Smoking in Public Areas

[Claybuster58]

My wife and I are booked on the May 29 cruise to Alaska aboard the Zaandam. We are first-time cruisers and are non-smokers. From the HAL website, it looks like there are some public rooms where smoking is allowed. I am not trying to offend any smokers, however, can anyone tell me if the HAL ships (particularly the Zaandam) do a good job of ventilating those public areas? Thanks.

[govgurl]

When I travelled to Alaska last summer (and I think the policy is the same), there was smoking allowed in the Casino, on the promenade (only on the outside walking deck that wraps around the ship, not in the interior spaces of the promenade deck) and in individual staterooms.

 

Since I didn't use the casino, the smoking didn't bother me (and I suspect since you can smoke in most casinos on land, non-smoking gamblers are accustomed to it). On the promenade not many people smoked, and if you were near a smoker and it bothered you, you could always walk around the corner to the other side.

[sail7seas]

Smoking is permitted in all cabins and on verandas. If you have a veranda, there is always the chance your neighbor could be a smoker. :eek: We had one cruise where we had no use of our veranda the whole cruise as the people on both sides of us smoked a lot on their verandas throughout our cruise and that chased us off it.

[BumperII]

For the most part, smoking is a non issue because the overwhelming majority of HAL passengers are non smokers. On any cruise we have been on the the last year, there probably weren't more than a dozen smokers on board, and they pretty well go along with the program.

On the R and S class ships, the casinos seem to be pretty well vented. But our recent cruise on the Westerdam, the casino smelled so bad that we learned to avoid walking through or near it. We noticed the same problem on the Eurodam. My guess is that you will be fine on the Zandam.

[schoolinmy3]

We have asthma and we have not been bothered by smoke on our cruises. As the previous poster said if you have a veranda room booked you may not be able to use it as often as you like if you have smoking neighbors. We just avoided the casino and didn't encounter any problems in other public areas. You can request an extra cleaning of your room if necessary.

Diane

[Krazy Kruizers]

Zaandam -- smoking -- the worst area is the Casino!!

Part of the Crow's Nest around the bar smoking is still allowed.

Other than that -- the Ocean Bar, dining room, Piano Bar areas, Explorer's Lounge, Eplorations's Cafe which has the library and internet cafe and the dining room as well as the Pinnacle Grill and the Lido buffet area are all smoke free.

[ANSalberg]

There is a specific machine that can be brought into your room that -in some way "Oxydizes" [ I think that's the word I need] in about an hour's time -and thoroughly cleans the AIR in your room. You CANNOT use your room WHILE the machine is 'doing its thing' -so they often bring it in while you are at dinner or some such. We had a problem on one cruise with smokers ALL around us AND for 10 weeks!!!!! The problem was smoke leaking into our room via the return air vent. ONE evening WHOEVER the smoker was smoked at 11;30PM and we WATCHED the smoke roll into our room! We DID know there were 7 smokers in 5 rooms in our general area of the ship [ out of 7 rooms in that area]

The machine DID help [some] and our guys Neoman and Sugi, did their VERY best job; this was NOT their fault!

[CtheW0rld]

the OP asked about smoking in public areas. last time i checked, cabins were not public areas. too bad some posters can't stick to a topic. kind of sad, actually.

[taxmantoo]

the OP asked about smoking in public areas. last time i checked, cabins were not public areas. too bad some posters can't stick to a topic. kind of sad, actually.

 

Bad hair day ?

[Vic The Parrot]

Bad hair day ?

 

 

 

 

Well, he does have a valid point. :rolleyes:

[CRUZBUDS]

We were bothered on the Zaandam at the pinch point at the Casino Bar -- It is adjacent to the main walkway. If the bar was full of smokers, it was very unpleasant and it is unavoidable if you want to go fore and aft on that deck.

 

Maybe they've changed the smoking policy there - this was about 1 1/2 years ago.

[Sea King]

 

Part of the Crow's Nest around the bar smoking is still allowed.

 

KK are you sure about that?

 

Maasdam has eliminated smoking at the Crow's Nest bar and in fact only allows smoking in an area far removed from bar

 

it seems that there is no real "universal policy" fleet wide about what public areas are "no smoking" .. as an example, some ships restrict smoking to certain nights in the casino while on others, the casino is always smoking

[Assateague Island Princes]

Smoking was permitted at the back side of the bar in the Crows Nest on the Amsterdam this past June when we were in Alaska. I think its different on each ship.

[Cygneagile]

Why oh why do they allow smoking in the cabins. I consider that a fire hazard, on the balcony and public places o.k. The smoke has a tendency to penetrate the carpet and curtains even the walls. So this is not a good thing for me. As far as the public places, they usually only allow smoking on one side of the ship, either port side of starboard side. And yes the Casino is a smoking area. But if you stay for just a couple of hours you are good. Most of the Casino on board the ships has an excellent system to clean out the air.

We are off on April 12 on the Zuiderdam and my 2 sister’s smoke but they will only smoke on the balcony and in designated areas. They love the Casino because they can sit and enjoy…. All and all, in all my cruises, I have found the smokers very understanding and courteous just a few situations where I had to move.

Is the smoking policy not the same for all ships?

[CRUZBUDS]

Why oh why do they allow smoking in the cabins. I consider that a fire hazard' date=' on the balcony and public places o.k. The smoke has a tendency to penetrate the carpet and curtains even the walls. [/color']So this is not a good thing for me. As far as the public places, they usually only allow smoking on one side of the ship, either port side of starboard side. And yes the Casino is a smoking area. But if you stay for just a couple of hours you are good. Most of the Casino on board the ships has an excellent system to clean out the air.

We are off on April 12 on the Zuiderdam and my 2 sister’s smoke but they will only smoke on the balcony and in designated areas. They love the Casino because they can sit and enjoy…. All and all, in all my cruises, I have found the smokers very understanding and courteous just a few situations where I had to move.

Is the smoking policy not the same for all ships?

 

That reminded me - our across the hall neighbors and roll call friends were very unhappy about smoke smell in their cabin -- it seemed to come from heavy smokers next door.

[Juanita462]

We were on the Zaandam less than a year ago and found the smoke in the casino and sports bar area to be really bad - because the casino is open ended to the atrium and ocean bar area, it drifted all through so that it made walking through unpleasant and no chance of sitting listening to the music from the ocean bar.

 

We did have one cruise ruined by chain smokers on each side of our cabin - so it can happen. The corridor was blue with smoke and it drifted into our room from under the door as well as through the vent.

We spoke to our room steward and he said he didn't like it either but couldn't do anything about it. A visit to the front desk was useless as well. Fortunately it was only 7 days but we never sailed on that ship again.

 

It always amazes me that neither irons or steamers are allowed in the staterooms for safety reasons but matches and cigarettes are allowed - strange logic.

[Cygneagile]

So true. Most cruise lines that I have been on do not allow smoking int he Cabins. They consider a fire hazard.. So let us be patient it is just a matter of time.

[RuthC]

Does anyone know if smoking is allowed in the bars?

Smoking is not allowed in most lounges. Which lounge allows it depends on which ship you are sailing.

It is usually allowed in the Casino, and nearby Sports Bar. On some ships there is smoking allowed at or near the Crow's Nest bar; if the ship has a Northern Lights, though, there is no smoking in the Crow's Nest. Smoking is allowed in the Northern Lights.

 

There is no smoking allowed in the Ocean Bar, Explorers Lounge, or Piano Bar/Lounge/Mix on any ship. (Possible exception with the Ocean Bar on the Prinsendam; I don't know. There was a small smoking section in the Ocean Bar on that ship when I sailed her in 2007, but that might have been eliminated by now.)

[Hlitner]

We are non-smokers, dislike smoke and do our best to avoid the stuff. On HA cruises this simply means we never spend any time in the casino...which probably saves us enough money to book another HA cruise. If you are a gambler and do not like smoke you should book Celebrity....otherwise you will be fine on HA.

 

Hank

[sandyh422]

We spoke to a HAL sales rep today at a Travel Show and asked if HAL is considering a change to the smoking policy on their ships. He replied that HAL is fearful of losing a lot of cruisers if smoking is not allowed in casinos, cabins, etc. On the flip side, they could also lose passengers, like my husband and I, who strongly object to inhaling second hand smoke. Somehow is not fair that we become victims of a group (smokers) who are really in the minority today.

[CtheW0rld]

We spoke to a HAL sales rep today at a Travel Show and asked if HAL is considering a change to the smoking policy on their ships. He replied that HAL is fearful of losing a lot of cruisers if smoking is not allowed in casinos, cabins, etc. On the flip side, they could also lose passengers, like my husband and I, who strongly object to inhaling second hand smoke. Somehow is not fair that we become victims of a group (smokers) who are really in the minority today.

 

you, and people like you, are NOT victims. it is your choice. nobody is forcing you to take a hal cruise. you have options.

[dmwnc1959]

THANK YOU for bringing up the point that smoking IS allowed in the staterooms, and although they are not public areas, still just as an important fact to know. I have read on various threads on other cruise lines of folks getting booked into a cabin where it took days to get the stench of cigarettes out of their rooms. I wonder if this is also the case on Holland-America?

[Juanita462]

Yes, it can happen - only once for us - but it took 3 days of using the

ionizer machine in the room for 3 hours a day to remove the smell.

 

They didn't clean any of the soft furnishings - which I understand is usually the procedure.

 

we couldn't go into the cabin while the machine was running which was a nuisance.

[sail7seas]

We cant stand the stench of stale cigarette smoke and would not be able to stay in a cabin that stunk of it but we have never had a problem with HAL's cabins. Whatever methods or products they are using seem to work well. What doesn't work for us is continuing to permit smoking on the verandas. That has disturbed us most unpleasantly.

[erewhon]

We cant stand the stench of stale cigarette smoke and would not be able to stay in a cabin that stunk of it but we have never had a problem with HAL's cabins. Whatever methods or products they are using seem to work well. What doesn't work for us is continuing to permit smoking on the verandas. That has disturbed us most unpleasantly.

 

Thank you for your statement.

We are in complete agreement.