Holland America Bans Smoking on All Its Cruise Ship Balconies

Congratulations to HAL for joining the 21st Century.

We have sailed HAL six times, the most recent being four years ago. After having to put up with second hand smoke on my balcony, I vowed not to return until it was banned.

Over the weekend I began to search for HAL cruises for 2017. Right now there are three that I am considering.

It was inevitable. One thing I never understood is the cleaning fee if caught vaping on the balcony. There isn't anything to clean. Otherwise a good move.

HAL has the best itineraries and the promenad decks of its older ships look wonderful. Yet we had never set foot on one and never would have had this policy not changed.

We had strongly considered Celebrity because of their smoking policy, but for years we had been concerned that they were deliberately creating a hostile onboard atmosphere for older cruisers with very loud and thumping music. Reports are that bands are not allowed to play classic rock even on transatlantic cruises that have a much older demographic. Additionally, passengers were told the volume could not be lowered because Miami won't let them.

It is had to believe that Celebrity would so deliberately target a particular demographic as unwelcome. I am glad we now have another option with HAL.

Funny, there was a thread about this on the Celebrity boards yesterday.

This thread was just started this morning. :confused:

This is the Holland America board, right?

Oh well, better late than never.

Funny, there was a thread about this on the Celebrity boards yesterday.

This thread was just started this morning. :confused:

This is the Holland America board, right?

Oh well, better late than never.

The sticky just started this morning, the HAL board has been talking about it for several days now. Scroll down. ;)

Please post any discussions on this dedicated thread:

This Thread Is To Be Used For All Discussions About HAL's On Board Smoking Policies