Holland America

We have traveled on lots of various cruise lines around the Globe, but never on Holland America.

We are horrified it allows smoking out on deck and the balconies. :eek:

Had we known this prior to selecting a cruise we would have stayed well

away from this cruise line.

Has anyone advice or experience with the smoking issues on this cruise line please?

This is a 28 day cruise we thought, but it is really two 14 day back to back cruises. We are disappointed before we even board. :rolleyes:

Australia and its ships are non tolerant of smoking thank goodness so this is going to be a nightmare.

We have been on Holland America 3 times and Celebrity Century once both have different smoking policies. My experiences:

• Did not notice any smoke when on our balcony on 3 seperate cruises (whether we were incredibly lucky I can't say)
  
• The smokers area on the rear pool deck was well defined and did not seem to 'float over' to the non smoking area, I suppose because it was well ventilated
  
• The Casino on HAL can be smokey but I didn't use it much
  
• No smoking on the Celebrity Balconies or Casino so that was a plus
  
• Have heard on Celebrity if you are in a Verandah above one of their designated smoking areas you can definately smell smoke
  
• In the smoking areas on Celebrity they were quite close to the non smoking and in good seating areas so you were limited by this where you could sit.
  

What this experience has boiled down to is that on HAL if you avoid the Casino and for the most part the balconies won't experience any problems you will be fine. However my experience on Celebrity showed that whatever ship you are on if they allow smoking anywhere on board and you are sensitive to it you will notice. I actually noticed the smoking more on my Celebrity trip than my HAL trips.

We did a 23 night from Sydney to Seattle on Oosterdam last year and can't remember being offended by cigarette smoke, as opposed to MSC where smoke seemed to linger. Guess you have to hope you get a nonsmoker beside you, if you have booked a balcony.

HAL attracted a lot of former Princess cruisers, when Princess banned smoking on balconies. I know of Princess elite cruisers who now cruise HAL, because of Princess's non smoking on balconies policy.

If you are unlucky enough to have a heavy smoker on the balcony next door to your cabin, whether you can smell smoke depends on which way the wind blows.

With regard to comment on MSC, many Europeans are much heavier smokers than Australians, so I was very aware of smoke on two MSC ships.

I've just completed a 37 night cruise on the Noordam which was made up of 3 sectors. On each of the sectors I had different neighbours and was never once bothered by smokers when on my balcony.

HAL attracted a lot of former Princess cruisers, when Princess banned smoking on balconies. I know of Princess elite cruisers who now cruise HAL, because of Princess's non smoking on balconies policy.

 

If you are unlucky enough to have a heavy smoker on the balcony next door to your cabin, whether you can smell smoke depends on which way the wind blows.

 

With regard to comment on MSC, many Europeans are much heavier smokers than Australians, so I was very aware of smoke on two MSC ships.

Thank you for your replies, I think it is up to the Travel Agents to bring this sort of thing to the attention of the public. I have been on Princess a few times and they had smoking on them. This will be the first and last time we go on Holland America for sure!:rolleyes:

Thank you for your replies, I think it is up to the Travel Agents to bring this sort of thing to the attention of the public. I have been on Princess a few times and they had smoking on them. This will be the first and last time we go on Holland America for sure!:rolleyes:

Princess still has smoking areas, just no longer on balconies.

You might be lucky, not having heavy smoking neighbours, and enjoy HAL.

We are both quite sensitive to smoke. On a Volendam cruise out of Sydney in 2012, we were frequently bothered by smoke from 2 or 3 of the balconies forward of ours, to the point that we were sometimes forced to go inside. That was shortly after Princess and some other lines banned smoking on balconies. I speculate that the problem may be worse now that more smokers have moved to HAL, as MMDownUnder noted above. We have avoided HAL since that trip. We have been pleased that, on subsequent Princess cruises, we have not noticed anyone violating the smoking ban on balconies.

John

Thank you for your replies, I think it is up to the Travel Agents to bring this sort of thing to the attention of the public.

 

Maybe it's up to the public to ask the question :)

We are horrified it allows smoking out on deck and the balconies.

My understanding is that it is not all decks they can smoke on??? We are not casino users either, but will have to check out the deck plans to see if we *have* to walk through the casino.

As to balconies - I didn't realise about those either, but we are going lower (window) class LOL.

I am hoping that the more mature age of HAL cruisers means fewer will smoke (crosses fingers).

We are going on 2 Jan, is that your cruise, Kalleroo? We are just doing the 14 days though.

My understanding is that it is not all decks they can smoke on??? We are not casino users either, but will have to check out the deck plans to see if we *have* to walk through the casino.

 

As to balconies - I didn't realise about those either, but we are going lower (window) class LOL.

 

I am hoping that the more mature age of HAL cruisers means fewer will smoke (crosses fingers).

 

We are going on 2 Jan, is that your cruise, Kalleroo? We are just doing the 14 days though.

I hope your theory works out for you qak, but if I were to say a certain demographic smoked less I would say it's probably not the older generations as smoking was more "accepted" when they started the habit, whereas nowadays it is very taboo and less people smoke or take it up.

I hope you're right though! :p

We were also caught out bu this. Being from a country that does not allow smoking in the majority of public places I did not even think to ask the question.

If a TA is selling something like this where the laws differ from your country I think they should highlight it. IT did not even cross my mind, we will have 2 small children with us and have paid a very large fare for the cruise, if we have issues I will be bringing it to HAL's attention. I am simply praying that we will be lucky enough to have considerate people around us.

Don't get me wrong if someone wishes to smoke then happy for them to do so in an area where non smokers will not be forced to be exposed. There should be a choice for all that does not impact each other

qak - are you going on oosterdam? we are getting off on the 2nd

qak - are you going on oosterdam? we are getting off on the 2nd

Sure am!

We were also caught out bu this. Being from a country that does not allow smoking in the majority of public places I did not even think to ask the question.

If a TA is selling something like this where the laws differ from your country I think they should highlight it. IT did not even cross my mind, we will have 2 small children with us and have paid a very large fare for the cruise, if we have issues I will be bringing it to HAL's attention. I am simply praying that we will be lucky enough to have considerate people around us.

Don't get me wrong if someone wishes to smoke then happy for them to do so in an area where non smokers will not be forced to be exposed. There should be a choice for all that does not impact each other.

Maybe you could start a thread on the Australia and NZ Cruisers thread suggesting Australians ask their TA/Cruiseline re Cruiseline's Smoking Policies, before they book.

I do think you could be lucky with smokers on Australian based cruises, as I think we are a considerate nation, on the whole, because of our strict smoking laws here. However, I found some of the European smokers on MSC, a European based ship, were very rude and inconsiderate, so much so, I decided not to cruise with MSC again, although I loved their ships.

this is the smoking policy with Hal....Cigar and pipe smoking is permitted on the outside decks only. Smoking in passenger staterooms is prohibited. Smoking is permitted on stateroom verandahs

maybe if the OP stayed on the non smoking side it should be ok as most cruise lines allow smoking on the open decks

My understanding is that it is not all decks they can smoke on??? We are not casino users either, but will have to check out the deck plans to see if we *have* to walk through the casino.

 

As to balconies - I didn't realise about those either, but we are going lower (window) class LOL.

.

Having a window cabin, you won't be affected then, as the majority of complaints are in regard to inconsiderate smokers on balconies. Non-smokers just avoid the Smokers' designated areas on the ship.

Maybe you could start a thread on the Australia and NZ Cruisers thread suggesting Australians ask their TA/Cruiseline re Cruiseline's Smoking Policies, before they book.

With respect, a large percentage of posters here advocate the use of travel agents in the US for their booking. I suggest that if you use this method for your booking, the agent in question with neither know nor care about our local smoking laws.

Many older Americans do not smoke any more. Health reasons and the fact that you are not allowed to smoke in restaurants and many other places in the USA. We have not been bothered by smoke on our HAL balconies because nobody ever smoked. Wait and see how things are going before you anticipate the worst.

I reiterate my earlier comment, on all 3 of our HAL cruises we were not bothered by smokers unless WE chose to walk through a smoking area, which are easily avoidable.

In fact because of Celebrity's more restrictive smoking rules, it was actually harder to avoid the smokers in the smoking areas because they were all crammed there day and night, whereas on HAL quite often the smoking areas were near empty.

Unless you go on a completely non smoking cruise line, you are going to come in contact with smokers at some time.

Admittedly you might end up with a heavy smoker in the verandah next to you, but you could also end up with an abusive loud drunk, an argumentative couple, someone who plays loud music, a nosey neighbour who is always sticking their head around the corner to talk to you, etc etc. Its the chance you take when you walk out your front door.

With respect, a large percentage of posters here advocate the use of travel agents in the US for their booking. I suggest that if you use this method for your booking, the agent in question with neither know nor care about our local smoking laws.

Overseas TAs know as much about the cruiseline policies, as Aus TAs. You just need to know what question to ask, eg. What is HAL's smoking policy?

As people on this thread have commented, they didn't think to ask the question, because Australians have gotten used to stricter smoking policies here. Once you have travelled on one European based ship, you know to ask, or research yourself on the internet.

Australians have gotten used to stricter smoking policies here.

And this is quite true - although I went on Carnival Spirit earlier this year, and they have no smoking indoors at all. The idea of allowing smoking in indoor public areas is quite foreign to us now!

We had a balcony but no issues. I hate smoke but only really noticed it a few times when walking past the smoking section near the pool.

But i guess if you had a smoker next door then it would be an issue.

I found the balconies VERY small so didn't use it much. You have to move to the side to open the door.

I hope you like HA. I would go with them again but everything being equal (price, itinerary) I'd go Royal Caribbean or Princess before HAL. I wasn't impressed by the food. Everything else was good.

I hope you like HA. I would go with them again but everything being equal (price, itinerary) I'd go Royal Caribbean or Princess before HAL

Interesting - when I priced our cruise, HAL was a fair bit cheaper than RC - is that not the usual price order? I had the impression Princess was lower std than HAL, not sure about that though.

Interesting - when I priced our cruise, HAL was a fair bit cheaper than RC - is that not the usual price order? I had the impression Princess was lower std than HAL, not sure about that though.

I don't know about price order, I'm just saying if the price on the 3 were the same, I'd choose HAL last (maybe that's why it's cheaper?).

When I posted here about my first time on HAL lots of people commented that the food was better on HAL than Princess but I did not find that to be the case. I thought their shows were pretty ordinary too.

Of course price makes a difference. But I wouldn't agree with Princess being lower than HAL. Everyone has their favourites. I look at itinerary then see who's sailing there, then look at price comparisons. I book last minute so look for who's offering deals at the time. I'm open to different cruiselines (although I'd think twice about MSC).