No smoking in cabins & veranda

[usha]

Yes, I'm sure it's a tricky thing for the cruise lines, but if all of the cruise lines adopt more stringent smoking rules,(to much applause from non-smokers:D ), then smokers will have to choose to cruise with more restrictions on their smoking, or they'll just find another type of vacation. I'm betting that smokers will want to keep cruising even if their smoking is greatly restricted onboard.

[Drew B]

Drew:

 

But the demographics are that although someone may not smoke their husband or wife may or may not. Same goes for traveling companions or maybe large groups from countries that seem to encourage smoking. If you look at it realistically, it is a nightmore for the cruiselines and their goal of keeping people in the cabins.

 

 

So you are saying, then, that more than half of the cabins need to be smoking to satisfy the smokers and their entourages? I'm not sure that is true, but fine. Non-smokers also say that they would need more than half of the ship's cabins to be non-smoking to satisfy THEIR needs. You are correct that it would be absolutely impossible to get the exact number whereby every single person/group gets what they need. HOWEVER, the half and half plan is the best, most effective compromise to make the MOST people happy.

 

Right now, with smoking permitted in all staterooms/balconies, all of the smokers and their entourages are happy, but many of the non-smokers are unhappy. If the policy changes and smoking is prohibited in all cabins/balconies, most of the smokers and their entourages will be unhappy, but the non-smokers will be ecstatic. Either way, you have a huge market of unhappy clients. If you make it half and half, those who really care about smoking in their cabin/veranda can book early and get their preference. Those who care deeply about having a smoke-free balcony experience can book early and get THEIR preference. If it doesn't come out exactly 50/50 and there are a few rooms on one side or the other that don't suit people's preferences, they can surely be filled by those who don't have strong feelings one way or the other - especially if they fill them by offering nice rates and/or upgrades...

 

This way, rather than having huge numbers of disgruntled, unhappy customers, I think you would find that most people get what they want (or CAN get what they want if they plan ahead) and are very happy.

[Drew B]

Yes, I'm sure it's a tricky thing for the cruise lines, but if all of the cruise lines adopt more stringent smoking rules,(to much applause from non-smokers:D ), then smokers will have to choose to cruise with more restrictions on their smoking, or they'll just find another type of vacation. I'm betting that smokers will want to keep cruising even if their smoking is greatly restricted onboard.

 

 

There will be a breaking point. If they make slight restrictions, they probably won't lose many customers. If they restrict smoking from all staterooms or balconies, they will lose some customers. If they make ships totally non-smoking, they will lose a lot of customers. Most smokers, even if they wanted to continue cruising COULD NOT DO SO if they couldn't smoke at all. I think that as long as ships have one outdoor area and one indoor area (the casino) where smoking is permitted, they won't lose so much business that they can't continue...

[usha]

Drew, I agree. I'm not suggesting that ships should go completely non-smoking. I think there should be some designated smoking areas, but preferably not all staterooms or balconies.:)

[gillianrose]

It would be so easy to make one side smoking and one side non-smoking. That would be better for BOTH smokers and non-smokers than the current situation.

 

No way! The vast majority of cruisers do not smoke and want a smokefree cruise experience.

 

Plus, people who currently smoke can either quit or they can use other means to get nicotine into their system without polluting the air or putting other cruisers at risk by using flames (matches, lighters) to ignite their nicotine.

[fhmoore]

I have always thought that the logic used for smoking policies are out of whack. Cabins are the one place smoking SHOULD be allowed. Cabins are the one place smokers are not bothering others. My suggestion would be an extra $10-20 per day surcharge for the extra cleaning two times a day when the attendant cleans. I think most smoking cruisers would rather pay a reasonable surcharge for the extra cleaning than not being able to smoke in private!. Or use the charge to offset the cost of providing a "smoke eating" machine like advertised on TV. As far as bedding..I do hope they are cleaning sheets and duvets between EVERY new passenger... smoker or not!! That would mean only the curtains would need cleaning extra times. I would think non-smokers would rather have smokers doing the nasty in their cabin and only have smoking in one lounge and one side of the decks. Hey, hotels that allow pets usually add a surcharge for the privilege of having your pet with you. As Rodney Kong so eloquently put it.."Can't we all just get along"?????

[S10Catman]

I have to say, I would consider anyone smoking people pretty inconsiderate!;):D;)

 

Happy cruising!

 

Denise

 

They are hard to keep lit too!! :p Except the fat ones all the extra blubber helps keep them burning. Then the nasty ones that pour the bottle of Chanel over themselves instead of taking a shower leave a nasty after taste!!!!:rolleyes: But I'm allergic to most of those perfumes so I think they need a separate area on the ship so I'm not forced to get my inhalator out so I can breath again! Crap, I forgot I don't count because I smoke and only nonsmokers have the right to clean air!:rolleyes:

[dkjretired]

So you are saying, then, that more than half of the cabins need to be smoking to satisfy the smokers and their entourages? I'm not sure that is true, but fine. Non-smokers also say that they would need more than half of the ship's cabins to be non-smoking to satisfy THEIR needs. You are correct that it would be absolutely impossible to get the exact number whereby every single person/group gets what they need. HOWEVER, the half and half plan is the best, most effective compromise to make the MOST people happy.

 

Right now, with smoking permitted in all staterooms/balconies, all of the smokers and their entourages are happy, but many of the non-smokers are unhappy. If the policy changes and smoking is prohibited in all cabins/balconies, most of the smokers and their entourages will be unhappy, but the non-smokers will be ecstatic. Either way, you have a huge market of unhappy clients. If you make it half and half, those who really care about smoking in their cabin/veranda can book early and get their preference. Those who care deeply about having a smoke-free balcony experience can book early and get THEIR preference. If it doesn't come out exactly 50/50 and there are a few rooms on one side or the other that don't suit people's preferences, they can surely be filled by those who don't have strong feelings one way or the other - especially if they fill them by offering nice rates and/or upgrades...

 

This way, rather than having huge numbers of disgruntled, unhappy customers, I think you would find that most people get what they want (or CAN get what they want if they plan ahead) and are very happy.

 

Drew:

 

My purpose was to bring to you the reason why they do it. I'm really not saying anything either way, just giving you the reasons from the perspective of what I thought was an excellent cruise critic article.

[Desertbelle]

I am a perfect example of a non-smoker (have never smoked) who often cruises with my sister and parents who are smokers. We cruise 2 times a year on average and my sister and parents cruise with us probably 2/3 of the time. Without a doubt they would not cruise if they couldn't smoke at all and they would probably rethink cruising if they couldn't smoke in their room or on their balcony. My parents are elderly (married 63 years)...my mother has a hard time walking and my father has Alzheimer's, so going to a designated smoking area on another deck would be a hardship on them. They love cruising but they don't leave their cabin or the ship much.....they like to sit on their balcony and enjoy the ocean and the port from there.

 

Personally I would love a completely non-smoking environment everywhere I go, but my loved ones smoke, so I will afford them their small flaw in favor of their company. I wish that being exposed to the occasional smoke of a cigarette was the worse thing I ever had to deal with in life.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Well, we don't seem to have come up with anything final on this. I've read several different interpretations of Celebrity's new policy, if there is one at all.

 

How could there be so many varying opinions???:confused: ;) And nearly everyone spoke directly with Celebrity either on their own or through their TA's???

 

I really hope Celebrity clears this up for us very soon rather than leave it to rumor.

[dkjretired]

Well, we don't seem to have come up with anything final on this. I've read several different interpretations of Celebrity's new policy, if there is one at all.

 

How could there be so many varying opinions???:confused: ;) And nearly everyone spoke directly with Celebrity either on their own or through their TA's???

 

I really hope Celebrity clears this up for us very soon rather than leave it to rumor.

 

As I said earlier and have said on a number of occasions, do not believe anything until you see a press release. Use as an example all the rumors by people supposedly in the know as to what and when ships are going to be done. In almost all cases, stewards to ships captains were way off the mark and this has been going on for years.

[HAM]

I disagree completely. Although I don't want a stateroom that reeks of smoke (and some of them do), it is far more bothersome to me to have a smoker on a balcony nearby (not just next door, but anywhere where the smoke drifts onto my balcony), since there is nothing much I can do but complain about it.

Nothing really changes. My expensive balcony becomes a waste of money.

 

In a recent instance on HAL, the suite we booked really reeked when we entered the stateroom. HAL came in and—at expense to them that should have been passed on to the previous smoker, in my opinion—removed the draperies, brought in a high-powered machine, shampooed everything, etc. and the stateroom became habitable. The balcony never did. It stank the whole time the smokers were upwind of us.

 

Then on the Infinity a cigar smoker on a balcony below us stank up the entire time spent at Hubbard Glacier. The ship barely moved, turning slowly for all to see the Glacier, so the disgusting smell permeated the entire aft area of the ship.

 

I think Royal Caribbean's new policy of prohibiting smoking in the staterooms but allowing it on the balconies is nothing more than a way for them to save money on cleaning the cabins.

 

By not extending the ban to the balconies, they are doing nothing to protect nonsmokers' rights.

 

I agree completely; my last cruise was ruined by someone wearing so much

"grandma perfume" that I could not enjoy my veranda, meals, shows,etc.

Just goes to show that we all can find something to whine about.

[CatServants]

They are hard to keep lit too!! :p Except the fat ones all the extra blubber helps keep them burning. Then the nasty ones that pour the bottle of Chanel over themselves instead of taking a shower leave a nasty after taste!!!!:rolleyes: But I'm allergic to most of those perfumes so I think they need a separate area on the ship so I'm not forced to get my inhalator out so I can breath again! Crap, I forgot I don't count because I smoke and only nonsmokers have the right to clean air!:rolleyes:

 

 

 

:D WOW! This hits close to home...I wear Chanel No. 5!:eek: BUT...I rarely take perfume on vaca - too much bother and too rude to fellow travelers - and I shower every day!!! See? I think you're entitled to breath clean air.;)

 

Happy cruising!

 

Denise

[Shirley and Les]

I have a question and a comment.

First, could Celebrity legally put in a "No Smoking" policy on any cruises they now have reservations for? As a company interested in customer satisfaction, I assume they would notified every booked customer and inform them of the new policy. In addition, they should be willing to provide a 100 percent refund if anyone wanted to back out of their cruise contract due to the new restriction. So, at a minimum, they would have to start the policy at least 90 days in the future so that anyone could cancel without cost.

Do any of you have friends that are "smokeless tobacco" users? Can you imagine the threads on this board when it change from tobacco smoke comes from their verandah over to my verandah to talking about the spray from tobacco chewers. A tobacco chewer might have a downwind range of three adjacent verandahs on his/her deck to about a dozen cabin verandahs on the lower decks. Believe me, the wet byproduct of tobacco chewing is much uglier than cigarette smoke. Having a chewer at your table in the dining room filling his/her coffee cup during dinner might fill a few threads.

Be careful of what you wish for! :eek: It might come true. ;)

Les

[Captain Jake]

I have a question and a comment.

First, could Celebrity legally put in a "No Smoking" policy on any cruises they now have reservations for? As a company interested in customer satisfaction, I assume they would notified every booked customer and inform them of the new policy. In addition, they should be willing to provide a 100 percent refund if anyone wanted to back out of their cruise contract due to the new restriction. So, at a minimum, they would have to start the policy at least 90 days in the future so that anyone could cancel without cost.

Do any of you have friends that are "smokeless tobacco" users? Can you imagine the threads on this board when it change from tobacco smoke comes from their verandah over to my verandah to talking about the spray from tobacco chewers. A tobacco chewer might have a downwind range of three adjacent verandahs on his/her deck to about a dozen cabin verandahs on the lower decks. Believe me, the wet byproduct of tobacco chewing is much uglier than cigarette smoke. Having a chewer at your table in the dining room filling his/her coffee cup during dinner might fill a few threads.

Be careful of what you wish for! :eek: It might come true. ;)

Les

 

LOL.I'm sure those that would chew in the dining room would not even know how to spell Celebrity

[CatServants]

I have a question and a comment.

First, could Celebrity legally put in a "No Smoking" policy on any cruises they now have reservations for? As a company interested in customer satisfaction, I assume they would notified every booked customer and inform them of the new policy. In addition, they should be willing to provide a 100 percent refund if anyone wanted to back out of their cruise contract due to the new restriction. So, at a minimum, they would have to start the policy at least 90 days in the future so that anyone could cancel without cost.

Do any of you have friends that are "smokeless tobacco" users? Can you imagine the threads on this board when it change from tobacco smoke comes from their verandah over to my verandah to talking about the spray from tobacco chewers. A tobacco chewer might have a downwind range of three adjacent verandahs on his/her deck to about a dozen cabin verandahs on the lower decks. Believe me, the wet byproduct of tobacco chewing is much uglier than cigarette smoke. Having a chewer at your table in the dining room filling his/her coffee cup during dinner might fill a few threads.

Be careful of what you wish for! :eek: It might come true. ;)

Les

 

 

Les - Interesting point you've made as regards the X policy and when it (whatever IT is) goes into effect. I'm clueless, but I would assume X would have to provide full refunds or make sure that it's customers know the new policy BEFORE final payment is due. You brought up a very interesting little conundrum. Hmmmmm.:confused:

 

Oh, as for the other point you made....:eek: Heaven help me! I grew up in cowboy country (and dated a few cowboys)... PLEASE NO chewing tobacco!!!:eek: Another argument for me to stick to tables for two.;)

 

Happy! Happy!

 

Denise

[sasset]

It may be like changing itineraries, etc. They can do what they want, when they want.

 

Regards

[katscruise]

I e-mailed the Captains Club and this is their reply::(

 

Thank you for your e-mail.

 

At this time, Celebrity Cruises has not made any plans to change their current smoking policy. This means that smoking will be allowed in staterooms and on the balconies.

 

Thank you for choosing Celebrity Cruises.

 

Constance Wood

Customer Service Representative

 

[THREAD ID:1-4T956M]

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

[dkjretired]

I have a question and a comment.

First, could Celebrity legally put in a "No Smoking" policy on any cruises they now have reservations for? As a company interested in customer satisfaction, I assume they would notified every booked customer and inform them of the new policy. In addition, they should be willing to provide a 100 percent refund if anyone wanted to back out of their cruise contract due to the new restriction. So, at a minimum, they would have to start the policy at least 90 days in the future so that anyone could cancel without cost.

Do any of you have friends that are "smokeless tobacco" users? Can you imagine the threads on this board when it change from tobacco smoke comes from their verandah over to my verandah to talking about the spray from tobacco chewers. A tobacco chewer might have a downwind range of three adjacent verandahs on his/her deck to about a dozen cabin verandahs on the lower decks. Believe me, the wet byproduct of tobacco chewing is much uglier than cigarette smoke. Having a chewer at your table in the dining room filling his/her coffee cup during dinner might fill a few threads.

Be careful of what you wish for! :eek: It might come true. ;)

Les

 

I mentioned this earlier in the thread and apparently there would be no problem. There is a precedent here. People booked on the Zenith and then were switched to Journey for the summer Bermuda season. Shortly berfore the Journey set sail Azamara cruise lines was formed with a very restrictive non smoking policy. From what I can tell, the normal cancellation policy stayed in place with nothing special being done. I would expect Celebrity would do the same thing.

[CatServants]

I e-mailed the Captains Club and this is their reply::(

 

Thank you for your e-mail.

 

At this time, Celebrity Cruises has not made any plans to change their current smoking policy. This means that smoking will be allowed in staterooms and on the balconies.

 

Thank you for choosing Celebrity Cruises.

 

Constance Wood

Customer Service Representative

 

[THREAD ID:1-4T956M]

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

 

katscruise - and the game show goes on!;) You want a different answer? Choose another curtain. Frustrating.:rolleyes: I think X (and probably the Captains Club too) are going to give a different answer every time they're

contacted because a different person is responding. I've already gotten two different answers myself! Oh well, such is life.;)

 

djkretired - Don, so you did. But I didn't have my thinking cap on then!;) How's the recovery going? All good news I hope.:)

 

Happy cruising!

 

Denise

[dkjretired]

katscruise - and the game show goes on!;) You want a different answer? Choose another curtain. Frustrating.:rolleyes: I think X (and probably the Captains Club too) are going to give a different answer every time they're

contacted because a different person is responding. I've already gotten two different answers myself! Oh well, such is life.;)

 

djkretired - Don, so you did. But I didn't have my thinking cap on then!;) How's the recovery going? All good news I hope.:)

 

Happy cruising!

 

Denise

 

Denise:

 

Thanks for asking, had all the stitches out yesterday, don't look as much like Frankenstein as I did two weeks. All the biopsies were negative so everything looks good.

 

Thanks again

[CatServants]

Denise:

 

Thanks for asking, had all the stiches out yesterday, don't look as much like Frankenstein as I did two weeks. All the biopsies were negative so everything looks good.

 

Thanks again

 

 

 

:):):) WONDERFUL!!!! Stay OUT of the sun! No verandahs for you! Only hats and inside cabins!;) Congratulations! You and yours must be very relieved. Honestly, I had been wondering but was afraid to ask - I didn't want to intrude. But I'm glad I did - I'll be wearing a smile on my face all day now. Happy news indeed. Take care!

 

Denise:D

[BobBeaSea]

Celebrity can do whatever they want, if they choose to make some/all sailings smokefree they can go ahead and do it. I do believe they would have to give smokers the option of cancelling. Of course this will never happen :).

 

Celebrity is not a luxury line, there is no way they could survive if smoking was banned. They would lose a good 30-40% of their passengers, simply isn't going to happen. There is also no way a smoker will set foot on a non-smoking cruise ship...just won't happen. From what I've read, Celebrity, like other lines, has and continues to try to make their ships more non-smoker friendly. They simply can't make everyone happy where the smoking issue is concerned.

[Cruise Arizona]

My kids favorite show is Mythbusters on Discovery Channel.

 

They did a whole show on different ways to start fires.

 

Mirrors, Glasses, and even Ice can be used to harness the energy of the sun and start fires. So we better get rid of Glasses, Mirrors and those dangerous ice sculptures as long as we getting rid of kids on the ship.:)

[CatServants]

So I just heard a report on the news. There are a couple of town in Calif trying to pass ordinances which would make it illegal to smoke in your own apartment. I guess it started because insurance companies will give price breaks to the apt building owners if the apts are all non-smoking. It's private property and, imho, it's fine if the apt building owner wants to make all the units non-smoking (on future leases), and I have no problem with a $$$ incentive being offered to make it so. But then the two towns decided to take it one step further and make it a law. I'm VERY uncomfortable with that. I don't blame smokers for feeling like they're being treated like 2nd class citizens.

 

Denise