Sun Bed Wars at Sea

It’s always been a bit of a joke with British holidaymakers that the Germans are up at 6 am to put their towels on the sunbeds so they get the best spots. But are us Brits just us bad now when it comes to reserving a sunbed nowadays?

On my recent MSC cruise, we had a full day at sea and the weather was fantastic and the outside decks was full to the brim.

We was lucky, we was up at a reasonable time and after breakfast headed to the pool and had our pick of beds.

We’re alright Jack, we’ve got our beds for the day and do not intend moving!

About an hour later though, it was a different story. Most of the sunbeds (in the best position) had been taken and like you find in land resorts most just had towels on but no people! As you can see from the photo below.

What was also annoying, was seeing a couple on 2 beds, then a bed on its own, then another couple on 2 beds and a bed on it’s own, all because they do not want to be so close to the next guest!

Beds would be left for hours with no one on them and you could see and hear other guests getting very frustrated at this.

There was a British family on board and they had taken around 5 to 6 beds but only 1 or 2 of them was ever around at one time using  them.  Another couple had obviously noticed that two of the beds had not been used for a very long time and the pool attendant actually helped them remove the unused towels and the couple took their place on the sun beds.

They must of been there for a good hour before the some of the Brits came back (we had not seen this particular couple once whilst there) and there was nearly fisty cuffs around the pool. The pool attendant was called over as it started to cause a big disturbance about who gets to use the beds. In the end the couple who came in and claimed the beds after seeing they wasn’t being used won the argument and remained in their spot. However, because of the close proximity to the other members of the group, they actually moved after a while because of the awkwardness being caused (I will leave that to your imagination) which wasn’t very nice.

On the MSC Musica, there is lost of space for sun beds, but as you can imagine when the ship is full to the brim with near on 3,500 guests and the weather is beautiful, it can get very busy and noisy on the upper decks and not enough beds to go around.

They have an area called Deck 16 and this is a deck where you pay €10 for the day and you are in an adult only space at the front of the ship, with more comfortable beds and lots of space between you. Most cruise ships have these now a days and for €10 is is probably one of the lowest priced option I have known. You get a bigger, fluffier towel, a complimentary dressing gown, attendants on hand to get your drinks and although there is no pool, they do have showers that you can use to cool yourself down.

As you can see, not many guests used this facility, but I have to be honest, it is worth the €10 for the day, as on the main deck it got noisy and very crowded.

So are the pool attendants actually doing their job properly, should there be a time limit on how long you can leave a towel on a bed for without it being used?  I know most hotel and resorts now have signs to advise if they see a bed unattended for an hour they have the right to remove your belongings so that someone else can use the bed. I 100% think this is fair, what do you think?

Dawn

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