NoFlyGuy

Good on you Mrs Tinkywinky. A non smoker with a reasonable attitude. I only wish there were more like you.

jake 26 - Yes it is, no evidence that smoking in the outside has any effect of others health so non smokers need to be a little less selfish and a little less antisocial trying to make me feel uncomfortable.

Returned on Oriana on Thursday and there were plenty of smokers out on 12 at the final sail away from Lisbon, myself included.

Good point CCFC. We were on RCI's Navigator of the Seas in July and they had a lounge for smokers and, every other night, you could smoke in one half of the casino.

A sensible compromise - as a smoker I've long since realised that I can't smoke where or when I like and, I don't expect to be able to, but I don't take kindly to being crammed into smaller and smaller areas of the outside decks on P&O cruise ships and still being subject to snide comments from non smokers who are sitting in designated smoking areas.

Earlier comments about smokers being antisocial really is 'below the belt' - just because someone doesn't like the smell of tobacco hardly makes it antisocial. Out in the open you ae far more likely to suffer problems from people driving around our towns and cities in old cars belching out far more noxious fumes than my poor little cigarette.

Any non smoker want to admit to driving a health hazard that shouldn't be on the road?

I won't my breath!

Did the 50 night cruise at the beginning of the year and have just got back from the 14 night Canaries cruise on her.

Apart from the long standing noise/vibration at the stern there were no problems on either cruise.

Got two more cruises booked on her next year so don't want or see any need for her to be pensioned off just yet.

jake 26 - I'm sure the anti smoking lobby will drive for all areas to be smoke free whether children are present or not.

However, I doubt whether the most zealous health professional would consider someone smoking 2 metres away on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean to constitute a health hazard.

I always find it amusing how many non smokers find they can congregate in the few smoking areas if the sun happens to be shining on that area Of course it means that we smokers now have nowhere to sit, but it's still us smokers who are deemed to be selfish!

You always get the odd one that covers up their face with their hands or a scarf and cry 'OMG we're in a smoking area' or something similar. Funnily, few if any move - don't want to lose their seat.

For the majority of them I believe it's complete affectation.

P&O certainly do seem to be cramming us smokers into smaller and smaller areas.

We were on Oriana at the beginning of the year on a 50 night cruise and almost all of the starboard prom deck was smoking.

We've just got off Oriana yesterday and now, just about a third of the prom deck is smoking, and they have changed it to the port side. Maybe non smokers complained that they couldn't sit at tables outside the pub without having smokers among them.

Perhaps we smokers need to fight back a bit when we fill in our guest comments.

It always amazes me how some people complain about smokers on a ship, out in the middle of the ocean bowling along at anything up to 20 knots. The smoke dissipates almost instantly.

One has to wonder how they managed to survive 15 or more years ago when smoking was allowed in pubs, restaurants, shopping centres etc. Life must have been unbearable.

Agree with the point dsrdsrdsr made if we are talking about health issues. There always seem to be a great many 'large' people on cruise ships permanently eating!

My wife told me about it while we were waiting to disembark Oriana this morning. How tragic and just goes to show how none of us knows what lies ahead.

For them it was probably a new port and an exciting day ahead with no knowledge of what was to come. My heartfelt sympathy for all those touched by this tragedy.

Don't see why not - 1st of Feb is 1st of Feb not 30th Jan!

We've also booked the 11th Feb 'cheap' Oriana cruise after she comes out of dry dock and we'll try to bring something back on board at our first stop to see how well they are going to police it.

If they confiscate it then, hey ho, much the same as most other cruise lines and we can take it home with us.

We just got back today from a 14 night Canaries cruise on Oriana. As expected there were no extra checks at any of the ports as the restriction don't come into effect until Feb.

Brought both wine and local cheap rum onboard.

We did a fjord cruise on RCI's Independence of the Seas, which is a big ship, a few years ago. It had no problem docking at Flam, Olden and Skjolden.

Maybe the provided tongs are the problem?

Assume for a moment my hygiene hasn't been up to scratch. If I pick up say, a bread roll and take it back to my table, that is unlikely to cause others any problems. However, if I use the tongs I could well infect those following me in the buffet.

Of course decent hygiene should be expected of all passengers and crew but it's not just cruise holidays where contamination can occur.

A bit OTT Brisbane41. Yes, if I had my Oriana cruise cancelled I would be gutted especially as we had done the 50 day Oriana USA, Caribbean and Amazon cruise at the beginning of this year.

Taking ships out of service costs cruise companies a lot of revenue and I can't imagine why they would do that unless absolutely necessary.

Maybe cruise ships could go into dry dock for more regular refurbishment but that would simply add to the cost of all cruises.

In the end a balance has to be struck.

We are on the 7th December Canaries cruise. Assume they won't be expecting problems!

Selbourne is completely correct, a cruise ship is a floating hotel and prices should be compared on that basis.

My local pub may well be cheaper but not the 50% cheaper as wowwzz appears to have quoted.

Our 3 P&O cruises have been 28, 13 and 50 nights and it was nice that we could bring some wine or rum, together with mixers, onboard from various ports to consume in our cabin.

The new policy is, probably, just a money making exercise for Carnival UK - they could have clamped down on 'taster booze cruises' without penalising those booking 14,28 day or longer cruises if they considered those short cruises were becoming a problem.

Yes, the new policy will add to our final bill, but we will still book with P&O.(four future cruises already booked).

As you can probably tell I am new to Cruisecritic but find it rather sad that this thread has got rather personal.

I am disappointed that P&O have decided to change their drinks policy, it was a good way to differentiate themselves from most other cruise lines but, compared to RCI ( which is the only other line we have sailed with) , P&O bar prices seem very reasonable.

If we ever sail with RCI again it will have to have the deluxe drinks package thrown in as we do like a drink or two or ...!

We started cruising in 2011 to celebrate my wife's 50th birthday. Prior to that we usually drove to the South of France twice a year since I wont fly but 'she who must be obeyed' wanted to do something different.

Now done 8 RCI and 3 P&O cruises and have 4 P&O cruises in the pipeline but will still go to France once a year .

Maybe the few have spoilt it for the many. Such a shame as P&O were a little different. We've only done 3 P&O cruises so far but have 4 booked going forward, the first two prior to 1 Feb 2018 so will still bring a limited amount of alcohol onboard. P&O are still the best for us, as you can tell from my user id, I don't do aeroplanes which restricts us especially in the winter.