Cruisers Beware

[PuroEsq]

I saw this in an email sent to me today.

Royal Caribbean has announced that beginning in January, all staterooms and one lounge on each ship will be designated as no-smoking areas. Currently, smoking is prohibited in hallways and corridors, restaurants, entertainment venues and most interior public spaces, except for designated areas in bars and lounges. After the new policy is in place, passengers may still smoke in certain areas of the outer decks, in designated bars and lounges, and on stateroom and suite balconies.

Royal Caribbean's new smoking policy will be implemented on 18 of the line's 21 vessels to start, and will go into effect on the remaining ships, Legend of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas and Splendour of the Seas, in the summer of 2008.

Norwegian also announced revisions to their onboard smoking policy, which are effective immediately. The new policy designates as smoke-free all indoor public areas, with the exception of casinos and cigar lounges. Several outdoor public spaces are affected by the new policy as well--smokers must now stay a "reasonable distance" from restaurants, jogging tracks, recreational areas and children's pools. In staterooms and on balconies, guests may still smoke cigarettes, but pipes and cigars are not allowed.

That last part bothers me . . .WTF! Cigarettes smell far worse than cigars or pipes.

I had a very difficult time finding information about whether I could smoke cigars on the ship (and where) before I went on my cruise in April. Luckily I could smoke on the balcony as well as on deck (in certain areas) and in the sports bar.

Sign of the times I guess. Soon there will be the downtown "tobacco speak-easy" where you have to go underground in to some secret club to light up.

- Jason

 

[Eshaw99]

I understand the "cigarettes are OK, but no pipes or cigars" policy. I agree that cigars and pipes smell far better than cigarettes, however the smoke smell from cigars and pipes lingers much longer than from cigarettes, and has a tendency to get stale over time. The argument I'd have is that cigarettes are smoked much more frequently than cigars or pipes, so in the end it all evens out, but hey, what can you do?

 

[roboref]

I don't agree with the policy as far as balconies go, but since I never get a balcony anyway it won't matter. I still have to give NCL an atta-boy being they still have cigar lounges to smoke in, as many of the cruise lines have dropped the indoor cigar lounges entirely. Both NCL Star and Gem have very nice cigar clubs to smoke in which are very nice.

 

[Eshaw99]

The last cruise I took was in '05 on Carnival. They had a very nice cigar lounge with live jazz.

 

[geldor1]

The last cruise I took was in '05 on Carnival. They had a very nice cigar lounge with live jazz.

Last cruise we took was Carnival. They only had 1 lounge that allowed cigars.

We got to know the server/waiter/man-of-all-trades and when he was in a certain non-cigar bar, he wouldn't hassle us about firing one up. :thumbs: