Mrdillion

So, how bad is it? Has HAL really become Ashtray of the Seas? In Vancouver we don't allow people to smoke in parks so we've definitely become a non smoking city. There is an itinerary that caught our eye but I have no interest in being surrounded by smokers on our deck.

HAL is not the Ashtrays of the Seas and is being called that by many who oppose smoking on the balconies.

HAL actually is more restrictive with their smoking policy than other Cruise Lines. There is no smoking indoors anywhere except for a limited area in the Casinos.

The Designated Smoking areas are in one area at the Seaview Bar on Lido Aft, Deck 9. With the addition of Retreat Cabanas on Vista Class Ships this eliminated the Designated Smoking Area outside of Crow's Nest. Signature Class also has Retreat Cabanas, therefore, no smoking.

There is no smoking on Promenade Decks on all HAL Ships.

Basically, smoking is limited to just the Seaview Bar and one's balcony.

I am a non-smoker and Four Star and have never encountered problems from smokers or from cigarette smoke on the balconies.

The issue seems to be more of a problem on Social Media sites than on the Ships themselves and you will find that many posts are by the same posters who are not HAL loyalists, some who haven't sailed HAL in several years and some by a few who have never sailed HAL.

Book your Cruise and enjoy!

Smoking is prohibited on Promenade on ALL Hal Ships! Stricter than Celebrity, Carnival and NCL!

People are not fleeing from Carnival and booking HAL! Yes, some of migrated over but that is also due to getting older and wanting a change and not all are smokers! Some who have come over to HAL still book Carnival and are people who cruise multi-times per year! Most Carnival Cruisers consider HAL the "Dead Ships" filled with old people and walkers! They don't look at HAL as the "Fun Ships"! Their words, not mine! They also are still smoking on balconies as are those on the other Cruise Lines who banned it so have no reason to leave Carnival! Carnival Cruisers are more inclined to book NCL or RCL when they do make a change! Go read their threads! Carnival Cruisers, in general, are booking short, Carib Cruises and not the Itineraries that HAL offers nor the duration of them and certainly not the cost of them!

Again, compared to other Cruise Lines, where is HAL the "Ashtray" of the Seas! By still allowing Balcony Smokling when their other areas on the Ships are so restricted doesn't make it so!

It is Carnival Corporation who designated Holland America to be the smokers friend.

They have the oldest fleet at sea, the least valuable ships, so to speak.

My travel agent friend has been saying they are weak in the marketplace and losing customers for a variety of reasons (another discussion of course). Carnival loves Princess and has poured tons of money into it. In comparison, very little money has been spent to improve Holland America and therefore it became the ashtray. It is pretty sad.

When was the last time you sailed Carnival? Carnival Cruise Line's Ships (as well as some of the other Cruise Lines) have a more much liberal smoking policy than HAL's even though they banned Smoking on the Balconies. Carnival's Ships have smoking on Promenade....HAL's does not! Carnival's Ships have Bars in or near the Casino that allows Smoking and some Ships have tables in the bar area that allows smoking...HAL's do not! Some of the Carnival Ships allow smoking in the Nightclub...HAL does not! Carnival's Ships also have more Smoking areas on their outside decks than HAL! So to say that Carnival Corp. has designated HAL as the "Smokers Friend" doesn't hold water!

Reality is that HAL has a very restrictive Smoking Policy on their Ships as opposed to other Cruise Lines that have banned Smoking on the Balconies. HAL has the area by the Seaview Bar, a small area in the Casino (which is the only Indoor Smoking and only allowed by those playing) and very limited Smoking on the FWD Observation and/or Sports Deck. To depict HAL as an "ashtray" is so far from the truth and that is what's sad!

I think nonsmokers are going to have to go to another cruise line because of HAL' s policy allowing smoking on balconies. I hate cigarette and cigar smells. I know people say you can't smell it on the balconies but this just isn't true. Good thing that I like Princess. So glad I never tried smoking and that none of my family or friends smoke.

There are many non-smokers such as myself that have no problem with smokers and don't plan on running to another Cruise Line. There is smoking on balconies on the other Cruise Lines including Princess although there was a ban. I rather be on a Ship where they give an ashtray for smokers to extinguish their butts than to be on a Ship where people are using cans, cups or bottles.

The smokers who keep mentioning that the balcony dividers cannot possibly allow smoke fumes in neighboring balconies have failed to mention there are spaces above and below each partion. I did smell cigar and cigarette smoke on our balcony and the ship was at sea. Yes, it was nauseating enough to have to leave my balcony. There were no smokers on either balcony next to me.

 

While I cannot explain the physics of how it was possible; I experienced it and know somehow it happened. I have seen seen feather light objects float every which way in the breeze and I suppose smoke odor would weigh less and therefore float even more freely.

I have no problems with smokers. I feel it is my right to enjoy my balcony without the negative effects of someone else enjoying their balcony. We have not booked a future cruise on HAL for this reason.

I agree with you Normr; the smoke stench from the Niew Amsterdam casino was so bad; it was in the bar and hallway. Only one day after all day in port was the casino smell tolerable for a short while. Unfortunately, the casinos were not yet open. We found the casinos on the Princess to be full of cigarette smoke odor as well. However; Celebrity has been able to rid the stench by banning smoking in the casino. :)

My Wife and I were on the same cruise with you and took it all the way to Venice. Both of us don't smoke.

You had no smokers next to you but could smell cigarette smoke enough where it made you nauseated and you had to leave your balcony while at sea? I had a smoker next to us and didn't know he smoked until we were talking to him at the rail in Gibraltar. Smoke dissipates and cigarette smoke doesn't travel too far before it does.

I respectfully disagree with your comments on the Casino being smokey. I spent quite a bit of time in there and never found it to be the case. You are entitled to your opinion but believe your comments are highly exaggerated.

Having become disgusted with HAL's unwillingness to join the majority of cruise lines and maintains a policy which subjects us to second hand smoke, I am looking forward to being on a ship where I don't have to keep my fingers crossed I won't have a chain smoker beside me. It is NOT the only reason I booked a different cruise line, not by any stretch, but it is a very positive feature I know I'll enjoy.

 

HAL should know even their very most loyal guests (and there are not many more loyal than me) are willing to sail elsewhere with allowed verandah smoking being A reason if not ALL of the reason.

 

HAL has many Loyal Guests that are still sailing with them and are non-smokers as I am but have no problem with their Smoking Rules.

When I see some say they will no longer cruise HAL because of the Balcony Smoking it appears that doesn't seem to be the real reason for their decision. Many who repeatedly post stating this on this thread are also posting how they are no longer happy about many things with HAL but yet put the balcony smoking as their main reason. Some have not sailed on HAL in years and have no clue how limited the smoking has become on HAL's Ships.

OP stated she saw smoking on NCL's Balconies even after the Ban. Cruz Chic has stated (as has others) she experienced balcony smoking on Princess. These people who are still smoking on Celebrity, Princess, NCL are those that are LOYAL to their lines and not jumping over to HAL.

Hope you have a wonderful Cruise!

The question is when they ban balcony smoking, not if :)

No disrespect intended but I don't quite understand why you repeatedly post on a HAL thread when your Cruise History reads that you have only sailed HAL a few times and not for quite sometime! Except for the Balcony Smoking you have no first hand experience how restricted Smoking is on HAL Ships.

I see you are booked on Carnival Miracle. In case you're not aware the Miracle has a very liberal Smoking Policy (compared to HAL's) especially in the Casino that actually allows smoking at the Bar and tables in the bar area there and also on Lido Deck forward there is smoking. Disco also allows smoking. Also, lots of reported smoking on the balconies going on and that is by those who are doing it.

The Miracle is a wonderful Ship. Enjoy your Cruise!

I pop into this thread from time to time and see again that the majority of posts here are from the same posters.

It's really sad to see the hatred that people have toward those that smoke! It's also so ridiculous to embellish and and see how some portray smokers out to be something they are not! The Ships are 99.99% smoke-free! HAL is hardly "Ashtray of the Seas"! Let's get a grip here folks!

I am not a smoker and have never smoked! I will gladly cruise anytime with smokers over some of the Self-righteous non-smokers who show such hatred and lack of tolerance in their posts toward fellow passengers who are not doing anything illegal or breaking rules by smoking on their balconies or in designated smoking areas!

There are many passengers who cruise HAL where expecting them to get up, rush out of their rooms and go to a Designated Smoking Area especially on a cold weather cruise or leave their rooms at night before they retire can be a hardship for them. This is what is being asked of them because someone doesn't LIKE the whiff of a cigarette on a moving Ship sailing at 18 knots!

Very sad!

I’m breaking one of my cardinal rules and although I know much better I’m posting on a smoking thread. :eek:

 

With some questioning quoted statistics on this thread I decided it was time to share some I gathered back in July. At that time, before Walt wisely put a halt to the numerous “smoking threads” and came up with this single one, there were two threads that asked questions about smoking and the opinion of Cruise Critic posters. Now mind you the responses were only by CC posters and not the entire cruising public but the responses are a sampling (typical statistician jargon) and inasmuch can not be deemed totally invalid.

 

The 1st thread was posted by Legalslave and solicited responses to “I will continue to sail on HAL if balcony smoking is permitted”. The results are as follows:

 

84 individual CC members responded.

Of those, 73 responded with YES (86.9%), 3 responded with NO (3.5%), and 8 (9.5%) were unresponsive to the OP choosing to use their post for personal agendas.

Of those 73 respondents who said YES 38 (52%) stated they were nonsmokers and had never been bothered by smoke of their veranda.

 

The 2nd thread was posted by sail7seas and sought to expand the inquiry by asking for responses to three separate questions. The following are the statistics gathered from those individual questions.

 

89 individual CC members responded.

19 of the responders were unresponsive to all of Sail’s questions so the percentages shown are based on a total of 70 responses.

 

“Have you or are you planning to switch to HAL because you can no longer smoke on your favorite cruise line's verandah?”

6 (8.5%) Responded with YES.

1 (1.4%) Responded “Maybe” but stated it was for reasons other than smoking.

 

”Have you or are you planning to switch cruise lines because you do not like that HAL continues to permit smoking on verandahs?”

12 (17%) Responded with YES. Of those 12 CCers 4 clearly stated their reason had nothing to do with smoking (wanted new itineraries, service/food preferences, etc) dropping that 17% to 11%.

3 (4%) Responded with “Maybe” and out of those 2 stated that their reason for doing so was other than smoking.

48 (68.5%) Responded with NO. Of those responses 15 stated they were nonsmokers but had never bothered by smoke.

 

Sail’s third question dealt with family members and had only 1 response.

 

And, as long as I am boring you with numbers the other statistic I find worthy of note is that one I gathered by examining this thread. As of 1123am today there were a total of 1239 individual posts. Of those 1239 posts 663 had been made by a total of 12 individual posters. That equates to 53.5% of the total posts. One can draw their own conclusion from that statistic.

I find your posts on statistics especially your last paragraph regarding this particular thread and the % of posts by the same Posters very interesting! I hope you come back and post another one a month from now with an update on the statistics. Since your post there have been 133 posts! Again, the percentage of these posts are mostly comprised of the same 12% individual posters that you noted made up 53% of the posts up to when you did your analysis.

I am a Non-Smoker and have no problem with Smoking on Balconies or the Casino. I have sailed multi-lines and find it very amusing when Holland America is called "Ashtray of the Seas". HAL is very restrictive with their smoking policies including the Outdoor Areas. They have eliminated it from Promenade as well. I have sailed multi times on Holland this past year and never found their Ships to be smoky. Yes, it can be smelled in the small area in the Casinos but I wouldn't call it smoky. We have never had a problem on the balcony even when we did have Smokers next to us.

This is my opinion based on my experiences and expressed it for those that have stated concern about sailing on an "Ashtray", etc. Go and enjoy your cruise and don't be scared off by some of the postings on Smoking threads.

I guess some just aren't willing to compromise and won't be happy until the whole World (in this case HAL) marches to their drummer.

Happy sailing to all!

I'm also a non-smoker who is totally fine with the present arrangements.

I'm also a non-smoker who has never smoked and I have no problem with the current smoking policy allowing Balcony smoking.

Yes, we will continue to sail HAL with current Smoking Policy. Non-smoker who books balconies and have never been bothered by balcony smoking.