Guest Author - Lisa Shea

If you're going on a cruise, it is CRITICAL that you understand the issue of chair etiquette. No other problem seems to irk cruise travellers more than this one.

What is at stake here is that a cruise is a communal experience. Thousands of people are together for a week or so at a time, having to share all of the amenities on the ship. There is NOT a chair on deck for every single person on that ship. That means that everybody has to share. For one person to hog a chair by marking it with their belongings - even when they are off sleeping in their cabin - is simply rude and greedy.

Because the ship is a closed system, a person who is a chair hog immediately becomes well known and infamous amongst their fellow passengers. This can easily cause a domino effect where that person is now mistreated and shunned by others for their behavior. The chair hog might not even realize what is going on, and now has a miserable time on the cruise because of their activities.

You should never try to save a chair. If you're not going to be on it (except perhaps for running to the bathroom or bar of course!), then let someone else use it. Yes, we all like sitting in the sun sometimes. But we all have to go eat, sleep, and do other activities too. There are typically enough chairs to accomodate everybody who CURRENTLY wishes to sit on chairs. The problem comes up when half the chairs are "claimed" - and those people are off elsewhere. That means that people who want to sit there - even if only for 1/2 hour - are now stuck.