Pool Etiquette

[yazee1]

The "shocking" thread got me thinking about something. We are crusing for the first time in April. Dh and I are not "pool" people, but our children are. I know we're going to be one of the hundreds at the family pool during "at sea" days. Please give me an understanding of what I should expect and what you consider pool etiquette.

I know some things, such as if we should be so lucky as to get a couple chairs, we should not "claim" them for hours while we go and do other things. That makes sense, but how long can one be absent from the chair before it's considered rude to leave one's things on it? what if dh and I wanted to take a little dip or wanted to get in and play with the kids for a while? Or get a drink?
Say we get to the pool and there appears to be nowhere to rest our things but it appears there's a family packing up, is it rude to approach them? What if you notice someone's things have been sitting at a table or chair unattended for a long time, say an hour? Do you speak to an employee first?

Is pool etiquette something we're going to be lectured on before cruising, like safety rules are? TIA

 

[videogal1]

I know some things, such as if we should be so lucky as to get a couple chairs, we should not "claim" them for hours while we go and do other things. That makes sense, but how long can one be absent from the chair before it's considered rude to leave one's things on it? TIA

I have noticed that there are almost always chairs and tables available toward the outside edge of the deck. It seems reasonable to me that once you are finished with a direct presence at the edge of the pool where many parents like to sit to keep an eye on their kids, that you could move your things back away from the pool edge area so you can join the fun in the pool.

 

[DrCavin]

You wont get any formal lectures on pool etiquette. I think that there is some verbage in the Navigators everyday about saving chairs. IMO a hour is the max amount of time a chair should be un-occupied before it is fair game. We were always able to find a chair on deck 10 overlooking the pool. The area around the pools is very crowded & finding an empty seat is pretty much your lucky day... You will see chairs with one shoe on them or a book for hours on end. Have never been anywhere where you wont find chair-hogs.

 

[lbgraves]

If you approach someone who appears to be packing things up, I would not think that it is rude to ask them if they were leaving. If they aren't, then just thank them...if they are leaving, ask if they would mind if you waited while they packed up so you could use them. It's all in the approach IMO. We have done that. Also, we have started out in the 2nd or 3rd row of chairs around the Mickey Pool and as we see someone leave, we move up. It doesn't take long to get to the front row that way. Also, depending on the age of your children, we were able to keep an eye on them from the chairs. If it was hot and we sat on the edge of the pool, we just moved everything to one chair. With THAT much stuff on it, I wouldn't think there would be anyone thinking that we weren't actually there at that time.

 

[pppiglet]

Do they save chairs at the adult pool also, or is it just the family pool that get the most use?

 

[inkkognito]

This is the way I personally handle etiquette:
I figure half an hour to an hour is plenty of time for someone to be back to their chair. However, on the flipside, I have been known to stay in the hot tub for a good hour. I don't have my stuff on a chair when I do that, but if I did, I would be keeping an eye on it and pop out if someone tried to move it. So if you are putting your stuff on a chair and plan to swim for a long time, I think you have some responsibility to keep half an eye on it.
On a somewhat related matter, I believe that the hammocks on CC should go to the early birds who make that extra effort to get them, but I also don't think there's anything wrong with asking someone to share. We had a hammock on the adult beach once, and a fellow cruiser asked if we would mind if she used it too. Obviously we would not be in it 100 percent of the time, so we all shared it.
But be careful...I once saw a man ask a family if he could "share" and then proceed to put ALL his beach stuff on it and claim it for the rest of the day. I could tell his wife was embarrassed when he started piling their bags, towels, etc. on it. The poor people who had agreed to share never to got to use! They were too nice...I would have said, "Time's up, buddy!"
Barb