Smoke free Solstice. Interesting....

[Gilpet]

It sounds as though they have a different policy when it's sailing from US instead of UK - which is strange. It would also explain why there are so many threads on here complaining about smoking if they have different rules/policy depending on where the ship is sailing from. I've often thought people were just being picky, basing it on the allowed smoking areas from the UK, but it sounds as though it's totally different - you'll have to try sailing from the UK Ocean Boy lol.

 

Gill

[Ocean Boy]

It sounds as though they have a different policy when it's sailing from US instead of UK - which is strange. It would also explain why there are so many threads on here complaining about smoking if they have different rules/policy depending on where the ship is sailing from. I've often thought people were just being picky, basing it on the allowed smoking areas from the UK, but it sounds as though it's totally different - you'll have to try sailing from the UK Ocean Boy lol.

 

Gill

 

But it is so much warmer and sunny in the Caribbean. Are you telling me that I have to choose between sunny, warm, and smoke or cool, damp, and clean air?:eek::D:D No offense meant to the U.K. I love being in London when I visit. ;)

[Gilpet]

But it is so much warmer and sunny in the Caribbean. Are you telling me that I have to choose between sunny, warm, and smoke or cool, damp, and clean air?:eek::D:D No offense meant to the U.K. I love being in London when I visit. ;)

 

Lol........but we don't stay in the UK we go to somewhere hot - at least we hope the Canary Islands will be hot but the weather forecast isn't looking good.

 

Gill

[berwyn]

First let me begin by saying I don't like cigarette smoke. I think people that smoke in non-smoking areas are very inconsiderate. That being said, I also must say that at night I like to smoke a cigar. Voyager and Freedom class ships have a dedicated cigar lounge and that is where I do my smoking. I cannot believe that RCCL built the biggest cruise ships in the world and didn't make room for a cigar lounge. Smokers: we have enough people against us. Be considerate and confine your smoking to smoking areas.

 

They did. It is outside and one deck up from the sun deck.

Ocean,can you narrow down the cigar smoking section for me? Forward or aft, port or starboard.

[dln929]

We have left Royal Caribbean after becoming Diamond, because of their smoking policies. I wonder if there are others that RC has lost to Celebrity?

 

Look at my signature and you will see one who is jumping ship. Now to be fair, smoking was really not an issue when I was on the Voyager or the Brilliance. The Independence? Whooo baby it was baaaaaad. I could not believe the smoking on that ship!! We had one of those highly coveted corner afts on Deck 7 and we could use it only certain times because of the heavy smokers below us. Shame, really.

 

We have a future cruise certificate that we will use for a shorter cruise. I would not trust fate, however, to sailing on a long transatlantic on Royal just in case we had the misfortune to be next door neighbors with a chain smoker. Short cruise, yes yes yes to Royal. Long? no way, not until they see the light!

 

And yes, I am an ex-smoker who is more than 20 years smoke-free. We reformed sinners are always the most militant LOL.

[SUZCRUZ]

I am a travel agent and I receive complaints all the time about smoking on the balconies. The smoke seems to come right over and invade others balconies. I am after RCCL to change their smoking policy and follow Celebrity, Princess and others. I really think it is going to happen. I always tell my clients to complain on their surverys and maybe the poilcy will change.

 

I feel it is still okay to have desinated smoking areas on the ship and I can chose to avoid them. But it is not fair to have to avoid you own balcony which paid for.

 

Also not fair to be restricted from smoking on your balcony THAT YOU PAID FOR.

[dz9yvr]

It's unlikely that RCCL will go smokeless anytime soon. RCCL maket to the South American market where smoking is much more prevalent. As others have indicated, as long as RCCL continues to sail full, why would they cahneg the policy?

[Ocean Boy]

Ocean,can you narrow down the cigar smoking section for me? Forward or aft, port or starboard.

 

It is forward of the main pools and up two decks or up one deck from the sun deck in the middle of the ship. If you have ever been on a Voyager or Freedom class ship it would be the area that is roughly equivalent to the San Tropez deck. Someone posted some pictures of the "Suite Sun Zone. It is this area that is used as the cigar bar at night. Here is a link to the thread with the picture. Just scroll down one or two posts on the thread........

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1505211

[Karma5]

I wish RC would limit smoking more than what is done now. Smoking and second hand smoke is harmful to one's health.............

[dz9yvr]

Also not fair to be restricted from smoking on your balcony THAT YOU PAID FOR.

 

 

Sure you paid for your balcony, but no one should be permitted to do anything that prevents others from enjoying their balcony.

[snoopysnake]

I think it would be practical for the cruise line and passengers alike for RCCL to have one side of the ship allow balcony smoking and the other side not. DH and I will not book a balcony cabin because it is such a gamble as to whether we could enjoy it (I am quite allergic to second-hand smoke.) I think this change would be more lucrative for RCCL and would leave more passengers content, and inclined to book future cruises with them.

 

re: Celebrity and Azamara: there is a cost issue which causes people to still want RCCL to have more smoke-free areas, even though Celebrity and Azamara have them already. Often the price is the biggest factor in what cruise line one chooses.

[debandbruce]

I am sensitive to smoke. Having half the casino smoke free is like trying to keep rain on the other side of the street, it doesn't work. Also on the non smoking nights the carpet etc is all so penetrated by the smoke that it is still hard to be there. I just stay out of the casino and areas that smoking is allowed. There is a lot of ship and my DH and I find somewhere else to go. The only area that really bothers me is the balcony, I only have the one to go to. So far we have only had a bit of a problem once. We really like Celebrity and enjoy the stricter rules but when we cruise on Royal we are aware of the more relaxed rules and just avoid the smoke best we can.

[SUZCRUZ]

I think it would be practical for the cruise line and passengers alike for RCCL to have one side of the ship allow balcony smoking and the other side not. DH and I will not book a balcony cabin because it is such a gamble as to whether we could enjoy it (I am quite allergic to second-hand smoke.) I think this change would be more lucrative for RCCL and would leave more passengers content, and inclined to book future cruises with them.

 

re: Celebrity and Azamara: there is a cost issue which causes people to still want RCCL to have more smoke-free areas, even though Celebrity and Azamara have them already. Often the price is the biggest factor in what cruise line one chooses.

Decent idea. However, if ship is filling up, it would limit your choices.

[mesci14]

I think it would be practical for the cruise line and passengers alike for RCCL to have one side of the ship allow balcony smoking and the other side not. DH and I will not book a balcony cabin because it is such a gamble as to whether we could enjoy it (I am quite allergic to second-hand smoke.) I think this change would be more lucrative for RCCL and would leave more passengers content, and inclined to book future cruises with them.

 

re: Celebrity and Azamara: there is a cost issue which causes people to still want RCCL to have more smoke-free areas, even though Celebrity and Azamara have them already. Often the price is the biggest factor in what cruise line one chooses.

 

I mentioned this on the NCL thread (1 side yes, 1 side no) and this time cruising we are not selecting a balcony room and not going with NCL because of a situation that would not allow us enjoy our balcony and NCL was unable to do anything to help us or compensate us. They have lost our business because of it and RCCL here we come! I believe live and let live as long as no one infringes upon the rights of others, but in that case our rights were infringed upon and we were unable to be moved due to a full ship and the cruiseline did not care that we were unable to enjoy what we had paid for.

[drarill]

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...

Best post from a smoker :)

I do hope that RCCL goes nonsmoking on balconies and indoor spaces. Loved cruising in Celebrity's smoke-free environment, but my kids prefer RCCL. RCCL is suppose to be a family oriented cruise line and they have the unhealthiest environment for children, it just doesn't make sense to me.

As someone already suggested, we always write RCCL corporate offices after every cruise that we felt was affected by cigarette smoke. Being the Oasis and the Allure the worst of all.

[molly361]

We have left Royal Caribbean after becoming Diamond, because of their smoking policies. I wonder if there are others that RC has lost to Celebrity?

 

 

or vice versa

[negc]

or vice versa

 

It could end up being a wash, but with statistics seeming to indicate fewer and fewer people are smokers, I would expect that Celebrity is more likely than RCI to gain passengers. Of course that assumes that their respective smoking policies are a significant determining factor when one chooses a cruise.:) We are not smokers but RCI's policy hasn't really been a major factor when choosing our next cruise.