Cigar Lounge on Freedom of the seas

That's terrible. FWIW, we're usually in the Caribbean and the lounge is usually pretty lively.

Bumping:

Is the Cigar Lounge still up and running? I’m excited about picking up a couple of boxes of Cubans in St Kitts. Is there a full bar also?

Bumping:

 

Is the Cigar Lounge still up and running? I’m excited about picking up a couple of boxes of Cubans in St Kitts. Is there a full bar also?

Yep, still on Freedom, but probably gone after the next dry dock.

Drydock will be in Jan. - Feb. 2020.

First cruise after drydock is 2/23/2020.

Great! Thanks... Sounds like a good place for an after dinner cigar. Full bar?

So, you're saying that what happens in the Connoisseur Club stays in the Connoisseur Club? ;)

I certainly hope so!!!

Elvis

I'm gonna bump this thread instead of starting a new one. Is the Connosieur Club still used as a cigar lounge on Freedom of the Seas? I'm sailing in a little bit and this is something that interests me. This is my first cruise so will my regular seapass get me into the CClub? Or do you have to have a gold card?

That's the great thing about cigars: they don't discriminate!!! We are all equal in there whether you are smoking a White Owl or a Cohiba!

Elvis

I have a Zippo lighter that I bought a butane insert for. I'm emotionally attached to it so I don't want some TSA agent confiscating it. Usually I buy a Bic lighter to take with me. I also carry a "V" cutter and a straight cutter. Depending on the cigar I want to be prepared. And don't ever hesitate to ask a fellow smoker for a light. The cigar code states that you should never refuse!!!

The cigar lounge on Freedom is great. It was on a Caribbean cruise out of Miami that we started the F.O.T.S.C.S.L.S.S. (Freedom of the Seas Cigar Smoking and Liquor Sipping Society) Our Grand Poo-bah is Ken, screen name Medicken. If you should ever run into him you're in for a real treat. Tell him that Elvis sends his regards!

Elvis

I’m leaving my torches at home also, but don’t mind using a bic. Do they have long wooden matches? Is there a bar? Just glad to know there is a place to relax with a good stick.

It's so funny how someone asks a question about where they can smoke and all the non smokers have to jump in and tell how they don't like smoking.

The question wasn't "how many people like or dislike smoking"

 

I smoke and I always get a balcony room so I can go outside on my balcony and have a smoke when I feel like it. If it offends the neighbors "sorry" but smokers have so little rights as it is and very limited places to smoke. There are cruise lines that don't allow smoking on balconies I'd suggest to those that are offended to try one of those lines.

 

Last cruise I was on the cruise line had just started the no smoking in the sports bar, that bar was empty 90 percent of the cruise. See it seems to me that it's not really the fact that non smokers wanted to use this bar it was the fact that they just didn't want smokers to use it.

Be advised, you're not allowed to smoke on your balcony on a RCCL ship. Please don't. You end up giving the rest of us a bad name! Come on down to the cigar lounge or smoking area instead. You should have a lot of company.

Funny story. Back in the good old days when you could smoke a cigar on your balcony I was out there doing just that. I was also looking at another cruise ship that was on a parallel course with us. I always take my binoculars with me. What did I see? There was another guy out on his balcony, cigar in hand, looking through his binoculars at our ship!!!

Elvis

Be advised, you're not allowed to smoke on your balcony on a RCCL ship. Please don't. You end up giving the rest of us a bad name! Come on down to the cigar lounge or smoking area instead. You should have a lot of company.

 

Funny story. Back in the good old days when you could smoke a cigar on your balcony I was out there doing just that. I was also looking at another cruise ship that was on a parallel course with us. I always take my binoculars with me. What did I see? There was another guy out on his balcony, cigar in hand, looking through his binoculars at our ship!!!

 

Elvis

He posted this back in 2012 when it was allowed. Change was made in 2014.

I’m leaving my torches at home also, but don’t mind using a bic. Do they have long wooden matches? Is there a bar? Just glad to know there is a place to relax with a good stick.

They provide torch lighters for you in the C Club.

I have a Zippo lighter that I bought a butane insert for. I'm emotionally attached to it so I don't want some TSA agent confiscating it. Usually I buy a Bic lighter to take with me. I also carry a "V" cutter and a straight cutter. Depending on the cigar I want to be prepared. And don't ever hesitate to ask a fellow smoker for a light. The cigar code states that you should never refuse!!!

The cigar lounge on Freedom is great. It was on a Caribbean cruise out of Miami that we started the F.O.T.S.C.S.L.S.S. (Freedom of the Seas Cigar Smoking and Liquor Sipping Society) Our Grand Poo-bah is Ken, screen name Medicken. If you should ever run into him you're in for a real treat. Tell him that Elvis sends his regards!

 

Elvis

Elvis, my friend, I appreciate your loyalty and hear-by elevate you to Deputy Grand Poobah of the F.O.T.S.C.S.L.S.S. with all associated privileges and powers of The Grand Poobah, in his absence.

BTW, next cruise is on Oasis of the Seas Oct and Celebrity Edge in Jan of 2019. I would be honored to have any, and all Cigar Smokers join me in the informal meetings of the Society held on those fine vessels.

On a personal note, My best to you and Priscilla. I will be headed, for permanent relocation, to Atlanta next week.

Thank you Ken! You humble me!

It's so nice to be on a cigar thread that hasn't been turned into an anti-smoking thread! I guess it's just a matter of time though!

Elvis

Before this thread gets hijacked let me relate another story: A few years back I was on Carnival Valor. You could still smoke on your balcony. I was out there watching as we left a Caribbean port, I can't remember which one. As usual I was smoking a cigar. My neighbor, a young guy in his late twenties, came out on his balcony. We were sailing past a power plant at the time. Me, being the friendly guy I am, gave him a "How you doing?" Just then the power plant kicked on and started billowing thick black smoke from it's smoke stack. My neighbor looked at me and said, "Do you have to smoke that thing?" I was taken aback and said, "Does this bother you?" He said "Yes". I pointed to the billowing smoke out of the power plant and said "That doesn't bother you but my cigar does?" Again he said "Yes." I was kind of teed off so I said to him "Well in about a half hour I'll be done with it so you won't have to worry anymore." He just turned around and went into his cabin. The next day I saw him as I was leaving my room and he came up to me and apologized saying that his wife and kids were starting to get to him and he took it out on me. I told him not to worry about it and if they get on his nerves again to just come over, knock on my door and we'll have a cigar and smoke away his problems. The next day he did just that! I like to think I was a positive part of his vacation!

Just a quick note: now if my cigar bothers people and they say something to me I will usually move as long as they're civil about it. Back then I had an "attitude."

Elvis

He was likely sent out there to say something to you. I had someone get snarky with me at a boat dock this summer and mine wasn’t even lit. ;-) If they all just took a moment to enjoy a Padron 1964, they’d become a connoisseur. I always ask around when I can, many people say they enjoy the smell of a good cigar but there are some who don’t. I’m considerate, just like people should be with other things like cell phones or music.

“Eating and sleeping are the only activities, that should be allowed to interrupt a man’s enjoyment of his cigar” - Mark Twain

"A woman is just a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke."-Rudyard Kipling

I have a 5 year old grand daughter that will catch a wif of cigar smoke , inhaile as deeply as she can , grin from ear to ear and start looking for her Papa Lee <3

Just a bit more info. The entrance to the Cigar bar is a DOUBLE door, thus there is no direct exit for smoke.

Also, smoking on your balcony is now a $250.00 cleaning fee, a visit by security and any other reaction the ship (captain) decides, so consider not doing it.

I think we're being hijacked!

Elvis

What is everyone’s go to box of cigars from Cuba? I haven’t been out of the states since the import changes. I’m definitely going to the La Casa Del Habano in St Kitts. I think the Cubans are good, but the rest of the cigar world has caught up in my opinion.

If you're on the western itinerary, only buy your Cubans from La Casa del Habano. There's one in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Falmouth. The Falmouth store is right at the pier and brand new. Anywhere else chances are high they could be fakes. On the eastern, there's one in Marigold.

One suggestion... Buy your Cubans at La Casa de Habano in Cozumel. Their prices are much better than those in the Caymans or Falmouth. The most expensive cigars I have found in the Caribbean were at the Falmouth La Casa de Habano. While the stores are a chain throughout the world, each have the ability to price their product. (This info came from a friend of mine who just recently was the Caribbean sales rep for Cuban cigars servicing La Casa.)

The La Casa in Cozumel is Downtown just across from the main ferry pier, upstairs.

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One suggestion... Buy your Cubans at La Casa de Habano in Cozumel. Their prices are much better than those in the Caymans or Falmouth. The most expensive cigars I have found in the Caribbean were at the Falmouth La Casa de Habano. While the stores are a chain throughout the world, each have the ability to price their product. (This info came from a friend of mine who just recently was the Caribbean sales rep for Cuban cigars servicing La Casa.)

 

The La Casa in Cozumel is Downtown just across from the main ferry pier, upstairs.

 

 

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What is everyone’s go to box of cigars from Cuba? I haven’t been out of the states since the import changes. I’m definitely going to the La Casa Del Habano in St Kitts. I think the Cubans are good, but the rest of the cigar world has caught up in my opinion.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

What is everyone’s go to box of cigars from Cuba? I haven’t been out of the states since the import changes. I’m definitely going to the La Casa Del Habano in St Kitts. I think the Cubans are good, but the rest of the cigar world has caught up in my opinion.

I like the Diplomatico #2's if you can find them. If not the Hoyo de Monterrey epicure is always a good time.

You might to buy a stick to enjoy there. It's a nice place to smoke.