What is the rule about saving a seat by the pool?

[sdjen]

I was on the Magic and a woman moved another family's belongings so she could sit and watch her child in the pool. The owner of the belongings came back and SCREAMED at the woman, calling her a thief, went and got a CM, filed a complaint, etc. The woman who moved the things just sat in the chair and read her book. The owner of the belongings never did sit in any of the other 4 chairs that held her things.

So yes, confrontations do happen.

I have copied and pasted my story from an earlier thread. The above sounds a lot like my story except that I didnt move the stuff! Were you by chance on an Eastern cruise in Feb

I can totally relate to this at the pool on the Magic It was actually the only part of my trip that wasnt perfect!

One sea day, i went to the pool with my 6 year old. She was in the shallow pool for awhile and I was okay watching her from the deck above. But, when she wanted to move to the deeper pool (the goofy pool i think) I wasn't comfortable not being there to supervise more closely. When I got to the pool there were no "empty" chairs but were several that only had a towel or a pair of shoes on them. I figured no biggie - I would just wait until one opened up.

After about 10 minutes or so, I turned around and saw that there were now two empty chairs. I grabbed one and settled into to enjoy the sun. After about 45 minutes, this lovely gentleman came up and started yelling at me. Literally got in my face and said what a rude b**** I was for "stealing" his chairs. He actually said that he had come and put their stuff on 7! chairs and then went to breakfast. It was at least 45 minutes but honestly closer to an hour later when he came back and was upset someone else was using his families chairs. He accused me of stealing their things also.

Honestly, I truly think that a cast member was watching the chairs and after no one was using them for such a long time, he moved their stuff and that I when I noticed the empty chair.

This grandfather kept yelling in my face about how rude I was etc... I finally said I am sorry you feel that way but I am done talking to you! If you have a problem with it - go find a cast member and ask them if you are allowed to save chairs. For the next two hours, his whole family was giving me dirty looks and calling me names. I even saw him talking to an officer - poor officer was just standing there but you could tell he didnt want to talk to this rude guy!

Sorry - felt good to vent that story! I still get mad thinking about it

 

[wishuponastarforever]

Last October on the Magic, DH and I watched the same family "chair hog" each day. They would save several chairs early am and not show up until much later. They stayed for a while then left to eat again. They would be gone for at least an hour. We got to know the routine.

One day I waited until I knew they were on their way back from a lunch of leisure. I got as wet as I could and sat on each chair. They did not see me, only the wet spots on the chairs. It was funny to see how indignant they became.

Cheap thrill. I knew I was being passive aggressive but it felt soooo good.

 

[tinkerone]

i only went through the first 3 pages so forgive me if this has been discussed but......i never see cm's come around. i seldom see a cm by the pool area at all. do you have to go to find one? now i must confess i only use the adult area, we have no wee ones. maybe they feel they don't need to tend to the adult area. in fact i can't say i have had an issue getting a chair in the adult area.

 

[chateau]

I turned around and saw that there were now two empty chairs. I grabbed one and settled into to enjoy the sun. After about 45 minutes, this lovely gentleman came up and started yelling at me. Literally got in my face and said what a rude b**** I was for "stealing" his chairs. He actually said that he had come and put their stuff on 7! chairs and then went to breakfast. It was at least 45 minutes but honestly closer to an hour later when he came back and was upset someone else was using his families chairs. He accused me of stealing their things also. This grandfather kept yelling in my face about how rude I was etc... [/I]

VIDEO on my phone would've been my option.... right from the first approach. If someone's saving then approaches, they may have the kahunas to confront. I haven't had to do this yet. You didn't know, though, as the seats didn't looked saved when you went over. Sorry that has stuck with you and caused distress.

 

[miatamel]

We have an NCL cruise booked and, apparently, they have implemented some type of "blue dot" policy to ferret out chair hogs. (First noticed a post about it on their fb page). On the "other" boards, someone just posted this:

We were on The Jade last month and they were tagging chairs. It was very effective, although people still ran up first thing in the morning and tried to claim their chairs. They were some angry when they came back hours ( as many as four hours later) and found their spots gone along with their stuff.
They had a couple of crew members who went and put orange tags on the chairs. They marked the time they put them on and it said if the chair was not in use 30 minutes later it would be freed up. They were very good at following the time line. It was also a great way to get a chair because you just had to follow the tagging guy and take a chair when he cleared the stuff away. They put towels back at the exchange and personal items were taken to the reception desk and you could claim them from there.
I hope this is something they keep with. It is very frustrating to those who play fair to not be able to go sit in the sun and enjoy your book and a drink for a bit!

I like at least one cruise line is being proactive about the problem...though I guess we shall see if it goes fleet wide. I would hate to see the chair hogs fussing about it more than the "good guys" complimenting it.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

VIDEO on my phone would've been my option.... right from the first approach. If someone's saving then approaches, they may have the kahunas to confront. I haven't had to do this yet. You didn't know, though, as the seats didn't looked saved when you went over. Sorry that has stuck with you and caused distress.

Oh, now this is a good idea that I never would have though of on my own. I'm going to file this away in my "strategies for dealing with unpleasantness" mental files. Thanks for the tip! I'm sure it must take the wind out of someone's sails to know he or she is being recorded for all time during a tantrum. Good idea!

 

[AquaDame]

We have an NCL cruise booked and, apparently, they have implemented some type of "blue dot" policy to ferret out chair hogs. (First noticed a post about it on their fb page). On the "other" boards, someone just posted this:

We were on The Jade last month and they were tagging chairs. It was very effective, although people still ran up first thing in the morning and tried to claim their chairs. They were some angry when they came back hours ( as many as four hours later) and found their spots gone along with their stuff.
They had a couple of crew members who went and put orange tags on the chairs. They marked the time they put them on and it said if the chair was not in use 30 minutes later it would be freed up. They were very good at following the time line. It was also a great way to get a chair because you just had to follow the tagging guy and take a chair when he cleared the stuff away. They put towels back at the exchange and personal items were taken to the reception desk and you could claim them from there.
I hope this is something they keep with. It is very frustrating to those who play fair to not be able to go sit in the sun and enjoy your book and a drink for a bit!

I like at least one cruise line is being proactive about the problem...though I guess we shall see if it goes fleet wide. I would hate to see the chair hogs fussing about it more than the "good guys" complimenting it.

If they do keep doing it I am more likely to sail them in the future! I hate rules that aren't enforced because then you just don't know what you can and can't do.. it leads to a lot of resentment that wouldn't otherwise be there.

I hope they have a sliding scale on compliments vs. complaints... as we all know people are far more likely to point out a problem than tell someone everything went as they expected...