Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean fix passenger pain point (original) (raw)
Some cruise passengers focus on making their vacations the best they can be without considering other people's needs, acting as if they're the only people on board.
If you have been on a cruise you have seen the people who use portable speakers to play music, the families that give their kids tablets with no headphones, and the jerks who get up early to claim chairs by the pool by putting their stuff down and leaving.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line shares news on its new ships
Most cruise lines have banned portable speakers and require people to wear headphones while using devices in public spaces. Those rules aren't always enforced, and it's easier to take away a speaker from an adult than an iPad from a toddler watching Ms. Rachel, but it's easy to see who's breaking the rules.
Hogging chairs poolside is harder to enforce because people are allowed to pick a chair, take a swim, get a drink or maybe an ice cream, and go back to the chair. That makes it tricky to know who has claimed chairs and disappeared for hours at a time and who is just off at the pool.
Carnival Cruise Line, however, plans to enforce a rule it first began testing in 2024. Life Well Cruised's Ilana Schattauer shared the details in a recent video.
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Carnival enforces a 40-minute rule
Carnival began using a 40-minute rule in 2024 but only on some ships.
"On Carnival, and I've actually seen this on a couple of other cruise lines as well, they have a policy of 40 minutes unoccupied. What happens is if crew members notice that a chair is unoccupied for a certain period of time, they'll place a little notice or note card on the chair that will say the time, and when 40 minutes have passed, they will remove the items from the chair," Schattauer reported.
Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean have a stated policy that they will remove your items (and bring them to a towel stand) if you don't return to your chair within a certain period. Neither has regularly enforced those policies because it creates a potentially dangerous situation.
The new person who takes that chair could be confronted by the former occupant even though it was the cruise line and not that person who removed their items.
Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald, however, has said that his cruise line is going to enforce the rule this year.
"If they are not back by that time, we will remove it," he posted on his Facebook page. "It's only fair to make it that way. Ever since I've worked on cruise ships, there've been people desperate to get the chairs. We are doing our very best. It's not a perfect system; it would be silly of me to suggest otherwise. But it is something we need to do."
Royal Caribbean has a lighter touch
Royal Caribbean's policy is that pool-deck chairs can be reserved for only 30 minutes. It also has begun placing slip covers over chairs to remind passengers of its rules, but it has been less aggressive than Carnival when it comes to enforcing its policies.
If, however, a passenger requests that the cruise line free up some pool chairs, security will sometimes remove items and bring them to a towel station.
Some Royal Caribbean passengers will take matters into their own hands.
"I have no problems or shame taking a towel off of a chair and placing it neatly to the side while myself and my family occupy an otherwise vacant space," Kinsmana posted on Reddit. "I've had this discussion with folks on All Inclusive forum boards and while I do remove the towel, I remain amicable to the situation and offer to move if indeed someone had a legitimate reason to leave their stuff (ie. were in line for a drink, etc)."
Other passengers propose a different solution.
"I wish RCI would just make cubbies or something where people can keep their towels, sunscreen, and stuff while they’re at the pool," added Otfit. "People who don’t even have any intention of using a chair are forced to take one because we have no where else to keep our stuff. I try and grab an undesirable chair in these cases. Maybe they could eliminate the smoking area by the pool and make some cubbies."
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This story was originally published January 15, 2025 at 11:20 AM.