited to the Victory, but we just wanted to share this with everyone.

[basketballmom]

The chair hogs will always find something else to put on the chairs to mark their spot

[tef43]

Originally Posted by basketballmom

The chair hogs will always find something else to put on the chairs to mark their spot

Something else that won't cost them $22 a pop when the towel goes missing.

[Zeke3]

I take it from this post that chairs are saved/people are at the pool before 8 AM? Yikes! I hope to still be asleep at that time, or at most, enjoying a cup of java on balcony to help me wake up! I plan on bringing our own beach towels as I don't want to pay $22 for Carnivals in the event I run to the bathroom and someone deems I was gone too long. Seems there is no conistent opinon on "how long is too long". I read on one thread that a woman was assisting her child close by and returned to her chair within a minute or two and her chair was taken. I'm on vacation and don't want to deal with that kind of stress. It is my understanding that there are plenty of chairs, perhaps just not at the perfect location. I don't care where I sit as long as I have the sun and an attentive bartender nearby!

[odysseyw5]

We were on the Fantasy week of 6/5 and didn't run into the chair hogs. Maybe because there were lots of children who weren't interested in sitting in a chair for too long. Or we were only at sea for a full day other two days we were in port,by that day maybe people had enough of the sun.
Also went to all the pools on board there were three always able to get a seat. There was always waiters/waitresses walking around selling drinks so no need to be near the bar.
Very stress free vacation.
Hope you enjoy your vacation.

[derf5585]

Carnival should issue you a chair embosed with your name at embarkation. The crew will be more than happy to lug it around for you.

Post it notes informing whose chair, and cabin number and expected time of reclaiming said chair

Cruise lines should have a chair for each passenger

Chair rental

Bring your own chair.

[DreadPirateRobert]

Originally Posted by snorkelman

Although this can be annoying if you are planning on getting off the ship early (such as going to the beach in the morning), we assumed that the purpose of this change is to reduce the amount of chair-saving by the pools.

I've no idea if this is an attempt to cut back the chair hogs. It has always been my understanding that if you needed a beach towel for an early trip to the beach you could get it from your room steward.

[AppleValleyCruisers]

Originally Posted by derf5585

Carnival should issue you a chair embosed with your name at embarkation. The crew will be more than happy to lug it around for you.

Post it notes informing whose chair, and cabin number and expected time of reclaiming said chair

Cruise lines should have a chair for each passenger

Chair rental

Bring your own chair.

http://chairrentaldenver.com/rentalprices/#chairs

[sgriff17]

Originally Posted by derf5585

Carnival should issue you a chair embosed with your name at embarkation. The crew will be more than happy to lug it around for you.

Post it notes informing whose chair, and cabin number and expected time of reclaiming said chair

Cruise lines should have a chair for each passenger

Chair rental

Bring your own chair.

that was a hilarious mental picture! Maybe carnival should start charging a dollar per hour for chairs in the prime spots!! (2 dollars an hour on the topless deck )

[Sharris9888]

What are chair hogs?

[sgriff17]

Originally Posted by Zeke3

I take it from this post that chairs are saved/people are at the pool before 8 AM? Yikes! I hope to still be asleep at that time, or at most, enjoying a cup of java on balcony to help me wake up! I plan on bringing our own beach towels as I don't want to pay $22 for Carnivals in the event I run to the bathroom and someone deems I was gone too long. Seems there is no conistent opinon on "how long is too long". I read on one thread that a woman was assisting her child close by and returned to her chair within a minute or two and her chair was taken. I'm on vacation and don't want to deal with that kind of stress. It is my understanding that there are plenty of chairs, perhaps just not at the perfect location. I don't care where I sit as long as I have the sun and an attentive bartender nearby!

Yes, the wife has to get up at 7am to get us a chair. The crazy thing is, most are already taken! People are nuts. I used to yell at her, but now it's "eat or be eaten"...so, when it comes down to it - i'd rather just have a chair. (but to our defense we are out there by 830ish and use them 89 percent of the day)

[pholter]

It was this way in October of 2004..... Our room steward always had our's ready and waiting for us. On several nights, they were there after dinner. On 2 mornings we just paged him and asked for them for our early excursions. I prefer it this way personally, then I don't have to search for towels when I'm not going to the pool.

[sgriff17]

Originally Posted by Sharris9888

What are chair hogs?

Little greedy animals that sneak on the ship in places like Miami and San Juan...u normally only see them at their worst early in the morning. They like to run around, hide your stuff, knock stuff over, cause general chaos. Whatever you do, dont EVER corner a ChairHog.

[dad son team]

I think the cruiselines should place timers on all the chairs so that people know what is happening with the chair. The timers should have a 30 minute maximum which is enough time to get lunch, or go into the pool/hottub. After that, the chair is fair game for towel removal.

[lsp]

We were on the Conquest and there were a row of chairs with something on every other chair. I sat on one with nothing. It wasn't 5 minutes before this girl came up and said that I was in her friend's chair. I told her it was empty. She said it didn't matter because they had a whole group there. I said too bad, it was empty. I stuck it out for about an hour reading my book just to irritate them and then I left to take a shower. People get so beligerant.

Linda

Liberty 9/18/05
Conquest 5/06
Glory 6/04
Conquest 6/03

[FamilyMiracle]

Originally Posted by Sharris9888

What are chair hogs?

Someone who gets up at 6 am and puts stuff (magazine, shoe, towel) on chairs to "save" them til later. Then they disappear for hours and there are no charis for those who want to use them.

[derf5585]

The opposite of a Chair Hog is a Chair Hawk

Can a person who keeps kosher be a chair hog?

[sunshine 229]

I stuck it out for about an hour reading my book just to irritate them and then I left to take a shower. People get so beligerant.

You didn't leave your book there to 'save' the chair for your return later?

[lil nemo]

Originally Posted by snorkelman

My wife and I just returned from cruising on Carnival’s Victory from June 12-19, 2005. On this cruise we noticed the following: The large blue beach towels are still provided by the cruise line for use on the beach and pools. These towels are still collected by the room stewards in the evening, but instead of replacing them that evening with clean towels, they now do not replace them until the following morning after 8am.

Although this can be annoying if you are planning on getting off the ship early (such as going to the beach in the morning), we assumed that the purpose of this change is to reduce the amount of chair-saving by the pools.

We did notice that the available chairs on the first sea-day was much lower than on subsequent sea days.

I am not sure whether this is the intended reason for this apparent change (we never noticed this before) or whether it is limited to the Victory, but we just wanted to share this with everyone.

I have my doubts that it was planned to deter "C hogs"

we had to ask daily for our carnival beach towels. you may have just been getting poor service! they should be replaced nightly for the next day!

[sdwilson]

We have taken items off the chairs that "chair hogs" have left on them and placed them on the deck below the chair and used the chair many times. The folks come to the pool several hours later and they are MAD!! YOU HAVE MY CHAIR!!! Why get so mad? They have to know that their behavior is wrong, right? There are signs everywhere. Why cause a confrontation on your vacation, it' not worth the trouble. Anyway, normally by the time they show I'm ready to go eat or something, so they are mad for nothing.

But, why don't the cruiselines have pool security officers or someone to enforce the rules of the pool deck. They could monitor chairs and pick up the items left and put them in a lost and found box or something...