Zenith- Smoking Policy & Experience?

[DGF]

One of our group booked on the Zenith, Dec 29 cruise is allergic to smoking. Was not been a problem to her on the larger Island Princess when we cruised in Alaska in 2005

 

Any experiences encountered on this subject matter appreciated

 

Thanks

[DGF]

Are you on board yet

 

DEAN

[greeneg]

The only really bad location for cigarette smoke on the Zenith is the Casino area. If you stay off of that deck midships to forward you should be OK.

 

Only other time we noticed smoke was when some incosiderate people had to smoke outside of an elevator, but that was by far the exception rather than the rule.

 

Bye and large, Zenith passengers on longer cruises tend to be repeaters, they know the ship, and are usually very considerate of others.

[B&ST]

Dean - yes, I'm registered now.

 

Ed - Thanks for your prompt reply. Seeing as you've been on the Zenith twice previously, perhaps you could answer some other questions. How are the stabilizers on this older ship - in other words were people getting nauseous? Also, the cabins have no balconies and I get claustrophobic, did anyone in your party feel "closed in".

 

Sandy

[greeneg]

Hi Sandy.

 

Neither has been a problem for us; neither my wife or I are prone to motion sickness. We have been on a couple of trips where there definitely was motion, but to tell the truth, I don't think that Zenith's motion is any worse than Constellation and Connie is almost twice the size. Obviously wind and sea do move both big and smaller ships about, but we've always found Zenith comfortable.

 

We normally do not spend a lot of time in our cabin except to sleep, get dressed, that sort of thing; hence we've never felt confined. Cabins are well laid out and ours have always been comfortable. One Zenith tip that I will share with you is that Zenith has a very comfortable library on board which is a great place to listen to music or read (!). She also has a magnificent lounge on Deck 11 forward call the Fleet Bar; again, a great place to read, relax and have a drink if you are so inclined.

 

As you can probably tell, we like Zenith very much.

 

Hope that's useful to you.

[CaribbeanBound]

We were on Zenith last October, and are going again this November.

 

There was no smoking in the restaurants, show lounge, Library, or Card Room. Smoking was permitted in the night clubs, casino, outside, and the interior port side of the ship. They had every right to smoke in these areas of the ship, and unfortunately they did. The air circulation in the casino and night clubs was generally poor. All it took was for one person to light up for the air to become very poor. Therefore we generally avoided these areas. Although we are very sensitive to smoke, we could not detect any smoke smell in our cabin. The smokers, while in the minority, were generally very aggressive on this trip and a few were less than considerate. While not all of the smokers were inconsiderate, several smoked in the Starboard areas of the ship at times. We really wish Celebrity would restrict smoking to the exterior port of the ship and leave the contained areas smoke-free.

[DGF]

Welcome aboard

[greeneg]

We were on Zenith last October, and are going again this November.

 

There was no smoking in the restaurants, show lounge, Library, or Card Room. Smoking was permitted in the night clubs, casino, outside, and the interior port side of the ship. They had every right to smoke in these areas of the ship, and unfortunately they did. The air circulation in the casino and night clubs was generally poor. All it took was for one person to light up for the air to become very poor. Therefore we generally avoided these areas. Although we are very sensitive to smoke, we could not detect any smoke smell in our cabin. The smokers, while in the minority, were generally very aggressive on this trip and a few were less than considerate. While not all of the smokers were inconsiderate, several smoked in the Starboard areas of the ship at times. We really wish Celebrity would restrict smoking to the exterior port of the ship and leave the contained areas smoke-free.

 

 

I personally agree completely with what you say. I wonder if the shorter itinerary has led to a change in the people who frequent the ship: both of our previous Zenith cruises were 14 nighters and the percentage of people who had made prior trips on Zenith was well over 50%. Perhaps that isn't true now........

 

We had to avoid the deck that the Casino was on as much as possible, but really didn't have a lot of problems with the rest of the ship as long as we stayed on the Starboard side.

[Cachecara]

I am an ex-smoker, and cigarette smoke generally does not upset me. Last fall on Zenith there were 2 times the smoke did get to me.

The first time: in the casino--many smokers that particular night and the sea was rough, so I think the combination did me in; the second time: in the martini lounge--this is a small area and I think I was surrounded by smokers, it wasn't a problem as my server just moved me a few tables over to the Rounde Vez(sp) lounge to continue enjoying my drink. Smoking is permitted in these areas, so it was a matter of me moving if I was uncomfortable. Hope this helps.

[Kay and Hal]

We were on the Zenith last December (2005). Regarding stabilization, we found no problem and I am a little prone to motion sickness. If you encounter some rough seas, obviously you will feel the motion. Be sure to take along Bonine, over the counter, great for motion sickness.

 

Regarding smoking, I'm also an X-smoker and the smoke DOES bother me. I *think* it's the port side of the ship where smoking is allowed in the public areas - someone please correct me if I'm wrong - and we found the worst time was when the shows let out after dinner and everyone headed to the bars or casino. When you are in a setting where half of a bar is designated for smoking, obviously you are going to be exposed to at least a small amount of the smoke even if you are seated in the non smoking area. We found this to be true in one of the lounges we had drinks in pre-dinner.

 

All in all you can, for the most part, avoid the smoke, except of course, in the casino.

 

Though the Zenith is an older ship, and there have been complaints regarding aging decor, etc., she is a great ship to cruise on. We've sailed on both the Zenith and Horizon, and enjoyed those cruises immensely.

 

Karen

[B&ST]

Thank you all so much for your replies.

 

Carribean Bound - I'll avoid the casino (which will help the bank balance anyway), and hopefully we won't get too many inconsiderate smokers.

 

Ed - Our cabins are on the starboard side, so thats good news. I've mentally already booked my seat in the library and fleet bar.

 

Cachecara - Too bad if I have to avoid the martini bar though!

 

Kay & Hal - Happy to hear that you think the stabilizers are o.k.. I've never heard of Bonnie - perhaps we don't have it in Canada - but I have other stuff.

 

Thanks again.

 

Sandy

[newmexicoNita]

smoking in the casino as has been mentioned should be the only place where it could be annoying. Everyplace on the ship that allows smoking has separate areas and many areas do not allow it at all. One side of the ship is smoking, one side not, this holds true even around the pool. You asked about stablizers, we were on the Zenith in Dec for our granddaughters wedding. Out of 21 cruising only 1 person got a little ill and she wasn't the kind to handle anything too well. The rest of us felt some rocking, nothing we couldn't live with. The cabins are fairly nice sized, as long as you have an outside cabin you should be fine. Is it as nice as sailing with a balcony? Of course not, but you aren't paying the price for a ship that is newer with balconies. go, enjoy and don't worry about it. NMnita

[dkjretired]

Thank you all so much for your replies.

 

Carribean Bound - I'll avoid the casino (which will help the bank balance anyway), and hopefully we won't get too many inconsiderate smokers.

 

Ed - Our cabins are on the starboard side, so thats good news. I've mentally already booked my seat in the library and fleet bar.

 

Cachecara - Too bad if I have to avoid the martini bar though!

 

Kay & Hal - Happy to hear that you think the stabilizers are o.k.. I've never heard of Bonnie - perhaps we don't have it in Canada - but I have other stuff.

 

Thanks again.

 

 

 

Sandy

 

 

Just as a point of info, your cabin being on starboard side may or may not mean anything. None of the cabins are smoke free so you could have smokers on either side of your cabin or both side of you.

[B&ST]

I just received from Celebrity these answers to some questions I asked. Thought you might be interested. - Sandy

 

"Thank you for your email. We appreciate the opportunity to respond.

 

1. Celebrity Cruises has designated smoking and nonsmoking areas. The

port side

of public rooms has been designated as a smoking area, with ashtrays

placed

accordingly. Smoking is also permitted in our night club and Casino.

 

2. Smoking is only allowed in designated areas onboard and staff will

not permit smokers to smoke elsewhere.

 

3. Celebrity Cruises air circulation system in our staterooms are

independent from all public areas.

 

4. All staterooms have individual heat and air conditioning controls.

 

Ms. Taylor, we hope you have a wonderful time onboard Celebrity

Cruises.

 

Thank you for choosing Celebrity Cruises.

 

John Balboa

Customer Service Representative"

[delyn]

we just returned from the Zenith and smoking was a problem a few different places....

 

Cova Cafe - seems to be where people stopped to smoke and have a coffee - only 1 or 2 smokers "congests" this area

 

Fleet Bar - not much air circulation and air gets stale quickly

 

Casino - try to drop in at odd hours - if it's not peak time it's not too bad - there is a small section of non-smoking, but it's not blocked off.

 

All-in-all it wasn't horrible, but think it would be GREAT if they had a Non-smoking bar exclusively!

 

I will post a complete review in a day or two....still getting my land-legs back.

[jessemon]

we just returned from the Zenith and smoking was a problem a few different places....

 

Cova Cafe - seems to be where people stopped to smoke and have a coffee - only 1 or 2 smokers "congests" this area

 

Fleet Bar - not much air circulation and air gets stale quickly

 

Casino - try to drop in at odd hours - if it's not peak time it's not too bad - there is a small section of non-smoking, but it's not blocked off.

 

All-in-all it wasn't horrible, but think it would be GREAT if they had a Non-smoking bar exclusively!

 

I will post a complete review in a day or two....still getting my land-legs back.

When we were last on the "Horizon" they had changed "Michael's Club" (the former cigar bar) into a non-smoking bar. I am not sure if this is still true though. You might want to check that out though. They had our "CC" get together in there and I could not have a smoke.

[dmarch@islc.net]

I follow the rules, and of think most of "us" do. If you see anyone smoking on "your" side of the ship I would kindly remind them of rules. I had be reminded (told) once when smoking out on deck. I just naturally ass/u/me-d you could smoke anywhere outside...wrong. Any problems, call security.

[readyforadventure]

Just got back from the Zenith during spring break and smoking was a big problem everywhere. There were a large group of cigar smoking guys celebrating a 40th birthday who felt they could smoke anywhere they wanted...in the pools, the hot tubs and both sides of the ship. The pool butlers did not address the problem even after one of the passengers who was a nurse with lung disease made a heartfelt request. It was very unpleasant and hard to avoid. I doubt there will be a similar problem in December, but be warned of short cruises during spring break!

[Champagne]

I’ve cruised Zenith twice in February. As a non smoker I didn’t find the smoke bad most places. The worst was in the Rendez-Vous Bar during the first dinner seating. I had the second seating so we went there for a pre dinner drink. Apparently, while the first seating is dining, all the smokers who need a smoke break go into the rendez-vous bar, this caused it to get pretty smoky. This was the only time the smoke bothered me. At the casino there were people smoking but they were always courteous enough to keep it away from me. As for the ship I think Zenith is great, I like the smaller ships. I never felt closed in or claustrophobic. The advantage is it is easier for the staff to remember you and you get more personalized service. :p

[DGF]

Many thanks to all of you for your replies