Would you pay for a deck chair?

[nelblu]

Does this bring back memories? A picture of Home Lines Oceanic pool deck in 1973. Notice how there were no lounge chairs by the pool. There were a few regular chairs, and they had mats on the deck, but I can't remember if you had to pay for those. We were young and just sat at the edge of the pool or on a towel on the deck.

 

 

I remember the pool from your snapshot. Our first cruise was 10 years earlier. We usually stayed by the upper deck.

 

Thanks for the memories.

[lady_cruiser]

Does this bring back memories? A picture of Home Lines Oceanic pool deck in 1973. Notice how there were no lounge chairs by the pool. There were a few regular chairs, and they had mats on the deck, but I can't remember if you had to pay for those. We were young and just sat at the edge of the pool or on a towel on the deck.

 

 

What a nice "blast from the past." Thanks for sharing.

[Paulxyz2004]

How about the pool patrol just do their job and stop the chair hogs.

People would stop putting their stuff on a chair to reserve it if they had to go somewhere to get it each time they finally decided to make an appearance. Might work even better if that person had to walk clear to customer service to get their stuff. Towels could just be put in the laundry, but imagine if you had to walk and stand in line at customer service to get your book or sunglasses....The library would have lots of new books for the upcoming cruise I would think.

 

This wouldn´t be about chair hogs, but Revenue.

[EmpressofPurple]

Nothing new, I reserved chairs by the week on my first cruise on the Home Lines "Oceanic." This ship later became one of Disney's Big Red Boats.

 

Write I sailed on this ship twice in the 90s as the big red boat, and once out of nyc on a cruise to nowhere... I must say I don't recall renting deck chairs, or the pool deck for that matter... want to go look at my old photos now!!

 

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[EmpressofPurple]

No, I would not and I would be very upset if Royal started any type of "for fee" on the pool deck.

 

Princess has an adult area "The Sanctuary" with cabanas and loungers. You pay daily or by the week and it is not cheap. You do get a reserved lounger as well as a lot of other extras and service. I don't agree with it at all as it takes public deck space away from those who have paid to cruise also.

 

Agree 100%. While someone paying extra to eat in a specialty restaurant doesn't impact my cruise (except insofar as the cruise line removes previously public space for this now pay venue, or possibly even diminishes food quality and/or service in the mdr to drive more customers to the pay restaurants) -renting out previously public deck space DOES impact all the other passengers.

 

It's like the smoking argument: my eating fatty foods only affects my heart, while my smoking affects your heart, indeed, everyone around me. Converting public spaces to revenue spaces affects everyone!

 

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[Truckersar]

Makes you wonder, was this thread started by someone at one of the cruise lines to test the waters, and see how much would be tolerated?

[TEXASMUNK]

Totally depends on your point of view....We love the location....near the bar, ngreat view of pool activities, etc. Totally one's point of view.

[BND]

$200 to $300 per day? For a clamshell? Wow. I can get a cabana in Labadee for $250 with service and a upgraded lunch (barefoot beach). I'm not tight with my money, always sail in a Jr. Suite or better but I wouldn't spend that for a clamshell.

 

Here's the thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2023519&highlight=cabana

[Shabot]

It all depends on how much money we have and how much it would cost.

 

I don't find enough value in a deck chair to pay for it. However, I'd consider paying a fee to kick certain other people out of their chairs. :D

[SewMuch]

Makes you wonder, was this thread started by someone at one of the cruise lines to test the waters, and see how much would be tolerated?

 

I'm the OP and no, I don't work for the cruise lines. I was really more interested in seeing how important prime seating was to people (since they hate when other people grab them) than I was in making money for the cruise line.

 

As it turns out, the most interesting posts on this thread are people's memories of how it was "way back when".

[BND]

It all depends on how much money we have and how much it would cost.

 

I don't find enough value in a deck chair to pay for it. However, I'd consider paying a fee to kick certain other people out of their chairs. :D

 

Oops quoted wrong one.

Edited May 4, 2014 by BND

[BND]

Totally depends on your point of view....We love the location....near the bar, ngreat view of pool activities, etc. Totally one's point of view.

 

Except you said the gold card/suite seating was "poolside" which it is not. We've been in GS 3 times and only used the seating once or twice when there happened to be shade over the areas, most of which are no longer gold card areas. The gold card/suite area on most ships has been moved up a couple of decks and not poolside by a long shot. So, point of view isn't really the issue as much as what the discussion is actually about which is poolside seating.

Edited May 4, 2014 by BND

[Mapleleafforever]

There will always be people willing to pay extra.

[Robinola]

Does this bring back memories? A picture of Home Lines Oceanic pool deck in 1973. Notice how there were no lounge chairs by the pool. There were a few regular chairs, and they had mats on the deck, but I can't remember if you had to pay for those. We were young and just sat at the edge of the pool or on a towel on the deck.

 

 

Awesome pic! I must confess that I own The Love Boat dvd collection. :D

[Rocketlady]

no, I would rather do something else than sit in the sun. Too many people in the pool area and too loud. But than again I end up in the casino and that is

crowded too. And way too smoky.

 

 

Airlines are boosting their bottom lines by charging extra for all kinds of things, including the best seats in coach class. So, would you be willing to pay a little extra to rent a deck chair in a prime poolside location? (Maybe by the day or the week, extra for sea days.) These

[sauvichick]

I would pay and did if it was a real cabana like the Retreat on HAL's Eurodam. It was $75 for the day when we cruised. And it was worth it. A clamshell...nope. Labadee...nope.

 

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[iheartbda]

This can't be from the 70's. Look at the lady in the background to the left of the guy standing in the pool......she's on a cell phone.:D:D:D

[debbs0723]

Hmmmm. I don't think so. I like the deck above the pool to watch the band play or watch games and activities but I have never once cared to "own" a chair down there. When I was in my early 20s and traveled with girlfriends on NCL once we hung out at the pool the entire last two days of the trip. We didn't care about chairs then either. We were in the pool. I've said this before but I find the pool area on Royal ships to be one of the least attractive places on a ship just because everybody's crap is everywhere. I think it all depends on where you are from. I live in Houston and pools are very common. So I can sit by mine anytime I want.

 

On a really large ship it would be kind of nice to have a family area where our different family members knew where to find us so I might consider a reservation nice for that. I liked the gold reserved area that they still have on some ships for suite passengers yet I'm not willing to pay for a suite for us to get that either.

[summersigh]

No way would I pay for a deck chair. If they reinstated the sign-out/sign-in for towels it would cut way back on the problem.

Staff would remove any towels left over 30 minutes unattended and the person who left it would be responsible :D

[momofmab]

Yup - I would (however, I wouldn't pay the grossly inflated prices that cruise lines charge for things). If it were reasonable, I would pay to have a reserved chair in the shade in an area with a breeze :) and not have to get up by 8:30 am to find a chair.

 

When we go to Hilton Head for a long weekend, I reserve beach chairs (I believe it ran $35/chair for 3 days last summer). They are comfy padded lounge chairs with oversized umbrellas that the lifeguards set up for you in the morning with your name on it and they stay there until the lifeguards go home for the day. You can come and go at your leisure and your chair is still there when you come back. Well worth the $ when you consider the convenience of not having to pack and drag chairs and umbrellas with you.

 

I think it's safe to say that different cruisers are willing to pay extra for different things. While I may be willing to pay extra for a chair, I won't pay $55/day for a drink package or $250 for use of a beach cabana for a few hours. To each their own.