June 15, 2011 – Carnival Cruise Lines has made changes to its smoking policy on board its entire fleet of 23 ships – and some changes take effect as early as today.
Starting today, Carnival is restricting smoking to designated open-deck areas, the Jazz clubs (only certain ships), and certain areas of the casino and casino bars.
After December 1st, 2011 – Carnival will prohibit smoking in all staterooms and assess a $250 cleaning fee if smoke is detected. Smoking on the balcony (unless you are booked in a spa suite) will still be permitted.
This is a great change, which means that effective today, cruisers can go the piano bar, wine bar, sports bar, and most public open-deck areas and not have to worry about breathing in cigarette or cigar smoke.
We’re proud of Carnival for making the change, even though it will undoubtedly upset some of their customers. Carnival believes that only about 10 percent of its passengers are smokers, though the debate raged with they did a trial run on certain ships which prompted this editorial on the matter.
Carnival sent an email discussing their reasons for the changes which we’ve included below.
We recently conducted guest surveys covering a wide range of topics. The feedback we received indicated the overwhelming majority of our guests prefer a smoke-free environment. In fact, nearly 90 percent of our guests are non-smokers, with only less than five percent opting to smoke in their staterooms.
Accordingly, as part of our ongoing commitment to keep in line with the personal preferences of our guests, we will be changing the smoking policy across our 23-ship fleet.
The new smoking policy will be rolled out in two stages:• Effective today, cigarette smoking in public venues will only be permitted in Carnival’s dance clubs as well as in designated areas within the casino and casino bar.
Smoking (including cigars) will be permitted in designated exterior open deck areas of all our ships. Additionally, smoking will also be allowed in the jazz clubs of the following ships: Carnival Destiny, Carnival Triumph, Carnival Victory, Carnival Spirit, Carnival Pride, Carnival Legend, Carnival Miracle, Carnival Conquest, Carnival Glory, Carnival Valor, Carnival Liberty, Carnival Freedom, and Carnival Splendor.
• Effective December 1, 2011, smoking will be prohibited in all guest staterooms. Guests in balcony staterooms may smoke (including cigars) outside on their balcony. However, Spa suites and staterooms, inclusive of the balconies, will remain an entirely smoke-free environment.
Guests who smoke in their staterooms will be assessed a $250 cleaning and refreshing fee on their Sail & Sign account. Information on this fee is included in Carnival’s ticket contract.
Decisions like these are never easy and we realize some of you may be affected by this change. We sincerely hope this won’t affect your ability to have a fun and memorable cruise vacation. In fact, we are hopeful you will see this as an enhancement to your on board experience and have an even better time sailing with us. Please know we are committed to providing a clean and healthy environment for all our guests.
We thank you for your understanding and appreciate your cooperation in adhering to our new smoking policy.