Some cruisers are calling for a relaxation in smoking restrictions that would allow for vaping in areas that aren’t specially allocated smoking areas. But this has lead to a fiery debate debate with many calling for smoking to be banned altogether.
Popular Carnival Brand ambassador John Heald has a Facebook page where he responds to cruisers questions and helps resolve issues, with a recent post becoming the subject of significant debate.
Essentially, at the moment, on Carnival Cruise Ships (and generally on other lines as well), vaping is not allowed in common areas on the ship, and is subject to the same rules as smoking. This means vaping is only allowed to be done in the specialised smoking areas.
A Facebook user wrote to John Heald: “Can you confirm that Carnival’s policy on vaping ? Is this only permitted in smoking sections of the ship? If the answer is yes then it needs to be changed. Use of vapes in the USA is almost exclusive to smokers trying to quit smoking; their efficacy in this role is confirmed by authoritative evidence reviews by Harvard University*.
“The fall in US smoking prevalence since 2017 is one of the fastest in the world because of vaping, smoking among young people in The USA is at an all-time low. Therefore placing vapers with smokers is cruel and unjust. Vaping may not be totally safe, but is safer than smoking and helps smokers to quit.
“Carnival passengers include hundreds of people who vape. Why are they punished by being forced into cigarette smoking areas? Is this still true today? Is this the barbaric rule Carnival still has?”
In short, Mr Heald’s answer was the following: “What I can tell you is that we ( Carnival Cruise Line) do insist that people who vape can only do so in smoking areas. Anyone caught vaping in non smoking areas would be subject to the same consequences as those smoking a cigarette or cigar or pipe.”
*This is text from a Facebook User’s complaint, it is not factually accurate.
Cruisers debate the rule
Many cruisers spoke up, not only to question the user’s reasoning, but to give their opinions on vaping aboard ships.
The majority veered towards the side of keeping vaping to smoking areas.
Mary Ellen Dillon wrote: “Vaping in the smoking area ONLY needs to continue. I definitely don’t want to be forced to breathe in the chemicals that they are vaping.”
Lisa Lisa wrote: “I am a former smoker so I understand but it’s not fair to expose non- smokers to cigarette or vaping. Both are harmful.”
Daniel Pentecost wrote: “Aerosolized Nicotine is still nicotine. Vaping exposes those around the vaper to second hand nicotine. This is why Carnival treats it the same as any other smoking. IMO, as it should. I look forward to the days when Carnival’s main casinos are also non-smoking.”
Austin Pickler wrote that an asthmatic, he hopes vaping stays confined to smoking areas.
“As an asthmatic, I’d like to not be forced to be around someone’s else’s bad habit, while yes vaping is helping you quit, it’s also still second hand smoke/chemicals. People who have breathing issues, medical issues, or just simply don’t want to be around it are being exposed to these chemicals.”
Is the no-vaping rule enforced properly on ships?
Many guests wrote that they feel vaping isn’t policed properly on their cruises.
Laura Thomas wrote: “Didn’t realize they had a rule about vaping – last week on the Vista guests were openly vaping all over the ship.”
Lisa Pape Johnson had a similar story: “We were on the Miracle last week and experienced the same. Guest in the cabin above us vaped on the balcony on many occasions.”
Many other passengers reported similar experiences, observing other cruisers vaping seemingly in the open, without issue.
The general sentiment amongst cruisers was that they support the rule, but don’t believe it is enforced sufficiently.
Kathryn Munro said: “Definitely keep this rule but they to enforce it. Why have a rule at all if you just let people get away with whatever they want anyway.”
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