Cruise Lines: Smoking Policy Change Will Affect Louisiana Guests

One of the more interesting aspects of sailing away aboard a cruise ship as it leaves the Port of New Orleans is the scenery. The New Orleans sail away is one of the most unique in the entire world of cruising. It's very seldom that you can sail several stories above the farmland and marshes well below the levees that keep the Mississippi River in its banks.

Sitting and watching the world sail by is one of the many positives that cruise guests take away from their journeys. Of course, the major cruise lines offer a lot more to do onboard than just sit and look over the rail. I was recently on board a vessel that had a 10-story water slide and a go-kart track on board. 

And while go-karting and water sliding all have their place on a cruise ship, I would say the majority of the guests opt for more traditional fun, you know, going to the casino to not get rich while you're on vacation. Actually, some of my larger casino victories have come at sea but in the battleground between smokers and non-smokers the casino has become the new "front line".

In my lifetime smoking cigarettes has gone from being widely accepted as a normal social behavior to something that must be done behind closed doors or near a dumpster at work. It all comes down to rights. The right of the smoker and the right of the non-smoker and that's where cruise ship casinos find themselves caught in the middle.

Many land-based casinos now have eliminated smoking altogether or they have designated areas of the gaming floor that are for smokers. That scenario works pretty well in a large space such as a land-based casino but on cruise ships, the real estate is a lot tighter.

In the past many ships simply cordoned off an area of the casino that would be for smokers and an area that those who don't smoke would use. Despite the fact that the smoking areas are well-ventilated and the air is refreshed and cleaned often, it still stinks beyond the ropes. That is why two cruise lines, Royal Caribbean and Carnival have announced major changes in the way smoking is viewed in their casinos.

Both lines will offer secondary smoke-free casinos on many of their vessels. The Royal Caribbean plan is to add smaller non-smoking casinos to all Oasis-Class ships and they plan a similar offering on their Icon-Class ships too.

Carnival Cruise Lines has retro-fitted casinos on The Dream, The Magic, The Breeze, The Panorama, The Venzezia, and the Firenze to have smoke smoke-free facilities for casino guests. The Carnival vessels Celebration, Jubilee, and Mardi Gras were built with a smoke-free casino in the plans.

Oddly enough, this still hasn't solved the issue for some guests. If you look at social media comments you'll see the non-smokers think the smokers should be sequestered in the smaller room while the smokers believe the non-smokers need to be sheltered away from the smoke. I guess you just can't please everyone especially when they're on vacation.

Our advice, plan accordingly if you plan to visit a casino on a cruise and don't smoke. You'll live longer and be able to take more vacations if you do.