Chair-hogging wars heat up as cruise travelers use sneaky tactics amid crackdowns

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Cruise lines are stepping up efforts to stop passengers from reserving poolside lounge chairs for hours while leaving them unattended. Chair hogging has long been a problem on major cruise lines — and now a few popular companies are cracking down on so-called pool pirates. For decades, cruise passengers have practiced a time-honored tradition of grabbing anything they can find — towels, flip-flops, even dolls — to reserve lounge chairs by the pool for hours when the individuals are nowhere to be found, according to several cruise blogs. Now, social media reports indicate Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) is getting serious about the issue. CRUISE PASSENGERS COMPLAINED ABOUT CABIN PROBLEM; NOW SHIPS ARE MAKING A BIG CHANGE "Norwegian Cruise Line is earning praise from passengers for actually enforcing its chair-hogging policy," according to the unrealcruise