Smoking: Holland America vs Celebrity

Is Celebrity's new policy concerning smoking making you think you should switch to Holland America? HAL still allows smoking in Cabins, Balconies, Casino and many areas of the ship. Celebrity does not allow smoking in Cabins, Balconies, Casino and most areas of the ship.

I'm just looking for numbers here -- need not respond to the written part of this thread. No need to drag out the dead horse and start up the pinata party.

Enjoy!

Kel:)

Hi Kel, hope you and Lauren are doing well:)

Staying with Celebrity, thank you:D

We like Celebrity in large part because of the strict policy.

Hi Kel, hope you and Lauren are doing well:)

 

Staying with Celebrity, thank you:D

Hi Lois,

Great to hear from you! I'm wondering if Celebrity is going to drive it's smokers over to Holland America? We have dropped HAL from our rotation for a couple of reasons (another thread), but smoking is one of them.

Celebrity is really on a roll these days!! Love everything "X"!!

Enjoy!

Kel:)

I heard HAL is planning on tightening up their smoking policy. Guess they must have lost a lot of business to Celebrity.

I heard HAL is planning on tightening up their smoking policy. Guess they must have lost a lot of business to Celebrity.

From the looks of the results over on the HAL board, they better hurry! (42% -- non-smokers -- say they are looking at Celebrity, and only 32% -- non-smokers -- say they will stick with HAL)

Enjoy!

Kel:)

Never knew that HAL allows smoking in cabins.I'll have to keep that negative in mind

We are Elite on Celebrity, and it is our favorite line of the main stream lines. However the larger ships(the ship is not the destination for us) and repetitive itineraries has caused us to look at other lines.

HAL is a good line, and we will book with them despite their smoking policy.

I think they have just been waiting for the old timers who smoke to die off before they change their policy.:D

You missed one!!! :eek:

" I'm a non-smoker and just came to Celebrity BECAUSE of it's clean air policies. I just got here, of course I'm not leaving. :D "

I wonder how many of the bad reviews that have been given to Celebrity recently came from angry smokers? :rolleyes::p

Hi Kelmac,

You cited Celebrity's "new" smoking policy. Has it changed recently? I certainly hope the trend to allowing more areas for smokers does not escalate. I really think the smoking areas on S Class ships were not well thought out (i.e. outside Solarium, near cabin areas). Sorry to get off an a non smoking rant, but X is still the strictest of the mainstream lines (ones I can afford) so I'm really hoping they don't cave in to the few smokers left. Seems like they are getting MORE business from this policy rather than losing customers.

While we enjoy Celebrity's smoking policy, it doesn't make or break our cruise decision. I am a non-smoker and enjoy the clean air, though I've never personally experienced any issue with smoking, except in casinos.

Here's something of note. When we were filling out our disembarkation questionnaires on HAL this month, there was an added sheet asking questions about implementing a smoking policy similar to X's (i.e. "Would you still sail HAL is smoking was banned in balcony cabins? Would you still sail HAL if smoking was restricted to 2-3 areas aboard ship?" etc.) Looks like they might be gathering info on whether or not it would be worth it to them to try something similar.

While we enjoy Celebrity's smoking policy, it doesn't make or break our cruise decision. I am a non-smoker and enjoy the clean air, though I've never personally experienced any issue with smoking, except in casinos.

 

Here's something of note. When we were filling out our disembarkation questionnaires on HAL this month, there was an added sheet asking questions about implementing a smoking policy similar to X's (i.e. "Would you still sail HAL is smoking was banned in balcony cabins? Would you still sail HAL if smoking was restricted to 2-3 areas aboard ship?" etc.) Looks like they might be gathering info on whether or not it would be worth it to them to try something similar.

I've been filling out smoking questionnaires on HAL since 2006 and they still haven't made any changes. About 1/4 of HAL CC cruisers are smokers and they are a very verbal group. The question is -- will HAL become a smokers santuary, or will they turn on this loyal group? It would be interesting to see what influence CCL has over this situation.

Enjoy!

Kel:)

I've been filling out smoking questionnaires on HAL since 2006 and they still haven't made any changes. About 1/4 of HAL CC cruisers are smokers and they are a very verbal group. The question is -- will HAL become a smokers santuary, or will they turn on this loyal group? It would be interesting to see what influence CCL has over this situation.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

Keep in mind, HAL's passengers tend to be older. Over time the the smokers will become a smaller group. Based on the inevitable that no one lives forever

You missed one!!! :eek:

 

" I'm a non-smoker and just came to Celebrity BECAUSE of it's clean air policies. I just got here, of course I'm not leaving. :D "

 

I wonder how many of the bad reviews that have been given to Celebrity recently came from angry smokers? :rolleyes::p

Amen to that. I'm personally okay with smoking, but DW is extremely sensitive. If it weren't for Celebrity, we might not be cruising.

Hi Kelmac,

You cited Celebrity's "new" smoking policy. Has it changed recently? I certainly hope the trend to allowing more areas for smokers does not escalate.

Not to worry, I believe OP is referring to the present policy, which took effect a couple or a few years ago. "New" can be a relative term;)!

Is Celebrity's new policy concerning smoking making you think you should switch to Holland America? HAL still allows smoking in Cabins, Balconies, Casino and many areas of the ship. Celebrity does not allow smoking in Cabins, Balconies, Casino and most areas of the ship.

 

I'm just looking for numbers here -- need not respond to the written part of this thread. No need to drag out the dead horse and start up the pinata party.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

Although I like HA I dislike their smoking policy.

Well, I'm a no smoker and I LOVE Celebrity smoking policy. On 2011 I'm going for my first time on HAL: I'm a little bit worried but their smoking policy will not stop me. I'm not staying in a balcony cabin, I don't like gambling and I hope to have a great cruise as well.

Well, I'm a no smoker and I LOVE Celebrity smoking policy. On 2011 I'm going for my first time on HAL: I'm a little bit worried but their smoking policy will not stop me. I'm not staying in a balcony cabin, I don't like gambling and I hope to have a great cruise as well.

portofrome,

One of the things you can do -- request a "deep cleaning" of your cabin on Holland America. Usually after one of those cleaning sessions you can't tell the cabin was ever smoked in.

Have a great cruise!

Kel:)

Results from a pretty good CC sample:

A. 16% of Celebrity cruisers are smokers. (84% non-smokers)

B. 8% of Celebrity cruisers say they may switch to HAL because it's smoker

friendly.

C. 26% of Holland American cruisers are smokers. (74% non-smokers)

D. 46% of HAL cruisers say they are looking at Celebrity because of HAL's

smoking policy.

135 people responded on the Celebrity Boards; 178 people responded from the Holland America boards. 6:30am MDT 30 April 2010.

I've been filling out smoking questionnaires on HAL since 2006 and they still haven't made any changes. About 1/4 of HAL CC cruisers are smokers and they are a very verbal group. The question is -- will HAL become a smokers santuary, or will they turn on this loyal group? It would be interesting to see what influence CCL has over this situation.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

Interesting. The way the form was worded and inserted in the disembarkation questionnaire seemed very haphazard, so I was under the impression that it was a new idea they were batting around. Looks like it's had lots of consideration, but little action.

portofrome,

 

One of the things you can do -- request a "deep cleaning" of your cabin on Holland America. Usually after one of those cleaning sessions you can't tell the cabin was ever smoked in.

 

Have a great cruise!

Kel:)

Hi Kel, thanks for the tip;). You bet I'll do!

I am a ex-smoker and although I do not support government forced regulations on smoking, I do appreciate when a company takes it upon themselves and bans smoking.

Hi Kel. :) Doesn't make a bit of difference to us. I'm shopping HAL and Celebrity right now for a December 2010 cruise. BTW...we don't smoke.

Hi Kel. :) Doesn't make a bit of difference to us. I'm shopping HAL and Celebrity right now for a December 2010 cruise. BTW...we don't smoke.

Hi Jeanie,

Great to hear from you! We had one "smokey" cabin in 34 cruises, but for the most part, it hasn't been a problem on HAL ships. Our last few cruises on Celebrity, Azamara and Oceania have been great! We will have a balcony cabin on our next Solstice cruise and it will be nice not having "that issue" with neighbors.

Talk to you soon,

Kel:)

We were considering 2 very similar cruises in the Med, one on HAL versus one on Celebrity. Each ship and cruise had its merits but we selected Celebrity because of the smoking policy. In other words, all things being equal, we picked a cruise offering a strict non-smoking policy over a cruise line allowing smoking in cabins etc. We really appreciate Celebrity for adopting the new policy.

Niether of these cruise lines are smoker friendly. I would suggest RCCL or Carnival if you want to smoke.