This Thread Is To Be Used For All Discussions About HAL's On Board Smoking Policies

[martygo]

Just because a ship has a smoking room (Island Princess) doesn't mean a nice cruise. My wife and I had a suite on the Island Princess last February and found that the smoking room is very inconvenient because it is forward and the suites are aft. This makes for a long walk just to puff. Since I am not a smoker, I didn't see my wife for long periods of time. I cancelled the last cruise for that reason and am now looking exclusively at HAL this spring.

[Lizzie68]

Just because a ship has a smoking room (Island Princess) doesn't mean a nice cruise. My wife and I had a suite on the Island Princess last February and found that the smoking room is very inconvenient because it is forward and the suites are aft. This makes for a long walk just to puff. Since I am not a smoker, I didn't see my wife for long periods of time. I cancelled the last cruise for that reason and am now looking exclusively at HAL this spring.

 

Words fail me.:( So where would you expect a smoking room to be? Did Princess not have outside smoking areas?

[cruz chic]

Words fail me.:( So where would you expect a smoking room to be? Did Princess not have outside smoking areas?

 

Yes, they do.

[sail7seas]

Just because a ship has a smoking room (Island Princess) doesn't mean a nice cruise. My wife and I had a suite on the Island Princess last February and found that the smoking room is very inconvenient because it is forward and the suites are aft. This makes for a long walk just to puff. Since I am not a smoker, I didn't see my wife for long periods of time. I cancelled the last cruise for that reason and am now looking exclusively at HAL this spring.

 

I think maybe you forgot the emoticons...... you are kidding, right? :D

 

[JudithLynne]

I hope that someone can provide some answers for me regarding the HAL smoking policy. I am really not sure where to put this post.

 

AAA is telling their customers that HAL no longer allows smoking on balconies. Is that true? I cannot find a definitive answer any where. Is there some sort of new policy due and does anyone have any information on that?

 

I would love to start cruising HAL again but will not do so as long as smoking is allowed on balconies.

 

Thank you for any clarification.......

 

Judith

[deliver42]

I have what I believe is a workable idea.Why not make either port or starboard sides on verandahs for smokers. The other side no smoking. Another idea would be a smoking room inside the ship with state of the art exhausts. RCCL has them on the Voyager and Freedom class ships. You can walk right by the lounges, and not smell a thing. The day of the smoke free ship came and went with the Paradise.

[cruz chic]

I have what I believe is a workable idea.Why not make either port or starboard sides on verandahs for smokers. The other side no smoking. Another idea would be a smoking room inside the ship with state of the art exhausts. RCCL has them on the Voyager and Freedom class ships. You can walk right by the lounges, and not smell a thing. The day of the smoke free ship came and went with the Paradise.

 

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard this idea I'd be retired by now:D.

Edited January 20, 2015 by cruz chic

[qsuzi]

I hope that someone can provide some answers for me regarding the HAL smoking policy. I am really not sure where to put this post.

 

AAA is telling their customers that HAL no longer allows smoking on balconies. Is that true? I cannot find a definitive answer any where. Is there some sort of new policy due and does anyone have any information on that?

 

I would love to start cruising HAL again but will not do so as long as smoking is allowed on balconies.

 

Thank you for any clarification.......

 

Judith

From Hal Website: SMOKING POLICY

For the comfort of all of our guests, all staterooms (cabins), showrooms and most other indoor areas are designated nonsmoking.While smoking is not permitted in staterooms, guests are allowed to smoke on stateroom verandahs. Smoking is also permitted on certain other designated, outside decks.

The designated smoking areas for all ships are as follows unless otherwise noted.

• Stateroom verandahs

• Casino (Active players only)

• Seaview Bar

• Outside Decks

º Sports Deck

º Observation Deck (ms Prinsendam, ms Eurodam, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, ms Noordam, ms Oosterdam, ms Westerdam, and ms Zuiderdam only)

[freestyling]

I hope that someone can provide some answers for me regarding the HAL smoking policy. I am really not sure where to put this post.

 

AAA is telling their customers that HAL no longer allows smoking on balconies. Is that true? I cannot find a definitive answer any where. Is there some sort of new policy due and does anyone have any information on that?

 

I would love to start cruising HAL again but will not do so as long as smoking is allowed on balconies.

 

Thank you for any clarification.......

 

Judith

From HAL website:

Is Smoking Allowed On Board?

 

For the comfort of all of our guests, all staterooms (cabins), showrooms and most other indoor areas are designated non-smoking. While smoking is not permitted in staterooms, guests are allowed to smoke on stateroom verandahs. Smoking is also permitted on certain other designated, outside decks. The designated smoking areas for all ships are as follows unless otherwise noted.

Stateroom verandahs

Casino (Active players only)

Seaview Bar

Outside Decks

Sports Deck

Observation Deck (ms Prinsendam, ms Eurodam, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, ms Noordam, ms Oosterdam, ms Westerdam, and ms Zuiderdam only)

Cigar and pipe smoking is not allowed anywhere inside the ship; it is only permitted on the outside decks where smoking is otherwise allowed and on stateroom verandahs. Electronic cigarettes are permitted in staterooms but not in other public areas of the ship other than on outside decks designated as smoking areas.

[cruz chic]

I hope that someone can provide some answers for me regarding the HAL smoking policy. I am really not sure where to put this post.

 

AAA is telling their customers that HAL no longer allows smoking on balconies. Is that true? I cannot find a definitive answer any where. Is there some sort of new policy due and does anyone have any information on that?

 

I would love to start cruising HAL again but will not do so as long as smoking is allowed on balconies.

 

Thank you for any clarification.......

 

Judith

 

Let's hope they have advance notice of the policy change. You can still smoke on Balconies. Hopefully that will change by mid year.

[qsuzi]

JudithLynne - your question was answered below.

Edited January 20, 2015 by qsuzi

[sail7seas]

I hope that someone can provide some answers for me regarding the HAL smoking policy. I am really not sure where to put this post.

 

AAA is telling their customers that HAL no longer allows smoking on balconies. Is that true? I cannot find a definitive answer any where. Is there some sort of new policy due and does anyone have any information on that?

 

I would love to start cruising HAL again but will not do so as long as smoking is allowed on balconies.

 

Thank you for any clarification.......

 

Judith

 

Let us hope your AAA knows something the rest of us have not yet heard. HAL continues to permit smoking on verandahs, unfortunately.

 

[JudithLynne]

Thank you all for giving me the latest information on the smoking policy. It is too bad that AAA is telling their customers that smoking is not allowed on balconies due to recent policy changes.

 

Judith

[freestyling]

Perhaps HAL is changing their current smoking policy soon..I know I keep hoping for such. When was your cruise leaving?

[JudithLynne]

We do not have a cruise scheduled with HAL. As Celebrity Cruises and Princess have a stricter smoking policy we have been cruising with them exclusively. Our 36th cruise is scheduled for 3-1 on Celebrity. We have done 4 cruises on HAL and enjoyed them. That was some years ago and we purposely did not book balcony rooms do to fear of smoke. I would love to add HAL to our cruise option and after hearing the about the new smoking policy thought that this would be possible. I researched diligently and could not find anything that confirms what I learned from AAA and by the way, this was at a program for AAA members, not a meeting with an individual TA.

 

Judith

[freestyling]

Understand..We have 3 cruises booked with Hal for 2015..love the itins on each and will have balconies. Hoping we don't have cigar or heavy cigarette smokers. We have held off booking our 2016 cruises. If HAL keeps the balcony smoking policy then we will change lines. Very frustraing as we will be giving up our perks awarded by mariner status. :(

[legalslave]

I just returned from a week on the Westerdam. I paid particular attention to the smoking issues on the ship. I purposely asked many people if they were in a balcony cabin. Most of them were. I asked if they were smokers. I would say I asked over 150 people. Of those in the balcony cabins, maybe about 10 of them were smokers. The rest were not smokers. Of those who said they did not smoke and were in balcony cabins, I asked them if they had any problem with smokers in cabins next to theirs. None of the non smokers had smokers, that they knew of, in cabins next to them and were not bothered by any smoke on their balcony. I am guessing that would have been between 125 to 135 passengers and none in the same cabin. Granted, there are a lot more cabins on the ship. We had a balcony. the people in the cabin forward of ours, were smokers. I was not on our balcony a lot but they were out there only 2 or 3 times when I was. The people in the cabin aft of ours, were not smokers.

 

There was smoking all nights, except one, in the casino. It's not a very large casino. I played in the non smoking side of the casino and did not smell smoke. I went to the smoking side of the casino and could smell smoke. Not everyone on that side was smoking but some were.

 

I'm not giving any opinions, just what I saw and smelled. There were some E cigarettes.

 

Diane

Edited January 20, 2015 by legalslave

[sapper1]

Thank you all for giving me the latest information on the smoking policy. It is too bad that AAA is telling their customers that smoking is not allowed on balconies due to recent policy changes.

 

Judith

 

Passengers were smoking on balconies in December on the NA. In fact there was a lady standing at the rail smoking on the aft wrap directly under the pool deck in Fort Lauderdale just before sailaway. It was unpleasant for those of us at the rail for a web cam wave.

Smoking is expressly forbidden in Port Everglades due to refuelling and PA announcements were made to that effect. It is obviously not a universally obeyed rule.

[sammiedawg]

I have what I believe is a workable idea.Why not make either port or starboard sides on verandahs for smokers. The other side no smoking. Another idea would be a smoking room inside the ship with state of the art exhausts. RCCL has them on the Voyager and Freedom class ships. You can walk right by the lounges, and not smell a thing. The day of the smoke free ship came and went with the Paradise.[/quote

 

I wouldn't count on a good ventilation system to work on HAL as they struggle with basic air and ventilation issues,

HAl has an older fleet of ships with frequent reports of HVAC problems, issues with ventilation and AC. We've experienced these issues more than once, not just air problems but bad ventilation issues.

There was a recent thread about HAL shutting down the AC system at night to save money. Multiple posters said they had experienced these shutdowns. We had a similiar AC shutdown this past July on port days. We were on Prinsendam and on port days our cabin was sweltering when we returned to the ship. We discussed with the cabin steward, he told us they adjusted the central air system on port days. In other words they shut it off to cabins.

[Folk Singer]

Perhaps HAL is changing their current smoking policy soon..I know I keep hoping for such. When was your cruise leaving?

 

 

We are hoping for the same.

[sammiedawg]

Let's hope they have advance notice of the policy change. You can still smoke on Balconies. Hopefully that will change by mid year.

 

Travel agents receive briefings and information from their cruise line reps in advance of public announcements. Hopefully an alert of some kind has gone out to travel agencies regarding the smoking policy and a public announcement is coming.

[Lizzie68]

I just returned from a week on the Westerdam. I paid particular attention to the smoking issues on the ship. I purposely asked many people if they were in a balcony cabin. Most of them were. I asked if they were smokers. I would say I asked over 150 people. Of those in the balcony cabins, maybe about 10 of them were smokers. The rest were not smokers. Of those who said they did not smoke and were in balcony cabins, I asked them if they had any problem with smokers in cabins next to theirs. None of the non smokers had smokers, that they knew of, in cabins next to them and were not bothered by any smoke on their balcony. I am guessing that would have been between 125 to 135 passengers and none in the same cabin. Granted, there are a lot more cabins on the ship. We had a balcony. the people in the cabin forward of ours, were smokers. I was not on our balcony a lot but they were out there only 2 or 3 times when I was. The people in the cabin aft of ours, were not smokers.

 

There was smoking all nights, except one, in the casino. It's not a very large casino. I played in the non smoking side of the casino and did not smell smoke. I went to the smoking side of the casino and could smell smoke. Not everyone on that side was smoking but some were.

 

I'm not giving any opinions, just what I saw and smelled. There were some E cigarettes.

 

Diane

 

What exactly is your point? That those who have been affected by smoking should be disbelieved, or disregarded? Or that the 150 people you claim to have talked to should be believed over and above anyone else? I commend you for your efforts on this and taking the time out from your cruise and vacation, but this is about as accurate as the "poll" you launched previously.

[cruisemom42]

Smoking is expressly forbidden in Port Everglades due to refuelling and PA announcements were made to that effect. It is obviously not a universally obeyed rule.

 

Is that correct? I knew that smoking isn't allowed (per announcements) when the ship is actively refueling due to risk, but I wasn't aware that smoking isn't allowed at any time while the ship is in port. Could someone confirm this?

[cruisemom42]

What exactly is your point? That those who have been affected by smoking should be disbelieved, or disregarded? Or that the 150 people you claim to have talked to should be believed over and above anyone else? I commend you for your efforts on this and taking the time out from your cruise and vacation, but this is about as accurate as the "poll" you launched previously.

 

No one is saying those affected by smokers should be disbelieved. It just adds some additional anecdotal evidence that not every balcony is next to a smoker or perhaps that some people are not as bothered by smoke.

 

Just another data point.

[Lizzie68]

No one is saying those affected by smokers should be disbelieved. It just adds some additional anecdotal evidence that not every balcony is next to a smoker or perhaps that some people are not as bothered by smoke.

 

Just another data point.

 

I don't think anyone has ever claimed otherwise.