HAL considering going totally non-smoking?

[m steve]

:eek:who want all smoking banned to bungee jump off their balcony.

[Boatdrill]

About a decade ago some Carnival ships had non-smoking in cabins and on verandas on one side of the ship. It seemed to me that would be a good start.

 

Carnival also had one of their ships - the Paradise - entirely smoke free.

Although smoking is now permitted, a friend who worked onboard said it worked well, and crew and passengers liked it.

 

Clearly safety and health issues are the main concerns about smoking onboard. However the environmental problem is rarely mentioned.

 

HAL prides itself on being focused on environmental issues- even having an officer on each ship dedicated to that department - yet the amount of cigarette butts that are thrown overboard by crew and pax is staggering. :(

[kakalina]

I have never in all my days cruising ever seen anyone pax or crew throw a cigarette or cigar butt into the waters. I would be shocked if I did. People are generally much more considerate than to do something so damaging to our waters. An employee caught doing so would be grounds for immediate termination.

[usha]

I have never in all my days cruising ever seen anyone pax or crew throw a cigarette or cigar butt into the waters. I would be shocked if I did. People are generally much more considerate than to do something so damaging to our waters. An employee caught doing so would be grounds for immediate termination.

I've never actually seen anyone in the act of throwing a cigarette butt overboard,

but we've often found butts on our balcony that had evidently been tossed from a balcony somewhere above us.

(visions of Star Princess always come to mind:eek:).

[Rustynail]

I've never actually seen anyone in the act of throwing a cigarette butt overboard,

but we've often found butts on our balcony that had evidently been tossed from a balcony somewhere above us.

(visions of Star Princess always come to mind:eek:).

 

that's absolutely nasty.

[kakalina]

I've never actually seen anyone in the act of throwing a cigarette butt overboard,

but we've often found butts on our balcony that had evidently been tossed from a balcony somewhere above us.

(visions of Star Princess always come to mind:eek:).

 

 

More than likely they weren't using a covered ashtray and the wind blew the butts around. A much more likely scenario.

[usha]

More than likely they weren't using a covered ashtray and the wind blew the butts around. A much more likely scenario.

Anyway you look at it, it's disgusting:p & dangerous:eek:,

and stuff like that just bolsters the argument for

prohibiting smoking on balconies:cool:, IMO.

[Juanita462]

Re: bungy cords - the only ship we have been on where we could have used one is the Prinsendam - the bathroom doors are sliding doors and move back and forth with the motion of the ship. We had to jam it open with a facecloth and even plug the lock which rattled all night.

 

We sailed on the Veendam after the drydock and in a certain area of the library there was a strong smell of smoke - thought it was coming in from the casino but it was still there when the casino was closed for the day. Finally thought that it must be coming in with the air conditioning from an area of the deck where smoking was allowed. It made it impossible to sit in that particular area due to burning eyes - have never noticed that before on any ship. The librarian found it very irritating as she had to endure that for her whole shift.

 

Didn't know that people threw cigarette butts into the ocean - have seen muffins and banana peels thrown from balconies though. Not surprising as the things you see most on the ground are cigarette butts and chewing gum.

[echotumi]

working in the smoking capitol of the world lasvegas.in the casino i work at they tried some nonsmoking things didnt work . the non smoking casino night on ship is always dead .. with the wind normally at around 20 knots . dont see how u could smell anything .u could always wear a mask i guess if it bothered you so much .. what do you all do when the smoke stack is blowing in your face .. cant wait for my cruise comming up in less than 30 days . does any one know if you can still smoke on the promande deck ..

[Guest Spo]

working in the smoking capitol of the world lasvegas.in the casino i work at they tried some nonsmoking things didnt work . the non smoking casino night on ship is always dead .. with the wind normally at around 20 knots . dont see how u could smell anything .u could always wear a mask i guess if it bothered you so much .. what do you all do when the smoke stack is blowing in your face .. cant wait for my cruise comming up in less than 30 days . does any one know if you can still smoke on the promande deck ..

 

Working in the smoking capital of the world, it stands to reason that you wouldn't notice the smell so much.

 

For those of us that are rarely exposed to cigarette smoke, it REALLY stands out! That argument about the non-smoking nights in the casino (at least on the ships) being dead is a myth. I've been there and seen it plenty crowed on non-smoking nights.

[wanderingjew]

ALL of the cruise lines are considering going smoke free. They will keep considering it until they are absolutely convinced that doing so will not bankrupt them.

 

Current surveys tell us that 20% of American cruisers are smokers. If you were trying to manage a major cruise line in today's economy, would you risk losing 20% of your clients and hope/pray/guess that an equal number of non-smokers would instantly replace them?

 

A large cruise ship today generates just under $1 MILLION PER DAY in revenues (Fares plus onboard spending). Losing that 20% of your clientele could cost you $200,000 per day, per ship in revenue. Nobody is dumb enough to take such a risk, unless he is abolutely convinced - with proof - that it will not kill his company.

 

Does anybody believe that the airlines banned smoking in the interests of your safety, health, and comfort?

 

The smoking ban started the day the airlines found out that it cost them over $100,000 per airplane per year to clean all the tar out of the overheads of airplanes that carried smokers - AND when they realized thay could all go non-smoking together and not lose any business.

 

But the airlines had it easy. They only needed to convince smokers to fly even if they can't smoke for a few HOURS.

 

The cruise lines need to be convinced that smokers will still spend thousands of dollars on a ship where they cannot smoke for WEEKS - or longer.

 

That's why you are seeing these surveys. You will probably see plenty more before the cruise line companies are absolutely convinced that non-smokling will really work.

Carnival had the Paradise one of seven identical ships drink and casino revenues were only 75 to 80% of the other ships thats why the paradise has smoking now:mad:

[Guest Spo]

Carnival had the Paradise one of seven identical ships drink and casino revenues were only 75 to 80% of the other ships thats why the paradise has smoking now:mad:

 

That was 10 years ago. The non-smoking movement has come a long way since then. I haven't done the research, but I would be willing to bet that the percentage of the smoking population has decreased in the last ten years. I would also imagine that while the smoking population has probably decreased in the last ten years, that the gambling and drinking population has not changed too much. Therefore, a non-smoking cruise line probably wouldn't lose as much on gambling and drinking as they did ten years ago. As I said, I've not researched; it just seems like common sense to me.

 

I don't look for another totally non-smoking ship to debut anytime soon, but I would imagine that most are going to ease that way eventually, just as most states in the US are. It's a sign of the times.

[mallbucks]

I've seen being thrown from balconies are the leftover ice cubes from the ice bucket.

 

 

I have never in all my days cruising ever seen anyone pax or crew throw a cigarette or cigar butt into the waters. I would be shocked if I did. People are generally much more considerate than to do something so damaging to our waters. An employee caught doing so would be grounds for immediate termination.

[Travalerie]

I have never in all my days cruising ever seen anyone pax or crew throw a cigarette or cigar butt into the waters. I would be shocked if I did. People are generally much more considerate than to do something so damaging to our waters. An employee caught doing so would be grounds for immediate termination.

I see cigarettes thrown out of car windows all the time. There is no consideration of the earth in that. I don't see why smokers who do that in a car would not do that at sea. To be clear, I said smokers that do that...I know not all smokers are litter bugs but some clearly are.

[jaybird from SC]

I have never in all my days cruising ever seen anyone pax or crew throw a cigarette or cigar butt into the waters. I would be shocked if I did. People are generally much more considerate than to do something so damaging to our waters. An employee caught doing so would be grounds for immediate termination.

Well, we have had an experience....While standing by the rail on one of the outside decks, someone from somewhere above tossed a lighted cigarette and it landed in my hair. We immediately called security who came with walkie talkies and it was obvious that they were in search of the culprit. Had that cigarette landed on a chaise cushion, it could have caused a fire, so yes it does happen. Some smokers are quite insensitive to the danger of tossed butts.

[sealady1]

Hello,

Does anyone know Holland America's policy in regard to smoking in staterooms? My husband and I do not smoke and would prefer to have a room free of any smoky smell. No offense to any smokers out there.:)

[comcox]

Hello,

Does anyone know Holland America's policy in regard to smoking in staterooms? My husband and I do not smoke and would prefer to have a room free of any smoky smell. No offense to any smokers out there.:)

 

Unfortunately HAL still permits smoking in cabins and on verandahs. You need to notify them in advance if you have problems with smoke and they will do a special deep clean of the cabin before you arrive--or at least that's what they claim. Maybe if enough of us nag them they will finally "see the light". I've got an upcoming cruise with them and I am dreading find smoke smell in my cabin as I am extremely sensitive. Good luck with yours.

[IRL_Joanie]

Hello,

Does anyone know Holland America's policy in regard to smoking in staterooms? My husband and I do not smoke and would prefer to have a room free of any smoky smell. No offense to any smokers out there.:)

 

 

Here is a link to the most recent thread on HAL's smoking policy: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1108605&highlight=smoking+staterooms

 

 

Joanie

[TMWeddle]

For upcoming cruise we've requested a deep cleaning. I called ship services and asked if they would know if smokers were in the cabin before us - of course they didn't and very nicely offered the deep cleaning. I (only mildly) protested saying I didn't want to cause extra work and they said it was not a problem at all. We will see! I really expect it to be fine.

[hulamoon]

Please let us know how it goes for you.

[Krazy Kruizers]

If you get to your cabin and you still smell smoke in it -- ask your cabin steward for a DEEP clean. Explain your problem to your cabin steward.

 

You may also want to notify the front desk about this at the same time.

[Pokeynose]

Just returned from So. Caribbean cruise. No smell of smoke in our suite on the Westerdam. We only smelled smoke on the balconey a few times. The wind took care of it very fast. We weren't forced to go inside. A few times as we walked the halls, again not a big problem. Casino, lots of smoke. :( No smoke free night.

[bluewave]

Do you think you are more likely to get butts or water splashing from decks being cleaned,etc. on a side veranda or a back veranda?

[Terpnut]

Do you think you are more likely to get butts or water splashing from decks being cleaned,etc. on a side veranda or a back veranda?

What is the point of your question? However rare, the careless discarding of lit cigarette butts can cause fires that lead to property damage that sometimes ends up hurting or killing people. Splashing water is an annoyance at worst. :rolleyes:

[cruzin girl]

We just got back from sailing with Royal Caribbean where they supposedly non smoking in cabins and most other places however on Mariner of the seas they were not enforcing too well, we passed by cabins often where you could smell smoke drifting out the cabin.