13 Clever Ways to Outsmart Chair Hogs on a Cruise

I can absolutely confirm I enjoy my morning coffee on the Lido. I can also admit to seeing said chair hogs claiming excessive chairs. I can not confirm or deny collecting said towels and depositing them all on one chair at the end of the row.

I’ve read comments reporting they’ve seen ppl go to the pool area late at night after fresh clean towels are placed in the bins, grab the towels & save their chairs for the next day. Dec of 2023 we went on a 7 night cruise. We looked for an empty chair everyday. The only time we got a chair was the day they cancelled the port stop due to wind. This December I’m going to look at things differently. When I see chairs saved, I’m going to be grateful that they saved the chair for me. I’ll remove the towel, sit down & enjoy the sun. I refuse to give away my power to inconsiderate people.

My wife and I watched two chairs in the shade that had towels on them and after 20 minutes, we removed the towels, and sat on the chairs in the shade. A few minutes later a woman who had been sitting in the sun with her husband directly across from the shaded chairs came over and collected her towels. She didn’t look any too happy but we didn’t care at all.

There were 14 of us on a family cruise aboard Royal Caribbean. My daughter and I wanted to sit outside in the sun for awhile. We looked everywhere and could not find any empty chairs. We picked 2 that had some personal belongings and moved the stuff off in a pile. We sat there for at least an hour and a half, no one came to claim the chairs. We put the stuff back on the chairs and went on our way. People can be so inconsiderate and think nothing of it. I enjoy all your videos, thank you.

I love removing a dozen towels or so in the early morning while people are at breakfast, returning them, and spending my day in the highest bar on the ship, watching the chaos.

We could not find 2 chairs in the sunny area by the pool one day. I spotted 2 empty chairs and asked an attendant if he could also watch those chairs. I set my timer for 40 minutes and approached the attendant again, he didn't want to move the towels or help us out. I said thank you and walked over to the chairs and set our things down. I gathered the 2 previous towels and returned them to big laundry bin by the pool attendant. After being in those chairs nearly 2 1/2 hours the owners came down to claim them. I politely told them that an attendant removed the towels and let us sit there. The couple of women had clearly just had lunch and had never even set foot in the pool. They weren't happy, but what could they do? Then next day I did the same thing, waited 40 minutes and removed the towels. No one came by and we had great seats. I was frustrated that the RC attendant did not want to help or get involved. My advice is to set your timer and wait the 40 minutes the attendants would wait and take care of it yourself. My poor husband was mortified, but fair is fair and shame on RC for not enforcing the rules that are clearly stated in several areas around the pool.

My wife and I just got off a Carnival Cruise last month and all around the pool areas and on their big video screen near their main pool, they posted messages regarding saving deck chairs that if a chair was saved, they imposed a 40 minute time limit or the belongings would be removed. I dont know if it was really enforced, but I am glad to see that it is finally being addressed.

Its unfortunate that the actual chair hogs probably do not watch your awesome videos!

Fortunately, I don’t really like hanging out around the pool. I so much prefer the fan tail or an upper deck view of the ocean. It’s definitely minimized my frustration regarding chairs.

Saving 20 chairs would be a big no no for me. If I saw someone doing that, I’d just sit in one of the chairs anyway.

I go to the pool right after breakfast. It's sunny but not blazing, the pool is warm and an hour or two is all you need. The hogs that kill me is towel and a book but don't come back until noon. I just move their stuff into the shade next to the smoking area then go to lunch 😆

My view is that if you are going to leave your chair for over 30 minutes you give up the chair. That includes if you rush out there first thing in the morning to reserve the chair. The chair is a scarce commodity and should be treated as such. If possible share your chair. If your kids are going to be in the pool the whole time they don't need a chair.

NEW CONCEPT: Total prohibition on reserving chairs.

Yes, removing unattended towels from the lounge chairs and staking your territory is a good move, just as removing someone's clothes from the dryer that has been unattended even before you started your load of laundry. You snooze, you lose.

3:35 We AGREE...we paid for a cruise to 😊SEE, smell and feel the ❤Sea air...and when getting sunshine while sitting these chairs i feel less eyes judging my imperfect body

We really dislike chair hogs. I like the idea of them being monitored. Give people 45 minutes, then have staff pull their stuff off & put it by the towel area.

I will put a post-it note on my stuff with a BRB and the current time if I need to get a drink or need to use the bathroom.

Great tips Ilana. On Celebrity many times i love to sit in the Solarium by a window. It usually very quiet and available. But even there i have seen someone put some stuff on some chairs and then i wouldn't see them for hours. Yes the pool attendant did finally remove their stuff one morning after I told her about the chair hog. Happy cruising Ilana!

Great ideas Ilana! 😊 We’ve had success with some of these. Once though things didn’t work so well! 😳😂 We moved a towel once (and the lounger thankfully so we were not found out by the people involved!) after asking if anyone had been using the lounger and getting a negative (being told they hadn’t been there for three hours!) but then they returned and were livid! 😮 Hubby was in the pool at the time so he didn’t witness it and I just pled ignorance. 😂

The crew people should enforce any rules about chair saving.