Lack of Policy Enforcement

[teajak]

Please reread my posts. The cigar smokers near us were FAR from the only smoking violators, they were simply the closest. And on a ship with 3,000 people aboard, I cannot believe that we were the only ones who would care or comment about it. In the case of the cigar smokers, it was obvious that someone DID speak to them, because they were less blatant about it as the cruise progressed, but they certainly never stopped. I would find it difficult to believe that the only complaint they received was from us. Again, a simple reminder at embarkation or even an announcement from the captain would place the burden on Celebrity for enforcement, rather than its paying customers. The first time those suite passengers violated the rules should have been their last time, rather than forcing other guests to constantly monitor and complain, IMO.

 

As far the doorway smoking, perhaps we should have just stopped whatever we were doing to tattle on whomever was violating the smoking rules at the moment. Again, out of thousands of passengers and employees, we were far from the only ones who passed by the smokers in the doorway. And in order to take time out to do this at the moment of violation, we would have missed an activity or destination. Why is it my responsibility to police everyone on the ship? It isn't, it is Celebrity's responsibility to enforce their own rules. I personally witnessed employees ignoring the violations.

 

Scheduling multiple daily activities in a smoky old lounge is not exactly demonstrating concern for nonsmokers either.

 

BTW, if anyone is thinking about booking Royal Suite 6142 on the starboard side, be aware that it has been a recent home to chronic cigar smokers.

As has been repeated several times all you needed to do was pick up the phone, maybe 15 minutes out of your day.I can't imagine being as upset as you appear to be and not doing anything about it.You can still inform the president of the company by registered mail telling him everything you have said here. No one can do that but you.:eek:

[WpgCruise]

I would like to thank the OP for taking the time to post, and share her experience. It reinforces a lesson I learned a few years ago on a Constellation cruise.

In that instance we had a waiter that frankly was terrible. He was the only waiter we have ever had who really should have been in another line of work. In any event I took the time after the second evening to write a letter to the Hotel Manager detailing our concerns (and also drawing attention to the excellent service we had received from others on the ship) and the issue was fixed the next evening. The solution was to provide a waiter from Ocean Liners, for our table of four. My Lesson Learned was that if a problem is drawn to the attention of the Management they will do their best to address it, after all they want happy customers. I don’t know that a solution will be forthcoming by posting on a forum such as this or drawing concerns to Managements attention after the cruise is over.

I understand that the OP didn’t want to take the time, and aggravation of dealing with the matter of smoking and children using the wrong swimming pool, however with respect point out that the time to deal with a problem is when it occurs and this way it can be resolved, and the rest of the cruse can be enjoyed.

In closing (tounge in cheek) :) please be careful about asking Celebrity to enforce all of their policies. I want a lounge chair on my Sweet 16 balcony on our next cruise (against policy) and intend to smuggle a bottle of vodka aboard (also against policy) and will opt out of one of the formal nights and will likely be seen in public (again against policy) Sometimes we should be careful what we wish for.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

We booked celebrity as it was a nice 10 day cruise to nice ports of call, however, I do smoke and I hope that I am not so limited to the places I can that I don't enjoy my cruise! I paid my money also, you've got the dinning rooms, shows, most bars, come on give smokers a break! There was a time when you could even smoke in church, and where every household had an ash tray. I respect your rights, but give those of us left a break! We play lots of taxes for the right to smoke, I rather see them making sure people are dressed properly in the dinning rooms and not wearing baseball caps inside. But no one says anything to those people. Or what about the people that put there towels on chairs and don't show up for hours, should I wreck my day to complain about them? Thanks, just wanted to stand up for those of us left. Also I think if your going to pay them $250. as a fine to smoke on your balcony, it would be for the whole trip, not per day, how are they going to clean all the outside air?

 

If you are going to be on a Celebrity cruise it might be wise to check into the smoking restrictions. You seem to know where you can't smoke but it sounds like you are not sure of where you actually can smoke on the ship? Perhaps you do know, and only you can assess how much it will impact your vacation.

 

I agree that there are lots of things that can be annoying on ships...the saving spots by the pool, the dress suggestion violations, etc. However, they don't impact the health of fellow passengers like smoke does. Nor do they cause you to be unable to use your balcony due to smoke, or drive you out of the casino due to smoke. And, I think the fine is for each infraction because there might be smokers who would pay $250 for the chance to smoke on the balcony for 7, 10, 11, 14 days.... a fine for each infraction is much more likely to keep smokers from smoking on the balcony the duration of the trip. That is, after all, what they signed on for when they picked Celebrity.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

We booked celebrity as it was a nice 10 day cruise to nice ports of call, however, I do smoke and I hope that I am not so limited to the places I can that I don't enjoy my cruise! I paid my money also, you've got the dinning rooms, shows, most bars, come on give smokers a break! There was a time when you could even smoke in church, and where every household had an ash tray. I respect your rights, but give those of us left a break! We play lots of taxes for the right to smoke, I rather see them making sure people are dressed properly in the dinning rooms and not wearing baseball caps inside. But no one says anything to those people. Or what about the people that put there towels on chairs and don't show up for hours, should I wreck my day to complain about them? Thanks, just wanted to stand up for those of us left. Also I think if your going to pay them $250. as a fine to smoke on your balcony, it would be for the whole trip, not per day, how are they going to clean all the outside air?

 

If you wish to smoke on your balcony or in your stateroom, you picked the wrong cruiseline. And the $250 fine is per occurrence, not per cruise. If smoking is that important to you, why not sail on a cruiseship which permits smoking most places? There are lots of them.

[kitty9]

We booked celebrity as it was a nice 10 day cruise to nice ports of call, however, I do smoke and I hope that I am not so limited to the places I can that I don't enjoy my cruise! I paid my money also, you've got the dinning rooms, shows, most bars, come on give smokers a break! There was a time when you could even smoke in church, and where every household had an ash tray. I respect your rights, but give those of us left a break! We play lots of taxes for the right to smoke, I rather see them making sure people are dressed properly in the dinning rooms and not wearing baseball caps inside. But no one says anything to those people. Or what about the people that put there towels on chairs and don't show up for hours, should I wreck my day to complain about them? Thanks, just wanted to stand up for those of us left. Also I think if your going to pay them $250. as a fine to smoke on your balcony, it would be for the whole trip, not per day, how are they going to clean all the outside air?

 

First of all, people not dressing to code won't affect my health, but your smoking WILL definitely affect my breathing and health. So this argument of yours is moot.

 

Second, you booked a line with a nice itinerary fully knowing that Celebrity has the most strict anti-smoking policy of any mass market line. So, why did you book this knowing that you will be restricted?

 

Third, placing towels on a chair, again, won't affect my breathing or my health. And to be honest, I don't understand why that kind of thing really bothers anyone. So again, a point not germane to the problem.

 

BTW, I've never, ever been in a church where you could smoke. Maybe in the parish or church hall, but never in a church proper. And people may have kept ash trays in their homes, but this was before everyone knew that cancer sticks kill. Face it, it's now becoming politically incorrect to be a smoker these days.

 

Finally, smoking is NOT a RIGHT, it's a choice. You choose to smoke and therefore you choose to pay the insanely high price to smoke. Don't blame us that you have to pay high taxes. But, as you have made the choice to smoke, we can make the choice to not have to smell your smoke, and we have the choice and the right to call whomever to make sure you are following the rules.

[nomo4iz]

We DID complain, we just did not do so repeatedly. We complained in person to our room steward and in writing to the marketing director while ON the cruise. We also complained in writing AFTER the cruise. Still saw employees ignoring smoking violations, which were definitely more annoying than kids in a T-pool. Kids in a T-pool don't impact my health :) All of the issues I described were just multiple examples of an overall lack of policy enforcement.

 

If you are going to advertise a particular policy as a selling point, then IMO, you had better provide it to your customers. Train your employees to approach and remind violators of the policies when they see violations occur, without waiting for a customer to complain first. Create a system of consequences that are hefty enough or unpleasant enough to deter repeat offenders. Perhaps $250 in fines is chump change to a royal suite guest.

 

Again, I think that simple reminders in writing and over the PA would have gone far to nip it in the bud. They could easily announce at departure that as a reminder, there is no smoking in cabins, balconies or anywhere else except the following designated areas. And they could easily ban smoking in the Cosmos Lounge or schedule activities elsewhere.

 

Perhaps it was just the cold of Alaska, or perhaps it was the fact that there were large numbers of non English speaking passengers and signs that were only in English. Regardless, I think employees should be trained to do more without relying on guests to enforce their own policies for them. And that includes the ship's officers. We have plenty of smoke free options for vacation other than cruise ships, so we'll vote with our pocketbook. This was simply a heads up for others and a summary of our own experience. I have no doubt that others experience different things.

[Peteymil]

I am sorry you had a bad experience. Since they changed the smoking policy, things are so much better. When I complained about a smoker on a Solstice Balcony, it was immediately addressed. It is a pain in the neck to call guest services and go through the whole thing, but I will do it every time, so that I can enjoy my balcony.

Smokers will find Celebrity very restrictive, which makes many of us very happy.

[CTKath]

Wait, what?!! You're telling me that a cruiseline has stopped smoking in the casino??? This is the BEST NEWS EVER!!!! I have never sailed on Celebrity and I have been doing some research on one of their cruises for next year. We have sailed on Oceania where the casino was blissfully smoke-free. Don't get me wrong, we don't spend a lot of time in there, but when we do like to stop by, we do like to be able to breath!

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Wait, what?!! You're telling me that a cruiseline has stopped smoking in the casino??? This is the BEST NEWS EVER!!!! I have never sailed on Celebrity and I have been doing some research on one of their cruises for next year. We have sailed on Oceania where the casino was blissfully smoke-free. Don't get me wrong, we don't spend a lot of time in there, but when we do like to stop by, we do like to be able to breath!

 

Yep, that's what we're telling you...and none on balconies or in cabins...only on designated areas outside and in one bar/lounge. As for the rest of the ship--zip, nada, zero. We LOVED being in the casino and not choking on smoke and having to leave. Only down side...more time to lose money in the casino! :eek:

[flygirl 123]

I understand all your points of views, didn't know it was so nonsmoking, or I might have thought twice about it before booking. Just wanting to no where might spot is, the towel thing is really a pain, wait till your ready to be at pool. Lighten up those who are overly concerned, not light up! Hoping we all have the most wonderful trips! I'll bring the gum

[teajak]

Wait, what?!! You're telling me that a cruiseline has stopped smoking in the casino??? This is the BEST NEWS EVER!!!! I have never sailed on Celebrity and I have been doing some research on one of their cruises for next year. We have sailed on Oceania where the casino was blissfully smoke-free. Don't get me wrong, we don't spend a lot of time in there, but when we do like to stop by, we do like to be able to breath!

It is wonderful, It never failed that a smoker would sit next to me at the slots with an ashtray between us.:eek: I love it, my DH not so sure because I spend more time in the casino.LOL ( he really loves the policy).The Op had a bad experience we know that but she still did not report it to the correct people, guest relations. P&M about it to lower staff doesn't accomplish anything. They do enforce it, I don't believe there is another cruise line other than the top luxury ones, that does such a good job and I am very greateful for this.:D:D:D

[greeneg]

Please reread my posts. The cigar smokers near us were FAR from the only smoking violators, they were simply the closest. And on a ship with 3,000 people aboard, I cannot believe that we were the only ones who would care or comment about it. In the case of the cigar smokers, it was obvious that someone DID speak to them, because they were less blatant about it as the cruise progressed, but they certainly never stopped. I would find it difficult to believe that the only complaint they received was from us. Again, a simple reminder at embarkation or even an announcement from the captain would place the burden on Celebrity for enforcement, rather than its paying customers. The first time those suite passengers violated the rules should have been their last time, rather than forcing other guests to constantly monitor and complain, IMO.

 

As far the doorway smoking, perhaps we should have just stopped whatever we were doing to tattle on whomever was violating the smoking rules at the moment. Again, out of thousands of passengers and employees, we were far from the only ones who passed by the smokers in the doorway. And in order to take time out to do this at the moment of violation, we would have missed an activity or destination. Why is it my responsibility to police everyone on the ship? It isn't, it is Celebrity's responsibility to enforce their own rules. I personally witnessed employees ignoring the violations.

 

Scheduling multiple daily activities in a smoky old lounge is not exactly demonstrating concern for nonsmokers either.

 

BTW, if anyone is thinking about booking Royal Suite 6142 on the starboard side, be aware that it has been a recent home to chronic cigar smokers.

 

The only thing that I can add to my prior comments is that I do think that you may have voiced your complaints to the wrong people; you should always go to guest relations, and they are the ones who should be kept advised if the violations are not appropriately addressed. Despite that, your room steward was clearly at fault since these are the people who, in fact, are charged with reporting smoking violations. Our experience has been that on the two occasions where we had smoking neighbors ( Azamara Quest and Celebrity Infinity), we asked our Attendant and were told that she had already reported it, and we never noted another problem with smoking. That particular failure needs to be noted in your letter.

 

It sounds to me as though the staff on your cruise was not as effective in dealing with the violations as they should have been and this makes your calling to Management's attention all the more important. Not so much for your benefit ( although you might receive an apology and/or some form of compensation) but to try and make certain that there are not future occurrences.

 

And I do hope you will take the time to write your letter; you will get a response either by mail or by phone ( probably the latter since you are raising a serious issue). It's very important for all of our benefit that you take the time to be certain that Miami knows what happened so that they can apply corrections where they are needed.

 

Thank you for doing that.

[uktog]

In all the posts one of the key issues has been overlooked - that it would appear that the more significant consderation, the inherent fire risk associated with smoking happening outside the designated area has been ignored by the Ship's senior officers.

 

I understand the OP did not want to spend their time complaining, but if you cruise with X again and have issues, I would direct them to the guest relations manager and the hotel director - neither of the people you raised your issues with had any authority to address the issue

[pollys1]

Just to say i totally agree with what you are saying Celebrity do not enforce any rules. I was on the Century in August and I had smokers on either side of my balcony. This really spoilt my holiday I did complain to my room attendant but to no avail. What is the point of complaining some people have no regard for their fellow passengers.

[uktog]

If you are staying at a resort on land and you have an issue, who would you complain to - somehow I do not think it would be the chambermaid. The moral of this thread, and I am sorry people have had their holidays spoilt, is do not let your holiday be spoilt, raise the issue at the highest appropriate level as soon as it becomes an issue.

A neighbour smoking merits a phonecall direct to Guest Relations as it is happening - they can get security to check using cameras immdeiately - they did that on our Eclipse cruise two weeks ago when we were having lighted smoking materials thrown onto our balcony.

If the smoking persists, call and ask for the Hotel Director to meet with you to discuss the matter - simple as that, they cannot ignore your request for something like smoking. (If it was something more minor, they might ask a more junior officer to meet with you first)

[nomo4iz]

Thanks again to everyone who replied. This was our first cruise ever, and perhaps we are not as well versed about how to resolve issues on the ship, but it was not as if we received any detailed instruction about it either. We only received a guest commentary card halfway through the cruise, asking if there were any issues that could be resolved immediately to ensure a pleasant trip. I made it clear that the smoking policy was being violated all over the ship in front of numerous employees, but I saw little change.

 

However, I stand by my opinion that the onus is on Celebrity here to ensure compliance of policy. They have the opportunity to be much more PROACTIVE about this, and instead they seem to rely on a delayed reactive response. I feel like they gave lip service about policies in the literature, but in reality it was a big shrug from employees.

 

How many nonsmokers would enjoy taking a watercolor class in a bar that reeked of stale smoke? That indicates a disregard and a disconnect to me, and that was certainly the case between policy and enforcement.

[Gonzo70]

If you are staying at a resort on land and you have an issue, who would you complain to - somehow I do not think it would be the chambermaid. The moral of this thread, and I am sorry people have had their holidays spoilt, is do not let your holiday be spoilt, raise the issue at the highest appropriate level as soon as it becomes an issue.

A neighbour smoking merits a phonecall direct to Guest Relations as it is happening - they can get security to check using cameras immdeiately - they did that on our Eclipse cruise two weeks ago when we were having lighted smoking materials thrown onto our balcony.

If the smoking persists, call and ask for the Hotel Director to meet with you to discuss the matter - simple as that, they cannot ignore your request for something like smoking. (If it was something more minor, they might ask a more junior officer to meet with you first)

 

Well said. I had a smoker in a nearby balcony on Equinox. I called guest relations and within minutes a security officer arrived at our door to listen to our report of the issue. They ensured me the offending party would be spoken to and that they would be made to abide by the company policy. We were not bothered by these people smoking on the balcony again.

 

As much as I loved our room steward that cruise, I never in a million years would have made the complaint to her. Room stewards are not meant to police the cruise line's policies and when you report a smoking infraction to them they are placed in the uncomfortable position of wanting to please you, but not upset the offending party and risk being stiffed out of tips.

 

People should contact guest relations ASAP when they are disturbed by other guests breaking rules as the marjority of the time this will resolve the situation without it taking up too much of your time. If the problem persists, ask to speak to an officer. It is best to nip these problems in the bud than to cause you to have a negative feeling about a portion of your vacation. Not only are you helping to rectify the problem for yourself, but you are helping out your fellow cruisers as well.

[Denny01]

Just to say i totally agree with what you are saying Celebrity do not enforce any rules. I was on the Century in August and I had smokers on either side of my balcony. This really spoilt my holiday I did complain to my room attendant but to no avail. What is the point of complaining some people have no regard for their fellow passengers.

 

I hate calling out a specific post because it seems almost endemic in this thread that posters are saying Celebrity is not enforcing the rules, but didn't do anything about informing 'Celebrity'. Complaining to your room steward is not informing Celebrity. If its about your neighbors, your steward is not very interested in nailing them - that is the source of additonal or basic tips. So if you don't inform Celebrity, they can't enforce the rules you want enforced. And there is a point of complaining about peole who 'have no regard', since when people aren't following the rules, its either because they aren't aware of them and will do so when informed after you complain, or quit because the officials on the ship inform them of the consequences. Now, there are instances of some guy deciding to continue to smoke even after being told not to, and then maybe even paying the fine, but that really has to be a very isolated case.

 

But the point is, if you don't Properly inform Celebrity, whats the point of complaining, espeically complaining about them not enforcing the rules.

 

Denny

[greeneg]

However, I stand by my opinion that the onus is on Celebrity here to ensure compliance of policy. They have the opportunity to be much more PROACTIVE about this, and instead they seem to rely on a delayed reactive response. I feel like they gave lip service about policies in the literature, but in reality it was a big shrug from employees.

 

I won't disagree with what you are saying, but I think that you need to recognize that in the "real" World, the squeaky wheel does get the grease, and when you are protecting your enjoyment and leisure investment, you need to be as persistent as needed to achieve the desired results. If one level doesn't do it, them you politely go to the next level, and so on until the issue is resolved.

 

I think all of us would agree that somehow or another, Celebrity appears to have dropped the ball; what we are trying to make clear is that:

 

1) Your experience with Celebrity is not typical.

 

2) You should have "squeaked " more loudly. And as often as necessary.

[teajak]

However, I stand by my opinion that the onus is on Celebrity here to ensure compliance of policy. They have the opportunity to be much more PROACTIVE about this, and instead they seem to rely on a delayed reactive response. I feel like they gave lip service about policies in the literature, but in reality it was a big shrug from employees.

 

I won't disagree with what you are saying, but I think that you need to recognize that in the "real" World, the squeaky wheel does get the grease, and when you are protecting your enjoyment and leisure investment, you need to be as persistent as needed to achieve the desired results. If one level doesn't do it, them you politely go to the next level, and so on until the issue is resolved.

 

I think all of us would agree that somehow or another, Celebrity appears to have dropped the ball; what we are trying to make clear is that:

 

1) Your experience with Celebrity is not typical.

 

2) You should have "squeaked " more loudly. And as often as necessary.

And to the proper people. Amen

[nomo4iz]

In our line of work, if your customers have to repeatedly inform you that your policies are failing, then your entire business program is failing. Our job is to ensure that the customer NEVER has to complain or point out a policy failure. For customers to have to do so again and again, as evidenced by just by the sheer number of posters on this forum alone who said they had to complain about smoking violations on their cruise, is a failure. Compliance should be proactive, not reactive. Placing the burden on the customer for compliance is a good way to lose business. They just lost ours. Why on earth should we spend thousands for a vacation that requires us to interrupt our vacation time to police THEIR customers and enforce THEIR policy rules for them? If that is the only way you as business are relying on compliance, then you have a problem.

 

They need to ensure that everyone who puts foot on their ship understands and complies with the rules before they ever set sail. Reinforcement could occur at any number of places -- embarkation, fire drill, captain's greeting, etc. There are numerous opportunities to reinforce compliance. Then no one can play dumb about the rules. If I have to sign a document about my credit card, I could also be asked to agree in writing to comply with the smoke free policies of the cruise line. Penalties should be stipulated and agreed to. Hotels have asked me to do this, and I've never had problem in those instances.

 

This smoke free policy is obviously one of the huge differences between cruise lines and it is attracting new business. I would think they would make it a top priority to ensure that no guest has to complain about lack of compliance.

[pspercy]

I think Celebrity should publicize the policy onboard more than they do.

 

We were on the 8/27 Seward-Vancouver sailing. I just looked in the "dailies" for that "Welcome Aboard" issue and the policy is spelled out as part of a page of smaller print of "Useful Information". Maybe they should put it on the front page.

 

Cigarette smoking is only permitted in designated outdoor areas of the ship. Cigar and pipe smoking is only permitted in designated outdoor areas (Deck 10 Aft Only). Violation of the smoking policy will result in a $250 fine and possible disembarkation from the vessel. All smoking materials must be properly disposed of and never thrown overboard. Guests must be at least 18years of age to purchase, possess or use tobacco onboard.

 

Given the above, Cosmos should not have smelt smoky at all.

[judynorth]

We booked celebrity as it was a nice 10 day cruise to nice ports of call, however, I do smoke and I hope that I am not so limited to the places I can that I don't enjoy my cruise! I paid my money also, you've got the dinning rooms, shows, most bars, come on give smokers a break! There was a time when you could even smoke in church, and where every household had an ash tray. I respect your rights, but give those of us left a break! We play lots of taxes for the right to smoke, I rather see them making sure people are dressed properly in the dinning rooms and not wearing baseball caps inside. But no one says anything to those people. Or what about the people that put there towels on chairs and don't show up for hours, should I wreck my day to complain about them? Thanks, just wanted to stand up for those of us left. Also I think if your going to pay them $250. as a fine to smoke on your balcony, it would be for the whole trip, not per day, how are they going to clean all the outside air?

 

My not smoking doesn't pollute your airspace but your smoking does pollute my airspace. That is the big difference. I just want smokers to stay out of my space so that I don't suffer the consequences of my allergy to smoke. At least you DO have a place to smoke on the ship. So use it and don't smoke other places. BTW, other cruiselines have much more lenient policies and should accommodate you very well. Also, if you were at my house you would have to smoke outside just like you would almost everywhere else.

[greeneg]

In our line of work, if your customers have to repeatedly inform you that your policies are failing, then your entire business program is failing. Our job is to ensure that the customer NEVER has to complain or point out a policy failure. For customers to have to do so again and again, as evidenced by just by the sheer number of posters on this forum alone who said they had to complain about smoking violations on their cruise, is a failure. Compliance should be proactive, not reactive. Placing the burden on the customer for compliance is a good way to lose business. They just lost ours. Why on earth should we spend thousands for a vacation that requires us to interrupt our vacation time to police THEIR customers and enforce THEIR policy rules for them? If that is the only way you as business are relying on compliance, then you have a problem.

 

They need to ensure that everyone who puts foot on their ship understands and complies with the rules before they ever set sail. Reinforcement could occur at any number of places -- embarkation, fire drill, captain's greeting, etc. There are numerous opportunities to reinforce compliance. Then no one can play dumb about the rules. If I have to sign a document about my credit card, I could also be asked to agree in writing to comply with the smoke free policies of the cruise line. Penalties should be stipulated and agreed to. Hotels have asked me to do this, and I've never had problem in those instances.

 

This smoke free policy is obviously one of the huge differences between cruise lines and it is attracting new business. I would think they would make it a top priority to ensure that no guest has to complain about lack of compliance.

 

With all due respect, and no intent to be argumentative, I think that you find that the vast majority of people here on these boards who have found that the smoking policies are enforced significantly outnumbers the number of people such as yourself who have run into an enforcement issue.

 

I think that we all agree that the policy should be enforced as written and violations should not be tolerated. There is really no discussion here.

 

I also think that you ran into a problem that you should not have had to deal with and, as you have stated, that the ship did not handle this in the appropriate manner. It has been suggested to you that there was a better way for you to have handled this so that it could have been more appropriately addressed on the ship; for whatever reason, that opportunity has passed and the most appropriate and positive steps that you can take at this point are to advise Celebrity Management of what happened, what was done or not done, and see what sort of response that you get from them.

 

This is exactly what I suggest you should do at this point. When you have had a response from Management, whatever the response happens to be, I think that you should re-visit this thread and share the response with the rest of us.

[teajak]

In our line of work, if your customers have to repeatedly inform you that your policies are failing, then your entire business program is failing. Our job is to ensure that the customer NEVER has to complain or point out a policy failure. For customers to have to do so again and again, as evidenced by just by the sheer number of posters on this forum alone who said they had to complain about smoking violations on their cruise, is a failure. Compliance should be proactive, not reactive. Placing the burden on the customer for compliance is a good way to lose business. They just lost ours. Why on earth should we spend thousands for a vacation that requires us to interrupt our vacation time to police THEIR customers and enforce THEIR policy rules for them? If that is the only way you as business are relying on compliance, then you have a problem.

 

They need to ensure that everyone who puts foot on their ship understands and complies with the rules before they ever set sail. Reinforcement could occur at any number of places -- embarkation, fire drill, captain's greeting, etc. There are numerous opportunities to reinforce compliance. Then no one can play dumb about the rules. If I have to sign a document about my credit card, I could also be asked to agree in writing to comply with the smoke free policies of the cruise line. Penalties should be stipulated and agreed to. Hotels have asked me to do this, and I've never had problem in those instances.

 

This smoke free policy is obviously one of the huge differences between cruise lines and it is attracting new business. I would think they would make it a top priority to ensure that no guest has to complain about lack of compliance.

In a perfect world your philosophy would be fine, this is not a perfect world, people do not always follow the rules it is called being human. It would be fine if Celebrity could rely on everyone doing this but, It aint gonna happen. They need help to know where the problems are. You failed to provide that help. If your business is so perfect that you don't need it you are very lucky.

 

I am very happy to provide that help to Celebrity to maintain the policy of no smoking that benefits me so very much. Obviously you did not feel compelled to do this so you suffered the consequnces.There is an old saying don't cut off your nose to spite your face.