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Countries around the world from North America to Europe are moving to more restrictive smoking policies and our latest consumer studies show that smokers are a small minority of our passengers. In fact, the vast majority of cruisers value having their primary living space (both stateroom and balcony) smoke-free. As you know, balconies are a hallmark of Princess Cruises and we believe it is important to keep this peaceful space clear of smoke. Violations to this policy will result in a $250 fine for each occurrence, which will be charged to the passenger's stateroom account. Keeping with the global trend and honoring the wishes of our passengers, we feel this change will enhance our onboard experience and do more to help our passengers escape completely.
Of course we still welcome passengers who smoke, and will continue to provide convenient smoking areas throughout each ship, including cigar lounges, a section of the nightclub and casino, and a portion of the open decks.
In the next few days, we will send Booking Notifications to your clients booked on voyages that depart after January 15, 2012, but wanted to let you know of this new policy as soon as possible. Complete information regarding the new change can be found by visiting OneSourceCruises.com.
quote:Originally posted by dmwnc1:THIS is what they call a 'Game Changer'!!!!! Wow.
I say bravo to Princess. This policy is more in line with Celebrity and Royal Caribbean which have had more restrictive policies for some time.
After my last experience on NCL with a smoky cabin, I'm all for cruise lines that don't allow it.
Ernie
quote:Originally posted by eroller:I say bravo to Princess. This policy is more in line with Celebrity and Royal Caribbean which have had more restrictive policies for some time. After my last experience on NCL with a smoky cabin, I'm all for cruise lines that don't allow it. Ernie
I seriously wanted to go on the Grand Princess or Crown Princess this year but the smoking policies prevented me from seriously considering them. This opens up more choices for future cruises. I would love to get back in Princess again. This now makes it possible.
Who are they kidding? Hallmark???? Princess and every other cruise line in existence today has balconies. Further Princess did not invent them either. Maybe the first Royal Princess made them mass market but .....
and as for the "peaceful space clear of smoke" well as long as you are not aft and down wind of that giant thing belching smoke called a smokestack! Maybe that's not a "hallmark" of Princess Cruises?
You have to love the PR spin that all these cruise lines use in their press releases. It really is humorous.
I have always felt smoking should be banned on balcony cabins because of incidents like the Star Princess fire as well as the fact that smoking on a balcony on a moving ship will inevitably spread the smoke elsewehre.
quote:Originally posted by Frosty 4:Anyone know what HALs policy is. Going on Westerdam in Sept. Never been on HAL.Thanks,Frosty 4
For the comfort of all of our guests, based on an increased desire expressed by the majority of our guests, we are changing our smoking policy as of January 15, 2012.
Presently, all indoor areas are designated non-smoking with the exception of:
- Casino- Northern Lights Disco (ms Eurodam, ms Oosterdam, ms Noordam, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, ms Westerdam & ms Zuiderdam only)- Seaview Bar (except ms Maasdam, ms Ryndam & ms Statendam)- Sports Bar- Crow's Nest (except ms Eurodam, ms Oosterdam, ms Noordam, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, ms Westerdam & ms Zuiderdam)
- All showrooms are nonsmoking during performances.
- There are selected areas of the outside decks where smoking is allowable. Cigar and pipe smoking is only permitted on the outside decks.
- Our ships do not currently have "nonsmoking" staterooms; however, all rooms are thoroughly cleaned after each cruise to assure the comfort of our guests
For all cruises departing on or after January 15, 2012
All staterooms will be non-smoking areas, in addition to the other areas that were already defined as non-smoking. Smoking will continue to be permitted outside on stateroom verandahs. There are designated areas available for smoking both inside the ships and on outside decks as detailed above.
[ 06-16-2011: Message edited by: dmwnc1 ]
quote:Originally posted by Frosty 4:YUCK!!! I see Westerdam permits smoking in the similar areas as on our last cruise.At least we are going to Alaska where the air is somewhat clean. Maybe it won't be too bad as it seems HAL has older clientel.Frosty 4
Now I have this image in my head of a bunch of old people wrapped in blankets chain smoking filter-less cigarettes and hacking! Sorry.
quote:Originally posted by Frosty 4:At least we are going to Alaska where the air is somewhat clean. Maybe it won't be too bad as it seems HAL has older clientel.Frosty 4
You raise an interesting thought: I wonder if older people (say, over 50) smoke more than younger generations. I'm talking about Americans, nowadays.
You could argue that older people have been smoking for decades, when it was more acceptable, and now it's harder to quit. On the other hand, younger people perhaps smoke more out of a sense of being immortal, that death and disease are a lifetime away.
Any thoughts, or statistics on this?
Rich
It's their ships, their rules, but it's my money.
I have to agree with the majority of the rules, however, make some cabins smoking and the rest non smoking.
I also have to wonder what it will do for revenue in the casino ?
quote:Originally posted by jetwet1:Well, I just cancelled $15k 's worth of cruises (Between Princess and Carnival) , not that they will care, i'm renting a villa in Tahiti now rather than taking a suite trans Pacific on the Spirit.It's their ships, their rules, but it's my money. I have to agree with the majority of the rules, however, make some cabins smoking and the rest non smoking.I also have to wonder what it will do for revenue in the casino ?
Celebrity Cruises seems to do just fine in their casinos and their ships, for the most part, are probably 90% no-smoking. During my cruise on the Celebrity Mercury this past December the casinos always seemed to be full of gamblers.
If I am not mistaken on Carnival, if you were indeed booked in a balcony suite, smoking will still be allowed on that balcony just not in the cabin.
You're right, it's yours to decide. I've never been to Tahiti because it holds no interest to me. But a cruise? Sure, there may be better land resorts, but there's nothing like a great 'sail away' party, a dozen different sunsets and sunrises from half a dozen different Caribbean islands and at sea locations, the wide variety of endless entertainment, and the fellowship cruisers share in the common bond of being on a cruise ship. Land resorts are one thing, a cruise is a whole different world unto itself; the motion of the ocean, the romance of being on a cruise ship, the good times with a dozen new acquaintances, the early morning arrival into a beautiful and different port of call every day, the smell of the salt air and the wind blowing in your hair as you stand out on your balcony, the sound of the waves as they pass down the side of the ship, the view off the stern in open ocean as the wake disappears off towards the horizon, and at night when the ship is all lit up and aglow...there's nothing like it.
While I support the ban in cabins and on balconies, I do believe there has to be a designated smoking room for them to escape to.
I have noticed some airports have smoking cubicles.
Cruise lines can take that approach and without too much extragegence offer small rooms for smoking.
Princess has the Churchills Cigar Lounge - good idea.
It had to happen and it is a world wide trend against smoking and I think the interesting results are that smokers are in the minority and not the majority.
quote:Originally posted by Sutho:I dont think the lines do care about lost business as they tend to pick up new customers rather quicklyIt had to happen and it is a world wide trend against smoking and I think the interesting results are that smokers are in the minority and not the majority.
It was interesting watching the reaction of smokers and non-smokers alike over on Cruise Critic (forgive me Joe, I do stray). Dozens of threads and polls of all sorts popped up on the Carnival, Holland-America, and Princess Cruises boards. For every 'yee haa' and congratulatory comment to the cruise lines was a threat or announcement of mutiny and switching lines or canceling cruises, countered again by declarations of new bookings and balcony upgrades by cruisers previously afraid of being smoked out.
Not counting the number of deleted pages and posts (and there were quite a few) the main thread on the Princess forum exploded into 23 pages in roughly 24 hours.
Like I told one OP, I'm sure Carnival Corporation didn't conduct a quick poll of 10% of their cruise population and then pass sweeping changes on three of their cruise lines. Saying these Cruise Critic polls are 'unscientific' is accurate. Imagine Bill O'Reilly having a poll on his show asking how many Tea Party members love or hate Sarah Palin.
I am sure there are tens of thousand of people who may have cruised Carnival, Princess, or HAL a hand full of times, maybe even once, and then went back to their cruise line of 'non-smoking' preference. Their voices aren't heard in these polls or threads. They may have left those cruise lines because of the old smoking policy and may now return because of the change.
I did.
[ 06-17-2011: Message edited by: dmwnc1 ]
I can tell you that as a smoker I have cancelled cruises in the last two days, when asked why I told them the new policy is to restrictive for my tastes.
After our Princess cruise a couple of months ago we were sent an esurvey, a large part of it was regarding the smoking policy. One of the questions went along the lines of 'If Princess did not allow smoking in cabins and on balconies would you cruise with Princess" of course I put no, guess more people said yes
As I said above, it's their ships so they set the rules. Being the type of guy I am, I don't break rules.
Also, to be frank, the last couple of cruises we have been on showed us that Princess (and Carnival to some extent) were moving in the wrong direction. There were just to many "art sale etc" announcements for us and other nickle and dimming. For what we spend for our cabin we can easily cruise on Crystal etc, however some of our friends cannot. However, with this change and the penny pinching we will start looking at land based vacations.
dmwnc1 :
I agree, there is nothing like sitting out on your balcony at sunset as the ship sails out of harbor, however, in this specific case we booked the cruise because of the number of dive sites we could hit in the time frame.
However, I think sitting on the balcony of our place on Rangiroa will be pretty good
In regards to the casino, i'm not so sure, I can only base that on seeing how empty the casinos were on non-smoking nights and the attempt by Circus Circus to go non smoking with the Silver City. Also the fact that the Nevada clean air act caused a number of smaller places to cut staff dramatically.
It will be interesting to watch, though I can't see CCL changing policy.
quote:Originally posted by arosakulm:Recieved a notice yesterday from HAL that effective Jan. 15, 2012 smoking in cabins will not be permitted - although smoking on private verandas still is. Guests smoking in cabins will be assessed a $250 "cleaning fee". We are again booked for Alaska in 2012 on the Amsterdam so, as a smoker, I've e-mailed them "if I pay the $250 "cleaning fee" can I still smoke in my Suite?" Am awaiting a response. If its a yes, is this a cash grab?George
George - the rules are simple and state specifically that ALL staterooms and suites will be NO SMOKING. Period. End of sentence. Should you choose to VIOLATE the RULES you will be accessed a charge of $250 per incident to clean your cabin and run the risk of violating the Guest Conduct policy which may in turn get you kicked off the ship.
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