This Thread Is To Be Used For All Discussions About HAL's On Board Smoking Policies

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Wow!! What wonderful memories you must have of your first voyage!!!!!!

 

Actually, the only vague memories I have of that sailing was being in an area for children where most of them were seasick. I, fortunately, was not thanks (apparently) to some meds taken during the voyage. Yes, seeing kids around me hurling did leave a mark on my memory !! (I was not quite 4 years old at that time). :)

 

Tom

[IRL_Joanie]

My 1 HAL cruise was a TA in 1966. So, even though I don't remember, I likely even smelled smoke in the dining room (see pipe)! :eek:

 

 

BTW - I'm the blond one... :)

 

Tom

 

Thanks Tom for the clarification. What a cutie you were:)

 

So, now I will wait until your next cruise on a HAL ship and see how you compare the smoke drift on HAL as opposed to the other Lines you've been on.

 

I think you will be surprised at the difference:) NOTE: I said "I think," not, "You will."

 

Fuel smells I have smelled on the verandah only when we are being refueled on my side of the ship. And only on the verandah, not in the stateroom itself.

 

The only smells I have had was on Nieuw Amsterdam November 2010 and that was French Fries and only for a few minutes around 3-4am. I kid you not!! Someone else from Cruise Critic had a stateroom mid ship, I think deck 7 or 8, and reported here that they had the same smell the entire cruise. IIRC, they said it was overpowering to the point they asked to be moved.

 

Joanie

[Lizzie68]

Hi All,

We have always cruised on Celebrity in Europe, but Holland America has an itinerary that we like, so we are considering it. I was rather shocked to read that HA still allows smoking on the balcony's. I could care less if anyone smokes, but... have any of you found it to be an issue with the smell while enjoying your own balcony? Would also love and appreciate any tips on best cabin locations on the Eurodam. We have never cruised on HA before. Thanks !

 

We had one cruise where the couple next door spent most of their day on the balcony smoking. Fortunately it was a cruise in segments and they got off long before we did. But the worst one was not being able to have breakfast on our balcony for the whole cruise because of the disgusting lung-clearing sounds next to us. Stomach-churning.:eek:

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

...

 

So, now I will wait until your next cruise on a HAL ship and see how you compare the smoke drift on HAL as opposed to the other Lines you've been on.

 

I think you will be surprised at the difference:) NOTE: I said "I think," not, "You will."

...

 

Joanie

 

I'll report back to be sure! :D

 

I have a strong feeling that we're going to enjoy our time on the Koningsdam - no matter the smoking policies in force at that point.

 

Tom

[Aquahound]

We had one cruise where the couple next door spent most of their day on the balcony smoking. Fortunately it was a cruise in segments and they got off long before we did. But the worst one was not being able to have breakfast on our balcony for the whole cruise because of the disgusting lung-clearing sounds next to us. Stomach-churning.:eek:

 

You just nailed what is my biggest complaint about HAL's current policy. Morning breakfast on my balcony is one of my favorite cruise activities and it stinks (literally) to have it ruined by not only the stench of cigarette smoke, but the hacking that is associated with it.

[Blue Mudshark]

My point being if authorities gave smokers better access to litter disposal it would go a long way to dealing with the problems.

Is nicotine addiction so debilitating that smokers can't take responsibility for their trash, and require everyone else to provide them with ash trays everywhere?

 

Blaming "authorities" for smokers' littering is absurd. There's what they call a "smoking pit" outside the entrance to a workplace I know. There are several all-weather cigarette disposal containers provide there. And the ground is covered with cigarette buts simply dropped on the ground.

 

People on this thread have reported seeing butts thrown onto lower balconies and into the sea. There is no excuse for that.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

You just nailed what is my biggest complaint about HAL's current policy. Morning breakfast on my balcony is one of my favorite cruise activities and it stinks (literally) to have it ruined by not only the stench of cigarette smoke, but the hacking that is associated with it.

 

Our breakfast mornings have fortunately not crossed paths with either the smell of smoke nor that wonderful clearing out the phlegm sound. What a pleasant morning thought.

 

Likely the reason we've not had any issues is thanks to Celebrity...

 

 

 

Tom

[Hlitner]

You just nailed what is my biggest complaint about HAL's current policy. Morning breakfast on my balcony is one of my favorite cruise activities and it stinks (literally) to have it ruined by not only the stench of cigarette smoke, but the hacking that is associated with it.

 

You were actually lucky. When we did a trans-pacific on the Oosterdam we could never use our balcony for breakfast because we had 2 big time cigar smokers nearby....who indulged all morning and also late afternoon (around sunset). Funny thing about that cruise is that were never bothered by cigarette smoke...but suspect that even the cigarette smokers fled their balconies to get away from the cigars :).

 

Hank

[tim22361]

My 1 HAL cruise was a TA in 1966. So, even though I don't remember, I likely even smelled smoke in the dining room (see pipe)! :eek:

 

 

BTW - I'm the blond one... :)

 

Tom

 

 

Nice pictures in your album, Tom. The Sensation was our last cruise. I could not believe how tiny the balcony was. :-)

[teamflames]

Is nicotine addiction so debilitating that smokers can't take responsibility for their trash, and require everyone else to provide them with ash trays everywhere?

 

 

 

Blaming "authorities" for smokers' littering is absurd. There's what they call a "smoking pit" outside the entrance to a workplace I know. There are several all-weather cigarette disposal containers provide there. And the ground is covered with cigarette buts simply dropped on the ground.

 

 

 

People on this thread have reported seeing butts thrown onto lower balconies and into the sea. There is no excuse for that.

 

 

I never blamed authorities! I am big believer in personal responsibility. My point was merely that bad behaviour is reinforced when common sense (providing a trash receptacle in a designated smoking) is NOT applied.

 

I am glad your example included where ashtrays are provided, mine was the opposite.

 

Like you I am anti smoking in public areas. I was hoping that while HAL operates an absurd policy it at least provides decent enough ashtrays so that smokers are not "encouraged" to litter as well.

 

Please read all of my comments next time and not cherry pick.

 

 

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[teamflames]

It astounds me that anyone would expect the smokers to be provided with ashtrays. Does the addiction make them so weak that they can't take care of this themselves?

 

 

So what do you think smokers are going to do, put out there cigarettes and then put them in their pockets or purses until they get home?

Surely a little common sense goes a long way.

Someone on this post has already said they leave their rubbish on public tables when there are no bins. People simply don't want to walk around with trash.

You keep ranting but in the meantime perhaps some form of sensible policy could be discussed.

 

 

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[OceanTraveller4ever]

That is the inherent problem with smoking is that folks have no built-in ashtrays with them.

The car industry at one time did accommodate the smoking addiction with ashtrays and lighters, but they no longer provide that capacity in their products,

So, even the car industry deems smoking as passe, and no longer mainstream.

 

HAL will follow that reality one day.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

...

Someone on this post has already said they leave their rubbish on public tables when there are no bins. People simply don't want to walk around with trash.

...

 

For clarification, the trash I referred to would be something like an empty water bottle. When you used the word rubbish visions of discarded tires and yard waste came to mind! :eek: :D

 

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[teamflames]

For clarification, the trash I referred to would be something like an empty water bottle. When you used the word rubbish visions of discarded tires and yard waste came to mind! :eek: :D

 

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

Sorry about that, we tend to use "rubbish" generically. Perhaps litter but rarely "trash" although I try to on this forum but it doesn't come naturally [emoji1]

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Forums mobile app

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Sorry about that, we tend to use "rubbish" generically. Perhaps litter but rarely "trash" although I try to on this forum but it doesn't come naturally [emoji1]

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Forums mobile app

 

No worries. LOTS of stuff gets lost in "message board translation"! :)

 

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[Lizzie68]

For clarification, the trash I referred to would be something like an empty water bottle. When you used the word rubbish visions of discarded tires and yard waste came to mind! :eek: :D

 

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2

 

I think you have to take everything in context. For instance, your use of the word trash means exactly what you see as rubbish, to me! Same language, different word, depends on where you come from - but if you read something in it's entirety, it all makes sense.;)

[sail7seas]

The last time we had a balcony on Ryndam we didn't ever smell smoke. We were on the Navigation deck with the large suites. I don't know if that makes a difference or not. So even though we don't smoke it wasn't an issue for us.

 

Now the casino is a different matter. It is really too smoky for us. "Thank you HAL, you have saved us a lot of money by allowing smoking in the casino." On our last cruise there was smoking all the time in the casino, not just on certain nights. It was so smoky that we started taking the long route around the shops.

 

In a way I feel sorry for smokers. They are treated like lepers. My dd and sil are smokers. We allow them to smoke on our lanai, but they never smoke in our house, they don't even smoke in theirs as their son has asthma.

 

Both dh and I smoked years ago. DH have it up for health reasons. I gave it up when the price became $1.00 per pack!

 

The only reason you likely were not bothered by smoking stench on that Ryndam cruise probably is because there were no smokers nearby when you were on your verandah. Having spent months of our lives on Navigation (and Rotterdam deck on Vista/Signature ships) Neptune verandahs, we have had lots of smoke smell from neighbors going back to when the just removed from the fleet, Statendam, first joined the fleet. :) Most cruises, there was no issue. Sometimes the issue was extreme.

 

Edited February 13, 2016 by sail7seas

[Lizzie68]

From the Q&A on the World Cruise yesterday, with the big cheeses at HAL:

 

Q: What about smoking on Verandahs? Don’t like it.

A: We are experimenting replacing Verandah smoking with smoking is a special room, like you see in airports. Nothing will happen too soon, but we think about it a lot.

[3rdGenCunarder]

It's been a while since they've asked about that (remember the old smoking questionnaire?), so I wonder how they can make that claim. Edited to say that this was in response to a now-removed post that HAL claims the majority of their pax want to smoke on balconies)

 

On our recent cruise, we had no smokers near us. In fact, with 5 balcony cabins over the last several years, we've only smelled smoke one afternoon. Last year, a group of couples were traveling together and the men gathered on the balcony next to ours for a cigar afternoon. Fortunately, we had an aft wrap, so I just moved to the side and escaped the smell. I was worried that every afternoon would be like that, but it was only once.

 

This is not to say that balcony smoking isn't a problem. I've just been lucky. Others have not, unfortunately.

 

Oddly, on this past cruise what I did smell in the room was bread baking! We must have been near a vent for the ship's bakery. Around 4 PM every day, that lovely smell wafted through the room and made me hungry! It was my third corner aft and the first time that has happened.

Edited February 14, 2016 by 3rdGenCunarder

[Cruise Junky]

From the Q&A on the World Cruise yesterday, with the big cheeses at HAL:

 

Q: What about smoking on Verandahs? Don’t like it.

A: We are experimenting replacing Verandah smoking with smoking is a special room, like you see in airports. Nothing will happen too soon, but we think about it a lot.

 

Oh, that's hopeful. Hope they come to their senses soon.

[sail7seas]

From the Q&A on the World Cruise yesterday, with the big cheeses at HAL:

 

Q: What about smoking on Verandahs? Don’t like it.

A: We are experimenting replacing Verandah smoking with smoking is a special room, like you see in airports. Nothing will happen too soon, but we think about it a lot.

 

How stupid do they actually think we are? :rolleyes:

They know how many people are first time HAL cruisers who book a verandah and are smokers. That is an easy number for their 'wizard computer techies' to tell them. :)

 

They cannot know the total number of guests they are losing. They know from the ones who tell them but I would suggest there are probably many more who don't bother to tell them why they are leaving HAL.... they simply book a different cruise line which recognizes what the Vast majority of North American (and more) cruisers seek.

 

[sppunk]

How stupid do they actually think we are? :rolleyes:

They know how many people are first time HAL cruisers who book a verandah and are smokers. That is an easy number for their 'wizard computer techies' to tell them. :)

 

They cannot know the total number of guests they are losing. They know from the ones who tell them but I would suggest there are probably many more who don't bother to tell them why they are leaving HAL.... they simply book a different cruise line which recognizes what the Vast majority of North American (and more) cruisers seek.

 

 

The kicker is bookings in 2016 are up so I've been told by a pretty good source. So as long as bookings increase they know they are in a net positive.

 

I like the term "experimenting" Ashford used. I'm "experimenting" playing for the Red Sox, too.

[Aquahound]

The kicker is bookings in 2016 are up so I've been told by a pretty good source. So as long as bookings increase they know they are in a net positive.

 

I like the term "experimenting" Ashford used. I'm "experimenting" playing for the Red Sox, too.

 

I don't know how they capture their stats or what spin they put on them for the investors....but looking at it from a simplistic view, wouldn't bookings be up because they added another ship? :confused:

 

Yeah, I also like the word "experimenting." My first question when I saw that was...where are they experimenting?

Edited February 14, 2016 by Aquahound

[Lizzie68]

And the excerpt from WCB's blog, same Q&A session, slightly different translation (my bold):

 

One person wanted a non-smoking policy to include the verandas. It is being tested on the Noordam already. They are providing space for the smokers, but will stop it on the verandas to see how well it is accepted.

[sppunk]

I don't know how they capture their stats or what spin they put on them for the investors....but looking at it from a simplistic view, wouldn't bookings be up because they added another ship? :confused:

 

Yeah, I also like the word "experimenting." My first question when I saw that was...where are they experimenting?

 

Well they're down 1 really, lost Statendam and Ryndam, will gain Koningsdam. Berth number wise, it's essentially a wash iirc.