For all the non-smokers out there, this is great news… for the smokers, not so much. Lately cruise lines have been cracking down on smoking onboard cruise ships and this summer, things have been getting even worse.
Norwegian Cruise Line are the latest to announce a change to their smoking policy, and will be banning all smoking inside cabins on all of their ships from January. Passengers will still be allowed to smoke on their balconies, but obviously if you can’t afford a balcony stateroom, you aren’t going to have that option!
NCL are acting on information they have received from their guests, with many complaining that the smell and secondhand smoke was a major issue from them on their holiday. With smoking banned indoors in so many countries now, we are all getting a little bit more sensitive to the smell of stale cigarette smoke.
In June, similar announcements were made by Princess Cruises, Carnival and Holland America. This has no doubt made it easier for other cruise lines to follow suit.
So far, no cruise lines have announced a full ban on smoking onboard and it is unlikely that this will ever happen. However, many no longer allow smoking anywhere indoors and have allocated only a very small outdoor area for smoking to take place. It is likely that this trend will continue, so smokers beware!!
