RUMOR- Princess to be smoke free

[Retired-N-Happy]

59 minutes ago, stevenr597 said:

Suggestion: Enlarge Churchill's.  Put some entertainment in it.  Limit smoking to cigars only. 

Rest of the ship can be smoke free. 

How does this solution help cigarette smokers?  Seems to imply that there would be nowhere for them to smoke if the rest of the ship was smoke free and Churchills was for cigar smoking only.

[Honolulu Blue]

22 minutes ago, JeffElizabeth said:

Lot of crew like to smoke. And hanging out where the crew smokes is a great way to get information early. 

Thanks for sharing this.  I'm a little surprised they let the crew smoke in areas where passengers are likely to encounter them, though I suppose at some of their jobs, they're in place for so long during the day, they'd need some place to go that's relatively close.  I'm also a little surprised that the crew would want to be in a place where they can show off this habit in front of the passengers.

[Kay S]

On 6/9/2024 at 5:37 PM, PacnGoNow said:

Best RUMOR I’ve ever heard!

IDK, but it would be great!

I’ll believe it when I see it. 

[memoak]

5 hours ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

How does this solution help cigarette smokers?  Seems to imply that there would be nowhere for them to smoke if the rest of the ship was smoke free and Churchills was for cigar smoking only.

When we were smokers most of the people in Churchills were cigarette smoker. There was no rule against it

[Retired-N-Happy]

10 minutes ago, memoak said:

When we were smokers most of the people in Churchills were cigarette smoker. There was no rule against it

The poster I was replying to specifically said that Churchills should "limit smoking for cigars only." So that would eliminate how things were there back in the day since his "solution" would basically eliminate smoking cigarettes anywhere on the ship, but to enlarge Churchills for cigar smokers.

[cr8tiv1]

There are other places to smoke.  They have taken over a portion of the aft on Promenade. 

 

If you want to walk the entire circuit, you need to hold your breath as you walk past the smokers.

 

If you want to go to the Lido Deck, you also need to hold your breath since there is a smoking area somewhere midship.  Nice area with comfortable chairs.

 

This is on the Grand Class/Crown Class ships.  I can't speak for others. 

 

I am not hitting on smokers.  It is an addiction.  They have the right to smoke.  My objection is that Princess allows smoking in a contained (casino) area.  The smoke has to dissipate somewhere (halls/piazza/carpets/etc).

 

Again, I would have been okay if they kept Churchills as a general smoking venue.  Turning it into an Arcade was ridiculous.  

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

There are other places to smoke.  They have taken over a portion of the aft on Promenade. 

 

If you want to walk the entire circuit, you need to hold your breath as you walk past the smokers.

 

If you want to go to the Lido Deck, you also need to hold your breath since there is a smoking area somewhere midship.  Nice area with comfortable chairs.

 

This is on the Grand Class/Crown Class ships.  I can't speak for others. 

 

I am not hitting on smokers.  It is an addiction.  They have the right to smoke.  My objection is that Princess allows smoking in a contained (casino) area.  The smoke has to dissipate somewhere (halls/piazza/carpets/etc).

 

Again, I would have been okay if they kept Churchills as a general smoking venue.  Turning it into an Arcade was ridiculous.  

 

I thought they moved the Lido Deck smoking area up one to the Sun Deck.  That is what I saw on our last few Princess cruises.   

 

I can walk by someone smoking outside without being too bothered (except for cigar smoke which is incredibly nasty).   What I find irritating is having to hang around someone whose clothes reek of tobacco smoke.  They probably don't realize.    

[cr8tiv1]

It's been a few months since I've been on a ship.  And I don't go up to the Lido Deck except for the first day.  Is there still smoking allowed on the Promenade Deck of the Grand/Crown class ships?

[richstowe]

Smoking policies have change and sadly Princess is trailing the pack (no pun intended). Carnival and HAL are now much more advanced to say nothing of Celebrity.

My March Sky cruise was great except it was a Player Cub comped cruise. They all seemed to be heavy smokers. This certainly downgraded the cruise. The idea of smoke-free areas in a smoking casino was a joke. We spend at most 90 minutes there the entire cruise.

It's annoying that the possible solution is to eliminate Take 5. The casino should go smoke free, taking over Churchill's. At a minimum smoke-free nights must be returned at the casino.                            

 

On 6/11/2024 at 9:50 AM, Lady Arwen said:

My Princess Cruise Consultant just called me regarding our upcoming Enchanted sailing.  I told her that I read on Cruise Critic that there was a rumour Princess was planning on initiating a non smoking policy.

 

She laughed.  She said that in a very recent meeting with Princess Corporate, they addressed the issue as they always do.  And, there is no plan to change the policy in the near future.  Their feeling is “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  She is very disappointed herself because the majority of her clients want the smoking policy changed.

Terrible and so short sighted. Makes you wonder about their other decisions.

On 6/11/2024 at 5:13 PM, nasa1974 said:

And eliminating Churchills. Why not make Churchills larger and that be the smoking area on the ship. Also putting slot machines in Take 5 will ruin the venue.

Great idea.

[memoak]

53 minutes ago, richstowe said:

Smoking policies have change and sadly Princess is trailing the pack (no pun intended). Carnival and HAL are now much more advanced to say nothing of Celebrity.

My March Sky cruise was great except it was a Player Cub comped cruise. They all seemed to be heavy smokers. This certainly downgraded the cruise. The idea of smoke-free areas in a smoking casino was a joke. We spend at most 90 minutes there the entire cruise.

It's annoying that the possible solution is to eliminate Take 5. The casino should go smoke free, taking over Churchill's. At a minimum smoke-free nights must be returned at the casino.                            

 

Terrible and so short sighted. Makes you wonder about their other decisions.

Great idea.

Eliminating Take 5 is a horrible idea. It is one of the best music venues at sea and serves as the casino bar

[JamieLogical]

17 minutes ago, memoak said:

Eliminating Take 5 is a horrible idea. It is one of the best music venues at sea and serves as the casino bar

 

They aren't eliminating Take 5 (on the Enchanted at least). They are reducing the size of it... moving the performance area to the same end as the bar and replacing the seating at the current performance end of the lounge with slot machines. Essentially they are cutting the space in half and the lounge portion will only be the half with the bar.

[memoak]

21 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

They aren't eliminating Take 5 (on the Enchanted at least). They are reducing the size of it... moving the performance area to the same end as the bar and replacing the seating at the current performance end of the lounge with slot machines. Essentially they are cutting the space in half and the lounge portion will only be the half with the bar.

I was referring to the earlier post which promoted eliminating the venue

[Retired-N-Happy]

5 hours ago, memoak said:

Eliminating Take 5 is a horrible idea. It is one of the best music venues at sea and serves as the casino bar

RCI eliminated all of their Jazz on 4 venues and turned them into smoke free mini casinos.  Of course the older clientele on Princess would utilize Take 5 more than the younger cruisers on RCI.

[BamaVol]

On 6/12/2024 at 8:47 AM, Lady Arwen said:

 

 

I hate to mention that other cruiseline, but you would be impressed with their outdoor smoking areas.  Comfy sofas and chairs, lots of coffee tables and ash trays that are emptied and cleaned constantly.  Totally covered and next to large windows.  Smokers love it!  So, it can be done.  Princess take note.

Yes, Princess take note and do not follow suit. For the most part, smokers and non-smokers are incompatible.  Something along the lines of an airport smoking lounge with good door seals and massive powerful exhaust fans would be ideal. Let’s keep the fresh air fresh.

 

Meanwhile, let’s step up the education of our children. Smoking has no redeeming qualities. It is not “adult” or sophisticated. It is a drug addiction that costs billions of dollars that could be spent more wisely. It should always be a choice, IMO. Just an obviously unwise one.

 

 

[Torfamm]

Here’s a photo of the current progress in Take 5 shared by a passenger on the Enchanted now. 😔
 

Edited June 14 by Torfamm

[HaveDogWillTravel]

1 hour ago, Torfamm said:

Here’s a photo of the current progress in Take 5 shared by a passenger on the Enchanted now. 😔
 

Yuck, 🤮 

 

I always put in my post cruise survey how disgusting the smoke is in the piazza.  I also point out how unethical it is for Princess to expose their crew to second hand smoke ( a known carcinogen) as a job requirement, let alone us as paying customers. 
‘I know a lot of crew who don’t smoke that have been assigned to the casino.  The tips are good so they sacrifice health for money. No bueno.  They should not have to do that. 

Edited June 14 by HaveDogWillTravel

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, Torfamm said:

Here’s a photo of the current progress in Take 5 shared by a passenger on the Enchanted now. 😔
 

 

Looks like they really did just cut it in half. Will be interesting to start getting some first-hand accounts about the lounge/performance experience now with all the slot machines in there. When I was onboard in May, Bon, the bartender told me that the reason they didn't even have a blender at their bar (people kept trying to order frozen drinks) was out of respect for the bands. Now we are going to have 30 loud slot machines in there instead?!!?

[Cruise Raider]

Just now, JamieLogical said:

 

Looks like they really did just cut it in half. Will be interesting to start getting some first-hand accounts about the lounge/performance experience now with all the slot machines in there. When I was onboard in May, Bon, the bartender told me that the reason they didn't even have a blender at their bar (people kept trying to order frozen drinks) was out of respect for the bands. Now we are going to have 30 loud slot machines in there instead?!!?

We’ve seen this on the Royal as far back as I can remember.  It is not loud at all in there.  The number and variety of machines is inadequate, IMO, and there is a very small section for table players but never saw that operating.  It was completely nonsmoking making it very nice to play without being subjected to smoke, albeit way too small.  

[BamaVol]

9 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Looks like they really did just cut it in half. Will be interesting to start getting some first-hand accounts about the lounge/performance experience now with all the slot machines in there. When I was onboard in May, Bon, the bartender told me that the reason they didn't even have a blender at their bar (people kept trying to order frozen drinks) was out of respect for the bands. Now we are going to have 30 loud slot machines in there instead?!!?

I’m boarding tomorrow.  I’ll let you know.  Unfortunately, my first time sailing on her so I don’t know what it was like before.

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, Torfamm said:

Here’s a photo of the current progress in Take 5 shared by a passenger on the Enchanted now. 😔
 

 

Just noticed the chairs at the slot machines. I hope they get real chairs in there soon! No one would want to sit on those cheap metal chairs for long!

[Torfamm]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Looks like they really did just cut it in half. Will be interesting to start getting some first-hand accounts about the lounge/performance experience now with all the slot machines in there. When I was onboard in May, Bon, the bartender told me that the reason they didn't even have a blender at their bar (people kept trying to order frozen drinks) was out of respect for the bands. Now we are going to have 30 loud slot machines in there instead?!!?

It also eliminated the dance space. What a shame that they choose the only bar on the ship with walls to add slot machines. Crooners would have been a better choice from my point of view.

[Torfamm]

1 hour ago, BamaVol said:

I’m boarding tomorrow.  I’ll let you know.  Unfortunately, my first time sailing on her so I don’t know what it was like before.

We are boarding as well, assuming we get to FLL today. We’ve spent a lot of time on the Enchanted and have always had Take 5 as our favorite space in the evening.  I can’t see any way that adding slot machines wouldn’t have a negative impact on that space which was often packed full.

[galensgrl]

On 6/12/2024 at 8:56 PM, cr8tiv1 said:

There are other places to smoke.  They have taken over a portion of the aft on Promenade. 

 

If you want to walk the entire circuit, you need to hold your breath as you walk past the smokers.

 

If you want to go to the Lido Deck, you also need to hold your breath since there is a smoking area somewhere midship.  Nice area with comfortable chairs.

 

This is on the Grand Class/Crown Class ships.  I can't speak for others. 

 

I am not hitting on smokers.  It is an addiction.  They have the right to smoke.  My objection is that Princess allows smoking in a contained (casino) area.  The smoke has to dissipate somewhere (halls/piazza/carpets/etc).

 

Again, I would have been okay if they kept Churchills as a general smoking venue.  Turning it into an Arcade was ridiculous.  

I imagine when issues such as what to do with under-performing venues are discussed, the conversation invariably goes like this - How do we utilize an under used venue and turn it into a more profitable money maker? Just like using the casino to draw in the smokers who they assume are willing to consistently spend money on gambling in order to smoke. We started cruising initially with NCL and they had nice, big casinos, but with smoking. Machines often went unused because people sat at them smoking and drinking but not gambling. People aren't foolish enough to think they are absolutely obligated to gamble just because they are in the casino. No one on NCL was ever told to leave the casino because they were smoking and not gambling. I have the feeling this happens in the Princess casinos as well. Until they stop worrying about every single inch of space being used to turn a profit, having a dedicated indoor smoking area doesn't seem likely. With Churchills I'm sure they were more interested in selling expensive cigars than they cared about people having a space to smoke them.                                                                                      

[2 cruises a year]

On 6/11/2024 at 9:50 AM, memoak said:

Remember on the old Pacific Prrincess the casino, casino bar and piano player were all in one area and I don’t remember complaints about the noise

There's a Blast from the past. Talk about the Good Old Days.  That was a great ship!

[2 cruises a year]

On 6/11/2024 at 1:23 PM, DCThunder said:

Well, you can play Ms. Pac-Man, Frogger, and Mortal Kombat, so there is that!  Maybe they can add Skee-ball!

Pong, Frogger?