Smoking

[sparkyvoltron]

My husband and I are planning on taking a cruise to Alaska in 2005. We cannot find any definitive smoking policy for this cruise ship except a rather vague one side versus another side is smoking versus non-smoking. My husband is deathly allergic to cigarette smoking and cigars and pipes are worse. Has anyone had any experience with smoking on this line and how does the line handle this problem? Please let me know. Thank you.

[dougburns]

RSSC ships permit smoking. That having been said, the ventilation systems are so good that you'll have trouble smelling smoke in most areas. Signatures, Latitudes, the Constellation Theater during shows and lectures, the Observation Lounge are non-smoking areas. Most folks are very considerate of others when it comes to smoking. Some are occasionally bothered by smoke in the Horizon Lounge at night, even though the smoking area there is very small.

[traveller333]

I believe all Radisson ships (at least the ones I'm familiar with) have a small smoking section in the dining rooms. The ventilation is excellent though so it shouldn't present a problem. Just asked to be seated as far away from that section as possible. The staff will be very accommodating. I wouldn't let the smoking thing worry you.

[dougburns]

The smoking area in Compass Rose is all the way aft on the port side and consists of @ 6 tables. You won't be bothered by smoke forward in the dining room, either side.

[Caitlin]

Yikes! I'll be honest and say I never thought to ask if smoking was allowed in the dining room. I thought all ships were non-smoking for dining. Hopefully you guys are right and it won't be a problem. Otherwise, I am going to be in major trouble with DH for trying RSSC. (He has breathing problems and can't be anywhere near smoke.) We've given up on the lounges - even in the non-smoking sections it still comes over enough that it creates a problem.

 

Sounds like we might be thanking heaven for a balcony?

[mountainmare]

A balcony is not always the answer, see smoking thread under HAL. When I posed the question I thought that maybe I was oversensitive to smoke. Not so.

[mpfund]

Here's a comment from the other side. I am a smoker, and my DH and I are taking a cruise in Feb (different line, different itinerary). As a smoker I asked about the most aft balcony cabin, thinking it would annoy fewer people. I could get no info on the details from my t.a. so called the cruise line directly. I was told that the balcony was mine to do as I wish -- they seemed to have no concern for people I might offend on either side. For the record I booked the most aft cabin (one cabin on one side only), and several weeks ago was called to see if I would change. I pointed out that I am a smoker and they did not care!

 

So, some of us try and still fail!

[sdf89]

We have just returned from Navigator. (still missing it)

To our surprise, in 7 days, we only saw one person smoking on the ship. (in one of the bars on port side, as per rules). There were a few times we smelled a little bit walking down a stateroom corridor, but not a bother.

 

We never smelled it on our balcony... a very welcome finding as we have had trouble with that in past on other cruise lines.

 

While we were aware of the permitted area in Compass Rose, never saw someone availing themselves of it.

 

To me, this far less observation of smoking could not be coincidental. For one thing, we did see quite a bit of smoking by passengers on excursions. I wonder if passengers were more discrete about public smoking on the ship??? Or I suppose the prior poster's comment about the excellent ventilation is correct. In any case, this was a plus for the Navigator.

[sandracruiser]

I smoked for over 20 years, but I haven't smoked since 1986, in 1997 I had a massive heart attack, and had to have open heart surgery at the age of 51... You talk about hating to be around cigarette smoke???? We have been on several Radisson Cruises and we have never been bothered by cigarette smoke, and I do agree that smokers are much more considerete than they used to be, I remember when I smoked in the grocery stores , hospitals, on planes, or wherever. Having been thru what I went thru, if I had still been smoking, I wouldn't be now, but then I probably wouldn't be here now. Going thru heart rehab, probably about 85% of us had been former smokers, oh well, enough preaching on the matter, I just don't want anyone to have to go thru what I went thru if I can help it.

I don't think you could go wrong in booking a Radisson Cruise, in the dinning room just tell them to set you as far away from the tables that allow smoking. We have been seated close to the area where they allow smoking and never even realized it.

[Dolebludger]

We don't smoke. We have never really smelled it on any of the Radisson ships (we have cruised all of them). One factor here is that Radisson has just about the largest amount of over-all space per passenger of any line. As one is never in a crowd, there can't be that many smokers around as there aren't that many people around. And, the lack of crowded conditions helps the ventilitation system do its job.

 

 

Thanks,

Richard:) :) :)

[reggiescoobie]

HI, I WAS IN ALASKA 2 SUMMERS AGO AND IT IS A GREAT TRIP. I WILL DEFINATELY DO IT AGAIN. I AM GLAD I DID IT BEFORE I GOT TO OLD. THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO THERE. YOU MUST BE REFERRING TO THE MARINER. I HAVE A RELATIVE THAT WILL BE WORKING ON THE SHIP AND I WILL CONTACT HER TO GET YOU THE ANSWER YOU NEED. WRITE ME BACK AT REGGIESCOOBIE@AOL.COM AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION YOU NEED. I GOT A GREAT RATE AND MANY EXTRAS WHEN I BOOKED MY CRUISE. IM SURE I WILL HEAR BACK FROM MY RELATIVE AS SOON AS I SEND THIS EMAIL ON

[Wandering]

Hello. I have been lurking, signed up today to post. We are looking at the Paul Gauguin in Tahiti. I am alergic to cigarette smoke. This thread has eased my concerns over the public areas, but I am still concerned about the cabin/state room. I realize no one will be smoking in the room when I am in it, but will it stink of smoke from previous guests. I have checked into hotels before after requesting a non smoking room and they have run out. The desk agent always assures me that it is cleaned and deoderized and I won't even notice it. Not true, the rooms always reek. Will our cabin stink?

[blackbird71]

I am a smoker and I saw most smokers being very considerate. I did not know they had a smoking area in the main restaurant until I saw somebody smoking in the back area. In my case I did not smoke in my cabin only on the balcony. One additional place to stay away from is the casino it is all smoking.

 

Then there is the Cigar lounge with Cubans starting at $10 to $45 per. :rolleyes:

[Dolebludger]

Wandering:

 

We've been on seven Radisson cruises, including three weeks total on the Paul Gauguin. We don't smoke. We never encountered a room that smelled of tobacco smoke -- or anything else. That is one thing we like about this line. We haven't encountered any foul odors onboard anywhere -- of any kind. In fact, Radisson ships are the only ones we've been on (we've been on several lines) where we never smelled sewage anywhere ---- and never smelled tobacco smoke either.

 

Thanks,

Richard:) :) :)

[Kathy Z]

We are not smokers. I do not have the type of allergy mentioned above, but smoke does cause a problem for me. We've been on both the Mariner to Alaska and the PG. No problem at all with our stateroom in either case. I do believe that whatever they do between passengers takes care of any smoke smell (or else we've just been fortunate and followed non-smokers). The casino on the Mariner reeked of smoke but we don't gamble either so we just stayed away from that room. We did smell smoke a few times when we were out on our balcony however. One of our neighbors smoked cigars.

 

The PG was just last year so my memory is fresher in regard to other parts of that ship. There is a smoking area (not at dining tables) just inside the main dining room entrance. There was never anyone there smoking when we went into the dining room (usually within 30 minutes of their opening) but we learned after one evening meal seated further back along that starboard side that the smoke drifted all the way to our table. Following that experience we always asked to be seated further away from that section. When we exited the dining room we just walked quickly if there were people smoking there.

 

The PG also allows smoking on the starboard side of Le Grand Salon. That room seems to do a good job of containing the smoke to just the area where the passergers were smoking and it never bothered us. We went to just about every show so we were in there nearly every evening.

 

Both of our trips on RSSC were extraordinary and we liked the PG so much that we are returning this year.

[sandracruiser]

I wish this thread hadn't been brought back up to the top, in our several cruises with Radisson, we had never had any problems with people smoking on the ship, ventilation seemed to be very good, however on our most resent segment of the Voyager's world cruise , anywhere you set on the port side in the Compose Rose you were bothered by the smoke. We had cruised last year on the Voyager and didn't have any problems, maybe the few tables they allow smoking at, people were chain smokers, but it was really bad, we just never sat on the Port side again, after two trys...

We were in cabin 645, and both cabins on either side of us were heavy smokers, we never could smell it thru the cabins, but withour fail, each morin g on the veranda , you had smoke coming from both sides......I think when you were a smoker for many years(like me), the smoke even bothers you more. I for one , don't think they should allow any smoking in the dinning room, at least on the veranda you can get away from it,too bad we had to be the ones to take our breakfast back in our cabin.

[sandracruiser]

I wish this thread hadn't been brought back up to the top, in our several cruises with Radisson, we had never had any problems with people smoking on the ship, ventilation seemed to be very good, however on our most resent segment of the Voyager's world cruise , anywhere you set on the port side in the Compose Rose you were bothered by the smoke. We had cruised last year on the Voyager and didn't have any problems, maybe the few tables they allow smoking at, people were chain smokers, but it was really bad, we just never sat on the Port side again, after two trys...

We were in cabin 645, and both cabins on either side of us were heavy smokers, we never could smell it thru the cabins, but without fail, each morin g on the veranda , you had smoke coming from both sides......I think when you were a smoker for many years(like me), the smoke even bothers you more. I for one , don't think they should allow any smoking in the dinning room, at least on the veranda you can get away from it,too bad we had to be the ones to take our breakfast back in our cabin.

we still love Radisson, enough to book 2 segments on next years world cruise.

[lastlook]

We were on the PG last March, and I don't recall any smoke at all. We did specify on our pre-cruise forms that we were both allergic to smoke, so perhaps we were steered away from smoking areas when we were being seated?

 

We just sailed on the Diamond last month, and we had a problem with diesel fumes coming through the vent in our cabin, and so we were moved up two decks and more forward (from 736 to 912, I think it was) and that solved the problem, but I did detect the faint smell of cigarette smoke coming from the vent in that cabin on occasion. Not enough to fuss about though, and I'm pretty sensitive to cigarette smoke.

 

I never noticed anyone smoking in the diningrooms on either ship. Our last night on the Diamond, we did go with another couple to an outdoor bar for a drink and it turned out the be the cigar/cognac bar, but I did not smell any smoke of any kind even though there were some cigar smokers at the bar. I think the breeze must have been blowing in just the right direction. We were seated at a table away from the bar.

 

I think there are relatively few smokers on RSSC cruises, and those who do smoke must be pretty discreet/considerate as I've never been bothered by smoke and I really dislike it.

 

We specified our allergy to cigarette smoke on our pre-cruise forms again this year, so perhaps that might help you avoid any problems? Good luck - I hope you'll decide to go.

[blackbird71]

Here is the word from the horses mouth. Feb. 12 2005 Mariner Passages.

 

[Call me Ishmael]

I think there's some element of luck involved. I am also negatively affected by smoke. In two weeks on the PG the only problem was encountered in La Palette, the lounge on deck 8. Maybe they had the smoke clearing system off since the doors were open on to the aft deck, but it was fairly heavy from just 2 smokers. But there were other smokers around.

 

And our travelling companions complained of cigar smoke coming from an adjoining balcony.

[Poppy9629]

Has anyone had any problems with smoking odors in the cabin above the smoking lounge on the Mariner? I'm a nonsmoker and very sensitive to smoke. If there's a chance it will be an issue I'll try to change cabins.

[Joanandjoe]

Even if no one else had a problem in a cabin right over the smokers' lounge, you might have one - and you might be bothered by noise. See if your TA can get you a cabin that isn't directly above or below any smoky or noisy area. LOL.

[Marylis]

We just returned from the Navigator and I was more bothered by cigarette smoke than I thought I would be. The people in the room next door to us smoked and, though we could not smell it in our room, we could smell it in the hallway. People also tended to smoke near the elevator bank outside the Compass Rose and we were on the same floor. Whenever anyone was smoking there, our hallway smelled like smoke. The smell didn't linger after the smoking ceased.

 

I was disappointed that the only posted non-smoking area I knew of was the show lounge. Galileo's was particularly smoky most of the time. Surprisingly, the casino never smelled of smoke.

 

My partner Mary disagrees with me about Galileo's. She only experienced it as smoky once. I am much more sensitive to smoke than she is. I also wonder how much of the smokiness I encountered had to do with the fact that it was a completely full ship.

 

I did ask the Cruise Consultant if, when choosing a future cruise, you could find out whether the people in the rooms around you are smokers. She said no. I do think there are ways that Radisson could improve their smoking policy, perhaps by designating blocks of rooms smoking or non-smoking. That way smokers don't have to worry about bothering others, and non-smokers don't have to experience unwanted cigarette smoke.

 

It wasn't bad enough to prevent me from cruising with them again, but I would be so disappointed to have a balcony next to a room with a smoker!

 

Lis