Smoking Areas on Ventura

I recently (June) read on another site that the smoking area on the Lido deck on Ventura had been removed and the only smoking area was on the deck above and was uncovered. Can anybody who has been on board since June confirm if this is the case, please? I have sent 3 e-mails and also telephoned them but, apparently, it is no longer "policy" to provide passengers with this information before they board the ship! We are very interested in a cruise on Ventura in December but without this information we're not prepared to make a booking.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Gill

I recently (June) read on another site that the smoking area on the Lido deck on Ventura had been removed and the only smoking area was on the deck above and was uncovered. Can anybody who has been on board since June confirm if this is the case, please? I have sent 3 e-mails and also telephoned them but, apparently, it is no longer "policy" to provide passengers with this information before they board the ship! We are very interested in a cruise on Ventura in December but without this information we're not prepared to make a booking.

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

Gill

I’ve just checked the ‘Where can I smoke onboard’ section of the P&O website and, you are right, it no longer states where the designated smoking areas are for any ship, simply stating that they may change from time to time. It always used to list the smoking areas for every ship.

This strikes me as a completely stupid thing to do.

Smokers may wish to know where the smoking areas are so that they can select a cabin near one and for those who detest smoking (like me), it’s the first thing I look for, to make sure that we don’t select a cabin with a balcony that could be rendered unusable if we can smell cigarette smoke on it (sadly, I can smell cigarettes from 100yds)!

I can think of no logical reason why this information shouldn’t be available but plenty of reasons why it should.

I have to say that I am beginning to worry about P&O. They seem to have made some very odd decisions lately.

The information may not be available because they might change the no smoking areas during the cruise and if the areas were listed on the web site passengers would kick up a fuss. I remember the cruise where the lido smoking area was on the port side. A problem arose when the smoking area was used for late night drinking/smoking parties with a lot of noise until the early hours. Passengers with cabins below complained about the noise so the area was roped off from late evening. No smoking passengers take priority over smoking passengers every time.

The information may not be available because they might change the no smoking areas during the cruise and if the areas were listed on the web site passengers would kick up a fuss. I remember the cruise where the lido smoking area was on the port side. A problem arose when the smoking area was used for late night drinking/smoking parties with a lot of noise until the early hours. Passengers with cabins below complained about the noise so the area was roped off from late evening. No smoking passengers take priority over smoking passengers every time.

And that would be nothing compared to the fuss I would make if I had specifically chosen a cabin position so that the balcony was nowhere near a smoking area and then they suddenly decided to allocate a new area near it for smoking. Excessive noise late at night is a separate issue and should be dealt with as such. There are cruise lines that I will not cruise with due to their relaxed smoking policies and we choose P&O because they have a sensible balance and we know the areas to avoid. I repeat, it's a very bad move. Smokers and non-smokers alike need to know where these areas are and they should not change at whim, in which case there is no reason not to specify them - as they have done for many years.

We were on Ventura in June and I cannot remember noticing if the smoking areas had changed, they are normally on the starboard side of the open decks, Lido, 16 and promenade, smoking was still allowed on the Prom deck starboard side,

However as a non smoker I can understand if they do not allow smoking in the covered pool area of Lido deck, in fact I would prefer to see a non smoking area on the lido deck next to the buffet entrance on Azura and any other ship with open decks near the buffet entrance.

Last year we were on Ventura in D114 (port side) and though it was the non smoking side the vent from the staff smoking room was right underneath the balcony. Perhaps they have done the sensible thing and decided that this should be the smoking side for passengers too ! Really spoiled it for us.

In my example they closed the smoking are but did not open an alternative. there was no smoking on that deck

In my example they closed the smoking are but did not open an alternative. there was no smoking on that deck

Thanks for clarifying that, as I had assumed that they had changed the smoking areas. That's helped put my mind at ease.

Hi All,

Has anyone got a definite answer to the smoking on Ventura question?

Thank you.

Moving on from 2018 to 2020 and no one cruising with P&O due to a pandemic,

things are going to be different when they do sail again (ie) low passenger numbers on the ships.

My advice is a lot has changed from 2018, so maybe it would be worth asking P&O in 2020 

what their latest policy and smoking areas are now. You could be lucky and get a more definite answer to your question from them  .