Chair hogs be warned

[Cherful59]

 I always ask that my towel count is at zero now when I return towel(s) as I have found charges post on my account over night and had to get them removed in the morning before departure.  Not something I want to do again, so have gotten into the habit of just asking.

[erby2283]

As someone who makes sure I am physically in my a lounger at 7am on sea days to make sure I get a spot I really want, I think this is great. 

[LobsterStalker]

8 hours ago, joeyancho said:

Chair hogging is a huge problem. 90% of the chairs with towels on them are unoccupied.   I am glad they are doing something about this.   Long past due. 

 

 

 

 

It most definitely is a huge problem 

However the solution is not as easy as you may think without a LOT of collateral damage and pissed off people . For example we are usually at the pool around 7:30-8 AM , and generally will spend most of the day there . Maybe an hour after we get there is when we will take a break and go grab a quick breakfast at windjammer .... 

Should our belongings be removed ?

Should we not leave our things ?

Well if you say yes, you are wrong according to the attendants we have spoken to . They have explained that is perfectly acceptable. 

Take it a different direction ... Someone claims their chair and decides to go cool off in the pool. 

Pool becomes a social interaction and they end up being 2 hours chatting .

Should they come back to a chair with strangers where their belongings were ?

If so , what was the cutoff before they became a hog ?

Is it like go feed the meter every 20 minutes ?

Sit down for a minimum of 30 minutes before you venture back to the pool ?

It is a complex problem with no easy solution , hence the reason the problem exists at the level it does !

 

Cheers

[clairebearinaus]

A 30 minute period of grace to grab some food or have a swim seems reasonable.

[Ret MP]

17 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

It most definitely is a huge problem 

However the solution is not as easy as you may think without a LOT of collateral damage and pissed off people . For example we are usually at the pool around 7:30-8 AM , and generally will spend most of the day there . Maybe an hour after we get there is when we will take a break and go grab a quick breakfast at windjammer .... 

Should our belongings be removed ?

Should we not leave our things ?

Well if you say yes, you are wrong according to the attendants we have spoken to . They have explained that is perfectly acceptable. 

Take it a different direction ... Someone claims their chair and decides to go cool off in the pool. 

Pool becomes a social interaction and they end up being 2 hours chatting .

Should they come back to a chair with strangers where their belongings were ?

If so , what was the cutoff before they became a hog ?

Is it like go feed the meter every 20 minutes ?

Sit down for a minimum of 30 minutes before you venture back to the pool ?

It is a complex problem with no easy solution , hence the reason the problem exists at the level it does !

 

Cheers

I don't disagree.  However, a line has to be drawn somewhere.  Especially something that is, obviously as contentious as this one.  I'm betting that there have been fights over this issue.  We, the guests/customers should not be put in a position of possible confrontation.  Everything possible/reasonable should be done to limit guest/customer exposure.  

[cruisegus]

42 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

It most definitely is a huge problem 

However the solution is not as easy as you may think without a LOT of collateral damage and pissed off people . For example we are usually at the pool around 7:30-8 AM , and generally will spend most of the day there . Maybe an hour after we get there is when we will take a break and go grab a quick breakfast at windjammer .... 

Should our belongings be removed ?

Should we not leave our things ?

Well if you say yes, you are wrong according to the attendants we have spoken to . They have explained that is perfectly acceptable. 

Take it a different direction ... Someone claims their chair and decides to go cool off in the pool. 

Pool becomes a social interaction and they end up being 2 hours chatting .

Should they come back to a chair with strangers where their belongings were ?

If so , what was the cutoff before they became a hog ?

Is it like go feed the meter every 20 minutes ?

Sit down for a minimum of 30 minutes before you venture back to the pool ?

It is a complex problem with no easy solution , hence the reason the problem exists at the level it does !

 

Cheers

All those problems go away when you take the time to talk to your pool attendants and those folks sitting next to you.

The real problem is those that drop a towel and book at 8 am and then are not seen or heard from again until noon

[davekathy]

11 hours ago, island lady said:

Nice idea...and I like the obvious red color....but if not enforced, pretty much worthless.  😞 

 

I am not a "lounge chair lizard" and have never used them or the pools/hot tubs, so I don't use the pool loungers.  (Prefer my own balcony)  But is the ship not swiping sea pass cards to check out a pool towel any longer?  

 

I would think a collection of towels on chairs not being used, then tossed into the towel bin would generate a charge?  But that probably opens up a hot mess on that subject.  😉 

Pat I agree. If I sit out on the deck it's always the deck above the pool deck and I always find a lounger to enjoy a drink or two while looking out at the port or water. Apparently hogs are drawn to water (pool, hot tubs). Great comedy entertainment when I do my early morning walks to look down at the hogs marking their territory. Balcony for quite times. 

[expectthebest]

I wish the deck hands would take it one step further… by ENFORCING the hot tub occupancy of (12) people/ children at once… or ENFORCING the 20 minute maximum time one can soak in said hot tub… was on the anthem 3/5-3/12 out of NYC and I was surrounded by kids age 4 to age 9 in the hot tub with NO PARENTS in sight… some brought their water toys and goggles in the hot tub!!!! While the parents were on their phone scrolling IG and FB it was terrible… (sorry for yelling)

[Mum2Mercury]

1 hour ago, LobsterStalker said:

... Maybe an hour after we get there is when we will take a break and go grab a quick breakfast at windjammer .... 

Should our belongings be removed ?

Should we not leave our things ? ... 

If we remove the chair hog problem, chairs would be available when you come back from that "quick" breakfast, which means you wouldn't feel it necessary to leave your things at the pool.  

 

[uvadover]

13 hours ago, Ret MP said:

I think, which means it is my opinion, is that the big complaint was of those folks that come out early in the morning and plop their towel or whatever down on the chair/lounger and leave to go to breakfast, an excursion, or be gone for hours before returning.  I don't know about anybody else, but, I don't have a problem with people that are actually active around the pool/beach area and leave their stuff on a chair while they take a swim, go to the restroom, go grab an ice cream cone, go grab a drink from the bar, or go to the (Labadee/Coco Cay for example) buffet to grab a lunch or snack and bring it back.  So, I'm not for a blanket policy of no reserved chairs/loungers.  Maybe it should be a timed thing, not a utilization thing (and maybe it is a timing thing but I haven't read anything about that, yet).  Chairs left unattended for more than an hour, for example, will have the belongings removed.  

 

Pretty sure everyone on earth agrees with you.  This is the defintion of not chair hogging.  Going to the pool, or to pee, or to quickly grab food isn't hogging.  It's losers who put a pair of flip flops on a chair at 6am, only to return at 3pm for an hour - that's the issue that finally needs to be fixed.

[Blur]

12 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

That is just a scam - they don't actually count them they just pretend - if you ask them to make sure you have 0 on the last day - they will just set it to 0

They do count.  We usually get two at the start of cruise and just keep exchanging them all cruise.  Usually on the last day we'll have a note from the towel police to make sure to return our towels.

 

Of course if you are in a suite sometimes they don't even swipe your card to begin with.

[Blur]

5 hours ago, expectthebest said:

I wish the deck hands would take it one step further… by ENFORCING the hot tub occupancy of (12) people/ children at once… or ENFORCING the 20 minute maximum time one can soak in said hot tub… was on the anthem 3/5-3/12 out of NYC and I was surrounded by kids age 4 to age 9 in the hot tub with NO PARENTS in sight… some brought their water toys and goggles in the hot tub!!!! While the parents were on their phone scrolling IG and FB it was terrible… (sorry for yelling)

You were lucky you didn't have some eating ice cream which is conveniently right next to the tub.  This is the reason why I stopped going during spring break.

[melbur]

The way I see it...if you're stupid enough to throw your towel and paperback on a chair at 6am with that sign in your face, don't expect to have it still available at 11. It puts the onus on the pax to do the right thing. I think it also helps empower the attendants to rectify the problem, as many have ignored it to avoid confrontation. I saw 4 people come back yesterday only to find new people in their "reserved" seats. Humbled, they gathered their stuff from the towel station. No drama. 

[Engineroom Snipe]

18 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

Then you are probably not going to like the solution I proposed to Royal management recently. 

Instead of saving their towels and other belongings at the towel stand, Royal should pile all the stuff onto a raft towed well behind the ship. The hogs can swim out to retrieve their stuff. All the while their fellow passengers would be encouraged to chum the water to attract even worse creatures. 

 

 

😁

 

 

I thought my making youthful elevator pushbutton perpetrators sit in the Diamond Lounge during "Happy Hour" was cruel. You are taking it to a whole new level.

 

My hat is off to you. 😬🤣

[S.A.M.J.R.]

5 hours ago, Blur said:

They do count.  We usually get two at the start of cruise and just keep exchanging them all cruise.  Usually on the last day we'll have a note from the towel police to make sure to return our towels.

 

Of course if you are in a suite sometimes they don't even swipe your card to begin with.

I'm not so sure.  On our last cruise, KNOWING we still had three towels "checked out", I went to the towel station to ask what our count was and was told "zero".  

[lovesthebeach2]

Years ago when we were at the Disney Aulani Resort in Hawaii, they had a simple way of handling chair hogs.

Every hour an attendant would stop at every unoccupied lounger and fold the towel and place it on the top of the chair. When they came back in an hour, if the towel was still there, the items were removed and brought to the towel station. Usually it only took one time of having their items removed (1 shoe, hat, sunglasses, unused towel, etc) for people to stop hogging the chairs.

[gavvy]

We laughed at this on Anthem earlier this month, they would place the Tiny card on the sun bed, then never return!  The beds by me had a card on it for nearly 2 hours and the owners came back and looked miffed at the card.

If you are going to make the effort they need to carry it through.

 

They were very quick in placing the cards down too, a 5 min restroom break and I had one on my bed.  Just never bothered to check after the 30 min grace period.

[A&L_Ont]

1 hour ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Years ago when we were at the Disney Aulani Resort in Hawaii, they had a simple way of handling chair hogs.

Every hour an attendant would stop at every unoccupied lounger and fold the towel and place it on the top of the chair. When they came back in an hour, if the towel was still there, the items were removed and brought to the towel station. Usually it only took one time of having their items removed (1 shoe, hat, sunglasses, unused towel, etc) for people to stop hogging the chairs.

 

If RC did that for the first few days of every cruise, on the 30 minute interval, I think the chair hogs should/would learn quickly. 

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by A&L_Ont

[island lady]

18 hours ago, nelblu said:

I got a note while sailing on Anthem.  Got it in the early afternoon of the last day.  I knew that I was up to date and quickly went to GS and they apologized for the error. When they started scanning the sea pass in the beginning, I agree it was bogus as the scanners never really worked and as fall back they wrote the cabin # in a book.  Now, I believe that they seem to work. 

 

Thanks...was not sure how that was working, since we rarely check out towels.  

[cruisegirl1]

A few cruises ago we watched a commotion in the solarium after the pool attendant removed towels from a chair with no occupants for about an hour.   Ship was using post it notes to measure time away from the chair.  Two new passengers sat in the now empty chairs.   Another hour later the original occupants returned to find "their chairs" occupied.  So much commotion occurred that security was called.   The new occupants simply sat on empty chairs and were verbally accosted by the original occupants.   Not a good situation. 

 

M

[island lady]

13 hours ago, davekathy said:

Pat I agree. If I sit out on the deck it's always the deck above the pool deck and I always find a lounger to enjoy a drink or two while looking out at the port or water. Apparently hogs are drawn to water (pool, hot tubs). Great comedy entertainment when I do my early morning walks to look down at the hogs marking their territory. Balcony for quite times. 

 

Totally agree.  Bucky does the same as you do, finds an upper deck lounger as far away from the "Belly flop contest/Men's sexy legs, etc. loud, brain dead, drunken festivities" as possible to read a book in the sun.  

 

Me, I stay out of the sun (tired of being cut on) and read in the cabin....or on the lap top.  😉 

 

One of the best hog viewing areas is up in the VCL when I pick up our morning coffee...windows looking down over the piggy claims as they glance back and forth to see is anyone is watching as they set up their domain.  Hogs indeed drawn to water...toooo funny!  😄 

[island lady]

13 hours ago, expectthebest said:

I wish the deck hands would take it one step further… by ENFORCING the hot tub occupancy of (12) people/ children at once… or ENFORCING the 20 minute maximum time one can soak in said hot tub… was on the anthem 3/5-3/12 out of NYC and I was surrounded by kids age 4 to age 9 in the hot tub with NO PARENTS in sight… some brought their water toys and goggles in the hot tub!!!! While the parents were on their phone scrolling IG and FB it was terrible… (sorry for yelling)

 

I don't understand kids in the hot tub at all anyway.  I remember seeing signs on some ships that state no children under 16 allowed.  Has that changed?

 

And Bubba, with his bucket of beer next to him, sitting the hot tub for hours with no breaks...ummm....🤢

[island lady]

12 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

If we remove the chair hog problem, chairs would be available when you come back from that "quick" breakfast, which means you wouldn't feel it necessary to leave your things at the pool.  

 

 

This exactly ^.   What is next, leave things at your favorite WJ table for breakfast to save it for lunch?  

[island lady]

3 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Years ago when we were at the Disney Aulani Resort in Hawaii, they had a simple way of handling chair hogs.

Every hour an attendant would stop at every unoccupied lounger and fold the towel and place it on the top of the chair. When they came back in an hour, if the towel was still there, the items were removed and brought to the towel station. Usually it only took one time of having their items removed (1 shoe, hat, sunglasses, unused towel, etc) for people to stop hogging the chairs.

 

Excellent idea!!  The simple ones are always the best!  🙂 

[Ocean Boy]

31 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

This exactly ^.   What is next, leave things at your favorite WJ table for breakfast to save it for lunch?  

Great idea. Thanks!🙂😇