Pool Chairs...staking claim

[cruisehopeful]

I've never used the pools, but I imagine I would want to put my personal items on a chair or table if I was going to be in the pool. They really need to have cubbies or a long table that people can use. Otherwise, I see no option other than putting stuff on a chair.

 

[Baklava]

I've never used the pools, but I imagine I would want to put my personal items on a chair or table if I was going to be in the pool. They really need to have cubbies or a long table that people can use. Otherwise, I see no option other than putting stuff on a chair.

I don't think anyone is bothered by people putting their stuff on chairs while they use the pool. What bothers many is putting your stuff on a chair while you *aren't* using the pool so that hours later you can come back. If you're in the pool, on the slide, going to the restroom, fetching a snack... that's not the same as, "I want this chair in 2-4 hours, so I'll stop anyone else from enjoying it in the meantime."

 

[Billinaz]

In all our cruises, one thing is constant. The chair savers. I have watched as some people came up on deck early and put a shoe on one chair, shirt on another, etc. When I came back from breakfast I noticed the stuff was still there and nobody was anywhere near. I picked up the stuff off the chairs and put it on the towel bin. I waited around another 20 minutes and nobody ever claimed the items.

In the Walt Disney theater my family waited 30 minutes prior to the show to get the seats we wanted, front row center. When the doors opened 2 kids RAN past us and sat 10 seats apart in the front row. As we (5 people) sat in the front center seats the kids started saying they were saving the seats between them for their family. I told them that we were sitting where we were and that was where we were staying.

15 minutes later their father shows up and says that his kids were saving the seats for his family. I told him that if he had read the Navigator or listened to the announcements he would know that saving seats was not permitted. He continue to argue and I told him that he could go find a CM and see what they tell him.

As he sat in the row behind us I heard him tell his kids that they could not sit with their family together because of the jerk in the front row. Just before the show started the rest of the family shows up and he was still complaining (loudly). I heard his wife tell him that saving seats was not allowed.

 

[Billinaz]

I don't think anyone is bothered by people putting their stuff on chairs while they use the pool. What bothers many is putting your stuff on a chair while you *aren't* using the pool so that hours later you can come back. If you're in the pool, on the slide, going to the restroom, fetching a snack... that's not the same as, "I want this chair in 2-4 hours, so I'll stop anyone else from enjoying it in the meantime."

This. If you are going to grab a quick service burger or pizza, or even use the bathroom, no problem. Putting stuff on chairs so you have it there the entire day should you decide to go to the pool many hours later is not a good thing.

 

[Jennifer777]

As he sat in the row behind us I heard him tell his kids that they could not sit with their family together because of the jerk in the front row. Just before the show started the rest of the family shows up and he was still complaining (loudly). I heard his wife tell him that saving seats was not allowed.

My husband would be sleeping on the verandah...ALONE for the remainder of the cruise if he behaved that way. How embarrassing for his wife! I'm glad you stood up for your family. As long as seat saving is successful for people they will continue to do it. It would be nice if the theater was monitored a little more closely to prevent this because I do believe it's a bigger problem in the theater than it is by the pool.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My husband would be sleeping on the verandah...ALONE for the remainder of the cruise if he behaved that way. How embarrassing for his wife! I'm glad you stood up for your family. As long as seat saving is successful for people they will continue to do it. It would be nice if the theater was monitored a little more closely to prevent this because I do believe it's a bigger problem in the theater than it is by the pool.

Really, the only way it can be "monitored" is by people telling the CMs. Or, as suggested by Billinaz, telling the person who's informed you that they are saving seats to take it up with the CMs.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Maybe they should just have CMs load and unload the theatre like they do at WDW... "everyone move to the right of your row.... All seats are good seats...."

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Maybe they should just have CMs load and unload the theatre like they do at WDW... "everyone move to the right of your row.... All seats are good seats...."

 

[DLM1980]

My feeling is that folks should be able to leave and get lunch, not have lunch. Its one thing to take a stroll over to grab a piece of pizza or a burger to bring back to your spot and quite another to go to cabanas and enjoy a full buffet lunch at the tables there or even a sit down service at the Royal Court. If your strolling over and back the chair is yours, if your going to eat somewhere else for an hour, the chair is mine. The whole thing is, their not losing their chairs, their losing a chair they have left.
Now that's JMO and that's about all its worth. Some may agree, some may not.

Plain and simple: 1 butt 1 chair, if your butt gets out of a chair and subsequently gets into another chair, the first chair is lost and available to another butt. There is no exception, just because you have two cheeks, does not mean you get two chairs.

 

[hanna-nana]

Honest question here, since we're planning our family cruise finally. As far as not saving seats in the theater goes....we are a family of 7. If we all show up early for seats, I'd love to have either DH or I run the littlest out to use the restroom before the show. This would likely mean the youngest 2, maybe 3 would go with. Is this not allowed? I'd really rather have them pee before the show than have to leave during and climb over people (though we always try for an aisle).

 

[scgustafson]

Plain and simple: 1 butt 1 chair, if your butt gets out of a chair and subsequently gets into another chair, the first chair is lost and available to another butt. There is no exception, just because you have two cheeks, does not mean you get two chairs.

I am assuming that a toilet is not defined as a chair in your world.

 

[scgustafson]

Honest question here, since we're planning our family cruise finally. As far as not saving seats in the theater goes....we are a family of 7. If we all show up early for seats, I'd love to have either DH or I run the littlest out to use the restroom before the show. This would likely mean the youngest 2, maybe 3 would go with. Is this not allowed? I'd really rather have them pee before the show than have to leave during and climb over people (though we always try for an aisle).

It is valid to me, just hard to prove.

 

[Iamaplanner]

During my most recent cruise, I found the CMs to be really good at moving towels that occupied a chair for longer than 30 minutes and were unattended. They would make a sweep of the deck and move any towels that didn't have a person using the chair. The issue is that everyone knows that the towels will be moved so they are putting bags and flip flops and magazines etc. The CMs rarely move personal belongings. I rarely have complaints about my cruise but most recently, this chair saving was out of control. I never take chairs for my kids. They rarely sit long enough to warrant saving them a chair. If they want an ice cream or a little break, they can sit on the end of my chair.

 

[tinkerone]

Honest question here, since we're planning our family cruise finally. As far as not saving seats in the theater goes....we are a family of 7. If we all show up early for seats, I'd love to have either DH or I run the littlest out to use the restroom before the show. This would likely mean the youngest 2, maybe 3 would go with. Is this not allowed? I'd really rather have them pee before the show than have to leave during and climb over people (though we always try for an aisle).

Maybe have them do this before entering the theater. The doors do not open till 8 and the show starts at 8:30 so if you have them do their business at 7:55 then you could probably avoid this. There is a bathroom right outside the theater doors. I know things don't always go as planned however if you do it this way you won't get 'the looks' that you may if 5 of you aren't there to show they are not saved seats. Other wise in the time you take in the bathroom you may find your seats are taken by someone who says to bad, so sad.
Not being mean in anything I said. Just trying to help with an issue that could arise.

 

[st0nehedge]

I am assuming that a toilet is not defined as a chair in your world.

It's a throne



In all seriousness, though, I'm in the camp of if you're at the pool, snag a chair and leave your stuff there. Large family? Snag as many as you see fit for your family as a "home base" at the pool while you're THERE.

If you're away from the pool area for hours, then no, you shouldn't be saving seats. Trip to the bathroom or snagging a slice of pizza, that's fine, IMPO!

 

[DLM1980]

I am assuming that a toilet is not defined as a chair in your world.

A chair has four legs. A toilet does not

 

[OrcaPotter]

Not all CMs can be relied upon to resolve chair saving issues, I've found.

When my family and I were on the Fantasy in June, my dad had his scooter and we arrived at the recommended 30 min prior for seating assistance. Well, there we other HA people ahead of us, so a CM escorted us to the other side of the theatre for the HA seats. When we got there, a woman with a young child were sitting in the HA designated seats (clearly labeled, too). The CM looked uncomfortable and simply gestured to us like, "here ya go" and left. The woman declared she was saving the seats for her friend and her stroller was going to be parked in the wheelchair spot! I firmly said that those seats were for a handicapped person and the family but she didn't budge, just searched around for her alleged stroller-toting friend. The CM was long gone and I was frustrated at the time that she didn't handle the matter, especially when there were plenty of other seats in the area and a stroller shouldn't be allowed in the theatre to begin with! When the woman still wouldn't move, we put his scooter in the wheelchair spot (she didn't protest) and walked him down to better seats, anyway. At least he had the ability to do that, but what if he was completely immobile?

Just society in general has become very self-centered and inconsiderate. If a chair simply has a towel and no one is around, I move it. Aulani has the same problem.

 

[Fladis32]

I do not even hesitate to bring in a CM to move the belongings. If the CM seems reluctant, then I let them know that I am heading up the chain. I am paying too much money to look at unused chairs while in plan to put my actual body in a chair. If everyone starts doing this, things will change. I will not engage with the drama filled ones.

 

[Snurk71]

I see this topic come up every now and again and always have a couple questions I've never asked.

1) When some of you say you wait for 30, 45. 60 minutes and if the people haven't returned you move their stuff - are you really watching those chairs all that time? Did you not move on and find another spot and go on about your day?

2) Another question for the chair watches - does this mean that if I'm in the pool, aqua duck, whatever around the pool for 30+ minutes - I'm not entitled to leave my stuff on my lounger to come back and enjoy when I'm done?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I see this topic come up every now and again and always have a couple questions I've never asked.

1) When some of you say you wait for 30, 45. 60 minutes and if the people haven't returned you move their stuff - are you really watching those chairs all that time? Did you not move on and find another spot and go on about your day?

2) Another question for the chair watches - does this mean that if I'm in the pool, aqua duck, whatever around the pool for 30+ minutes - I'm not entitled to leave my stuff on my lounger to come back and enjoy when I'm done?

If you are in the pool area (in eyesight of your belongings) you're good. If someone starts to move your stuff, you can call out or go over and talk to them.

We're lamenting about those people who show up at sunrise and drop various (single) personal items - a flip-flop; a book; a hat; whatever and then retreat to their rooms, or elsewhere onboard to do something not water/pool related. Then come back (usually after lunch) and expect their prime location is still only "theirs". Yes, I've seen it.