Will this be the end of smoking in the casino forever?

[Smiles1984]

26 minutes ago, Casino Comp Chick said:

I have a non smoking casino 20 minutes from my house. Do I go there? In a word.....NO. I will spend 2.5 hours traveling to AC instead. 

Can you tell me the #1 reason the 2.4 billion dollar Revel casino closed? I can, it was because they didn’t allow smoking. Before you try to retort, the judge in the bankruptcy case made them switch to smoking to try to save the casino from going under.

 

And did it? I assume that if banning smoking was the issue that allowing it again made all their problems drift away like a puff of smoke on the breeze?

 

I'd wager there are more people avoiding it due to the smoke than smokers avoiding it because they have to step outside when they want to smoke. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 hour ago, Casino Comp Chick said:

I have a non smoking casino 20 minutes from my house. Do I go there? In a word.....NO. I will spend 2.5 hours traveling to AC instead. 

Can you tell me the #1 reason the 2.4 billion dollar Revel casino closed? I can, it was because they didn’t allow smoking. Before you try to retort, the judge in the bankruptcy case made them switch to smoking to try to save the casino from going under.

 

Gas is cheap right now. Enjoy the longer ride. There are non smoking casinos doing quite well. The ones in Atlantic City and Vegas for the most part, would survive as non smoking. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Milwaukee Eight

[Wine-O]

Now is the best time if any to stop smoking in their casinos.  They can always blame it on Covid-19.  🍷

[Sunshine3601]

Let's all remember the casinos only have a portion where smoking can happen.  In the new larger ships I dont see smoke being a problem.  It is  the smaller ships that have problem with smoke and ventilation, especially for the people passing thru casino to get another venue that may not even play casino games.  

Most cruise nights I go to casino for several hours for drinks and games and again am thankful I dont have to get up leave my machine for half hour to go up to pool deck have a cigarette and return to my machine.  Imagine chair hogs in the casino to save their machine.

 

 

[Milwaukee Eight]

6 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

In the new larger ships I dont see smoke being a problem. 

Exactly what we would expect a smoker to say. 

[TYMAN]

The non-smoking sections are actually the smaller portion of the casinos......if it was reversed, it might not be as bad. The other issue is the smokers that just go to the casino to smoke. They don't gamble, they just sit and smoke. Every morning you will find 10-20 smokers in there, hours before the casino even opens. You would think sitting out on the one side of the pool deck with a view would be a more popular place to light up in the morning....

[cruiseguy1016]

13 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Let's all remember the casinos only have a portion where smoking can happen.  In the new larger ships I dont see smoke being a problem.  It is  the smaller ships that have problem with smoke and ventilation, especially for the people passing thru casino to get another venue that may not even play casino games.  

Most cruise nights I go to casino for several hours for drinks and games and again am thankful I dont have to get up leave my machine for half hour to go up to pool deck have a cigarette and return to my machine.  Imagine chair hogs in the casino to save their machine.

 

This means absolutely nothing! Smoke travels. The ventilation system might contain some of it but it does not contain all of it. You don't see smoke being a problem because you are a smoker and the smell does not bother you but for someone that does not like the smell of cigarette smoke, the smell in the entire casino can be nauseating. 

 

We were on Freedom last month right after she got out of dry dock. The entire ship had been cleaned and sanitized.  When we first got on the ship, the casino did not smell bad. There are smoking and non-smoking sections in the casino. By the third or fourth night, the ENTIRE casino smelled like smoke.

 

[Sunshine3601]

Like I said on earlier post I smoke maybe 5 cigarettes a day.  I consider myself to be very mindful of others.  Wherever I am at and allowed to smoke such as a casino if the person next to me is not smoking I will ask if they are ok if I have a cigarette.   Common courtesy on my part.  

One thing my Dh has noticed many times, he is not a smoker, is the smoking portion of the casino is usually much busier than non smoking side.  Just saying what he said.

He always sits on smoking side as he likes to be around people as it makes his playtime more fun.

Impossible to please everyone.  

Edited April 21, 2020 by Sunshine3601

[LMaxwell]

3 hours ago, Casino Comp Chick said:

Where does it say passengers have to walk around with a mask? 
Asking.....for a friend. 
😂

Nowhere; I think if you are sitting a machine near someone it may be a smart personal choice going forward. 

[waterbug123]

14 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Smoking should be the least of any worry about covid and social distancing.    

 

It's about general air quality, not social distancing.

 

14 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

This has been a myth for some time that has turned out to be false. Many Casinos survive just fine without smoking. 

 

14 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Not a myth for me -- when I am drinking and gambling then I want a cigarette.  

 

You are one person.  And yes, it's a myth that the casinos would suffer without smoking.  The casinos on Celebrity, which are 100% smoke-free, do just fine!   For every smoker who says "I'll never enter the casino again if they ban smoking" there is at least one non-smoker saying "Yay, now I can finally go to the casino on Royal."

 

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Let's all remember the casinos only have a portion where smoking can happen.  In the new larger ships I dont see smoke being a problem.  It is  the smaller ships that have problem with smoke and ventilation,

 

Nope, even the bigger ships still have a smoky atmosphere in the casino.  Maybe not as badly as the smaller ships, but it's there.  As a smoker, you're likely less sensitive to it so don't realize.  Not to mention it's just random tables that are non-smoking and the smoke easily travels to the next table.  Also, those non-smoking tables seem to be far fewer in number than the smoking tables.

[Sunshine3601]

5 minutes ago, RETNAVY1996 said:

I don’t think so, they know that if they cut it off some smokers will stop cruising.  
 

With the deals they are giving it appears they hope when they start back up the casino will help them get money back in.  while people say the smoking keeps them out of he casino, they are not the ones the casino wants anyways, they want the people who are going to gamble for hours, not 20 minutes and leave.  Gambling can be a vice just like smoking. 
 

Exactly.  I am a mild smoker and spend hours in a casino almost every night.  My Dh is non smoker and we are both Prime casino members working on becoming Signature soon hopefully.   We did 3 cruises this year with another 6 scheduled for this year.  We have tried shows in theaters and just not for us other than comedians or movie theater we spend evenings in casino.  Probably there 4 to 6 hours every night.   

[Tulsacoker]

16 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Maybe smoking kills the Corona Virus😉

Just like video killed the Radio Star 😏

[jerseyjjs]

If one has to wear a mask and practice social distancing principles, then I wouldn't want to cruise.  What kind of "vacation" is that?

[Iamcruzin]

 What I have noticed about ship casinos is that there seem to be a lot of people just sitting at the bar smoking and not gambling.

Edited April 21, 2020 by Iamcruzin

[Sunshine3601]

9 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

 What I have noticed about ship casinos is that there seem to be a lot of people just sitting at the bar smoking and not gambling.

The ships I have been on smoking was not allowed at the bar area.   

[Sunshine3601]

The only time I can remember casino bar allowing smoking at one corner of bar was on grandeur during a bad storm with high winds and outside decks were closed and all smokers were in casino because they couldn't go outside. 

No smoking at bar on serenade jewel anthem allure adventure grandeur in the last year plus others I have been on,  that I know of

[HxFx]

17 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

Will new requirements over physical distancing, air quality, wearing masks, etc., will this finally be the end of interior smoking on RCI ships in the casino?  Celebrity does not allow it, Azamara does not have casinos on most ships.  Can't figure out how people would smoke through a mask. 

When did Celebrity stop smoking in their casinos? I swear I remember it on the Summit in 2018. Fully admit it could just be my imagination! I just seem to remember trying to get through it quickly on my way to the theater.

[Evilgrin72]

I think the thing a lot of people may be missing is that allowing smoking in the casino isn't just a simple matter of casino revenue. It's also the only place where someone can smoke inside. If there's nasty weather afoot (Caribbean) or cold temperatures exacerbated by wind on deck (New England / Alaska,) smokers have nowhere to go but to stand on deck in that in order to indulge. That would drive most smokers to abandon cruising/RCCL as a vacation option. 

 

A restaurant or casino on land can prohibit smoking and still draw business from smokers because they're only there for a couple/few hours. Most smokers can go a few hours without a cigarette. They can't go a week without one. If they feel like they're going to spend their entire vacation standing in a roped-off 10x10 foot area on an outside deck, they're going to switch to land-based vacations. 

 

This isn't a decision based upon "will the lost casino revenue from smokers be made up by non-smokers who will gamble more if the casino is smoke-free?" It's based upon "will the increase in casino revenue from non-smokers in a smoke-free casino offset the lost BOOKING revenue if 10% of our passengers disappear?" 

[TYMAN]

40 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

 What I have noticed about ship casinos is that there seem to be a lot of people just sitting at the bar smoking and not gambling.

What I've noticed is smokers sitting at the slots, smoking and not gambling. I'm not a smoker, never have been, so I really don't know what a smoker goes through. But, the smoke hasn't kept me from being in the casino. If it becomes too much for me, I move to another area. The ones that just walk in, light up, sit next to you, and don't gamble, that's where I start to get a bit edgy. I understand the fact that people gamble for 4-6 hours and want a cig or two, but to sit there, chain smoke, and not put a nickel in a machine? How is that bringing revenue to the casino?? 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

18 minutes ago, HxFx said:

When did Celebrity stop smoking in their casinos? I swear I remember it on the Summit in 2018. Fully admit it could just be my imagination! I just seem to remember trying to get through it quickly on my way to the theater.

2008

[Jarmo]

Not a smoker, never have been, spend a good bit of time at the tables.  Would a non-smoking casino appeal to me?  Yes.

 

'Fine' and 'survive' don't mean the casinos do as well as they would if they allowed smoking.    Anecdotally I have seen an increase in smokers at the tables the later in the evening it gets.  Would it make any sense to have non-smoking hours as opposed to ending smoking all together?

 

 

[Iamcruzin]

7 minutes ago, TYMAN said:

What I've noticed is smokers sitting at the slots, smoking and not gambling. I'm not a smoker, never have been, so I really don't know what a smoker goes through. But, the smoke hasn't kept me from being in the casino. If it becomes too much for me, I move to another area. The ones that just walk in, light up, sit next to you, and don't gamble, that's where I start to get a bit edgy. I understand the fact that people gamble for 4-6 hours and want a cig or two, but to sit there, chain smoke, and not put a nickel in a machine? How is that bringing revenue to the casino?? 

 

I saw that too. I never smoked but grew up in a time where smoking was acceptable any place so second hand smoke doesn't bother me. What did annoy me were the ash trays that were full  and left in a spot on the slot machine where I knocked them over. The casino becomes a smoking lounge especially on a rainy sea day.

[ptf2009]

18 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

Will new requirements over physical distancing, air quality, wearing masks, etc., will this finally be the end of interior smoking on RCI ships in the casino?  Celebrity does not allow it, Azamara does not have casinos on most ships.  Can't figure out how people would smoke through a mask. 

This would be sooo wonderful if they banned smoking from the casino on the ship. My hair and clothes will no longer smell from walking through or playing in the casino:) 

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, Jarmo said:

Would it make any sense to have non-smoking hours as opposed to ending smoking all together?

 

 

The stench never goes away.

[zekekelso]

I don’t smoke and would be happy to see this ships go smoke free. But there’s no way you can use Covid-19 to justify it. 
 

and until RCL bans smoking, I welcome smokers on board and am happy to give them the casino. It keeps me out of the casino and saves me lots of money.