Royal Caribbean Bans Smoking on Balconies

[primo1]

Help me understand this mess. On the Oasis with 5,000 passengers, the only outside decks start at about 14. Other than that it is half of the Casino. Thats alot of people from decks 3 thru 13 going up to have a smoke and/or in the Casino. This is going to be bad. RC is going to have to tweek this for the Oasis and Allure?

[sandbox]

As a smoker myself I find it very difficult to find the designated areas on ships but I do.
But when I do have my small little area I find it is full of Non smokers taking up what little seats their are and complaining,Oh and the looks!
I am happy to not smoke on my balcony but please do not invade my space naughty boy space ;)

[wwcruisers]

[quote name='critterchick']

Count me as another who is thrilled with the new policy, which I fervently hope they enforce. And if the casino is even smokier than before, I won't lose as much money, either.:D[/quote]

Totally hear you about the casino, Jean! My problem on Celebrity is that those smoke-free casinos are way too tempting! :p

As a long-time RC cruiser, who has been exclusively sailing on X for the last couple of years, I'm thrilled to hear of this new policy. However, if I may offer a piece of advice: the policy will only be enforced if the passengers insist that it is. You must be ready to pick up the phone and call guest services on the violators -- yes, there will be people who don't know about the new rule, or just don't care. :rolleyes: And, no, a quiet word to your room steward probably won't be sufficient - especially if the offending party is in one of his/her assigned rooms. You need to report the matter to someone who doesn't work for tips, such as: guest relations, head of housekeeping, or security. In the three years we've sailed on X, we've only had one problem with a balcony smoker, and that was quickly taken care of by one phone call to the guest relations desk. :cool:

Now, I'm really looking forward to booking Quantum, when she comes out! :D

[The Sunset Glow]

[quote name='niksmom630']I'm fairly certain when I read the FAQ section, there was a question about whether the casino will still offer "no smoking" nights" and the answer was no--they are being eliminated under the new policy.[/quote]

You are correct, unfortunately. It was the only nights we spent any time there. Oh well - you win some you lose some. But maybe it's a win on my wallet. :D

[CruiseLover15]

Since only about 19% of the population in the US smoke (according to the CDC), I don't think they would ever consider splitting the smoking balconies out. If they did one side of the ship then a lot of cabins would be unsold and if they did 20% for smoking then the non-smokers near those balconies would not be happy.
I wish it were effective immediately, as some have said. I have an aft on the Freedom next week and on an 11 day in December. Guaranteed cigarette smoke free air will be great. :)

[MrsB05]

[quote name='critterchick']Because they didn't want to jeopardize their gratuities. If he had been on the balcony next to me, I would have called Guest Services and asked for their assistance in informing him of the policy.

A friend tried that approach and the response was that they didn't want to upset the guest (the cigar smoker). Only after they received a second complaint did they do anything.

Count me as another who is thrilled with the new policy, which I fervently hope they enforce. And if the casino is even smokier than before, I won't lose as much money, either.:D[/QUOTE]

And had someone done so, he would have obliged without question. We truly were not aware it wasn't allowed.

I went back and read the (old) policy and it's not all that clear, really, that cigar smoking is not allowed on balconies.

But, since so many have told me lately that it isn't, I guess it isn't!:)

[KittyCat1Million]

[quote name='niko40']wow:eek: so now what's my best friend Sitting Bull Of The Seas going to do now if he cant send smoke signals from the balcony to his family, I will have to teach him the art of Emails :D:D[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the laugh.

[KittyCat1Million]

[quote name='CruiseLover15']Since only about 19% of the population in the US smoke (according to the CDC), I don't think they would ever consider splitting the smoking balconies out. If they did one side of the ship then a lot of cabins would be unsold and if they did 20% for smoking then the non-smokers near those balconies would not be happy.
I wish it were effective immediately, as some have said. I have an aft on the Freedom next week and on an 11 day in December. Guaranteed cigarette smoke free air will be great. :)[/QUOTE]

Now that Royal Caribbean has banned smoking on balconies it is a done deal. They will not go back and re-open the issue of allowing some balconies, etc.

Smokers are a small part of our population and cruisers are a small part of our population, most people have never even cruised before. So smokers who are also cruisers are an even smaller part of our population. I will also venture to say that many of those smoker/cruisers can control themselves and still go on a cruise and live with these new restrictions. Royal hasn't banned smoking yet, they are just restricting it.

People canceling their cruises over these new restrictions is a little amusing given that not allowing smoking is surely the "wave" of the future anyway.

[christi1805]

Excellent news, wonderful. My comment cards have been read by RCCL. Finally I can book balconies without being taken hostage by smokers next door.
Hope those smokers are fed up and cancel their future balconies so we have more options to upgrade.

[BURLINGTON66]

Should be interesting to see what happens on our Oasis New Years cruise departing Dec 28! Maybe this will help with some resolutions!

[skiiergirl]

Ugggh, why not start the ban effective immediately? Why wait until 2014? I am going in two weeks and have a balcony...would love to not smell the smoke that will inevitably be out there.

 

:mad:

 

Since only about 19% of the population in the US smoke (according to the CDC), I don't think they would ever consider splitting the smoking balconies out. If they did one side of the ship then a lot of cabins would be unsold and if they did 20% for smoking then the non-smokers near those balconies would not be happy.

I wish it were effective immediately, as some have said. I have an aft on the Freedom next week and on an 11 day in December. Guaranteed cigarette smoke free air will be great. :)

 

 

We wish they had gone with a Dec 1, 2013 effective date. Yes, that is when we sail so I am being greedy. LOL But that also is still far enough out for folks to cancel. I wish they would have made the effective date earlier than Jan 1....but they do need to allow a few weeks to get the message out to the folks that are booked and still have time to cancel prior to final payment.

[The Sunset Glow]

Should be interesting to see what happens on our Oasis New Years cruise departing Dec 28! Maybe this will help with some resolutions!

 

The new smoking policy will not be in effect on this cruise - It applies to cruises leaving on or after January 1, 2014. If your cruise departs before that date then the old policy applies for the duration of the cruise.

[Cindy]

RCCL did send out an e-mail to TA's yesterday, to notify them of the new policy, so that they could notify their clients.

 

I can't speak to whether or not they notified the people who booked directly with RCCL.

 

So, although they did notify TA's, I heard it HERE first, which is a HORRIBLE way to do business !!

 

I have two cruises booked directly through Royal Caribbean, and I have not received any notification from them. It doesn't really matter to me personally since we don't smoke, but if I was a smoker counting on being able to smoke on my balcony I would be pretty ticked off about the lack of notification.

The same thing happened when Celebrity cancelled the Millennium cruises. Those of us who are on CC knew about it about 14 hours before any official notification from the cruise line.:(

Is it really that hard for them to communicate with the people who have given them lots of money to provide a specific product?:confused:

[Aquahound]

Should be interesting to see what happens on our Oasis New Years cruise departing Dec 28! Maybe this will help with some resolutions!

 

Perhaps, but the ban is for cruises embarking on or after Jan 1. It will still be allowed on your cruise.

[setsail]

Delete....answered by hound

[BURLINGTON66]

Oh, thanks for pointing that out. I think the last few days of the cruise (post 2013) are mostly sea days anyway - smoking on the balconies usually isn't so bad when we are moving

[Barb Nahoumi]

But who to switch to, that's the question. What's left and where's the guarantee they won't do the same?

 

Right now you have NCL and Carnival. NCL allows smoking on the balcony, but not within the cabins.

[Roce48]

It seems that many repsonders were happy with the new RCCL, but it seems that they were mainly happy with the thought that now they will get a better deal on balcony prices. Dream on!

 

This also is only another mis-placed victory by some directed at smokers because they are not able to change what really bothers them in life that matters. In other words, there are anti-smoker bullies.

 

This not like smokers are releasing chemical warfare agents. I have to laugh at those who run like babies when smoke gets near them. My friends smoke, but when they visit and wish to smoke we go out on our porch

 

As a non smoker I would rather it be done outside instead of the casino where it becomes overwhelming There must be a way to satisfy all of us. A simple ban on balconies is taking the easy way out for RCCL.

[ChicagoBound]

Putting aside everyone's strong feelings on both sides of the smoking policy change, I'm wondering how the balcony smoking ban post 1-1-14 will play out. (Full disclosure: I'm a non-smoker who is pleased with the change but understands that smokers may be upset with the change).

 

For example, if I'm out on my balcony, and I see someone two cabins aft and two decks below who is smoking, and the smell is making it unpleasant for me, I assume that I first shout down to them and politely remind them of the new policy. But let's remember, a small minority of RCCL cruisers actively look at Cruise Critic boards, and many might not know of the new policy. So many smokers might not know of the change. (How often have you read RCCL's policies front-to-back?)

 

Aside from the logistics of "politely shouting" to someone 50 feet away from you, what if they either respond by ignoring you, or with attitude or questioning the new policy? What do you do then? Do you call Guest Services? By the time they send someone to that stateroom, undoubtedly the smoking will have ended. (And this is assuming you can figure out which stateroom to direct them to). Do those people get a warning? What if they deny they were smoking? And given that the new policy doesn't say anything specifically about being forced off the ship for repeated violations (unless I missed somethinge where that is said), who is to say that someone would ever be kicked off even for verified repeated violations?

 

As I said, I favor the new policy, but it might end up causing a lot of grief, ill-feelings, shouting matches, etc. out on the balconies. I'm guessing we'll see a lot of post-January threads about arguments breaking out over this.

[Zou Bisou Bisou]

It seems that many repsonders were happy with the new RCCL, but it seems that they were mainly happy with the thought that now they will get a better deal on balcony prices. Dream on!

 

This also is only another mis-placed victory by some directed at smokers because they are not able to change what really bothers them in life that matters. In other words, there are anti-smoker bullies.

 

This not like smokers are releasing chemical warfare agents. I have to laugh at those who run like babies when smoke gets near them. My friends smoke, but when they visit and wish to smoke we go out on our porch

 

As a non smoker I would rather it be done outside instead of the casino where it becomes overwhelming There must be a way to satisfy all of us. A simple ban on balconies is taking the easy way out for RCCL.

 

As someone said on this or another one of these threads. These are baby steps for RCCL. The casino will be next.

[Uncle Lar]

For the "head's-up" on Wednesday, Sept 4th about the smoking policy change. I called RCI that day and was advised that there was no such change! I then emailed them asking the same question. Much to their credit, RCI emailed us back that same evening apologizing for the earlier misinformation and confirmed there is; in fact; a policy change.....exactly as posted on Cruise Critic.

 

As disappointed as we are with this situation, we will not let it dampen the expectations we have for our FIRST CRUISE. (In April, we reserved a balcony stateroom for 2014) But our excitement has lost it's luster.

 

Since we previously never had the privilege of smoking on our balcony, I suppose we won't actually miss it. But the notion that it WAS available when we booked; and suddenly NOT available; bothers us.

 

WHATEVER........CAVEAT EMPTOR

[BonTexasNY]

Is it too late to start a survey where posters can only vote once to make it fair, for or against the new smoking policy?

 

I haven't read this whole thread but wasn't Patti's smoking policy thread closed? Isn't this just about the same?

 

Any way, I'm happy with the new policy. :)

[Finbar127]

As an aside, what is the CURRENT policy on cigar smoking?

 

I went to Royal's site and they have the upcoming policy up there now so can't refer to it.

 

I thought it used to say it was ok in outdoor designated areas and all private balconies but someone is telling me Royal banned cigar smoking on balconies "a long time ago", which doesn't make sense since DH's been smoking his stogies out there since 2005 and no one has ever told us he couldn't.

 

:confused::confused::confused:

It is a moot point now, but the wording of the old smoking policy left the issue of smoking cigars on the balcony open to debate. However it was perfectly clear that cigar smoking was not allowed in any of the public areas. The new policy seems to have changed that.

"Cigarette, cigar, e-cigarette and pipe smoking is permitted in designated outdoor areas of the starboard side of all ships; with the exception of Oasis-class ships that will allow smoking on the port side of the ships."

"Cigar and pipe tobacco is limited to designated outdoor areas and Cigar Bars**."

The only question I have is will there be designated outdoor areas for cigar smokers on ships that have Cigar Bars? Hopefully they do since I prefer to smoke cigars outdoors. The wording of the above statements seems to say that there will be but we all know what a good job RCI does interpreting their own rules.

[Zigggypup]

I wouldn't take it upon yourself to play cruise cop. I would just call guest relations and let them handle it.

[Dave85]

In all the years that we have cruised, never been bothered by smokers on balconies next door to our cabin.

 

Same here, I guess we've been lucky!

 

Elsewhere on the ship though... different story :p