So Who Are These Mysterious "Chair Savers?"

[LissafromSJ]

...because from what I read on these boards, NO ONE saves a deck chair with a towel! But then, if so many are saved that one poster recently wrote there were none available, who's doing all the chair hogging? Also, I'm curious where you put the towels when you finally work up the nerve to move them - do you take up another chair with them or put them on the ground?
I know this is a bizarre question, but I have this happen all the time at our local pool and it drives me nuts! I can see saving a chair for five minutes to go get a drink, but that's what husband's are for anyway! Is this a big problem on the ships? Melissa

 

[chasbos]

Yes, it is a big problem on the ship - IMHO! DH and I felt like we were stalking people, waiting for them to get up and move so we could have some chairs! There were plenty of empty chairs around - oh sorry, the towels were quite comfy in these chairs and we did not want to disturb them!! I did not feel comfortable removing the towels because I did not know if someone had just gotten up for a moment to take their child to the bathroom, or help them in the pool. So we just lurched around until someone got up and was leaving and we took their chairs.

This is one area of enforcement that Disney needs to take a stand on! After all there are over 2500 people on these ships and maybe 100 chairs - not good odds!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I agree the chair savers are a problem, especially on crowded days.

 

[briarroseALS]

I got really early one mornig just to try and save a chair but they ALL were taken? Rows and Rows of towels on every chair! Do people put their towels out the night before? I cant seem to figure out the trick?

 

[fireplug]

Disney does not condone chair saving. So if I am there is no one in a chair and just a towel there OH WELL we just take it. I am talking about the ones that appear "saved" not the ones someone just got up a moment ago from. On our last cruise this older lady would be at the pool reading early in the morning (7:15) and have four chairs "saved" by her. Her family didnt show till 11:00 or later. By the third day we just used the chairs.

Squid

 

[zakatak]

Since I liked sitting on the side of the Mickey Pool watching my kids, what I did was put my towels and belongings on one of the chairs over by some empty tables. This way I wasn't taking up space at the pool lounges, but we had a place to go eat (ice cream every 10 minutes, you know) and sit. There were plenty of empty tables over there so I didn't feel bad. But I did see alot of towels taking up lounge chairs by the pool though. Crazy.

 

[michamato]

I agree, I am also talking about people who had towels on every chair at 8 am, there was not ONE chair to sit on! And yes I did move the dry, not used towels (put them in the dirty towel bin) when I was going to sit down. I have a family of 5, and I used one to two chairs and I was only there for an hour at a time. I find it rude to save chairs because you may want to use the pool later, if they were there, or a family member there, OK you are currently using the chair, but to have breakfast, and do whatever else you were doing because you have a chair saved all morning, on a sea day, with a full boat. NO!
Trust me if happened all week!!

 

[minniemouse1]

We are going on the magic on april 2 and I will be one to move towels and take "saved" chairs. We have a family of 5 and only have used one chair maybe 2 at the most. I hope I don't ruffle to many of the chair savers feathers!

 

[mmouse37]

People do save chairs with towels and personal items.....but I have also found that DCL has been placing their folded white towels on the sunbeds (loungers) around the pool. I saw them doing it in the mornings. I think they are just providing towels for the lounges as a convenience but not necessarily "saving" them.

If I just see a white towel on a lounger I am inclinced to use it...but if it had personal stuff on it I would wait to see how long till the people came back.

 

[Stinasmom]

Ok, I haven't cruised yet but love to look at everyone's cruise pictures. In one picture of a pool area I saw very few people (maybe it was early morning?) and many, many chairs with folded clean towels draped just exactly the same way over the top area of each lounger. It looked to me like the cm's do this for passenger convenience...pick a chair and a clean towel is waiting for you. I would consider this an invitation and take my choice of chairs.
IMHO, if there are belongings on or under the chair (clothes, shoes, toys, bag) then the chair is taken. If it is just a towel, clean or not, it is available. Doesn't hurt to ask someone nearby if you are not sure. If they are not sure then take a chance! Let's face it, every kid in the pool does NOT need a lounger to come back to. It's mostly adults who like to "lounge."

 

[mmouse37]

Ok, I haven't cruised yet but love to look at everyone's cruise pictures. In one picture of a pool area I saw very few people (maybe it was early morning?) and many, many chairs with folded clean towels draped just exactly the same way over the top area of each lounger. It looked to me like the cm's do this for passenger convenience...pick a chair and a clean towel is waiting for you. I would consider this an invitation and take my choice of chairs.
IMHO, if there are belongings on or under the chair (clothes, shoes, toys, bag) then the chair is taken. If it is just a towel, clean or not, it is available. Doesn't hurt to ask someone nearby if you are not sure. If they are not sure then take a chance! Let's face it, every kid in the pool does NOT need a lounger to come back to. It's mostly adults who like to "lounge."

we posted the same thought at the same time...!!

 

[DrCavin]

I know this won't work for everyone, but we just went up on deck 10 and found plenty of chairs up there. Could watch our kids from there & never had any problems with the chair-hogs.

I agree that more enforcing needs to be done, maybe Disney should have one CM that just "patrols" the mickey/goofy pool area & takes necessary action????

When we were in Aruba they had a couple employees that would get your towels and find you a seat. They would keep watch too & if they saw a chair un-occupied for a while they would take the towels off the chairs.

I like the CM's putting towels on the chair as long as they are notifying people that those are available that is a good way to curb the hogs.

 

[SchultzFamily]

When we cruised last August we never saw chairs saved all day. We saw chairs with people in them all day. Didn't see any empty lounge chairs, as soon as someone got up someone else was right there waiting for their chair. We never had any problem getting a table with chairs and since our kids are 11 & 15 we don't need to be right beside the pool so we were fine with that. Our only complaint was as nonsmokers we would always end up at a table between 2 groups of smokers. Oh well at least we were outside and I look at as it's their vacation too.

 

[Stinasmom]

we posted the same thought at the same time...!!

Great minds think alike!!

 

[challada]

Hey, Ellensburg...we're your northern neighbor!

Anyway...my question is...why is EVERYONE at the pool at the same time? We haven't done a Disney cruise yet so I don't know the routine, but I am thinking on seadays, we are going to AVOID the pool at all cost! TIA

 

[HookedonMagic]

I spent one full day by the Quiet Cove pool during my September Magic cruise and I can't recount how many times I saw people saving chairs. In fact, watching this nonsense became almost as entertaining as sitting in the sun and reading my book!

One group of four came early, put towels on four chairs and immediately left for breakfast. They returned more than an hour later and enjoyed "their" chairs for less than an hour. Then they all left for a ship's tour (they were very loud when discussing their plans!) They returned only to "check on their chairs" before heading to the lunch buffet. Almost two hours later, they returned to spend about thirty minutes by the pool before they had to leave for a wine tasting. At this point they actually debated whether they'd be back and decided they had better "keep their chairs!" Shortly after they left, I spotted a couple searching for a few chairs. I motioned for them to take the chairs near me. They hesitated, but decided to go for it. The gruesome foursome never returned.

In the past, I've always hesitated to move a towel. Never again. In the event I make a mistake and take a chair someone has only briefly vacated, I can always simply apologize and move. It is simply ridiculous that people save chairs that they never even use...if we all followed the simple rules of courtesy, we could all enjoy some quality time in a chair.

Just my two cents! Happy sailing (and lounging!)

 

[LissafromSJ]

In response to the posters who said they saw CM's placing towels on chairs, now THAT would be funny! Everyone thinking it's other cruisers, when in fact it may be how DCL likes to have their chairs set up for our convenience! Melissa

 

[aprilgail2]

I got really early one mornig just to try and save a chair but they ALL were taken? Rows and Rows of towels on every chair! Do people put their towels out the night before? I cant seem to figure out the trick?

I was up early one morning around 6am and there were towels over most of the chairs already, flip flops were left there, one on a chair and one on a chair next to it....after a while I walked over, collected all the towels and put the shoes onto the floor...and then there were no chairs saved that morning LOL....I think people must do it the night before!! Or at the wee hours of hte morning!

 

[lbgraves]

ROFL! We usually go right after breakfast on sea days so there might be one or two other families at the Mickey pool before us...if any at all. It is easy to see which chairs are really being used at that point & we pick a couple to use. When it is busy in the afternoon we keep one per family. It gives us a place to keep our bag, towels, and a spot for the kids to sit & eat their hot dogs for lunch.

 

[suesings]

Our only complaint was as nonsmokers we would always end up at a table between 2 groups of smokers. Oh well at least we were outside and I look at as it's their vacation too.

Hi,
Are there really that many smokers? I would think most people have children with them? I would expect smokers on a Carnival cruise ship with singles but not on a family boat? I try to keep my kids away from cigarettes if possible. Thankfully, none of our friends smoke. My 18 month old toddler doesn't always look where she is going and when someone is holding a cigarette down and we are walking around we have to be really careful, not to mention all the lethal chemicals from cigarettes (and the fact that they just plain stink). Are these people mostly international people? Thanks.