Celebrity Infinity (Alaska) - Kids and Smoking?

[JLB3]

I'm about to depart for a Celebrity Cruise in Alaska on Infinity. I consulted several boards before making my decision and I generally saw good things. However, just recently, I saw two things mentioned that concerned me: (1) that smoking is allowed in staterooms and (2) that (according to CC's "Professional Review" that there were "lots of kids."

 

As to smoking: Has anyone here experienced a problem with a stateroom smelling like smoke? I am not so sensitive that I will get sick being around smoke in a public place; however, I am a former smoker and like many former smokers am now hypersensitive to the smell. I saw one user who complained about their room smelling overwhelmingly of smoke, so thought I would check.

 

As to kids: My last cruise was a Caribbean cruise on an extremely large vessel (Caribbean Princess) and kids were everywhere - virtually every square inch of the pool, running in the halls at all hours, etc. I assume the Alaska trips are much less oriented toward children and teenagers than the simpler pleasures of Caribbean beaches. Has anyone experienced a huge volume of kids on one of these trips?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Karynanne]

We've never had a cabin that smelled of smoke, and I do think that the cabin attendants do a pretty good job of cleaning, if there was a prior passenger, that smoked in your cabin.

 

As far as kids go...it is summertime. The only way to completely avoid that issue, is to cruise when children are back in school. With the Alaska itinerary, that would mean, the first cruise of the season...or the last. If you're cruising soon, you'll very likely have some contingent of children onboard.

 

Karyn

[Jeano222]

I saw the can that our room steward used on Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas and it is called Ozium Spray, that is what RCI uses to de-smoke cabins and Disney uses it in their rooms.. You can do a search online for a better description, on another board it was reported to be at Home Depot, although i haven't looked for it there. It is an amazing product. We also sailed Infinity to Alaska but we went in September and were not many children at all. I think anywhere during the summer you will find more children on the cruises.

[BCHappyGal]

I have cruised on Infinity before and will be returning to her for an Alaska repositioning cruise in September. We have never had a cabin smell of smoke and my DH is very fussy about that. In fact he will not even walk down the smoking side of the ship. On our last crusie on her they even had a cabin fire on our deck - (right behind our cabin) and they got rid of he smell very quickly. Someone brought an appliance aboard and then left it plugged in and went out of the stateroom.

 

Kids - well any summer time cruise will have more kids than a crusie booked during school time.

Kids do not bother us - we enjoy watching them.

Especially enjoy it if 2 of them are our Grandsons!

[Drew B]

Frankly, you won't know till you're aboard if either of these is a problem.

 

You could have a ship in which hundreds of cabins reeked of smoke, but if you got one that didn't, it wouldn't be a problem for you. On the flip side, a ship could have immaculately fresh and clean-smelling cabins across the board, but if you got the ONE cabin that stunk of smoke, it would be a problem.

 

The kid thing is the same. You could be on a cruise with hundreds of kids, but if they didn't happen to cross your path much, it wouldn't bother you. On the other hand, you could be on a ship with a dozen kids total, but if they were all located on your hall and spent hours running up and down the hall screaming, it would be a nightmare.

 

I will tell you that you SHOULD be okay, but that's just a matter of statistical likelihood. It doesn't take into account luck...

[joeinsb]

I'm the wife of joeinsb, and I have to say that we have never had a problem with staterooms smelling like smoke, which is amazing considering that if you have the misfortune to get stuck in a smoking room in a hotel, it will make you gag.

 

The biggest problem we have with smokers on cruise ships are those people who smoke on their verandas at all hours of the day. It can really ruin your enjoyment of your veranda if you end up next door to Smokey the Bear.

 

We wish the cruise lines would designate one side of the ship or at least groups of staterooms that are totally smoke-free including the verandas. That is one of the many things we loved about Oceania because on those ships you cannot smoke on any of the verandas, and we look forward to a similar policy about smoke-free verandas on Journey and Qwest when we get around to sailing on them.

 

As a former smoker, I fully understand the power of the addiction, but tons of people have quit, so it certainly is possible to do so if you have an ounce of intestinal fortitude. Let's face it, this is 2007, not 1947, and by now we all know how incredibly harmful smoking is for the smoker and everyone else around him or her, so for anyone with any sense to continue to puffing away in this day and age is just plain baffling.

[merela]

and they'll tell you how many kids are on board your sailing date. July and August is peak season for children cruising, no matter which itinerary you are looking at.

 

I don't think you should worry about lots children swimming in the indoor pools on Infinity since children are not allowed in there. Children are only allowed in outdoor pools. Princess cruises are different from Infinity. Princess lets kids swim in most of their pools as long as they are potty-trained.

[cinnamon]

Just disembarked the Infinity on Sunday. There were 268 children aboard but we seldom saw many and they were no problem. We spoke to some parents who were very upset that the outdoor pool was cold and that the indoor pool is out of bounds to kids.

 

Cinnamon

[larronry]

The smoking issue isn't just an issue for non smokers it's an issue for asthmatics. I was on the Caribbean Princess in Dec and my room didn't smell of smoke, but it was obvious that one side of the pool deck was meant for smoking and the other side wasn't based on the fact that one side had ash trays and the other didn't, yet there was no enforcement of it. People would use plates and cups as ashtrays. Couldn't find a shady spot to watch MUTS during the day without having a smoker in your face.

 

As for the kids the cruise I'm going on in Dec is the first time I'm going on a cruise during school vacation time so I couldn't answer that one. Would love to go on an Alaskan cruise and will soon I'm sure.

[Onessa]

There will be kids on board - AK is a great family destination. A few things though - in my experience the bulk of the pax really want to see AK, with a lot of caribean cruises there is a decent percent of people who are cruising for the sole reason to cruise. This difference means that most of the families tend to be a bit more focused on the activities and less of a "free for all" mentality. It does however take only one or two "bad" pax to really mess up other's enjoyment of their cruise! Also, it you are worried about kids in the adults only pool, contrary to a prior post you may not find that pool (if covered) always adults-only. Per X's guest conduct code:

Thalassotherapy Pool*

Age 16 and over*

 

*During inclement weather and select hours, the ship may permit the Solarium Pool (if covered) to be used by persons under age 16 provided they are directly supervised by a parent or guardian.

Generally if the ship is allowing use of covered pools by guests under the age of 16, it is very well posted in advance as to when these times are and (in my experience) well enforced.

Hope you enjoy your AK cruise as much as we have enjoyed those we've taken!

[JLB3]

Thank you very much - this was all very helpful! Looking forward to the trip!