One of the last bastions for smokers has finally stubbed out lighting up on balconies, with Holland America Line this week issuing a new tobacco policy.
But the modern electronic cigarette, which allows users to inhale nicotine without burning tobaco, continues to divide some cruise lines.
Balcony smoking is now banned on all American and Australian lines. Â It has been a bone of contention between cruisers for years.
Non-smokers maintain tobacco smoke is blown back through their balcony doors, and the habit has sparked bitter rows.
“No smoking of any kind will be permitted on any stateroom verandah,” according to a news release sent out by Holland American this week. “Smoking of cigarettes, cigars and pipes is already not permitted in any stateroom. The new policy has been announced to better align with guest wishes and health concerns.”
Royal Caribbean was the first cruise line the implement the ban three years ago followed by Carnival Cruise Line in July 2014 and luxury-line Seabourn implemented the policy this year.
HAL will be rolling out the fleetwide ban over the next five months starting from Maasdam and Rotterdam from January 2.
But HAL will allow passengers to use e-cigarettes and vape inside their cabins and staterooms.
The cigarette substitutes have split cruise lines, with Azamara Club Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, P&O Australia as well as Carnival Australia banishing them to designated smoking areas.
HAL will also still allow smokers to puff away at designated smoking areas like the Sea View Bar and Pool on all it ships. Guests will still be allowed to smoke at the Sports Deck on the Maasdam, Veendam, Volendam, Zaandam, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
There will be smoking designated areas for slot players in all casinos except the Oosterdam and Eurodam which will have smoke-free casinos.
So what’s the penalty if you light up in the wrong areas? You’ll be slapped with a US$250 cleaning fee per day of violation and you could be removed from your cruise.
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Just returned from 25 day Mediterranean Cruise on the Eurodam. Fantastic except for the balcony smoking so this is the best news to hear on our return, although too late for us. Designated areas are fine as these are easy to avoid. Unfortunately we had already completed our survey at the end of our cruise. The person responding to our survey obviously didn’t know of this new rule but said they would pass our comments on.
We stopped cruising with HAL because we were sick of cigar and cigarette smoke being blown our way on the balcony. You pay extra for this privilege and can’t enjoy it. May consider returning to cruise with HAL again.
We cruised on HAL a fews years ago and never again. The smoking within the ship was terrible, in the sports bar and casino area and the worse thing was the number of senior ship staff that were in the sports bar smoking. Never again, HAL’s lose as we have continued to cruise and love doing so but never never HAL!