HAL and chair hogs...

[lysolqn]

Will be on Westerdam shortly and curious to know what the chair hog situation is (in general) on HAL ships in the Caribbean. On virtually all of our other Caribbean cruises there's been an abundance of hogs which oftentimes makes it difficult to find seating, even in the shade.

[u4ea]

I've never noticed, but it depends on the cruise I guess.

"It takes a types of critters to make farmer John's fritters"

Mark...

[hammybee]

I don't think it's as bad on HAL as some other lines. Of course the prime spots are by the main pool near the LIDO. To find better and ofter more private space , go up and aft.

[kakalina]

I've never had a problem with chair hogs on a HAL cruise. Sometimes table hogs in the smoking section but not chair hogs.

[jtl513]

We have yet to be on a HAL Caribbean cruise (less than 3 days now though!!) but on other itineraries we've never had a problem finding deck chairs. On sea days there may be a minor crush around the Lido pool, but around the aft pool I don't think I ever saw more than 1/2 in use at any one time.

 

Once at a sail-away from a port we had to take a couple of deck chairs off a stack for ourselves, because there wasn't any steward in sight to do it for us, but there were lots of chairs in the stack still.

 

If by "chair hogs" you mean people who throw stuff on a chair early in the morning and go away for long periods, I've never noticed much of that either, because there's not that much competition for chairs anywhere I've been.

[navybankerteacher]

On a couple of occasions when I have been reading by a pool I have noticed people come and place towels, magazines, etc. on chairs to save them and then go off. If, after twenty minutes or so, they do not come back, and I see other people looking for chairs, I simply remove the "hog markers" without comment -- placing them in a neat pile by the rail. If, when the hogs return, they protest, the chair occupants usually honestly say that the chairs were vacant. If enough other people did this, the chair hogs would go the way of the dodo -- unsuccesful evolutionary freaks usually die out.

[jtl513]

If, after twenty minutes or so, they do not come back, and I see other people looking for chairs, I simply remove the "hog markers" without comment -- placing them in a neat pile by the rail. If, when the hogs return, they protest, the chair occupants usually honestly say that the chairs were vacant. If enough other people did this, the chair hogs would go the way of the dodo -- unsuccesful evolutionary freaks usually die out.

 

I LOVE it! :D :D

[Sunshine91]

If, after twenty minutes or so, they do not come back, and I see other people looking for chairs, I simply remove the "hog markers" without comment -- placing them in a neat pile by the rail.

 

I like your style.

[Sea King]

On a couple of occasions when I have been reading by a pool I have noticed people come and place towels, magazines, etc. on chairs to save them and then go off. If, after twenty minutes or so, they do not come back, and I see other people looking for chairs, I simply remove the "hog markers" without comment -- placing them in a neat pile by the rail. If, when the hogs return, they protest, the chair occupants usually honestly say that the chairs were vacant. If enough other people did this, the chair hogs would go the way of the dodo -- unsuccesful evolutionary freaks usually die out.

just curious navybankerteacher: what gives you the right to do anything to another person's chair:confused:

 

how did you arrive at 20 minutes as the cutoff

 

would it have mattered if besides a towel or magazines, someone left a book or other personal belongings

 

what if the person whose chair you "emptied" needed to go to the front office to check on something and there was a line .. what if the person needed to go to the infirmary and didn't return for 22 minutes?

 

sorry: don't find the above quote amusing at all:(

 

I'm sure if you "staked out a chair" for a time and there was nothing on it but a towel, you could ask a deck steward for help if after a prolonged period, no one returned ..

 

or in the alternative, why not just mind your own business:rolleyes:

[nabby]

:rolleyes: Sea King!

You must be a "saver". The obvious answer, of course, is that if you need to go to the front office or do any other business, you do that FIRST - and then go find your own deck chair.

[Hollyhawk]

just curious navybankerteacher: what gives you the right to do anything to another person's chair:confused:

 

how did you arrive at 20 minutes as the cutoff

 

would it have mattered if besides a towel or magazines, someone left a book or other personal belongings

 

what if the person whose chair you "emptied" needed to go to the front office to check on something and there was a line .. what if the person needed to go to the infirmary and didn't return for 22 minutes?

 

sorry: don't find the above quote amusing at all:(

 

I'm sure if you "staked out a chair" for a time and there was nothing on it but a towel, you could ask a deck steward for help if after a prolonged period, no one returned ..

 

or in the alternative, why not just mind your own business:rolleyes:

Or had to take a shower, eat breakfast, get their nails done, get a massage, ect.?

[lougee1043]

i too remove the stuff and generally put it near the towel bins and if the party comes back i tell them that the deck steward removed them because the chair was unoccupied

[kryos]

just curious navybankerteacher: what gives you the right to do anything to another person's chair

Maybe it was someone in his group who wanted the chair?

 

I guess a better way to handle this would be to grab a deck steward and ask him to remove the stuff.

 

As for if someone has to go to the front desk or the infirmary, I'd have to say that they shouldn't have grabbed the chair until they were back ... or they should have taken the stuff with them. Common sense says that if it is a nice sunny sea day, on a Caribbean cruise ... one should realize that the better positioned chairs by the pool are gonna be in high demand ... especially if there are a lot of kids on the sailing, and parents who want to keep an eye on their kids while they are in the swimming pool. Therefore, people shouldn't tie one of those premium chairs up if they are gonna be away from it for longer than it takes to perhaps use the restroom or grab a drink. That's just common courtesy and when folks don't use it, I have no problem with someone removing their stuff from a deck chair ... and the person who "reserved" it and then walked off shouldn't either.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[michmike]

sea king - you're not going to find any support here. Too many of us have had run-ins with the chair hogs. Folks who go out and stake out prime spots with their books etc even before bfast and then come back 2 hrs later and wonder why someone had to audacity to sit in THEIR chair.

 

Did have to laugh at the fella a couple of weeks ago who talked about how he had walked by the Pinnacle and placed a book on one of the steaks on display to mark it as HIS.

[kryos]

:rolleyes: Sea King!

You must be a "saver". The obvious answer, of course, is that if you need to go to the front office or do any other business, you do that FIRST - and then go find your own deck chair.

Exactly.

 

Thankfully this problem does not appear to be too bad on HAL, but I've read threads on other boards that talk about people coming out to the pool at like 5:00 a.m. and placing towels across a whole row of chairs for their party. Then you won't see those people again until hours later, after the family has all enjoyed breakfast. I've actually heard of people bringing all manner of old sneakers, flip flops, torn up paperbacks, etc. on their cruise specifically to be used for the purpose of chair hogging.

 

This is not playing fair in my opinion and I don't blame anyone from having someone's stuff removed. But I would ask a deck hand to do it, simply to avoid a possible fight when the original occupants returned and found their chairs taken. That could, in some cases, get pretty ugly and I have heard of actual fistfights breaking out on some lines.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Fatfish]

Rita...I agree with you...Let the deckhand do it.:D

[BumperII]

just curious navybankerteacher: what gives you the right to do anything to another person's chair:confused:

 

sorry: don't find the above quote amusing at all:(

 

or in the alternative, why not just mind your own business:rolleyes:

 

Sea King:

Thankfully, HAL cruise ships are the one place in the industry where these problems almost don't exist. The answer is simple: Public spaces are just that. The enjoyment of the ship's passengers as a whole is far more important than any one person's need to "stake out a claim" in a public area.

I paid for the right to access to the public areas. I have more right to a lounge chair than any towel, book or pair of sunglasses.

[walnut99]

This thread reminds me of one of the reasons I enjoy HAL over some of those other lines. For the most part, the chairs are used by people enjoying the weather rather than a place for people to store their belongs while they enjoy the other opportunities the ship affords.

 

I was once on a ship where the desirable areas around the pool looked like a food market by seven AM every sea day. Most chairs were empty but were reserved by placing a banana on them. Also, groups would reserve a chair for every member even though some members of the group would only pass by and stay for a few minutes all day. They had the security of knowing that a desirable chair had been reserved for them for the day. The fact that others could not find chairs was of no consequence to them. To me that is simply not fair.

 

John

[Hollyhawk]

BOOK OVERBAORD WEARING SUNGLASSES AND FLIP FLOPS.......

no I don't litter, but think it would be funny should it happen.

[Hoyaheel]

On the Maasdam 11-day caribbean, there were times when the loungers next to the Lido were full, but I don't recall "saved" chairs. We didn't like that pool, anyway, and were always at the aft pool, where there were always chairs available, and almost always chairs in the "front row" next to the pool, even:D

[lysolqn]

Thanx for your responses. Glad to know HAL doesn't seem to have the same "hogging" issues as do many of the other lines we've sailed.

 

As an aside, I've always wondered whether chair hogs bring their hogging supplies from home or acquire them along the way. They must be given credit for their originality; the hogging supplies we've seen include bananas, a lone flip-flip or worn sneaker (do they hop around until they return to the chair), half a magazine or paperback book (are they still reading the other half?), empty bottle of suntan lotion, torn tee shirt, cap - and the all time winner, the bottom half of what must have been a ladies' two-piece bathing suit (that one conjures up too weird an image to even entertain!).

[sail7seas]

I don't care to use the public restrooms if it can be avoided.

 

How many minutes am I permitted to be away from my chair, walk to my cabin, use the restroom, perhaps have a glass of water while in my cabin and return to my seat? Is there a set amount of time when someone will think it fine to remove my possession and plant themselves in my seat? Am I even permitted to leave the pool area to use my cabin restroom or does that act in and of itself constitute a violation of 'hog rules'?

 

I'm not being facetious. I'm serious. How many minutes am I permitted to be away from my seat for an 'excused absence'?

 

 

 

[sswitenki]

I have been to a few resorts that put a time limit of 1 hour at which time resort employee will come and remove articles sitting on an unoccupied chair and take to the front desk where it can be reclaimed by the offender. Personally I think an hour is a little long but at least it is a limit. I dislike chair hogs.

[Sea King]

until now, I had only heard of quahogs and the famous sewat hogs from Welcome Back Mr. Kotter!:eek:

 

never had heard of the term "chair hog"

 

must be my sheltered life:)

 

seems to me the only fair way to solve this problem on the high seas democratically (or Republicanally) is by having everyone go to the Rembrandt Lounge and get tickets just like you do for tenders then proceed back the entire length of the ship to aft pool with a receipt .. if you can make the journey in less than 3 minutes (forgot to add the lounge tickets will be timed stamped), you win .. if not, back to the lounge:D

 

and no .. contrary to some comments, I'm not a saver .. I'm a user:cool:

[Chivalrygirl]

Saw plenty of them also in the time I spent on the Statendam. I found them rather pathetic, especially when they lay across half a dozen seats, some people just have to sit right in the front along with their entourage. Don't ask me why, still trying to fathom how some folk can be so damn rude. There were a couple of occasions when I thought I saw a riot coming on, nearly but not quite.

 

Saw just as well from the side and the back, however the chairs and sofas in that particular venue on this particular ship badly need replacing, would not wish to sit in them for too long, very uncomfortable.