The easiest way for a cruise to become stressful is when fellow passengers decide to break the rules that are in place so that everyone can have an enjoyable experience.
One of these rules that is broken all too often is none other than chair hogging — and yes, it is a real problem.
In March 2025, TikToker Jess of @jesstravel7 posted a video about her experience with fellow passengers “reserving” lounge chairs at one of the pools on Royal Caribbean’s 5,668-passenger Utopia of the Seas.
This style of “reserving” the lounge chairs is when guests simply leave towels on them with the hopes they will remain empty until they return — of course, at an unknown time.
Jess posted the first of two videos about the experience on the Oasis-class ship to her 10.1k followers on March 1, 2025.
“This is what you call entitlement on a cruise ship, saving all these pool chairs, do not do this,” Jess says at the beginning of the video, showing a row of empty chairs.
She goes on to add, “If you are not here, do not save the seats. People are looking for seats, this is called entitlement.”
Jess’ newfound audience was quick to support her in the comments, saying that it would be fair for passengers looking for chairs to simply move the towels if someone was not using them.
“The people defending this are the same people who don’t put their shopping carts back,” commented one viewer.
“I’m entitled to remove the towels and take a seat,” added another.
Others chimed in that it was poor management on behalf of the crew to allow such behavior to happen without any repercussions.
The video has amassed 3.2 million views since being posted, and Jess provided a follow-up video on March 13, 2025.
When Does the Crew Step in to Stop Rule-Breaking Guests?
The second video, which now has 4.3 million views, shows the crew on the 236,680 gross ton Utopia of the Seas removing the towels an hour after Jess had initially been looking for a place to sit.
This TikToker clarified that it would be perfectly acceptable to leave a towel on the lounge chairs if you were in or around the pool area, but attempting to save the spot for several hours while even out on excursions was not ok.
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Responses to this video were more mixed, but only because other Royal Caribbean passengers felt like their experiences with the same issue were handled in very different ways than what was shown on Jess’ cruise.
“I’m glad they are doing something about it. We went last May and I asked for help and they told me they couldn’t move people’s things… hours of empty chairs reserved with towels,” replied one person, sharing their less-than-ideal experience.
“Was on Royal Caribbean last week. They don’t play with people saving pool chairs for hrs! And believe me, they are constantly watching,” commented another, sharing how the crew took the issue seriously.
The second video ends with a photo of an upset passenger whose towels did get taken, a reality that should not be so unexpected if she decided to blatantly disregard the rules.
The cruise line’s policy on the use of pool deck chairs is clearly outlined on their website — they are only supposed to be available on a first-come, first-served basis and cannot be reserved.
“If a pool chair is left unattended for more than 30 minutes with no signs of any guests returning, our crew will remove any belongings and place them in the lost and found,” states the Royal Caribbean policy.
However, the enforcement of this policy has been questioned repeatedly, as many cruisers have not witnessed the crew carrying it out consistently.
A passenger on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas had a similar issue with chair hogging in February 2025.
In response to their Reddit post about the experience, fellow cruisers were quick to point out the cruise line’s shortcomings with the enforcement of their own policy, as they often let guests leave their belongings for several hours.
While guests like Jess eventually got a chair because the crew decided to step in and remove the towels from chairs that were not being used, passengers should not have to wait so long because others decided to be inconsiderate.
After all, this is not a theme park — it is a pool deck. People should be allowed to sit without waiting an obscene amount of time!
