Is no smoking on balconies causing insides and OV to sell out?

[donh1]

Maybe all the people who smoked on balconies are now dead?

 

They are not dead. They just moved over to Holland America. More smoke coming from the balconies than the ships stacks.

[PekingeseLady]

I'm a full-time TA (10+ yrs in the business and book 50-75 cruises/month). I have smokers that were booking balconies and now booking inside and oceanview rooms. They don't want to be tempted to smoke on their balconies and face the fines.

 

I've not had one person tell me they are booking a balcony because they are non-smoking now... although most non-smokers are glad they are non-smoking.

 

This is exactly what I was thinking. But this post I guess did have 2 parts, LOL All your posts gave me insight to my questions.

 

Thank you everyone for your posts.

 

We are smokers, dare I say considerate smokers. I carry my own portable ashtray so as to never leave a butt in the street or anywhere but a proper ashtray. I would never smoke inside even when allowed, but I did smoke on my balcony. I would look around and try to be considerate of my balcony neighbors. But as some posted here the rooms still smell of smoke just from being smokers.

 

On our last cruise our steward really upset us, he took us aside and said we can not smoke in the room. His supervisor follows up and we will be fined if she sees any evidence of smoking. Like I said before, we do not smoke in our room, and have been going out of our way to smoke in the designated smoking area. We informed him of this and his supervisor (We had a meeting in our room, My DH was so mad he wouldn't let the steward clean the room), and that what they must smell is just "US".:eek: After our little talk, DH thought it was rude how steward handled it, all was fine.

 

Thank you all for your input on wanting to travel on the following week too. We aren't going to book in advance. But I will put us on a wait list, I will have to find out about this once on board. I am traveling with my Sister n Law. First time ever not cruising with DH. Girls week out. She has only cruised once like 30 years ago. We are just hoping they would offer us a deal we couldn't refuse, and we could call our DH's and tell them we just had to stay another week. ;) :D

 

So do you think I should call Princess and get on a waitlist for a inside

Edited January 24, 2015 by PekingeseLady

[Cruisin' Chick]

I believe what they were talking about is the smokers who come back to their room after having a cigarette and the odor is in their clothes then they change and toss them on the floor or furniture and the odor is Transfered to them.

 

Hmm, maybe whatever spray the stewards use (at least back in the days when passengers can smoke in their cabin) can be made available in the smoking areas and cigar lounge so smokers can use it on their clothes.

[tequilasunrise]

Do you think there are more balcony cabins available 45 days before cruise date now that smoking is not allowed on balconies? What I've noticed is the inside and oceanviews are all sold out with tons of balconies available. Or is it just that as a smoker I always booked balconies and just never noticed the insides and OV as sold out? Now I don't need my balcony and spend much more time out on deck, so an inside is all I need. I was hoping on my next Crown cruise I have an obstructed view and was hoping to maybe get a deal while on board to book for the following week, but all insides and OV are showing as sold out. :rolleyes:

 

It's price. If anything, there are more people appreciating a balcony now.

 

The Crown is sailing in North American waters, meaning a large percentage of Americans. Nearly 90% of Americans do not smoke, and in fact would appreciate non-smoking balconies so they don't risk a chain smoker next door preventing use of an expensive balcony. Even further, number of smokers in the USA statistically rise in populations that are very elderly, less economically stable or more unhealthy, and thus less likely to travel. So realistically, it would be unlikely you'd get enough North American smokers alone to book the balconies full.

 

You know the decision to go non-smoking was economic. If they made more money keeping it the way it was; they would have. Although it's possible they had to change due to insurance rates after the Star fire. They tried to deny it was balcony smoking, but eventually had to admit that it was after investigators found proof.

[dplusd]

I'm a smoker and did enjoy them on my balcony. When the rules changed, we considered moving to an oceanview room, but decided against it. We still enjoy the balcony for all the other reasons.

 

I do miss smoking on my balcony...particularly early in the morning and late at night when I have to dress and go to one of the public area! The new rules have not caused us to change our cabin type, but we do cruise a little less, choosing land based vacations a bit more frequently. And that has worked out just fine for us.

[Cruise Raider]

Would think that for every smoker who booked a balcony under the old rules, there was a non-smoker who avoided one.

 

With the new rules, some smokers have probably moved to the cheaper rooms, but the non-smoker who felt the couple not use the balcony is now back on one.

 

I won't try and guess which way got more people moving.

 

Bingo....I would hate wasting money on a balcony room only to find smokers on either side. I stopped wasting my money and booked inside or oceanview cabins but then the rules changed. I no longer feel the need to get an inside or oceanview for any other reason than to save money.

[Hlitner]

I'm a full-time TA (10+ yrs in the business and book 50-75 cruises/month). I have smokers that were booking balconies and now booking inside and oceanview rooms. They don't want to be tempted to smoke on their balconies and face the fines.

 

I've not had one person tell me they are booking a balcony because they are non-smoking now... although most non-smokers are glad they are non-smoking.

 

Well thank goodness! If smokers are avoiding balconies as a means to assure they will "behave" then that makes this non-smoker quite happy. And by the way, a few months ago we cancelled an expensive HAL booking because we were fed up with the smoking on balconies. We tend to stick with Celebrity and Princess because of the no-smoking on balcony rules, but I guess we just do not use your TA. But when we cancelled the HAL cruise we got a call from HAL asking us why and we explained that the smoking policy was one major factor. Our HAL PCC (Personal Cruise Counselor) just sighed and said she had heard that complaint many times.

 

Hank