This Thread Is To Be Used For All Discussions About HAL's On Board Smoking Policies

[summersigh]

I am a bit puzzled by this response. I see from your signature that you sailed with RCI in April 2013 when balcony smoking was still allowed and, I believe, smoking in the casino is still allowed now so I cannot see how it has never been an issue for you but is now:confused:

 

Frankly, the limited deck smoking areas on HAL are no better or worse that on RCI or Carnival in my experience.

 

In fact, we were more bothered by smoke smell on our RCI balcony AFTER they banned smoking there than we've ever been on a HAL balcony. .... Just MHO.:rolleyes:

[CRUZBUDS]

In fact, we were more bothered by smoke smell on our RCI balcony AFTER they banned smoking there than we've ever been on a HAL balcony. .... Just MHO.:rolleyes:

 

 

The difference is..... you have the right to pick up the phone and complain on RCI, not on HAL -- for now :rolleyes:

[kennicott]

I keep reading on this thread about previous year smoking experiences on HAL and other lines. That's fine, but I'm really interested in what the future has in store for us HAL faithful pertinent to balcony smoking, circumstances have really changed you know.

 

We are close to 300 days sailing with HAL and recently canceled an Eastern Mediterranean plus TA with them scheduled for next fall. Smoking wasn't an issue then because I had yet to realize that all the majors had discontinued balcony smoking, leaving HAL the only game in town.

 

We simply got tired of all the mid-east turmoil and since been there done that before decided to cruise a little closer to home. We elected to do a New England/Canada/east coast/Mediterranean instead for next fall. Being that we have a large credit coming from HAL we looked to them first (We only use three lines and aren't about to start with a fourth). This occurred in mid-October.

 

HAL was booked solid. At least with respect to balconies, which we don't book without. The other two, Princess and Regent, had plenty of balcony cabins available, I thought that to be strange at the time. Anyway, Princess won out and we are now booked with them.

 

However, I then discovered that HAL was now the only line with balcony smoking. Were all those balconies sold out due to smoking? Heretofore we have never really had a bad experience on any of the three with respect to smoking, except one time in 2008 on HAL's Prinsendam where the smokers drove most away from the only good dance floor.

 

I realize it is going to take some time for word to get out and smokers switch their allegiances over to HAL due balcony smoking, if in fact that does occur. So I keenly read recent posts from those with past balcony sailing experience on HAL to see if there is a significant increase in balcony smoking manifesting from the prohibition of such on all other lines. If there is not a dramatic increase as opposed to a slight or moderate one then we will probably book in the future, if it turns out smoking is rampant on balconies then I guess we kiss our 2 K credit goodbye.

[Sow There]

As is Kennicott, we're ambivalent about smoking ourselves. We are also very surprised that HAL's verandas are hard to come by when compared with Princess, etc.

 

Whilst excessive tobacco smoke would not be good, a little occasional puff drifting by is no big deal. However, when considering supply/demand, it sounds like HAL, with its current smoking policy, is the winner, which suggests that it won't be anytime soon that HAL bans veranda smoking.

[Hlitner]

Regarding HAL balconies being totally booked on some cruises, one needs to factor-in that quite a few of the HAL ships lack the number of balconies found on the ships of other lines.

 

Hank

[QueenGlassHalfFull]

It is impossible to predict if HAL balcony smoking will be a factor on a given cruise. On our next to last HAL cruise in Europe, we were "smoked off" our balcony with heavy, all day long smokers on both sides. On our last cruise in Antarctica, we occasionally caught a whiff of smoke but it wasn't a bother. Since our last HAL cruise, we've opted to sail on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. While we like both of these cruise lines, HAL is still our favorite. I keep coming back to the HAL board hoping for the day when the announcement is posted prohibiting balcony smoking. While the suite life on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean is very nice, they don't measure up to HAL's Neptune Suite experience.

[tip]

... I keep coming back to the HAL board hoping for the day when the announcement is posted prohibiting balcony smoking...

 

So do I! Some day HAL will recognize that we are now in the 21st Century.

[PathfinderEss]

So do I! Some day HAL will recognize that we are now in the 21st Century.

..........but last time I check, smoking is still allowed in the 21st Century, isn't it?

[tip]

..........but last time I check, smoking is still allowed in the 21st Century, isn't it?

 

And the last time I checked, it is no longer socially acceptable! I should not have to tolerate second hand smoke on my cruise ship balcony.

[freestyling]

And the last time I checked, it is no longer socially acceptable! I should not have to tolerate second hand smoke on my cruise ship balcony.

 

Until HAL announces a policy change to their current smoking policy you do have to tolerate second hand smoke on a HAL cruise ship balcony just as everyone else.

[peaches from georgia]

And the last time I checked, it is no longer socially acceptable! I should not have to tolerate second hand smoke on my cruise ship balcony.

You don't have to.

[freestyling]

And that brings us to the crux of the matter. If the smoke stays on the smoker's balcony - no problem. Others should not have to share it in their space.

 

I do not disagree with that thought however until HAL changes policy we roll the dice on second hand smoke when using our balconies. I have two upcoming cruises paid for otherwise I would cancel. My last cruise in Jan we had cigar smoker next door and we were unable to use our balcony numerous times over the 14 day cruise :(. I will cancel my Great Barrier Reef cruise if the current policy is in force.

[Hlitner]

Until HAL announces a policy change to their current smoking policy you do have to tolerate second hand smoke on a HAL cruise ship balcony just as everyone else.

 

Au contraire mon ami. One just has to do as we have which is to simply not book anymore HAL cruises. There are plenty of other options where balcony smoking is not an issue. For starters there is Celebrity, Princess, Azamara, Oceania, etc etc.

 

Hank

[freestyling]

you are correct Hlitner. Unfortunatly some of us are past our cancel time and have booked balconies. BUT in the future.......

[legalslave]

I have really been watching all of the threads because of upcoming cruises we have booked with HAL. I am not seeing very many threads about upsells. On our upcoming Alaska cruise in the beginning of May, the prices are much higher than last year. We took the same exact cruise, the same week in 2013 and 2014 and received great deals. We are paying more for an outside view cabin than we did in an SS or SY in 2013 and 2014. We also received great upsell offers to Neptune Suites those two years. I am thinking it is because HAL is still allowing balcony smoking and selling a lot of balcony cabins. If that is not the reason, I'd love to know why they are selling so many more cabins at higher prices than they have in past years. Just an observation on my part with no facts.

 

Diane

[kjw869]

Au contraire mon ami. One just has to do as we have which is to simply not book anymore HAL cruises. There are plenty of other options where balcony smoking is not an issue. For starters there is Celebrity, Princess, Azamara, Oceania, etc etc.

 

Hank

 

Celebrity may not even afford the luxury of having no smoking on verandahs as touted. A friend returned last week on the Caribbean cruise where he and his family were in the 1,291 sq ft PS Pentacle Suite on the Reflection. That, and the Owner's Suite sailed empty and he booked it four days before the cruise as he lives in South Florida. They smelled second hand smoke often on their balcony, and thought nothing of it. It was their first time on Celebrity because the ship had plenty of spaces left when they decided to take a cruise. Then sail on HAL, Crystal and Regent most of the time.

 

They said it didn't bother them in the least, of course their deck is so large you can get away from the smoke.

 

This is the second set of friends that I've written about in the past about smoking on the Celebrity. On the Solstice, someone came out every night after midnight and smoke for a couple of hours. He did it the entire seven day cruise. This same couple took the Constellation the year before where their neighbors smoked secretly a couple of times a day. Neither were told to stop and my friends never reported it, as it didn't bother them.

 

Seems like it's impossible to stop, even though they "try"! I read one poster a while ago who said he went to the front desk and they told him it was too late to barge in on the guests. He was just trying to get them into their cabin to see and smell what was happening next door. They refused according to the poster.

 

See Celebrity smoking articles below:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=42660112&postcount=5

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44832909&postcount=609

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2113450&highlight=smoking

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=42663057&postcount=15

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44925249&postcount=7

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44937275&postcount=42

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2135509&highlight=smoking&page=3

 

And finally: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2135509&highlight=smoking&page=3

 

Or you can do what one RCCL cruiser does: on the Smoking Indepednce thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44954909&postcount=14

 

So, after being on the past four cruises on HAL twice on a wraparound cabin and twice in a Pinnacle Suite, I have only seen on smoker on their balcony, and that was in Alaska (I wasn't referring to the Captain as he was off the ship when he was smoking on those four cruises for those four cruises. On the aft wrap, I could see up and down the verandahs and see a long way towards the bow. Where were the smokers that were supposed to flock to HAL. The age demographic was the same, as we did not see many cruisers. On our sixteen HAL cruisers, we were bothered by smoke once. We told our neighbors and they never came out when we were on the deck. That was in 2009.

 

It's funny someone suggest they call HAL, Ashtrays of the Seas. That is the name my friend came up for Celebrity a few years ago after three cruises. I told him to come over to HAlL and he's sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam and Eurodam on aft wrap cabins and he has never smelled any smoke. They now have a toddler they take with them and worry about smoke. That is why they stopped sailing Celebrity after the Solstice and Constellation cruises.

 

No smoking on Celebrity or RCCL, yah right!:rolleyes:

 

 

Just to add:. if you scroll down some of these links or out smoking in the subject lines of the Celebrity forum, you'll see food plates full of cigarettes butts and glasses full of butts in picture forms left on the balconies. Oh wait, smoking is not allowed on Celebrity balconies.:D

Edited February 17, 2015 by kjw869

[AV8rix]

FWIW, I'm a solo and have to pay the supplement so I have to watch the prices like the stock market and perform frequent dummy bookings to keep tabs on availability of my preferred deck and stateroom class. I'm planning to do the May repo on Amsterdam from FLL and I've been watching the stateroom situation for quite a while.

 

Lots of everything still available EXCEPT verandah suites. They've been sold out for a long, long time -- can't tell you the exact date but were sold out AT LEAST five months out. And on the short coastal leg up from SAN even the Neptunes have been sold out for about the same time.

 

Doesn't affect me since I don't book verandahs anyway. However, what really bothers me is the casino situation. I can only tolerate the blackjack table for the first couple of hours on sea days, then have to leave. Here in Washington state only the tribal casinos are allowed by law to permit smoking. The non-tribal casinos have to abide by the same law as any other business -- NO SMOKING. And yet somehow they manage to stay in business.

[Drico]

 

Doesn't affect me since I don't book verandahs anyway. However, what really bothers me is the casino situation. I can only tolerate the blackjack table for the first couple of hours on sea days, then have to leave.

 

 

Smoking in the casino will only get worse if/when HAL stops smoking on balconies.

[freestyling]

Smoking in the casino will only get worse if/when HAL stops smoking on balconies.

 

If that is truly the case then from a business perspective and assuming HAL can still fill vernada's with non-smokers they should change their smoking policy ASAP. You are suppose to be gambling in order to smoke and HAL would be money ahead I would think ;)

[HamOp]

However, what really bothers me is the casino situation.

 

Smoking in the casino will only get worse if/when HAL stops smoking on balconies.

 

Smoking somewhere, will always bother someone, sometime, somehow.

 

Remember way back when the debate was if HAL should ban smoking in the cabins or on the veranda? Well the cabin folks won. Now it's open season on the veranda's. When (note I said when, not if) HAL decides to ban it on the veranda's the casino crowd will be up in arms. After it's banned in the casino, the outside spaces for smokers will be in the cross-hairs.

 

It's clear to me that Carnival Corp. does not want to risk loosing 18-20 percent of the business by going totally smoke free, so it's been decided that HAL will be the line to have the most lenient smoking policy.

 

I also think the problem is greatly magnified here on CC as apposed to real life on a HAL ship.

[sail7seas]

 

<snip>

 

 

I also think the problem is greatly magnified here on CC as apposed to real life on a HAL ship.

 

 

With all respect, have you ever had a verandah you could not use because there was constant smoking on both sides of you? My 'real life' experience is we lost total use of our Neptune Suite verandah for one whole week of our b-to-b. The second week we got luckier and we got to use the verandah. When it actually happens to someone on a gorgeous weather Caribbean cruise, the comments here don't feel an exaggeration. ;)

 

[freestyling]

We had this happen last month but it ws a cigar smoker. I politely asked him if he would refrain from smoking when we were on our veranda and he polity replied no. Oh well :(

[cruz chic]

I just love how smokers like to exaggerate how Smokey indoors will become if smoking is banned on balconies. Total scare tactics. It has not materialized.

[cruz chic]

Celebrity may not even afford the luxury of having no smoking on verandahs as touted. A friend returned last week on the Caribbean cruise where he and his family were in the 1,291 sq ft PS Pentacle Suite on the Reflection. That, and the Owner's Suite sailed empty and he booked it four days before the cruise as he lives in South Florida. They smelled second hand smoke often on their balcony, and thought nothing of it. It was their first time on Celebrity because the ship had plenty of spaces left when they decided to take a cruise. Then sail on HAL, Crystal and Regent most of the time.

 

They said it didn't bother them in the least, of course their deck is so large you can get away from the smoke.

 

This is the second set of friends that I've written about in the past about smoking on the Celebrity. On the Solstice, someone came out every night after midnight and smoke for a couple of hours. He did it the entire seven day cruise. This same couple took the Constellation the year before where their neighbors smoked secretly a couple of times a day. Neither were told to stop and my friends never reported it, as it didn't bother them.

 

Seems like it's impossible to stop, even though they "try"! I read one poster a while ago who said he went to the front desk and they told him it was too late to barge in on the guests. He was just trying to get them into their cabin to see and smell what was happening next door. They refused according to the poster.

 

See Celebrity smoking articles below:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=42660112&postcount=5

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44832909&postcount=609

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2113450&highlight=smoking

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=42663057&postcount=15

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44925249&postcount=7

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44937275&postcount=42

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2135509&highlight=smoking&page=3

 

And finally: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2135509&highlight=smoking&page=3

 

Or you can do what one RCCL cruiser does: on the Smoking Indepednce thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44954909&postcount=14

 

So, after being on the past four cruises on HAL twice on a wraparound cabin and twice in a Pinnacle Suite, I have only seen on smoker on their balcony, and that was in Alaska (I wasn't referring to the Captain as he was off the ship when he was smoking on those four cruises for those four cruises. On the aft wrap, I could see up and down the verandahs and see a long way towards the bow. Where were the smokers that were supposed to flock to HAL. The age demographic was the same, as we did not see many cruisers. On our sixteen HAL cruisers, we were bothered by smoke once. We told our neighbors and they never came out when we were on the deck. That was in 2009.

 

It's funny someone suggest they call HAL, Ashtrays of the Seas. That is the name my friend came up for Celebrity a few years ago after three cruises. I told him to come over to HAlL and he's sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam and Eurodam on aft wrap cabins and he has never smelled any smoke. They now have a toddler they take with them and worry about smoke. That is why they stopped sailing Celebrity after the Solstice and Constellation cruises.

 

No smoking on Celebrity or RCCL, yah right!:rolleyes:

 

 

Just to add:. if you scroll down some of these links or out smoking in the subject lines of the Celebrity forum, you'll see food plates full of cigarettes butts and glasses full of butts in picture forms left on the balconies. Oh wait, smoking is not allowed on Celebrity balconies.:D

we always hear how flexible smokers are. If that is the case why are they smoking where they shouldn't be?

[kjw869]

we always hear how flexible smokers are. If that is the case why are they smoking where they shouldn't be?

 

Because some are going to smoke when they want and where they want. Nothing seems to stop them, not even rules prohibiting smoking in areas.

 

It's like the person with multiple DWIs, many continue to drive w/o a license. Their addiction is much more powerful than laws and or cruise line policies.

 

It's also like the manufacturer of "Rum Runners: who sell thousands of packages a year so folks can bring on all the whiskey on board undetected.

 

One guy posted a picture on Cruise Critic years back showing his haul brought about a Carnival ship.