Smoke free Solstice. Interesting....

[Jumbiecruiser]

They're a mass lower tier market cruiseline, .

 

 

Not sure why you continue to bring Carnival into the conversation.;)

[Ocean Boy]

while it's a nice idea (I love how everywhere is smokefree in Toronto, even casinos!! and especially bars/clubs)..doubt RCI can pull it off. They're a mass lower tier market cruiseline, the sheer number of people and demographics they attract has a predisposition to smoke moreso than the target demographic of Celebrity or any of the mid to higher end cruise lines.

 

Really? And what might you consider an "upper tier" mass market line?

[gilboman]

Not sure why you continue to bring Carnival into the conversation.;)

 

Target and Walmart of cruising... still same shoppers:D

[gilboman]

Really? And what might you consider an "upper tier" mass market line?

 

easy..just look at prices. DCL and celebrity are a step up, then you have your Seabourn's and etc

 

I mean you are not going to fill 6,000 people on a ship with mid/high market product/pricing. Ever notice why nicer restaurants are smaller than a TGI Friday's/Ihop/Denny's?

[Jumbiecruiser]

Really? And what might you consider an "upper tier" mass market line?

 

He's confused. He doesn't know that there are different segments within a category. Carnival is scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to cruise lines. While Wal Mart and Target are both stores that cater to a certain market, they differ in their the type consumer that they attract. In this case........Royal attracts the Target consumer and Carnival attracts the Wal-Mart/K-Mart consumer.

 

I guess he also doesn't know that Disney is considered a niche line and Celebrity a premium line. Again, confused.;)

[berwyn]

Have you been on Carnival lately? My last 2 cruises were with them and we had great service. My next cruise is on the Allure but I am not a RCI cheerleader.

[teajak]

Smoking on RCI ships is very limited. You should be able to find plenty of smoke-free space. Even the casino has a smoking/non-smoking area and 2 smoke free nights (formal nights) on a 7-nighter.[/quoteThe smoke free area is not enforced at all on the Freedom, on two different cruises last year we pointed out to the casino manager people standing under the no smoking area sign smoking up a storm. He just shrugged and said it is too difficult to enforce.:mad:

[Jumbiecruiser]

Have you been on Carnival lately? My last 2 cruises were with them and we had great service. My next cruise is on the Allure but I am not a RCI cheerleader.

 

LOL......Of course you're not. :)

[macruisefan]

Carnival is scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to cruise lines.

 

I'm curious what you mean by this. A couple of questions: When was the last time you cruised on Carnival? What exactly do you mean by "bottom of the barrel"? Are you referring to the ships? The clientele? The food? The service?

 

In what areas is it that you find RCI to be so vastly superior that Carnival is "scraping the bottom of the barrel"?

 

I'm not trying to nitpick, but that's some pretty strong terminology, so I'm really curious as to what specifically has led you to this position.

[2tall]

In response to the original post, I expect that RCCL will eventually go nonsmoking on the balconies and in all indoor spaces. When that will be is anybody's guess. Those of us who smoke will either have to quit, stop cruising with this company (although I suspect that they will all follow suit eventually), or reconcile ourselves to walking to whatever smoking venue/deck area is left even if it is in the middle of the night. But this is the direction the industry seems to be heading in...

[Gilpet]

It must be different in the US because on Independence sailing from the UK the only inside smoking areas are upstairs in the nightclub and in the cigar lounge...not in the pub, not in the Schooner Bar and not in the Casino. For such a large ship I don't see why this should cause a problem for anybody but the very picky.

 

Gill

[loubetti]

If these cruise lines want to keep customers happy, while making money, they should embrace "E cigarettes", get the government idiots to support them, and not try to outlaw them, and sell them on board! Even have a program to convert smokers to them. I recently switched to them, and they are the best thing since the wheel or sliced bread!!

[macruisefan]

If these cruise lines want to keep customers happy, while making money, they should embrace "E cigarettes", get the government idiots to support them, and not try to outlaw them, and sell them on board! Even have a program to convert smokers to them. I recently switched to them, and they are the best thing since the wheel or sliced bread!!

 

And once they have been deemed a safe and effective alternative, I'm sure you will see them embraced. However, speaking as a health care professional, they are still very new, and there is not yet enough data to reach any definitive conclusion.

 

I think e-cigs are a very promising technology- likely the biggest step we've ever taken in smoking cessation technology. However, as is the case with anything, we have to go through the proper steps. And simply dismissing the FDA, the AMA, The American Lung Association, and The American Heart Association as "government idiots" might be a little overly simplistic.

[Debde]

e-cigs made me want to smoke more. I had to get the movement of the whole smoking thing out of my head.

For me-the lozenges work great although it is 3 years since I've had a cigarette but I'm still buying the lozenge.:(

[celle]

If these cruise lines want to keep customers happy, while making money, they should embrace "E cigarettes", get the government idiots to support them, and not try to outlaw them, and sell them on board! Even have a program to convert smokers to them. I recently switched to them, and they are the best thing since the wheel or sliced bread!!

 

My DH was a 50 cigarette a day smoker for over 40 years. He tried everything available, to try and stop smoking, with no success.

 

Last year, while on holiday in England, he bought a starter pack of E-cigarettes. They sat in a drawer, unused, until February this year, when he finally decided to try them.

 

Since starting the E-cigs, he has not smoked a real cigarette - that's 2 months cigarette-free so far!

 

We can't buy E-cigs where I live, but we can buy the refills on line from the UK. They arrive within 3 days of ordering.

 

The E-cigs DH uses contain only water and a minimal amount of nicotine - less than in a real cigarette.

 

I guess you can say that the E-cigarettes worked for my DH.

[Ocean Boy]

It must be different in the US because on Independence sailing from the UK the only inside smoking areas are upstairs in the nightclub and in the cigar lounge...not in the pub, not in the Schooner Bar and not in the Casino. For such a large ship I don't see why this should cause a problem for anybody but the very picky.

 

Gill

 

The last time that I was on Independence is was like a smokers fest almost everywhere.

[Cruise_Monkey]

A silly question, but we're on the Oasis in May in a Boardwalk balcony; is smoking allowed on these balconies?

[PeterPan]

No smoking on Boardwalk or Central Park balconies.

[Gilpet]

The last time that I was on Independence is was like a smokers fest almost everywhere.

 

When was that Ocean Boy? We were on there in March and August last year (both from Southampton) and that was the rule (and I do follow the rules). Outside in public areas smoking is allowed on one side of the promenade deck and one side of the pool deck between the end of the H2O Zone and the solarium but nowhere else. The first time we were on Indy from Southampton smoking was allowed in the Casino but we were told that this was only because there were a lot of American "high rollers" on board and it was to keep them happy! The Casino policy (so we've been told) is that it is up to the Casino manager's discretion and both trips since have been no smoking in there. We'll be on Indy on Sunday so I'll let you know if it's changed, but I doubt it.

 

Gill

[Ocean Boy]

When was that Ocean Boy? We were on there in March and August last year (both from Southampton) and that was the rule (and I do follow the rules). Outside in public areas smoking is allowed on one side of the promenade deck and one side of the pool deck between the end of the H2O Zone and the solarium but nowhere else. The first time we were on Indy from Southampton smoking was allowed in the Casino but we were told that this was only because there were a lot of American "high rollers" on board and it was to keep them happy! The Casino policy (so we've been told) is that it is up to the Casino manager's discretion and both trips since have been no smoking in there. We'll be on Indy on Sunday so I'll let you know if it's changed, but I doubt it.

 

Gill

 

It was several weeks before Independence left the Caribbean to go over to the UK. So I think that was March of 2010.

[Aquahound]

As I remember, it didn't work very well when Carnival experimented with a smoke free ship.

 

From what folks in the industry have told me, that ship failed due to the crew not being able to smoke. If not for that, it probably would have been a success.

 

I recently got off Celebrity Solstice, and I was very impressed with the completely nonsmoking interior of the ship. Furthermore, there were only a handful of decks where smoking was allowed at all.

 

I wouldn't even say "a handful." I only seem to recall one small section of one side of the outdoor promenade, one small section behind the stage in the Sky lounge, and one side of the top deck. It was the first cruise in a long time I actually used the casino.

[Ocean Boy]

From what folks in the industry have told me, that ship failed due to the crew not being able to smoke. If not for that, it probably would have been a success.

 

 

That is very interesting to read. A smoke free ship really would be nice, at least for me. There are times when I have walked through the casino at 6 AM and the place still reaks of smoke. And I don't mean for that to be a shot at smokers. But the smell just gets into everything and it is far from a pleasant odor.

[bigque]

I don't care if people smoke, but RCI should really stop the indoor smoking on their ships! Outdoors and on balconies is cool with me, but you can walk through someplaces on the ship and the smoke will knock you down. When I was on the Serenade if you walked into the sports bar to go into the casino, that had to be the worst smoking area on the ship! People thought that here in North Carolina that restaurants and bars would lose business when the banned smoking inside them a couple of years ago. It didn't happen. You just see people going outside to smoke now, just like at workplaces!

My biggest thing is having that smell on my clothes if I am in one of those venues on the ship and I don't even smoke!

[negc]

On Jewel of the Seas, the Hollywood Odyssey is a late night cigar bar. Yet, when we are there earlier in the evening when it serves as a satellite Concierge Lounge, we do not detect even the slightest smell of smoke. If they have an air filtration system that can achieve that, perhaps something similar could be used in the Casino so that it won't still reek of smoke the next morning.

We enjoyed the almost totally smoke-free environment of Celebrity's Silhouette and it does seem that it would be possible for things on RCI's ships to evolve into something similar. Whatever the reasons might be for the Carnival Paradise's failure as a totally smoke-free ship, conditions have certainly changed in the ensuing years, so it may no longer serve as proof that such a ship could not operate profitably now or sometime in the near future.:)

[Ocean Boy]

On Jewel of the Seas, the Hollywood Odyssey is a late night cigar bar. Yet, when we are there earlier in the evening when it serves as a satellite Concierge Lounge, we do not detect even the slightest smell of smoke. If they have an air filtration system that can achieve that, perhaps something similar could be used in the Casino so that it won't still reek of smoke the next morning.

We enjoyed the almost totally smoke-free environment of Celebrity's Silhouette and it does seem that it would be possible for things on RCI's ships to evolve into something similar. Whatever the reasons might be for the Carnival Paradise's failure as a totally smoke-free ship, conditions have certainly changed in the ensuing years, so it may no longer serve as proof that such a ship could not operate profitably now or sometime in the near future.:)

 

I agree with you. When I have checked out the cigar bars on the Voyager and Freedom class ships I have never really noticed the smell of stale smoke. I am not sure if it is just easier to scrub the air because it is a smaller space or maybe they invest in better equipment because it is a predetermined high smoke area. Whatever the reason, the issue is much better controlled in there than it is in the casinos.