Non-smoking rooms?
 

Do any major cruise ships have non-smoking rooms?

I know there is now one non-smoking ship but it may not match our needs in terms of price and/or itinerary.

When I have priced cruises on various websites I have seen no mention of non-smoking rooms. I'd sure hate to be stuck for 7 nights in a room that smelled like dead cigarettes.

I have never smelled dead cigarettes on a cruise ship that was less than 3 years old. Maybe some of the 10 year old ships might have the permanent scent of cigs, but not the new ships.

As far as I know there are no non-smoking rooms on cruise ships (except the Paradise which is all non-smoking). If this is a concern I'd book on the Paradise or stick with land vacations (no offense meant) .. we found that we really prefer land vacations over cruises for a multitude of reasons, one being the fact you can mostly always get a non-smoking room in any major hotel.

I am very sensitive to cigeratte smoke and have not had a problem on any of my cruises. I am very surprised that this hasn't been an issue for me on my 10 cruises.

The simple answer is NO. Your choice is either to support the Paradise before that option goes the way of Renaissance, or not to worry about smoke.

Okay, I guess if we cruise it will be on the Paradise. I'm seeing some reasonable prices ('though not the lowest) and the alternate-week western Caribbean itinerary would be okay - places we've never been.

Are they having trouble filling this ship?

Don't know if they're having trouble filling the ship. We got a good price on it in 2001, took the Eastern route.
What a relief to be able to go into the casino, lounges, etc. without worrying about smokers polluting the room. We had a great time.

Yes, they are having trouble filling the Paradise....but worse still, all those non-smokers do not drink or gamble. Revenues in these departments are considerably lower than like "smoker friendly" Carnival ships on similar itineraries.

You're right. Carnival probably is losing money from the people not drinking and gambling as much. On the other hand, all the people who complain about Carnival having "trailer trash", party animals, and rowdies should go on the Paradise and they'll see the difference. Having a non-smoking ship is a great idea. People should support it and see what a nice atmosphere it is.

We just booked a cruise on Carnival's Paradise for the November 16th Western Caribbean sailing. I like the itinerary & we were on this ship last October. It's great to go into the casino (or any other room for that matter) & not have to have my clothes reek from smoke. The casino was very busy, I might add. As far as price, I got a very low price & can't wait until Nov.16th. Hope you'll join us on this cruise!

Marcia, have a great cruise. Wish I could go, but I can't this year. I have also sailed on the Paradise. I had heard so much bad publicity about Carnival, but while on the cruise I couldn't understand what the hoopla was all about. People made it sound like Animal House, but all I saw was nice families. If other cruises are that bad, why don't more people go on the Paradise instead of giving Carnival a bad rap? Almost all itineraries are the same, i.e. the typical St. Thomas, Nassau, Jamaica, etc. so that shouldn't be an issue. We enjoyed the shows, the service was good, and so were the meals.

Good thoughts. For whatever reason, support that which fits your life style and belief system or it will go away.

I started this thread and admit to not searching old messages very thoroughly first. Now I have, and it seems the smoking issue has been discussed quite a bit on this board.

There are many people who have taken mulitple cruises on various ships without encountering a cabin that smelled smoky. Others haven't been so lucky. I guess I'm not willing to take that risk.

Carnival's apparent problem - and I wonder if they saw it coming when they planned the Paradise - is that many customers have cruised before, and they want to experience new ships and new itineraries. If a non-smoker cruises annually for 10 years, he/she is not going to want to sail on the Paradise 10 times. I understand they changed the itinerary a while ago to help address this problem.

Frankly, I still don't understand why ships can't have a certain percentage of cabins designated (from day one) as non-smoking. If they have trouble selling out, reduce the percentage. Seems to work for hotels.

Hi I sailed the Paradise a few weeks ago and was disappointed in several aspects. (You can read my full review on www.cruisereviews.com, or on cruisecritic.com) I also hate smoke and sailed on a ship where smoking is permitted in some areas (Celebrity Horizon). I don't know if I had a non-smoking room or not but there was no musty/smoke smell in my room at all. There was no smoking permitted in the restaurants or show lounges at all, which was great. The only time your are in contact with smoke is when you are in the casino or if you get someone who smokes near you on the sun lounges on the deck. Yuk! But i'd rather have occaional smoke that I can move away from than the TONS of teens and adloescents running positively wild on the paradise. If you are not into kids running loud relay races down the halls, avoid this ship. Don't people watch their kids when they go on vacation?

Most ships probably have a lot of kids and teens in the summer, not just the Paradise. It's just that time of year. We went in November and there weren't many kids, and the ones I did see didn't create any problems.

I had the same concern about smoking when we sailed Royal Caribbean last year. My son has asthma and can't tolerate smoke in a room. The cabins were cleaned and have filters that supposedly eliminate any "smoke smell." I heard that in previous years, most ships had one side of the ship for smoking cabins and the other for non-smoking; however, on todays ships they are all smoking optional. Except for casinos and clubs, we didn't find much "smoke smell."

We just returned from an NCL Alaskan cruise whereas we had 12 cabins booked, some of those are sensitive to cigarette smell. There was no problem of stale cigarette smell in any of the cabins. We've done similar on HAL with the same results. If the itinerary suits you, go for it and don't worry about stale smoke....there won't be any. They thoroughly clean and air out all the cabins each week.

When hotels sell out of smoking rooms and have non-smoking rooms available, they just change the designation and put an ashtray in the non-smoking room. Or do you think they "walk" the smoker?

This may help to answer your question "Frankly, I still don't understand why ships can't have a certain percentage of cabins designated (from day one) as non-smoking. If they have trouble selling out, reduce the percentage. Seems to work for hotels."

Now my question...why should non-smokers receive preferential treatment? Are they nearer to God than anyone else?

I'm not sure that having smoke-free cabins available for people who prefer them constitutes preferential treatment, any more than having "smoking allowed" cabins for people who want to smoke constitutes preferential treatment for smokers.

I see it as an additional amenity that a for-profit company may wish to offer in an attempt to attract more customers. And I may be willing to pay extra for it.