myne

My first Hal was on a statendam. 1961 Yikes! Ann

Nope, wrong Hank (although Hi anyway). The only time we cruised on the

QM2 was a crossing from Southampton to NYC. But we do think that Kathy and I met you two on the May 2010 Prinsendam Cruise.

 

Hank

and you & Kathy CAME HOME WITH US FROM SOUTHAMPTON...SHARED A VAN WITH ANOTHER COUPLE FROM TILBURY WHERE THE PRINZ LEFT US....

HI HANK..HI TO KATHY...REALLY LIKE YOUR POSTS ON SMOKING.....WE ARE OFF ON THE ROTTERDAM FOR 90 DAYS ALL OVER ASIA...

WE WERE ALSO DELIGHTED TO DISCOVER PRINCESS HAD STOPPED THE BALCONY SMOKING...HOW MANY NIGHTS WE SPENT WITH THE DOORS CLOSED TO SAVE US FROM THE CIGAR A FEW DOORS FORWARD WHICK BLEW BACK INTO OUR ROOM YUCK... BEST TO YOU HOPE OUR PATHS CROSS AGAIN...ANN

As an ex smoker, who truly can not stand the smell of cigarette smoke (pipes and cigars bother me a lot less) the issue with HAL is quite simple. We can cruise on HAL without many smoke related problems if we book an inside or outside cabin and totally avoid the casinos (which often smell like a dirty ashtray). But the problem comes with balcony cabins....and our preference is to book cabins with balconies. Having cigarette smoke drift onto my balcony...makes the balcony unusable. Asking a cruise line to guarantee a cruiser "clean sea air" is not an unreasonable request. Personally, I could care less if folks want to smoke as long as that smoke does not get near my lungs. But given a choice to book a cruise with a line that has no smoking on balconies versus one that allows balcony smoking is a no-brainer. Yes, we continue to cruise on HAL when they have an itinerary (and price) that we find attractive. But, the smoking policy does drive us away from HAL whenever it is reasonable. This year we are cruising Princess, Celebrity and HAL (total of 74 days). The 25 day Ruby Princess cruise would have been a 32 day HAL cruise except for the smoking policy...which made our decision to cruise on Princess very easy. Not only did we not have to deal with smoke, but we got to enjoy Princess Pizza :).

 

We have gleaned a benefit from the HAL smoking policy. Several years ago we took a personal pledge to not gamble in any casino where we could smell smoke. There was a time when we might actually drop more money in a ship casino then we paid for the cruise (we also had cruises where we won money). But on HAL, for about the last 200 days of cruising, we have not lost a single penny in the casino (because we never enter the place). So perhaps we should thank HAL and their smokers for having saved us thousands of dollars :).

 

 

Hank

is this the Hank who sailed nyc to Norway and home on the QM...If so a big Hi to you andyour wife....Ann & John..seattle area