How do you solve the problem of Sun Bed hoarders ?

Recent experience aboard the Celebrity Eclipse (4-18 March) was the worst we had ever experienced as all sun beds were reserved by 9.00am every sea day. A tour of the deck at 9.30 revealed about 15% of beds occupied by a person the others reserved with some item or other. Many of the people having multiple beds, for sun and shade. Is this fair or just the way society has declined.

How would you suggest Celebrity get a grip of the situation?

It's one of those things people can be very thoughtless or just have a 'I'm alright' attitude. The only way to enforce it would be for Celebrity and all other cruise lines to employ someone purely devoted to wandering around the pool area timing occupied / vacant loungers. Can't see that happening as I wouldn't want the job

When this happens to us, I go straight to a pool attendant and ask them to help me find loungers. They usually pull towels off a couple of loungers that don't look like they've been used recently. If for some reason they aren't helpful, I look around the pool deck for an officer. They are sometimes on the upper deck surveying the area. I then go to them and ask them their opinion of passengers saving loungers by putting books and towels on loungers then not returning for hours. I explain that I went to a pool attendant and wasn't satisfied with the response I received. The couple of times I did this I observed staff collecting towels from loungers within a couple of minutes of my discussion, so could easily find an open lounger.

I feel like this is a real problem on every cruise ship, as well as land based resorts. The ships need to have a clear policy that prohibits "saving" and they should be diligent about enforcement. Pool staff should be scheduled to rotate around the deck picking up unattended items. If passengers see this happening they'll be less likely to violate the policy. When staff become lax you get upset customers on both sides of this fence.

To quote one of my all-time favorite tv shows :

"I like to lay into them with a melon baller." ;p

WE look for an officer passing by. We never touch others’ belongings but the staff will take things from unoccupied loungers and send them to lost and found to clear a lounger for you

I was on the sailing before yours and it was a problem. Lounges had unused towels and a personal item on them for hours. In Solarium, many were reserved and no one ever used them.

On the other hand, I noticed that towels were not removed when Cruisers vacated them.

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I was on the same cruise and totally agree that people have become so selfish and inconsiderate of others that it does affect your enjoyment. Guest relations just shrug their shoulders and say Miami know of the problem and do nothing.

Maybe single issue towels would go someway to release the many multiply bed people reserved !

P&O and Princess already make a fortune out of people's selfishness with them charging for Sun Bed use - they call it The Sanctuary on Princess and The Retreat on P&O. I would not encourage any company going down this route but enough is enough - something needs to be done !

I have found that the staff are very willing to help -- especially officers, so if there is one passing by ask him or her to move stuff off of lounge chairs. They will leave a little note that reminds guests that unoccupied chairs will be emptied after a certain amount of time (30 minutes as I recall). I agree about not moving passenger belongings myself -- I wouldn't want to be accused of taking anything. But if an officer takes off the books, towel clips, tote bags, whatever, it will all go to a place for safekeeping. I do always try to ask people nearby if they have seen anyone actually using the chair before I start to get it cleared. Once in a great while you will find that a neighbor says --"Yes, I think that's them in the pool" and I move on to a different chair.

This is just not fair. We also paid to use the sun beds and pool loungers during a cruise.

We had that in March. Out to the upper deck by 9 am or so and all loungers were taken w/ just towels. Asked the lady who was actually in the chair if anyone had been in the 3 next to her. She said she'd been there for over an hour and hadn't seen anyone. Since it was just towels I took them and moved them to the 4th lounger we weren't needing and took our spots. About an hour later a lady came and asked if anything had been in those chairs. I said just towels and pointed to where they were and told her that you aren't allowed to save chairs. If you hadn't been in them for 30 minutes they were fair game and that the woman next to us had said they hadn't been used for an hour before we took possession. She then muttered that she didn't know you couldn't save chairs but took the towels and left.

Saw a guy the next day in Costa Maya and he asked if I was the woman who told the lady saving chairs wasn't allowed. I said it probably was me. He said he heard it and wanted to come over and give me a hug for telling her that. Would have gotten a pool butler if there had been personal items but Celebrity towels are another thing when you have someone who can confirm how long they have been unattended.

P&O and Princess already make a fortune out of people's selfishness with them charging for Sun Bed use - they call it The Sanctuary on Princess and The Retreat on P&O. I would not encourage any company going down this route but enough is enough - something needs to be done !

FWIW, you can pay for a reserved seating at the cabanas on the lawn on X.

The Sanctuary on Princess is so much more than charging for the use of sun beds. The entire Sanctuary area is reserved for those who have paid for the privileges. It is fully staffed and you can be served drinks and order lunch from a special menu; complimentary aternoon tea is offered. The loungers are top of the line, fully padded and there is a lovely small pool. It was probably one of the few things we did enjoy thoroughly on our Princess cruise - worth every penny.

Honestly, I just don't understand the whole issue of chair hogging. We love using the Solarium areas and have never had an issue finding a spot. Maybe that's because it is a priority of ours so we get up early eanough to find a spot, claim it with our debris, go to breakfast, come back after eating, with a travel mug of tea or coffee, read the paper......, etc.

It's really quite simple, if you want a spot, get there early and use it. If you are sauntering in at 11:00 AM expecting prime poolside accommodations, then yup the hoggers will be a major thorn in your side. I have no problem telling the chair hunters that a lounger has not been occupied for hours, which then usually leads to them asking a pool attendant to move the belongings at my urging. Sometimes, I'll even shift some things over for those reluctant to do so. I don't understand those who say they will not move another's belongings. Well if you know that the chair is in fact unoccupied (the hoggers are wrong), and you are not willing to be assertive, then stop complaining. It's not going to change, it's been going on forever, the cruisline is not going to hire a ton of chair police with stopwatches. So join them or beat them at their own game. And if you want to have some fun. move some items around to other chairs, or even drag entire loungers to other locations (so nope - you didn't touch their personal things). :')

People would never leave their personal belongings sitting around on a public beach for fear of it being stollen. Maybe there should be a big lost and found basket where the pool attendants just clear up belongings and used towels. Fear of losing stuff might work.

People on our last cruise were so bold that all they left on chairs were towel clips (everywhere).

One thing I did notice on this Silhouette cruise last week, was that most of the chairs were actually occupied - on all decks, not just at the pool. It was had to find a chair anywhere! And every time I found a vacant chair, it always had a used towel. Always had to hesitate to see if it was free or not. I had people even offer up their chairs, but didn't bother to take the towels with them when they left :o.

 

On the other hand, I noticed that towels were not removed when Cruisers vacated them.

 

 

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People who don't remove their towels when they leave the pool is contributing to the problem. Really how hard is it to drop the used towels in the bin leaving a lounger available for someone else.

This is a problem in pretty much every cruise line I’ve recently sailed on. Even when we sailed on Disney last November, I was out for my early morning walk at 6:00am and there were already like 20-30 loungers taken with personal items, towels and clips on them and not a single person sitting on them. There was a man placing items on 6 loungers at one time. Saying something, or waiting until he left, grab all of his things and throw them in a trash bin crossed my mind, but common sense won. This is not a rule for me to enforce, but for the cruise line to enforce. Confronting one person would’ve not solved the overall problem. The solution is really not hard to figure out. But rules need to be enforced which is what the cruise lines are failing to do.

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I solve it by NEVER sitting at the pool!

Somebody posted that Disney has a pretty good solution. They have staff that walk around...and when they see an empty chair with towels and stuff..they will nicely fold the towel (as a marker) When the staff returns about a half hour later, if that towel is still sitting there folded, the staff cleans off the chair/lounger and any personal items go to Lost/Found.

On Celebrity, Princess, RCI, and the other lines we have cruised there are always staff working in the pool area but they do not normally attempt to enforce the cruise ship's own rules about chairs left empty for a specific period of time. And its the same at most major resorrts and All-Inclusives.

Hank

I've never been up on the pool deck early enough to see these rude inconsiderate passengers who pull this crap with a book, a flip-flop or a hat on a chair and think its their property for whenever they decide to come use it.

My question is, isn't there staff already working there that can approach people and say, sorry, no saving of loungers.

Wouldn't that help at least a little?

Maybe the cruise lines should put a few more people there specifically for this problem.

I'm at the point that I would love if Celebrity would institute paying for a reserved lounger. I'd do that in a second and I bet that would put a huge dent in these selfish people who think they can have all the chairs they want in the sun and in the shade at the same time!

Somebody posted that Disney has a pretty good solution. They have staff that walk around...and when they see an empty chair with towels and stuff..they will nicely fold the towel (as a marker) When the staff returns about a half hour later, if that towel is still sitting there folded, the staff cleans off the chair/lounger and any personal items go to Lost/Found.

That wasn’t our experience when we sailed on Disney. There are just as many (if not more) chair hogs on Disney as on any cruise line we’ve sailed on. In fact it was probably worse because people were hogging loungers for entire families which, needless to say, Disney caters heavily to. And we didn’t see any crewmembers addressing the hogging.

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I have found that the staff are very willing to help -- especially officers, so if there is one passing by ask him or her to move stuff off of lounge chairs. They will leave a little note that reminds guests that unoccupied chairs will be emptied after a certain amount of time (30 minutes as I recall). I agree about not moving passenger belongings myself -- I wouldn't want to be accused of taking anything. But if an officer takes off the books, towel clips, tote bags, whatever, it will all go to a place for safekeeping. I do always try to ask people nearby if they have seen anyone actually using the chair before I start to get it cleared. Once in a great while you will find that a neighbor says --"Yes, I think that's them in the pool" and I move on to a different chair.

Yes, good to ask those near by, get an officer but if you cant find an officer, I remove the towels. leave them on the floor.

But I also like the answer someone gave about why are so many lying around by the pool. That is just soooo boring, not to mention all the dangerous sun rays.

FWIW, you can pay for a reserved seating at the cabanas on the lawn on X.

The Sanctuary on Princess is so much more than charging for the use of sun beds. The entire Sanctuary area is reserved for those who have paid for the privileges. It is fully staffed and you can be served drinks and order lunch from a special menu; complimentary aternoon tea is offered. The loungers are top of the line, fully padded and there is a lovely small pool. It was probably one of the few things we did enjoy thoroughly on our Princess cruise - worth every penny.

Obviously, your Princess experience was far superior to ours. On one cruise we did pay for The Sanctuary for the entire cruise, and it was a major disappointment and, we felt, a big waste of money. It seemed like every time we went out by The Sanctuary pool, there were lots of chairs saved with towels and tote bags with no bodies in sight. There were also no Princess stewards by the pool, and if you went into the spa and complained, they shrugged their shoulders and acted like it's not their problem. At one point we got angry and did toss towels aside and use the chairs for about an hour, and during that time, no one came by to claim them, so heaven knows how long they had been "saved."

This was a few years back, so possibly Princess has improved The Sanctuary, or possibly we were just unfortunate enough to try it on the wrong ship. I did feel that they had oversold The Sanctuary on that particular cruise. We were told that there was a limited number of memberships they would sell, but judging from the number of people trying to use it at a given time, I think they took everyone's money who walked through the door and just let the passengers deal with it.

Just take a couple and use them on your balcony and bring them to the pool when you need them.

Obviously, your Princess experience was far superior to ours. On one cruise we did pay for The Sanctuary for the entire cruise, and it was a major disappointment and, we felt, a big waste of money. It seemed like every time we went out by The Sanctuary pool, there were lots of chairs saved with towels and tote bags with no bodies in sight. There were also no Princess stewards by the pool, and if you went into the spa and complained, they shrugged their shoulders and acted like it's not their problem. At one point we got angry and did toss towels aside and use the chairs for about an hour, and during that time, no one came by to claim them, so heaven knows how long they had been "saved."

 

This was a few years back, so possibly Princess has improved The Sanctuary, or possibly we were just unfortunate enough to try it on the wrong ship. I did feel that they had oversold The Sanctuary on that particular cruise. We were told that there was a limited number of memberships they would sell, but judging from the number of people trying to use it at a given time, I think they took everyone's money who walked through the door and just let the passengers deal with it.

Are you sure we are talking about the same thing because that is not at all what we experienced. The Sanctuary would only reserve one lounger per paying passenger so there was no way anyone could be in your spot. You knew the date and the actual lounger you reserved, and when, either AM, PM or the entire day. You had to reserve in person and choose from what was available at that time. There was no way you could "save a spot" unless you had paid for it. Everyone was checked in at the entrance.

Obviously, your Princess experience was far superior to ours. On one cruise we did pay for The Sanctuary for the entire cruise, and it was a major disappointment and, we felt, a big waste of money. It seemed like every time we went out by The Sanctuary pool, there were lots of chairs saved with towels and tote bags with no bodies in sight. There were also no Princess stewards by the pool, and if you went into the spa and complained, they shrugged their shoulders and acted like it's not their problem. At one point we got angry and did toss towels aside and use the chairs for about an hour, and during that time, no one came by to claim them, so heaven knows how long they had been "saved."

 

This was a few years back, so possibly Princess has improved The Sanctuary, or possibly we were just unfortunate enough to try it on the wrong ship. I did feel that they had oversold The Sanctuary on that particular cruise. We were told that there was a limited number of memberships they would sell, but judging from the number of people trying to use it at a given time, I think they took everyone's money who walked through the door and just let the passengers deal with it.

Are you sure we are talking about the same thing because that is not at all what we experienced. The Sanctuary would only reserve one lounger per paying passenger so there was no way anyone could be in your spot. You knew the date and the actual lounger you reserved, and when, either AM, PM or the entire day. You had to reserve in person and choose from what was available at that time. There was no way you could "save a spot" unless you had paid for it. Everyone was checked in at the entrance.

I suspect Tricia was not really in the Sanctuary, but in the aft pool area that is open to everyone. Our Princess Sanctuary experience was the same as yours.

As far as the chair hog (or as I like to call it-chair stealing), Celebrity does not really care or the issue would be resolved. My observation is that the situation gets worse as the cruise proceeds (once people notice Celebrity does not really care) and it is getting worse overall and not better.

I am hoping that we don't have these problems on Solstice on our 30 March cruise out of Sydney.... I won't be very happy if we go to the pool area and find all the sun loungers with towels...etc... on and no-one sitting on them