The pool-deck attendant looked at the row of lounge chairs, then back at Karen.

There were six chairs.

Karen was sitting on exactly one of them.

A yellow towel occupied another. A sun hat sat on the next. A beach bag claimed another chair, while a blue towel and paperback book appeared to be guarding the last two.

Five empty chairs.

One passenger.

“Ma’am, are all five of these empty chairs yours?” the attendant asked.

Karen lowered her sunglasses.

“Yes. My family might come back.”

A few feet away, an older couple stood looking for somewhere to sit.

The attendant glanced down the row again.

“They’ve been empty for quite a while.”

Karen wasn’t impressed.

“Then everyone else can find another deck.”

It sounds exaggerated, but the battle over pool-deck loungers is familiar enough that major cruise lines publish policies addressing it.

And chair saving is only one way passengers can make a relaxing afternoon at sea more difficult than it needs to be.

Some of the following are actual cruise-line rules. Others are simply smart shared-space etiquette or basic safety habits.

Either way, here are 10 things worth avoiding on your next sea day.

1. Don’t Reserve a Row of Chairs You’re Not Actually Using

Let’s settle the Karen situation first.

If you’re sitting in a lounger and enjoying the pool deck, use your chair.

If you temporarily get up to use the pool, that’s one thing.

But putting towels, hats, books, shoes, and bags across a row of loungers so your group can possibly use them hours later is another.

And on some cruise lines, this isn’t merely an unwritten etiquette rule.

Royal Caribbean currently says its pool-deck chairs are first come, first served and cannot be reserved. It also says crew may remove belongings from a chair left unattended for more than 30 minutes when there is no sign of the guest returning.

Carnival uses a different system. Its ChairShare Team can mark apparently unoccupied loungers holding towels or personal belongings and remove the items for safekeeping if the chair remains unused for 40 minutes.

So don’t assume the time limit from one line applies to another.

Pool-deck rule: Use the chair you’re actually using, and check your cruise line’s current policy before assuming a towel can reserve a lounger indefinitely.

2. Don’t Ignore the Signs Around the Pool and Hot Tub

You’ve taken 15 cruises.

Great.

You still need to read the signs.

Different ships—and sometimes different pools on the same ship—can have different restrictions, operating hours, age requirements, supervision expectations, and other rules.

Royal Caribbean, for example, says specific rules and guidelines are posted near every onboard pool.

That’s a better source than saying:

“But they let us do this on our last cruise.”

You may be standing on a different ship, beside a different type of recreational water facility, operating under different instructions.

This is especially important if you’re traveling with grandchildren.

Don’t assume the lifeguard, if one is present, replaces adult supervision. Royal Caribbean specifically states that its lifeguards are not babysitters and requires adult supervision for children 12 and under.

Pool-deck rule: Read the signs at the facility you’re actually using.

3. Don’t Bring Glass Where the Ship Says It Doesn’t Belong

Imagine dropping a glass container in a place where passengers are walking around barefoot.

That’s why you should never assume you can carry any type of drinkware anywhere you want around a pool.

The exact restrictions can vary by ship and venue, so follow the posted instructions and use the containers provided or permitted by the venue.

And if a crew member asks you to move or replace something for safety reasons, don’t turn it into an argument.

Royal Caribbean’s broader conduct policy requires guests to comply with health and safety instructions from crew.

This isn’t about whether your favorite drink looks better in a particular glass.

It’s about a shared recreational area where lots of people are walking with bare feet.

Pool-deck rule: Use the drinkware the venue provides and follow the posted restrictions around the specific pool.

4. Don’t Run Across a Wet Pool Deck

This one shouldn’t require a complicated rule book.

Pool decks get wet.

People climb out of pools.

Water drips from swimsuits.

Feet are wet.

Weather can add more water.

Crew may also be cleaning parts of the deck.

Now add lounge chairs, tables, steps, passengers, servers, and people walking in different directions.

Running through that environment simply adds unnecessary risk.

This advice matters for every age group. Being over 60 doesn’t automatically mean you’re fragile, and there’s no reason to treat older travelers that way.

It does mean many readers of this article have enough travel experience to know that losing five seconds is better than losing part of a vacation because you were rushing.

If the surface looks wet, slow down.

Use handrails where appropriate.

Give other passengers room.

Pool-deck rule: A sea day isn’t a race. Walk deliberately around wet surfaces.

5. Don’t Let Children Turn the Deck Into a Running Track

A cruise pool should be fun for children.

The surrounding deck doesn’t need to become an obstacle course.

Running between loungers, cutting across busy walkways, and weaving around passengers carrying drinks or food can create problems very quickly.

If you’re cruising with children or grandchildren, check the rules for the facilities they’re using.

For example, Royal Caribbean says adult supervision is required for children 12 and younger even though it has lifeguards at pools and waterslides during opening hours.

Other cruise lines and ships can have different procedures.

The point isn’t to stop children from having fun.

It’s to put that fun in the right place.

The pool is for swimming and playing within the rules.

A busy wet walkway isn’t a racetrack.

Pool-deck rule: Know the supervision requirements on your ship and keep high-energy play away from crowded walking areas.

6. Don’t Turn the Pool Into Your Personal Bathtub

Yes, this needs to be said.

A swimming pool is a shared recreational facility.

It isn’t the place to bring your personal soap, shampoo, or washing routine.

If you need to rinse off, use the appropriate shower or rinse facility where provided and follow the instructions posted there.

Think about the situation from the other passengers’ perspective.

You’re enjoying the pool when someone arrives carrying toiletries and starts behaving as though they’ve discovered the world’s largest outdoor bathtub.

Nobody needs that sea-day memory.

There’s also a broader principle here: don’t add substances or foreign objects to recreational water facilities unless they’re specifically intended and permitted for that use.

Pool-deck rule: Keep personal washing in the appropriate facilities and shared swimming in the pool.

7. Don’t Force the Entire Deck to Listen to Your Music

You love classic rock.

The passenger three chairs away loves jazz.

Someone else loves country.

And the woman beside the window may have chosen that particular spot because she wants to hear nothing except the ocean.

This is why personal entertainment should remain personal.

Royal Caribbean’s current conduct policy specifically prohibits boom boxes, loud radios, and other noise nuisances.

That doesn’t mean every cruise line writes its rule using identical language.

It does illustrate the larger issue: a shared deck isn’t your private backyard.

If you want to listen to your own music, use an appropriate personal listening setup and follow the ship’s rules.

Don’t start a volume competition with the passenger beside you.

Nobody wins that contest.

Pool-deck rule: Your playlist shouldn’t automatically become everyone else’s playlist.

8. Don’t Leave Your Phone, Wallet, or Cabin Card Sitting Around

You put your phone on the lounger.

Your cabin card is beside it.

Your wallet is inside an open beach bag.

Then you go swimming.

Maybe nothing happens.

But why make important belongings harder to control than necessary?

A pool deck is a busy public area. Passengers and crew are constantly moving through it, and belongings can be misplaced, accidentally picked up, damaged, or simply forgotten.

This doesn’t mean cruise ships are crawling with thieves.

Fear isn’t necessary.

Good habits are.

Bring only what you actually need, and use the storage or security options available to you where appropriate.

Also remember that scattering belongings over multiple chairs isn’t a clever security strategy—it brings us right back to mistake #1.

Pool-deck rule: Keep essential items controlled rather than leaving them exposed while you disappear for an extended period.

9. Don’t Turn the Walkway Into Your Personal Storage Area

Look down around your chair.

Where are your shoes?

Where’s the beach bag?

Where did you leave the book?

What about the towel?

Pool gear has a remarkable ability to spread.

One passenger begins with one lounger and, 20 minutes later, their belongings occupy the chair, the table, the floor beside the chair, and half the walking route.

Keep your things within your own usable space rather than letting them migrate into shared pathways.

This becomes particularly important around stairs, entrances, busy routes between loungers and pools, and other places where passengers need clear access.

Royal Caribbean’s broader policy prohibits unsafe behavior and requires compliance with crew safety instructions, but you don’t need a written rule to recognize that creating unnecessary obstacles in a busy walkway is a bad idea.

Pool-deck rule: Your belongings should have a home that isn’t underneath somebody else’s feet.

10. Don’t Assume Every Pool Deck Works the Same Way

This may be the easiest mistake for experienced cruisers to make.

You’ve cruised before, so you know how cruise ships work.

Except the new ship isn’t the old ship.

One vessel may have multiple pools with different purposes.

Another may have a dedicated children’s splash area.

You might encounter adults-only spaces, hot tubs, waterslides, quieter areas, covered pools, or facilities with specific eligibility requirements.

Even within a single cruise line, not every feature is available on every ship.

The smartest approach when you board is surprisingly simple:

Look around.

Read the signs.

Check the ship’s app or daily information.

Ask crew if something isn’t clear.

Five minutes of orientation can prevent the classic argument:

“But I did this on my last cruise!”

That sentence doesn’t change the rules on the ship you’re standing on today.

Pool-deck rule: Treat every new ship as a new environment until you’ve checked how its facilities actually work.

The Pool Deck Belongs to Everyone

Now return to Karen and her six lounge chairs.

The problem wasn’t that she wanted a comfortable place beside the pool.

Everyone does.

The problem was turning one chair she was actually using into control over five more chairs that nobody was using.

That’s the thread connecting almost everything on this list.

Enjoy the pool without preventing other people from enjoying it.

Listen to music without making everyone else listen.

Bring your belongings without spreading them through a walkway.

Travel with grandchildren while still respecting the rules around shared facilities.

Use a lounger—but don’t try to own the row.

And remember that cruise-line policies aren’t identical. Royal Caribbean currently uses a 30-minute unattended-chair standard in its published pool-chair FAQ, while Carnival’s published ChairShare process uses 40 minutes. Those differences are exactly why checking the policy for your sailing is better than relying on something you heard from another passenger.

A great pool-deck day doesn’t require many rules.

It mostly requires awareness that hundreds of other passengers came onboard hoping to enjoy the same sunshine, ocean, pool, and loungers you did.

So claim the chair you’re actually using.

Slow down on the wet deck.

Keep your belongings controlled.

Read the signs.

And leave enough space for somebody else to enjoy the sea day too.

What’s the most frustrating pool-deck habit you’ve ever seen on a cruise—chair saving, loud music, blocked walkways, or something even worse?