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

[marle7]

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?

 

The enchantment is a lovely ship. We had an owners suite and the balcony was terrific. The staff were among the friendliest we've found on RC. They have a Chops restaurant on board which was wonderful. If you go, say hi to the Maitre D, Dave for us.

 

Do note though. If you plan to smoke on your balcony, be sure the balcony door is closed as smoke can drift in and then they could assume you were smoking in your cabin. Don't laugh, it happened to us. It is why we don't cruise with RC anymore. You can read my Live from the Explorer thread for more details.

[JCDeck]

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?

 

I'm sure that not everyone received the survey,that would be hundreds of thousands of people,considering that the CC board discussion here is probably among 20 to 25 different people (if that many) you are NOT going to find an enormous number who received it so far I've counted about 5 or 7 who say they did,my husband and me included... I think that's a lot compared to the number posting.

 

Also,it's been my experience that when your cruise plans are that far in the future there has never been a problem getting refunded (no reason necessary) as we have canceled many cruises after see an itinerary we liked better than what we had booked and deposited. I'm sure there will be no problem with refunds through Celebrity or a travel agent this far out. i hope it all works out for the best,sometimes a closed window results in an open door.

[DC2OC]

My wife got the survey.The change tilts future cruises in Celebrity's favor for us.Sure RCI gives more perks but being able to use the balcony and enjoying the clean sea air is priceless.

[marle7]

blondie, send me an email at cookskorner@gmail.com and I'll explain further.

[deeva211]

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

Again, did you get a survey?

 

All you have to do is look back to when the survey was sent out (Nov. 07) and you will see discussions about it. Here's some links:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=663283 (This thread was closed so more people could not respond.)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=662350

[claud925]

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.

 

Annoying? Forgive me, but I thought the reason for banning smoking on balconies was because of health issues....what does the future hold if other certain behaviours become annoying and irritating to others?

 

I look forward to seeing who becomes the next target for the zealots of the world.

[excitedofharpenden]

Annoying? Forgive me, but I thought the reason for banning smoking on balconies was because of health issues....

Roxanne, to be fair, Celebrity's reason for the new policy is cited in their press release as a "cleaner, fresher and healthier environment" so it's not just the health issues they are thinking of. I have to admit that I have found it unpleasant when stepping out on my balcony to be met with the smell of smoke, but it has been more noticeable on some cruises than others. I am very pleased to hear of the changes.

 

Phil

[Host Joe]

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?

 

We got the survey, as did many that I remember hearing talking about it on the boards. Remember, a survey does not necessarily go out to everyone involved, but rather a sampling large enough to make it statistically correct.

[Inshape]

Way to go X. I can only say it is about time and I hope RCI follows. We sailed on LOS and loved balcony cabins up to that point. I never could use that balcony since every cabin around me had smokers who were using the balcony to smoke, since at that time no smoking in cabins were allowed. So when I booked another cruise with RCI I was fuming about the money spent on a balcony and not being able to use it...so i did an inside cabin. Although a lot different, I found myself not hating it at all. Now for our upcoming MOS cruise, I actually changed my balcony cabin to an inside and saved over 500$. With thta saved money, DH and I will be able to do our first X cruise in Jan of 2009. More than Half of the cruise was paid for by downgrading our RCI cruise cabin selection. ( it is only a 5 nighter, but still, a good way we hope of trying X line).

[claud925]

We got the survey, as did many that I remember hearing talking about it on the boards. Remember, a survey does not necessarily go out to everyone involved, but rather a sampling large enough to make it statistically correct.

 

Absolutely. However, I would like to know if any one other than nonsmokers were recipients of the survey?

 

I seems the "sampling" who were given the opportunity to voice their opinions were nonsmokers. If there are any smokers out there who had their chance to vote in this survey, please post. As I mentioned before, X chose to ignore my written request to be a part of their research which ultimately resulted in this new change in policy. I took that as a sign that they were not interested in hearing opposing views on the matter.

 

And, Phil, also to be fair - fresher and cleaner air can never be fully realized so long as the black soot that lands on balcony furnishings and people's lungs continues to spew.

[Blondie007]

Absolutely. However, I would like to know if any one other than nonsmokers were recipients of the survey?

 

I seems the "sampling" who were given the opportunity to voice their opinions were nonsmokers. If there are any smokers out there who had their chance to vote in this survey, please post. As I mentioned before, X chose to ignore my written request to be a part of their research which ultimately resulted in this new change in policy. I took that as a sign that they were not interested in hearing opposing views on the matter.

 

And, Phil, also to be fair - fresher and cleaner air can never be fully realized so long as the black soot that lands on balcony furnishings and people's lungs continues to spew.

 

 

This puzzles me too... we had three suites, on cruise in Feb, and we didnt even get comments cards to fill in. None of us, (four of us CC members) were sent the poll....

 

The clean air bit..dont wear that one single bit! I live in the country, and one day in the city send me sneezing and wheezing,.,,one can smell the fumes if one is a country dweller... so dont wear that bit..

Nah.. its politics... and revenue which will be raised from smokers using the bars instead of cabins... doesnt anyone find it peculiar that the only smoking areas indoors are the casinos and the late night clubs...

We've decided we're all having pyjama party sleepovers in the disco:D

[oceanbear]

Yay Celebrity! We just got off the Constellation yesterday and one of my comments/suggestions was to eliminate or further restrict smoking onboard. Smokers will never get it! For the most part, they don't smell the smoke or the residual odor. 15 mins in the casino and my clothes were stinky. My wife and I are sensitve to tabacco smoke and it's more than just annoying when we are exposed to it inside or on our balcony. As for "smoker's rights", I don't believe there are any such "rights". Smoking is a privilege. I've read people comparing it to drinking, but I don't spray a mist of my drink over the other people in the room. Smoking is invasive and we welcome Celebrity's decision to further limit it onboard. This will definitely help to keep us coming back for more cruises.

[Karynanne]

Absolutely. However, I would like to know if any one other than nonsmokers were recipients of the survey?

 

I seems the "sampling" who were given the opportunity to voice their opinions were nonsmokers. If there are any smokers out there who had their chance to vote in this survey, please post. As I mentioned before, X chose to ignore my written request to be a part of their research which ultimately resulted in this new change in policy. I took that as a sign that they were not interested in hearing opposing views on the matter.

 

And, Phil, also to be fair - fresher and cleaner air can never be fully realized so long as the black soot that lands on balcony furnishings and people's lungs continues to spew.

 

Claud925, we don't know if the sampling was sent to just non-smokers only...how would Celebrity have that information in advance? But keep in mind that those that post on Cruise Critic are only about 5% of the actual passengers that sail with Celebrity.

 

We do receive their online surveys frequently after our cruises. We take about 3 cruises per year, and have been doing so since 2000. I don't know what the criteria is for sending out their surveys...but I answer them based upon my recent experience of the particular ship we've just cruised on.

 

I have come to observe that when on a cruise of 12-14 days, there are quite a lot of respitory health problems. I've experienced this myself quite a few times. Smoking just exacerbates the issue. It could be that many people with health problems answered their survey, and found that being in a smoking environment slowed down the recovery period. This is only one example of why Celebrity has this new policy. There are so many variables.

[SoCalGal]

Thank you Celebrity!!! On our cruise in May '07 to Alaska we noticed the cigarette butts that had been thrown onto the covered balconies below us. We filed a complaint about that and also filled out questionaires about smoking policies. Sounds like we weren't the only ones that believe smoking is not only dangerous to everyone's health but can start fires by flipping butts over the side (as happened to the Star Princess). Hope the rest of the industry follows suit.

[claud925]

I have come to observe that when on a cruise of 12-14 days, there are quite a lot of respitory health problems. I've experienced this myself quite a few times.

 

The result of exposure to what comes out of smoke stacks, perhaps?

 

While respiratory problems will not be eliminated with the enactment of new smoking policies, I do hope it will help to reduce it.

 

I'm not a bad person. I'm just a person who believes that people should have choices in life.

 

If there was the chance to sail on just one smoke-friendly cruise ship, I would patronize it. I imagine plenty of other people would, too. I bet that ship could be quite profitable, particularly in the casino and bar lounge venues (where major chunks of revenue are generated). Maybe this is an idea whose time has come.

[Captain Jake]

The thing I finding amusing on this thread are the claims that surveys are only sent to non-smokers.I also chuckle when I reed about all the suites being canceled to to this long overdue change in policy.While only 1-5% of cruisers read CC it seems 100% of the smokers who book suites post on CC

[wolfshadow]

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.

Again, it is sad that people boast about spending thousands of dollars and will choose to go elsewhere, instead of considering the many thousands of dollars it costs in health care that can be prevented by just quiting. Everyone needs that first step, perhaps Celebrity making this new policy could help that first step. If it does help just one person to become smoke-free, then this change is warranted.

[claud925]

I look forward to seeing who becomes the next target for the zealots of the world.

 

Hey, they've just been identified - check out the thread regarding cell phone use onboard .... didn't take long, did it?

 

This one should be fun.:)

[usha]

If there was the chance to sail on just one smoke-friendly cruise ship, I would patronize it. I imagine plenty of other people would, too. I bet that ship could be quite profitable, particularly in the casino and bar lounge venues (where major chunks of revenue are generated). Maybe this is an idea whose time has come.

It already exists. Check into Pullmantur Cruises. They have Zenith now:( . You can smoke at your table in the diningroom on that cruise line!:eek:

[usha]

The thing I finding amusing on this thread are the claims that surveys are only sent to non-smokers.I also chuckle when I reed about all the suites being canceled to to this long overdue change in policy.While only 1-5% of cruisers read CC it seems 100% of the smokers who book suites post on CC

I was thinking that, but I'm glad you said it.:)

[claud925]

It's sad that people are choosing between their quality of life or being able to spend their thousands elsewhere. I guess it comes down to priorities.

 

I consider the ability to make my own choices - including where and how I spend my money - to be a significant quality of life, and one I hope will never be denied to me.

 

As for what people are choosing - I "choose" to have it all.:)

[Captain Jake]

 

As for what people are choosing - I "choose" to have it all.:)

 

 

and I choose to sail with a line with smoke free balconies.Celebrity is now on that list.One day I'll have it all.All cruise line balconies will be smoke free

[usha]

Interesting, the Princess board is discussing these changes to Celebrity's smoking policies, and many, many posters are talking about seriously considering Celebrity BECAUSE of the stricter smoking policy.:)

[claud925]

Interesting, the Princess board is discussing these changes to Celebrity's smoking policies, and many, many posters are talking about seriously considering Celebrity BECAUSE of the stricter smoking policy.:)

 

Sounds great - we can switch. I'll make way for them, while they will be making room for me.

[mafig]

What about groups?

 

I thought groups were a cruiseline's bread and butter.

 

Don't you thing Celebrity will lose a portion of the group business because of this decision?

 

I gave up smoking 11 years ago (April 2, 1997)...however, I don't really remember having a major problem with smokers....some problems, yes, but nothing that would make me choose another line.

 

I guess I'm weird but smoking has never bothered me that much.

 

 

 

I also went on Carnival Paradise. This was Carnival's no-smoking ship.

 

 

Some people say it was old. However, it WAS new once, and it came out of the shipyard as a non smoking ship.

We were on her when she was a few years old.

 

Spotlessly clean.....don't know if it was because no one smoked on her or not.

 

We also did the standard western itinerary on her. You know, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Ocho Rios. MANY ships do that itinerary year after year and still command top prices. Paradise was very cheap....not reasonable....cheap...... We did have a good time on her.