Chair hogs on Epic

[SpainAlien]

They are out in force today on our sea day. I have a couple of sunbeds that we are occupying at the moment, we have been here since 9am (1 hour) we are the only people actually sitting here in a group of about 20 sunbeds and yet every bed has a towel. I have spoken to one of the crew and he said they allow one hour!  So I pointed out that we are the only people here and have been for an hour so he put a sticker on the sunbeds presumably giving them another hour, in the meantime people are wandering about looking for somewhere to sit, it's disgraceful 

[SpainAlien]

[Nataly1982]

We were on Epic 2 weeks ago. One day we head out to pool just after 12 o’clock and could not find a free sun bed anywhere on the ship. We walked around for 45 minutes, around main pool, Spice H2O, deck 18, all taken, half of them with only a towel or pair of flip flops on. Mind there were piles of chairs strapped together but not put in use. Complained to staff, said there is a limited number of chairs to practice social distancing. I was furious. Ended up going up to H2O and put towels on the floor and went for a dip. Problem solved.

 

Next day we decided to become chair hogs. Only reserving chairs with beach towels (for which we put down $60 deposit). Sorry but not sorry. Call me selfish but until NCL starts consistently enforcing the policy across all the fleet we’ll just do what majority of people do. 
 

 

[Travelicious]

Ah, the return of the chair hog threads.  How I missed them.

[Cruise Gopher]

Sometimes you just have to take things into your own hands to deal with. If it was just a towel on it then I’d take and return the town and sit there. If the people come back just say there was nothing on the chair when you got there.

[BirdTravels]

55 minutes ago, Travelicious said:

Ah, the return of the chair hog threads.  How I missed them.

It is only made worse because they are social distancing the loungers. So there are less than half the normal loungers out... with reduced capacity on the ship. 

[Daniel A]

46 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

It is only made worse because they are social distancing the loungers. So there are less than half the normal loungers out... with reduced capacity on the ship. 

All the more reason why the deck staff should be on top of the chair hogs.  If a passenger who is in the area for a half hour or so can spot the chair hogs, then the deck staff who are there for most of the day should be able to deal with vacant loungers without the need to be prompted thereby making us stand around for an hour waiting for the deck staff to do their job.  

[quercus alba]

2 hours ago, Travelicious said:

Ah, the return of the chair hog threads.  How I missed them.

Truly a sign that the world is returning to normal.

[SomewhereGirl]

That's ridiculous that they would put out less chairs outside to socially distance when there is no social distancing anywhere else on the ship indoors.  Heck, they bring out folding chairs for crowded events in the atrium.  That makes me mad and I don't even use the sundecks.  If there are chairs stacked and tied up, has anyone politely asked a pool deck employee to set out more?  Do they actually decline?

Edited October 2, 2021 by SomewhereGirl

[SomewhereGirl]

Just now, SomewhereGirl said:

 

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by SomewhereGirl
duplicate

[zerooveride]

Personally, if I saw only a Towel on a chair and it was there for a long time and no one came by, I would remove it and sit my fat you know what down. Done it before and would do it again!

 

Or, I would just go grab my own lounger off the pile of unused ones.

 

People are very inconsiderate, selfish and rude and I have no problem telling them that!

Edited October 2, 2021 by zerooveride

[casofilia]

Welcome to the real world of cruising!!   Chair Hogs and "Look the Other Way" crew.

[mpk]

I do feel sorry for the crew.  They are stuck between a rock and a hard place, much like grocery store and restaurant employees who have to enforce mask and vaccination certificate rules.  Everyone loses, due the inconsideration of some.

 

To clarify- I am not on the side of chair hogs at all.  These are the same people that don't pick up after their dog/cat, talk loudly in hotel corridors, etc etc etc    We all are very familiar with them on land and sea, unfortunately.  I like to think there are only a few bad apples in the bushel, but boy, do they smell bad.

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by mpk

[ChiefMateJRK]

A younger me would likely pull the towels off about a dozen chairs, toss them in one big pile and head to the bar for a drink.  If the bar was within line-of-sight, it might even be fun to watch what transpired....  (of course, I've outgrown all that at this point)

 

If a crew member asked what I was doing, I would possibly say (with a smile) "your job."

[Robb]

For one cruise I printed a bunch of papers that said  "CHAIR HOG"  and placed them on offending hog's chairs.  Not that it helped much but it made me feel good to watch the reactions of the offenders when they returned to the lounges a couple of hours later.    😘

[Yinster]

There are two types of people in this world. Chair hogs and those that don't. 

 

The chair hog is a mystery creature. Setting their alarm just to wake up so they can leave a towel or other non significant item on chairs. Then to go away from the chair for hours at end.. It's a step up from my dog peeing to mark his territory. So I guess we can thankful for that.

 

They rely heavily on other people not moving their items or even worst, to sit on their empty chairs. Leaving something that is theirs but not too important means they don't value it too much cos it could go walkabout

 

If it was up to me, if there were rows of empty chairs that had a towel or flip flop but no owners for a time, I probably switch it up a bit so group of items are not together. I'm not stealing. Just finding new homes or rather chairs for them. 

 

Or put all the items on one chair and let them fight it out. 

 

Fortunately I don't really sit sunbathing. I tan too easily in the sun so there's no need for me.

[Daniel A]

There is always the creed:  Move your feet lose your seat!

[ChiefMateJRK]

12 hours ago, Nataly1982 said:

Next day we decided to become chair hogs. Only reserving chairs with beach towels (for which we put down $60 deposit). Sorry but not sorry. Call me selfish but until NCL starts consistently enforcing the policy across all the fleet we’ll just do what majority of people do. 

Why would you do this instead of just taking over an empty chair with "hog" stuff?  If folks would just start tossing those towels, the hog problem might go away.  Do those towels have a serial number?

[SpainAlien]

15 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

That's ridiculous that they would put out less chairs outside to socially distance when there is no social distancing anywhere else on the ship indoors.  Heck, they bring out folding chairs for crowded events in the atrium.  That makes me mad and I don't even use the sundecks.  If there are chairs stacked and tied up, has anyone politely asked a pool deck employee to set out more?  Do they actually decline?

In Europe social distancing is a requirement throughout the ship

[Trimone]

Like on our cruise the staff are too frightened of upsetting customers….

Zero discipline 

[Nataly1982]

9 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Why would you do this instead of just taking over an empty chair with "hog" stuff?  If folks would just start tossing those towels, the hog problem might go away.  Do those towels have a serial number?

I would never touch other people’s stuff, especially given they paid deposit for towels.
 

We talked to deck stuff and than one of the supervisors (in white uniforms). My DH asked her to walk with us to find a free chair which we couldn’t. She was extremely apologetic and  was calling around trying to arrange more chairs to be put down asap.

 

It was only the 2nd cruise after restart and a port day (Napels). I think they underestimated how many people decided to stay on board due to Italy restrictions and didn’t put down enough chairs. We didn’t have problems with getting a chair in the following days as we head to pool much earlier. 
 

We only ever sailed Norwegian. Is there the same problem on other cruise lines? 
 

 

[SomewhereGirl]

5 hours ago, SpainAlien said:

In Europe social distancing is a requirement throughout the ship

Interesting.  How is that enforced?  How do all the people socially distance in the little swimming pool?  Disembarking must be interesting.  Genuinely curious.

[Goldconnection]

I don’t understand the mentality of the so call chair hog and those that bake themselves in the sun. I personally don’t sunbathe. Blessed to have a beautiful natural even tan. 😉 This is my personal opinion, please respect it.

Edited October 3, 2021 by Goldconnection
Make additional comment.

[deek72]

On 10/2/2021 at 9:35 AM, SpainAlien said:

Simple. If they haven't got a handbag or any other personal stuff there, just move the towels and use the lounger. I would have absolutely no hesitation in doing so. 

Edited October 3, 2021 by deek72

[Sthrngary]

On 10/2/2021 at 3:05 AM, SpainAlien said:

They are out in force today on our sea day. I have a couple of sunbeds that we are occupying at the moment, we have been here since 9am (1 hour) we are the only people actually sitting here in a group of about 20 sunbeds and yet every bed has a towel. I have spoken to one of the crew and he said they allow one hour!  So I pointed out that we are the only people here and have been for an hour so he put a sticker on the sunbeds presumably giving them another hour, in the meantime people are wandering about looking for somewhere to sit, it's disgraceful 

Yes, this in every single cruise that I have been on. Where I just move the towels and sit down, my wife won't let me do it.  She says, "someone will come back and it will create a scene."  My response is, "Good". 

This is the reason I started to book the "Haven".  Not the only reason but one of the reasons.  This behavior is like over filling your plate in a buffet when they finally put out the shrimp or steak.  The crew can never win when they enforce the rule of one hour. 

Cruise Well.