Sun Bed Bandits! Don’t you just hate them!

Sun Bed Bandits – One of my pet hates

I absolutely hate the ignorance of some people when it comes to sun loungers.

Why oh why do they think that the rules don’t apply to them?  We read the very prominent signs around the poolside, and in our daily on board magazine, which states quite clearly that the only way to reserve a sun lounger is to sit on it.

Yet still, they completely ignore them, and stick a towel on a sun lounger, and proceed to walk away from it for sometimes hours, until they decide it’s convenient to go and use it??

Recently, I watched as 2 couples sat near to me, laid out their towels, then one couple said that they will be spending the rest of the day in their cabin, as it was ‘too hot’, and that they’d be back around 5, when it got a bit cooler???!!!!  How rude!  Unfortunately this wasn’t an isolated incident.  Some even reserve a sunbed on both port and starboard so they can follow the sun!  Outrageous!

The following picture was taken onboard the Liberty of the Seas at 7:30am!!!

On one of the days at sea, I had breakfast and planned to sunbathe most of the day, so at 10:00am I went up to the Adults Only Pool area, and was surprised to see at least 30 sun loungers with towels on them, but no one in sight!  Then, during the next couple of hours, more people came up, picked their ‘spot’, whether that was port or starboard, near the bar, near the pool, put their towels on them, and walk away!  It wasn’t until almost 2 hours later that people came up to ‘claim’ their prized spot.  By this time, the people who had read the rules and were considerate, were wandering around the rows and rows of sun loungers looking for 2 together. (Have you noticed that there’s always one Sun Lounger on its own, with 2 being used either side? – Don’t like to get too close, we’re British after all….)  Shameful!

This practise isn’t just restricted to cruise ship pools.  I have encountered this mind numbingly ignorant behaviour around hotel pools as well.  There has to be a better way of policing the rules than just by asking politely.  Clearly this isn’t working!

Carnival Cruises have a ‘use it or lose it’ policy which strikes me as the way forward.  A sticker is placed on the offending sun bed which has been ‘saved’ and then after 40 minutes, the items are removed and held in a towel station.  Brilliant!

I would love to be a Sun Lounger Rule Enforcer!  I’m sure if there were a permanent presence by the pool during the day, this would deter the diehard sun bed bandits!

What do you think? Whats your experience of the sun bed bandits?  Are you one yourself? Come on! Own up!