Official : Celebrity Revamps Smoking Policy Effective 10/1/08

[lovesublime]

Celebrity has made a good business decision. They know what they're doing. More people don't smoke than do. If you do decide to bail on X then happy cruising where ever you go :)

[usha]

Okay, then, in further response to the original post, let me say that not only am I tickled pink, but my lungs are also tickled pink!!!:D

[raudacruise]

Hi George & Marybeth!

We got the survey right after our Med/Trans Millie cruises this past Nov/Dec. We are Captain's club elite, shareholders, have only booked categories 2B's or lower, and are booked on the solstice maiden voyage - but only in a 1A cabin - not aqua class. But after having smokers in the forward cabin next to ours on our second transatlantic and having their smoke from their balcony blow onto our balcony and into our cabin on those fabulous sea days, I like finally not having to having to hope and pray that we don't have smokers in the forward cabin next to us on our future transatlantics.

 

Karen, neither of us smoke but really have never been bothered. I don't know if you saw the condition of the outside furniture plus interior in our RS but it was unacceptable compared to an RS on Infinity 9 months earlier.

 

Suggestions of having smoking/non-smoking cabins on sides of the ship might be better than a total ban.

 

The point I've being trying to make is very simple. Does Celebrity have a long range plan to bring the quality of all ships up to "premium"? This new policy doesn't address it and instead had a lot of us questioning if it will impact revenue (and cause further cutbacks).

 

Some threads have suggested that Milli is going into Drydock for a couple of weeks. Maybe they'll fix the problems we had.

[alcpa1]

I too am jumping ship from the Connie 11/21 sailing.

Chastise me if you wish but I refuse to vacation where my dollars, stockholder's shares, loyalty points, X credit card, and OBC's are not wanted unless you wish to see me stumble out of my cabin in my robe and pillow "do" so I can have a cup of coffee and a cigarette in a designated smoking area. Passengers would be jumping overboard at first glance.

I accepted the balcony policy on our last several X cruises. I hope I was polite enough to avoid polluting our neighbors and they thought so.

I do wish there was a policy that established a "neighborhood" of cabins where people could smoke. Wouldn't that have been thoughtful of the contaminators!

I do encourage all of the TA's on Cruise Critic to notify your clients of the pending change. Mine has not contacted me even though she knows I smoke. She will get a call from me cancelling the next cruise. What a shame, we had two X cruises planned for '09 and were looking forward to celebrating life onboard for years to come.

I did not receive the "survey" after our September cruise. If I had I would have known something was going to happen. Perhaps now the stewards will have time to cease cleaning ashtrays and do something about the mold in the showers.

[Davey Interweb]

The point I've being trying to make is very simple. Does Celebrity have a long range plan to bring the quality of all ships up to "premium"? This new policy doesn't address it and instead had a lot of us questioning if it will impact revenue (and cause further cutbacks).

 

I can see the point you're trying to make. I'm one of those folks who would readily argue that Celebrity's status as a "five-star" premium product has been on an obvious and steady decline over the past few years, to the point where I'm not particularly keen on recommending the line to others anymore. Personally, I'm tired of hearing comments along the lines of "it was good, but..." when I ask a friend how they felt about their first experience with X.

 

The Solstice-class ships might help to alleviate some of these negative perceptions in the short term, but only because the hardware is brand-new and won't show the aesthetic clues that normally point to months of neglect.

[Bozo]

I too am jumping ship from the Connie 11/21 sailing.

Chastise me if you wish but I refuse to vacation where my dollars, stockholder's shares, loyalty points, X credit card, and OBC's are not wanted unless you wish to see me stumble out of my cabin in my robe and pillow "do" so I can have a cup of coffee and a cigarette in a designated smoking area. Passengers would be jumping overboard at first glance.

I accepted the balcony policy on our last several X cruises. I hope I was polite enough to avoid polluting our neighbors and they thought so.

I do wish there was a policy that established a "neighborhood" of cabins where people could smoke. Wouldn't that have been thoughtful of the contaminators!

I do encourage all of the TA's on Cruise Critic to notify your clients of the pending change. Mine has not contacted me even though she knows I smoke. She will get a call from me cancelling the next cruise. What a shame, we had two X cruises planned for '09 and were looking forward to celebrating life onboard for years to come.

I did not receive the "survey" after our September cruise. If I had I would have known something was going to happen. Perhaps now the stewards will have time to cease cleaning ashtrays and do something about the mold in the showers.

I agree with you we have only sailed on Celebrity in the past and are going to cancel our next cruise with them we will look at other cruise lines or a land based vacation

[Gonzo70]

The stock price is down 3% since the announcement.

 

Don't be misleading. The stock market was down massively today. The smoking policy did not impact the stock price today. That is as misleading as someone saying that prior to the smoking policy change the stock had dropped 35% off of its 52 week high because it is so permissive with allowing smoking. RCL was down 3% today mainly because of GE's poor earnings and guidance.

[Shirley and Les]

...I do encourage all of the TA's on Cruise Critic to notify your clients of the pending change. Mine has not contacted me even though she knows I smoke...

I don't think many TA's will call their customers with possible bad news about a cruiseline's policies. Nor will they tell potential customers about the smoking policy unless specifically asked. When you are trying to sell a product, you don't break into jail by bringing up controversial topics.

Similarly, I don't think you will see any =X= brochures proclaiming "toughest smoking policy" on the front cover. If the policy is mentioned anywhere, it will be in the finest of print at the back of the brochure. New customers might not even find out about the policy until they get their cruise contract after final payment.

A lot of posters on this thread seem to think new customers will be flocking to =X= to buy cruise tickets because of the revised smoking policy. I don't think so! Experienced cruisers, aware of the change and not wanting to change their smoking habits, will leave Celebrity. Most CC members who embrace the new policy will continue to take the same number of cruises as they now do but with fewer complaints. CC hosts will have less work to do ;) in monitoring and whacking "smoke from the adjacent bacony" threads. Business as usual.

[blong2200]

We, my husband and I, and several friends cruised on the Galaxy in January 2008 and I have yet to receive a survery of any kind.

 

So, as I read this........maybe 5 received a survery that mentioned smoking.

 

I think Celebrity made a HUGE mistake on this one!

[wolfshadow]

Wow, this is really pretty sad. Jumping ship just because you can't smoke. I'm sorry all of you feel that this is what you need to do instead of taking a wonderful, smoke-free cruise on a wonderful cruiseline. Now I totally believe how ridiculously addicting this habit must be to actually choose smoking over cruising on Celebrity.

[swigso]

As I read this thread I am appalled at the attitude of the non smokers.

I do not smoke -I managed to quit 15 yrs ago- And I agree no smoking in Cabins but on Balconies?

This is about freedom to choose, non smokers can choose not to go on a cruise because of its smoking policy,smokers with X do not now have that choice.

I really feel for those that collapse when absorbing the tiniest hint of 2nd hand smoke how do you manage in this crazy polluted world?

 

And as for the comments that the smoking ban in the UK and Ireland are bringing non smokers out in droves to fill the Pubs- read the trade press.

In Ireland most pubs are trading down and in the UK 60 pubs a week are closing.Big operators are going bust and publicans acknowledge trade is down by upto 40%. Yes some pubs are doing better but these are more restaurant businesses than traditional English Pubs.

The smokers are choosing to stay at home and smoke, indeed the Prohibition era did not stop drinking it only allowed the Gangsters to flourish.

IMHO castigating anyone for objecting to their freedom to choose is wrong.

It would be interesting if a Smoking only ship was given an slot with X to see how that compared to the ones sailing under the new non smoking policy, now for me that would be CHOICE.

[Ardy53]

I am booked Aug/Sep for a Med cruise, my first cruise on Celebrity.(and the last)

 

If my booking had been after Oct 1 and I had not found the CC boards, I would have boarded the ship believing that the policy would be the same as when I booked (it was the first thing I checked on their website before deciding on this cruise).

 

Where would that leave me when I walked into my stateroom and found those little "red stickers" informing me I couldn't smoke in the room?

 

I predict that there are going to be confrontations on board about this change unless they ignore the policy for all cruises already booked.

[Napi's Mom]

The thought of sitting on a veranda without someone else's smoke blowing my way, is wonderful! Now if they have the staff prepared to deal with rule breakers, I'll be happier.

 

When the rules were announced for the Azamara ships, the company lost a lot of bookings. Watch for deals on verandas now for the fall and winter cruises, when people start canceling and begin looking for veranda smoking lines.

Believe me if you follow the Azamara forum you'll realize that they GAINED more than they lost with the no smoking policy!!!! You must be a smoker to not realize how much the anti smoking sector has increased over the last yr or so. We Congratulate Celebrity for taking this step (And sigh in relief that we won't have a smelly cabin, at least not from smoke on our 1/18/09 Mille cruise!):D

[dfishner]

Believe me if you follow the Azamara forum you'll realize that they GAINED more than they lost with the no smoking policy!!!! You must be a smoker to not realize how much the anti smoking sector has increased over the last yr or so. We Congratulate Celebrity for taking this step (And sigh in relief that we won't have a smelly cabin' date=' at least not from smoke on our 1/18/09 Mille cruise!):D[/quote']

 

Even though Azamara is part of Celebrity it is a niche market with only two smaller size cruise ships.

[dfishner]

I am disappointed that Celebrity went to the extreme that they did wish they had adopted what RCL had done. No one knows what the affect this will have on Celebrity but I am sure they feel they have the customer base to continue on with little or no shortfall. This is a bold step for a mass market cruise line and wish them luck. I have never smoked in a cabin and never had a problem with either going on the balcony for longer cruises or just going up to the deck on shorter ones when we either booked an inside or oceanview cabin. I really enjoy the Celebrity experience but now will only do shorter cruises with them...

[excitedofharpenden]

 

If my booking had been after Oct 1 and I had not found the CC boards, I would have boarded the ship believing that the policy would be the same as when I booked (it was the first thing I checked on their website before deciding on this cruise).

 

It's early days as this was only announced on Thursday evening, but I would have thought communication of the changes will be via the travel agent involved or direct from Celebrity if that is how the cruise was booked.

 

Phil

[richsea]

Very true. If you read any of the other boards everyone would see that people are jumping ship on other cruise lines and making plans for X. This is what a LOT of people have been waiting for. I am one of them. Our next cruise is on Celebrity.

 

:eek: I hope that those that do jump ship, particularly those from NCL, intend to follow the dress code!!!!:eek:

[Captain Jake]

The stock price is down 3% since the announcement. My concern as a stockholder is that they are rolling out two new ships in the next year that are both slated for the European market. Europeans smoke like chimneys. This could have a far greater impact on those bookings than it will for Caribbean sailing that are very popular with American and Canadian customers. The worlds anti-smoking fanatics are in North America, not Europe. This 80%-20% number that keeps getting tossed around is not accurate for the European market.

 

not true about the stock price.It went up 55 cents the day of the announcement ,went down 80 cents yesterday for a net change of less than 1 percent.The stock market as a whole went down more.So one can say the stock outperformed the market:D

[Captain Jake]

As I read this thread I am appalled at the attitude of the non smokers.

I do not smoke -I managed to quit 15 yrs ago- And I agree no smoking in Cabins but on Balconies?

This is about freedom to choose, non smokers can choose not to go on a cruise because of its smoking policy,smokers with X do not now have that choice.

I really feel for those that collapse when absorbing the tiniest hint of 2nd hand smoke how do you manage in this crazy polluted world?

.

 

But now smokers can choose not to cruise with X just as some non-smokers chose not to cruise with X in the past due to their smoking policy.We are going on a big family cruise next year to celebrate a milestone and this decision tilts the scales toward X

[rmchunter]

We could not cancel our SERENADE cruise fast enough when we saw that Celebrity was bold enough to make this change. They have our support.

Thank you Celebrity,

It's about time

[blong2200]

I am still waiting to see who actually received a survey which including questions about smoking.

 

We sailed on the Galaxy in Jan. 2008, and I have yet to get a survey of any kind concerning anything from Celebrity and I sailed on Celebrity six times.

 

My problem with this is that I booked my future cruise to Hawaii ( 15 days) for March 2009,while on board the Galaxy. At the time it was implied to me that the smoking policy would NOT change. I got a measly $100.00 OBC for my 15 day cruise, instead of the RCL policy of $200.00 for the cruise. Celebrity keeps changing the 'rules'........one day you get OBC for length of cruise, the next it is the amount of money you spend. RCL really needs to have the same rules across the board.

 

I will be waiting to hear from Celebrity about this new smoking rule and what they intend to do about my deposit, my airfare, and my hotel accomodations.

 

Again, did you get a survey?

[marle7]

It's early days as this was only announced on Thursday evening, but I would have thought communication of the changes will be via the travel agent involved or direct from Celebrity if that is how the cruise was booked.

 

Phil

 

I would hope that Celebrity or TA's do notify their clients and also allow refunds. I wouldn't bet on it though. I think the poster above is correct and Celebrity isn't going to go out of its way to let people know. Yes, it's on their website, buried in the press releases. I would have thought this would have been up there in red with the travel alerts so people could make informed choices.

 

I also hope those who are canceling with Celebrity be very clear with them as to why they are canceling. I also plan to send a follow up letter to them as well.

 

As to the poster who feels sorry for us, no need. There are lots of nice cruise lines out there. This is about choice. The choice on where to spend thousands of dollars on a non necessity item. I am delighted for those non smokers who are happy about this, as I've said before. I simply choose to spend my thousands elsewhere.

[Blondie007]

What RCI like in comparism? We are thinking of changing our booking to enchantment of the seas? See you have sailed on this ship? Any comments?

[Mike2131]

Sorry smokers, but this is huge for us. As for those posters who questioned the balcony ban, there is nothing more annoying than stepping out on the balcony and getting hit with a face full of smoke from the balcony next door. Sometimes you can't even leave the door open for a nice breeze.

 

Bravo, Celebrity!

[DrKoob]

We, my husband and I, and several friends cruised on the Galaxy in January 2008 and I have yet to receive a survery of any kind.

 

So, as I read this........maybe 5 received a survery that mentioned smoking.

 

I think Celebrity made a HUGE mistake on this one!

 

We got a survey. There was a thread about it when it went out. I would guess that a number of Cruise Critic subscribers got it. As all surveys are, it was random. No survey asks every person in the world.

 

And actually, I think it was the best thing they could ever have done. Maybe some people will quit smoking and save their lives because of it but I doubt it.