Nonsmoking casino test

[BND]

What does everyone think of this?

 

https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/royal-caribbean-is-testing-a-controversial-change-on-board/453941?fbclid=IwAR0RYNbheRiYrqbSAnzi0nYSGz0O0SYU9iandJQiZ_2EsvKoiknavu7dT9k

 

I've been saying they're heading this direction for a while.  I don't think it's controversial for most people.

Edited June 12, 2023 by BND

[smokeybandit]

"Numerous social media reports have shared that Royal Caribbean has tested banning smoking at table games on select sailings of Freedom of the Seas."

OK I need something a bit more concrete than that. Social media reports tend to have about a 50% accuracy rate.

[crewsweeper]

I thought some ships were taking out the jazz club or other clubs and making that the non-smoking casino,  not making the main casino non-smoking.  Maybe not on all ships.  But I know on Carnival ships where the smoking and non-smoking are side-by-side, the non-smoking still smells of smoke.

[Tlbecker1]

3 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

I thought some ships were taking out the jazz club or other clubs and making that the non-smoking casino,  not making the main casino non-smoking.  Maybe not on all ships.  

That is correct on the Oasis class.

[BND]

7 minutes ago, crewsweeper said:

I thought some ships were taking out the jazz club or other clubs and making that the non-smoking casino,  not making the main casino non-smoking.  Maybe not on all ships.  But I know on Carnival ships where the smoking and non-smoking are side-by-side, the non-smoking still smells of smoke.

As is reported in the article also, Oasis class has been converting the Jazz clubs.

[yogimax]

The real question is whether RCCL will have the ability to choose health over profit.  Yes, banning smoking in the casino may impact the bottom line but we have to ask the ethical question... which is more important, corporate profit or customer health? 

 

 

[BND]

13 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

"Numerous social media reports have shared that Royal Caribbean has tested banning smoking at table games on select sailings of Freedom of the Seas."

OK I need something a bit more concrete than that. Social media reports tend to have about a 50% accuracy rate.

Well, let's see if anyone who has been on one of those cruises posts something for you.

[neverbeenhere]

So, they're thinking us non-smokers need to start blowing cash in the casino??  (I'm an accountant, the chances of this are slim and none, and of course, Slim just left town)

[Tree_skier]

Lots of non-smokers will come on these boards and say that the only thing stopping them from spending time and money in the casino is the smoking. We're about to find out if that is true or they were just "blowing smoke". 🙂 

[cruisegus]

In my state when they banned indoor smoking , the bars clamored for an exemption claiming they would go out of business.  Bottom line NO bars went out of business.  All our casino are smoke free on land here.  Still thriving.  The hard core gamblers would soon adapt, they don't want to pass up the free cruises.

[bajathree]

A quote I found from  from Mr Bayley from last year....."I'm not judging anyone or anything, but there's a large group of people who do want to smoke in the casino." 

He explained, "Every, I would say every couple of years, we do test this and we take one or two or three ships we ban smoking in the casino. And the result is less people go in the casino and that that's the reality of it."

While a full smoking ban in the casino doesn't seem likely, Mr. Bayley said they are looking at ways to create more non-smoking areas, "we're looking at trying to create more smoke free spaces in the casino, which I think will be helpful."

[BND]

11 minutes ago, cruisegus said:

In my state when they banned indoor smoking , the bars clamored for an exemption claiming they would go out of business.  Bottom line NO bars went out of business.  All our casino are smoke free on land here.  Still thriving.  The hard core gamblers would soon adapt, they don't want to pass up the free cruises.

We saw that in a lot of bars/restaurants when they banned indoor smoking.  For a while, some bars tried putting plexiglass between the bar and the restaurant and then those went away completely because it didn't work.  Bars still full and now you can't smoke anywhere, even outside on the bar/restaurants' property.  I just don't get why smokers can't take a break and go outside if they need to smoke?    

[BND]

6 minutes ago, bajathree said:

A quote I found from  from Mr Bayley from last year....."I'm not judging anyone or anything, but there's a large group of people who do want to smoke in the casino." 

He explained, "Every, I would say every couple of years, we do test this and we take one or two or three ships we ban smoking in the casino. And the result is less people go in the casino and that that's the reality of it."

While a full smoking ban in the casino doesn't seem likely, Mr. Bayley said they are looking at ways to create more non-smoking areas, "we're looking at trying to create more smoke free spaces in the casino, which I think will be helpful."

A "large" group?  LOL.  12.5% of adults in the US smoked in 2021 and it's been dropping steadily for years and will continue to.   What they forget is that even if people complain and don't want to be in there during the test, they would start coming back if they knew it was permanent because they want to gamble.  If smokers think it's a test and they can influence the outcome, they will complain loudly.   It's really a terrible way to handle it as it's really doesn't prove anything except that those being impacted (a minority by a large amount) can complain loudly.  Squeaky wheel.

 

A poll of ALL cruisers would be a better way to find out what people really want.

Edited June 12, 2023 by BND

[cruisegirl1]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

"Numerous social media reports have shared that Royal Caribbean has tested banning smoking at table games on select sailings of Freedom of the Seas."

OK I need something a bit more concrete than that. Social media reports tend to have about a 50% accuracy rate.

Ther was a recent post on  a FB page by someone on Freedom.  I know the poster.    Tables ( for the current cruise) were indeed smoke free. 

M 

[cruisegirl1]

38 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Lots of non-smokers will come on these boards and say that the only thing stopping them from spending time and money in the casino is the smoking. We're about to find out if that is true or they were just "blowing smoke". 🙂 

Those are probably the same folks who say they went to the D lounge for conversation, not the 3 hours of  free drinks. 

 

M

[Cruise5life]

59 minutes ago, yogimax said:

The real question is whether RCCL will have the ability to choose health over profit.  Yes, banning smoking in the casino may impact the bottom line but we have to ask the ethical question... which is more important, corporate profit or customer health? 

 

 

Don’t think it will effect the bottom line at all with how much there over booking cruises these days.     People who chooses to smoke will just find other cruise lines to cruise on.    

[cruisegirl1]

15 minutes ago, bajathree said:

A quote I found from  from Mr Bayley from last year....."I'm not judging anyone or anything, but there's a large group of people who do want to smoke in the casino." 

He explained, "Every, I would say every couple of years, we do test this and we take one or two or three ships we ban smoking in the casino. And the result is less people go in the casino and that that's the reality of it."

While a full smoking ban in the casino doesn't seem likely, Mr. Bayley said they are looking at ways to create more non-smoking areas, "we're looking at trying to create more smoke free spaces in the casino, which I think will be helpful."

Rather than create a tiny, ill served smoke free space like they did on Oasis class ships, why not make the casino smoke free and carve out a tiny area for smokers. 

 

Or better yet, create a smoking room, so non gamblers aren't sitting at a machine that others want to play.  I can understand if a smoker doesn't want to go outside especially in windy, rainy  or cold conditions. so why not a smoking room?

M

[HappyTexan44]

I stay away from land-based casinos because of the smoke.  I have sinus troubles and being around a lot of smoke for a couple of hours causes months of sinus misery.  On our cruise, I plan to try to organize a poker tournament in the game room just to be able to play in a smoke-free environment.  So, I would be one that would go to the casino only if it were smoke-free.  They might lose people that wouldn't go unless they could smoke, but they would also gain people.  The question is, which is more?   I know in Disney World discussions when someone would complain about the masks and point out that more people would come without the masks, someone would always pipe up that there are those that wouldn't go without the masks, so it didn't matter.  With mask etc. rules, it seems clear which way gets more people.  (Just making an analogy here)  I don't know what the answer is on smoking-gambling.   I have observed that a gambler is MUCH more likely to smoke than the average person.  So maybe the connection is strong enough for casinos to stay smoking.   I can also see the casino thinking that when people cashed out to go smoke, a good number of them would wander off and do something else.  

 

[The Fun Researcher]

I can say from experience sailing Celebrity, it is wonderful sitting in the Casino without all the smoke and smell.  Yes, it did actually get me to gamble at the machines.  On Royal, all I do is my free Casino money from the Crown and Anchor status and that's it.  The smoke and smell on Royal pretty much eliminates that venue for our family.

 

People can choose to do what they like, smoke or not.  Fine by me.  No judgement from me.

 

Our family personally would love the smoke free casino on Royal but it's not going to make or break cruising with Royal for us.  I guess that's obvious with the cruises we've done with them to date. 🙂

[The Scurvy Pirate]

I wonder how gambling on cruises out of Australia, where the casinos are non-smoking by law, compare (proportionally).  It has been banned there for 30 years or so.  I assume that if Royal wasn't making money on those cruises, they would have pulled out of Australia by now...

[ShillyShally]

10 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

I can say from experience sailing Celebrity, it is wonderful sitting in the Casino without all the smoke and smell.  Yes, it did actually get me to gamble at the machines.  On Royal, all I do is my free Casino money from the Crown and Anchor status and that's it.  The smoke and smell on Royal pretty much eliminates that venue for our family.

 

People can choose to do what they like, smoke or not.  Fine by me.  No judgement from me.

 

Our family personally would love the smoke free casino on Royal but it's not going to make or break cruising with Royal for us.  I guess that's obvious with the cruises we've done with them to date. 🙂

This, I avoid them now, which is likely far better for my budget 🙂  And I would visit the casino more if non-smoking but either way won't be a decision point in choosing a cruise.

[mugtech]

People losing money gambling helps keep my cruise price down.  Happy to see people getting "free" cruises for giving cash to the casino. My only objection is the placement of the casino so I must walk through the smoke to get to another spot on the ship.

[ReneeFLL]

“experimented with a smoking ban on its Celebrity cruise line, which hurt revenue, per TheStreet.” Obviously The Street doesn’t have a clue since Celebrity still has no smoking in the casinos. If they lost revenue they would go back to smoking because we all know it’s about the dollar.

[not-enough-cruising]

2 hours ago, yogimax said:

The real question is whether RCCL will have the ability to choose health over profit.  Yes, banning smoking in the casino may impact the bottom line but we have to ask the ethical question... which is more important, corporate profit or customer health? 

 

 

Celebrity does it very successfully, Royal can as well. 

[RoperDK]

1 hour ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Rather than create a tiny, ill served smoke free space like they did on Oasis class ships, why not make the casino smoke free and carve out a tiny area for smokers. 

 

Or better yet, create a smoking room, so non gamblers aren't sitting at a machine that others want to play.  I can understand if a smoker doesn't want to go outside especially in windy, rainy  or cold conditions. so why not a smoking room?

M

I like this idea.  Princess has an indoor smoking room.  Sometimes the weather outside isn't pleasant and an enclosed indoor room would be nice.  I really get annoyed at people taking up a slot machine just so they can smoke.  It adds to the smokiness of the casino without any financial benefit for Royal.  

 

I also think a large non smoking casino with a smaller enclosed smoking casino would work just fine.  I have a local Indian casino nearby.  Before Covid the place was very smoky and stinky.  They eventually added a small enclosed non smoking room, which was nice.  Fast forward to Covid and when they were finally able to open up again, they required masks and only allowed smoking outside of the building. As time went on, they eliminated the masks but never reinstated indoor smoking except in the formerly non smoking enclosed room.  The place is just as busy as it was before.  It is clean and fresh smelling and I really haven't heard too much fuss about it.