Balcony Chairs Zip-tied to Recline Only

[RCDM-123]

Curious if anybody else has noticed this.  I was on Ovation in early October in a balcony cabin.  The chairs on the balcony had been zip-tied to lock them in the reclined position (I have attached photos).  You can see that the position the chair has been locked in is reclined.  There is another stop on the back that would make the chair upright (like a chair), but it was not possible to adjust the chair because of the zip ties.  We asked our room steward and he said this was done across the entire fleet.  We asked Guest Services if we could get the zip ties moved so we could use the chairs as ... you know, a "chair", but were told that they were instructed not to touch those zip ties "under any circumstances".  The chairs had a notice attached not to lean the back all the way flat, so I guess that's what they are trying to prevent (is it a safety thing?) but with the chairs locked in the reclined position we couldn't sit on our balcony and drink coffee, or read, or anything that required an actual chair.  The reclined position was very uncomfortable, and we simply couldn't use them.  For us, it made the balcony useless, and a waste of money.  The steward said there were no actual chairs that could be supplied in their place.

I sent an email to RCCL, but their response was simply that they have forwarded the comment (to who?). 

Has anybody else noticed this?

[SpeedNoodles]

I could chew through that with my nail clipper.

[RCDM-123]

They are pretty heavy-duty.  I thought of doing that , but was hesitant since everybody I talked to (Steward, Guest Services, Loyalty Ambassador) thought it was a safety "requirement".  Breaking a safety "rule" can result in consequences. 

My issue wasn't that the zip-tie was there, it was that the chair was locked in the reclined position, and was unusable as a chair, and nobody was allowed to move the zip-tie to the other position.

[Gumbo]

Wow.  My fingers are crossed that they don't do this on other ships...

[smokeybandit]

I'd just play dumb and say "oh I thought the previous guest did it"

[Matt]

Never saw it before. Maybe too many people reclining back and smashing into the balcony door?

[RCDM-123]

The room steward thought it was "fleet wide", but I haven't been able to find much discussion about it (other than some mention of seeing it on Celebrity ships).  Maybe it was only the Ovation.

The chairs had a sign saying "do not lay flat", so they were clearly concerned about going back all the way, but why lock them in the partially down (reclined) position?

[ScottD]

Very strange- why not lock them upright if you are going to do it.  I would've brought the vanity chair out there- we do that every cruise anyway since there are three of us. Gives us a little more room in the cabin, and an extra chair on the balcony

[SplashOfWater]

YES! We had this on Wonder last month. It was not the most comfortable position for using a phone or tablet. Nice for dozing though.

[Freegirl]

Yes, ours were like this recently on Wonder. We weren't happy with that at all.

[smokeybandit]

So basically, add zip ties to the cruise go-bag.

[Sealegs]

Our chairs on Symphony last month were zip-tied. I cut them with a Windjammer butter knife on the first day. I told the room steward about cutting them off and he said that was fine. I agree it made the chair barely usable. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Just a guess, but I suspect that the half-reclined position was a compromise position between fully reclined and fully upright.  The result is something that nobody wants !

I have not yet seen the zip ties but I have seen signs on the chairs saying not to fully recline them.  Guessing that the signs were ignored, thus the more robust measures.

[jarestel]

Indy utilizes the zip ties on balcony chairs as well.

[JustMeJoe]

35 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I have not yet seen the zip ties but I have seen signs on the chairs saying not to fully recline them.

They use both the ties and the signs on AD.

[Traveling Mike]

When I read the first post I thought it had to be a parent controlling their children.  After reading other people that have seen it on different ships I realize the parent is RCL and they are treating us like little kids.  I know some of the time they must do this because to many people behave like little kids.

[barjpoe]

We were on Freedom a couple of weeks ago - YES!  Don't like it s I like yo sit up right not half way don

[barjpoe]

1 hour ago, Sealegs said:

Our chairs on Symphony last month were zip-tied. I cut them with a Windjammer butter knife on the first day. I told the room steward about cutting them off and he said that was fine. I agree it made the chair barely usable. 

that's a good idea, thanks

[TXcruzer]

I have scissors in my Dop kit. They will make quick work of this

[Gilley]

I may bring extra zip ties  to put back on before I leave.  I have some in the toolbox

[smokeybandit]

There we go.

OK I needed more zip ties anyway, but this just reminded me to buy some

[FloatyBoaty]

Our balcony chairs here on Explorer are also zip tied in the awkward position (and have the “do not lie flat” sign as well). We were on Celebrity Equinox last week and the sign was there but no zip ties. 

[BigKarl]

Maybe RCL has had issues of individuals not properly securing the chair backs when adjusting them or children/adults getting a finger caught. Securing them with a zip tie may be their way to proactively prevent this from happening?  Just my thoughts. 

[twangster]

Reflection (Celebrity) had the same on their balcony chairs on two cruises.

I wonder if someone did something and sued leading to an outcome that most people who wouldn't do something like that have to live with.  

[barjpoe]

I wish there was some way the chairs could be able to go in ether position upright or then uncomfortable  recline position. Some kind of elastic band

[tjcruisers]

We noticed it on our cruise, thought it was something the previous guest did, guess not

[Atlantix2000]

Based purely on the photos (since I haven't sat in those in too long), I feel like if they were reclined all the way to flat, they would easily tip backwards and people would hit their head on the floor or sliding door.  Perhaps that happened to someone and this is an overreaction to prevent future lawsuits?  I would definitely cut them and complain on the post cruise survey.

[CruiseGus]

It is pretty much fleet wide to include Celebrity, if not yet on some ships it will be soon.

I would not be cutting them off as pretty sure they will statement cracking down on that soon also.  JMHO

[cmdrfrag]

They did this to us halfway though our cruise on Anthem in September, we queried it with the room steward and where told that people where not securing the backs and so people where crashing in to the glass at their back. Really annoying as I like to have the backs upright

[Pooch]

Maybe one could tip the room steward to zip tie them in a sitting position?

[RCDM-123]

I asked the room steward to move the zip-ties to the sitting position.  He said they were told not to touch them under any circumstances.

I asked Guest Services if I could have them moved to the sitting position.  At first, he said "sure, let me make a phone call", which he did.  I could hear the person on the other end of the line yelling at the GS person (felt sorry for him).  He hung up and said "nobody is allowed to touch them - they have to stay exactly as they are" and ended the conversation right there.

I, too, would be hesitant to cut them off.  Maybe the steward will ignore it, but maybe not (ours seemed quite concerned about it), and somebody on the Ovation (at least) was insistent that they stay in place for whatever reason.  I don't know if they are inspected periodically or not as well, but since they are there for some undefined "safety" reason, they very well might be.

As I mentioned before, these are heavy-duty zip ties.  They are much thicker and wider than the ones shown by SmokeyBandit.

I should have (but didn't think about it during the cruise) asked the captain about it at the "meet the captain" event.  Maybe somebody can do that and report back?

[FionaMG]

I think one of the big problems here is that while this measure has likely been taken for a presumably good reason, it also clearly impacts people's enjoyment of their balconies. Why oh why can't the cruise line inform guests, look we've done this because... especially when it's something that to many must appear random. I would not be surprised if lots of guests cut those ties off whereas they might think twice if they knew why they were there.

[Gilley]

People will find ways to make it work for them.  I'm going on Utopia in December and I'm already thinking about it.  I will use pillows to make me sit up in the chairs.  I don't ever pack scissors, so although I have zip ties, I will leave them and try the pillow hack.

[Ritchie]

22 hours ago, RCDM-123 said:

The room steward thought it was "fleet wide", but I haven't been able to find much discussion about it (other than some mention of seeing it on Celebrity ships).  Maybe it was only the Ovation.

The chairs had a sign saying "do not lay flat", so they were clearly concerned about going back all the way, but why lock them in the partially down (reclined) position?

Saw this on our last cruise aboard the Navigator! I'm sure it's done to protect the glass door.

[Psycho and Barb]

We had them on the Wonder on our October cruise.  We cut them off with nail clippers and enjoyed the chairs...We didn't think about who installed them or why.  Never heard a thing about cutting them off.

[barjpoe]

I'll be on Icon next week and will use the pillows off the coach , the bed pillows are too large to use. Not sure what to use if the coach doesn't have pillows.

[Dad2Cue]

5 hours ago, Psycho and Barb said:

We had them on the Wonder on our October cruise.  We cut them off with nail clippers and enjoyed the chairs...We didn't think about who installed them or why.  Never heard a thing about cutting them off.

Something tells me the zip ties won't be there when I cruise in January.  I can't imagine Royal will be able to put them back before someone decides they were a bad idea.  If they put them on with the back upright, I probably wouldn't notice.  I don't ever fully recline in those balcony chairs. I go to the pool deck for that.  Reclining halfway would be rare for me as well.

[cdixon22]

They were on Harmony too last week. Didn’t realize until I sat down and spilled coffee because I was not expecting to lean that far back. 

[Southern Waters]

I sure hope RCL comes to its senses before my cruise in January. If they're going to have the chairs zip tied, it should be in the upright position. 

[Jill]

I had read in a Facebook post that someone went backwards and got hurt.