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[Debbie H]

Stupid cigarettes!!!!!
So sad and scary, makes me nervous to cruise.

No, actually, stupid people!

 

[TiggerKing]

You can flame me all you want for this, but this is a reason that I believe smoking should not be allowed on aircraft and cruise ships. Most of the aircraft have been taken care of, but very few cruise ships are non-smoking.

Before you start arguing that this occurs at hotels and offices as well, the difference is that a building has and emergency exit to allow you to escape the fire. An aircraft, absolutely no escape. A ship, you have an escape, but it is not necessarily a safe environment.

The man who died was a 72 year old gentleman from about 15 miles down the road from me who was celebrating a belated birthday with friends. He died of a heart attack while trying to move away from the fire. Please pray for his family in this loss.

 

[ivanova]

I'm at a travel agent conference in Florida right now ... and of course this (and the Celebrity tragedy) are topics of discussion today.

Some of us are wondering if this will eventually lead to ship-wide smoking bans - or at the very least, banning smoking on balconies as well as in cabins.

This is very sad, and I feel so bad for the families of the dead and injured passengers.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Looking at the pictures I'm just so surprised they were able to contain the fire! I was not prepared to see that much damage. As bad as it is I guess it could have been worse. Thoughts and prayers to those effected.

 

[HappyLawyer]

I disagree. Smoking can harm many people - either by second-hand smoke or by being careless and setting a fire unintentionally.

If someone is drunk, unless they are driving (which IS against the law), then their actions most times are not life-threatening to anyone else but themselves. Now, granted, I've wanted to kill a few drunks in my day but there is a big difference between drinking and smoking.

I can sit with you in a bar while you drink and make the choice not to drink and my health will not be compromised. That can't be said with smoking.

I smoked for 16 years - back in the day before all the warnings from the Surgeon General.

Drunk people become violent, if someone is drunk they could beat their children, i have never heard of someone smoking and becomming upset and beating their children, ok the next issue, smoking causes long temrs effects, so let's take the scenario of the drunk child beater, this could effect the child through adult hood, cause behavior and social issues for the child,-this is a long term effect. The idea here is not to belittle the consequences, they both can harm just in different ways, we are all entitled to our own views, so i am done with the camparison issues between the two, i am not here to alter the thinking of anyone or change their viewpoint, but this is mine. But in our society we need to be open minded and fair, don't think for a minute that i am for smoking, i have spent countless hours in the er for breathing treatments but everyone is not perfect, and we cannot enforce out wants or likes onto others unless the law says so.

if someone is smoking in a bar then if it is a problem go to a different bar, if the bar and the law allows it, they have the same rights as you do.

 

[Rena75]

i have never heard of someone smoking and becomming upset and beating their children, ok the next issue, smoking causes long temrs effects, so let's take the scenario of the drunk child beater, this could effect the child through adult hood, cause behavior and social issues for the child,-this is a long term effect.

Sorry, this really made me laugh.

No comparison but thanks for making my evening.

 

[Rence]

I'm at a travel agent conference in Florida right now ... and of course this (and the Celebrity tragedy) are topics of discussion today.

Some of us are wondering if this will eventually lead to ship-wide smoking bans - or at the very least, banning smoking on balconies as well as in cabins.

Right now DCL is just about the only line that bans smoking in all cabins. But an incident like this could lead to DCL banning smoking on balconies and other lines following suit, no smoking in cabins or balconies, largely because it is so hard to monitor. Smoking areas could then be under surveillance so that it would be easier to spot passengers who do not safely dispose of cigarettes. Not sure if it will happen, but one or two more tragic incidents like this and I think this is just about certain.

I think we may see the return of non-smoking ships. Princess had the one non-smoking ship a few years back, but they relocated it and gave up on the non-smoking idea. They had no trouble filling the ship, but non-smoking passengers spend less money on alcohol and gambled less in the casino. A few years back cruises were bargain priced because of the post 9/11 travel slow down. Cruise lines were very dependent on other sources of income such as gambling and booze. The travel industry has recovered and the cost of cruises has risen in recent years, so it may be economically feasible for non-smoking ships to return. The percentage of the population that smokes continues to shrink and a high profile incident like today’s fire may make a non-smoking ship that much more attractive.

I don’t expect that we’re going to see an industry wide ban on smoking anytime soon. It will happen eventually, but it is a ways down the road. As the percentage of the population who smokes gets smaller and smaller, it will be less and less necessary for a business to accommodate smokers. At some point the number of smokers will get small enough that it won’t make business sense to continue to permit smoking. This is years and years away, but this is the way things are trending.

 

[txaggie94gigem]

i was interested to see the post about the possibility the fire started after someone flicked a cigarette off the balcony, with the assumption it would land in the ocean...i had not though of this and i could see this happening...

to the poster that talked about how it is a bad habit to put out your cigarettes on the ground and how it is so different from when she was growing up...i agree but i will tell you this...there are not as many public ashtrays as there used to be...again, my dad was a smoker and i remember growing up there would be ashtrays everywhere - outside of buildings, on tables in restaurants, everywhere...now i think it would be hard to find one in most places...

it made me start thinking....are there ashtrays on the balconies of DCL or do smokers have to bring there own ashtray from home? a silly question, but i cannot remember from when we had a balcony.....

 

[dwkwootton]

No, there are not ashtrays on the balconies on DCL. And, you cannot get one. You are permitted to smoke on the balcony but are not provided with a proper disposal method. Not a good plan.

Maybe the smoker was not falling down drunk as suggested earlier or an inconsiderate stupid piece of pond scum as suggested earlier. Maybe they had to gerry-rig (is that spelled right?) a disposal method and it was not a good one. Before we march all the smokers through the gauntlet, maybe we should consider that its the folks who lack engineering talent that should be flogged in the town square.

If you don't think that excessive drinking hurts anyone except in a DUI, you are ignorant in the true definition of the word.

Recent medical studies are now showing that obesity is more dangerous to your health than smoking. Higher costs for everyone. And think of the example being set for the children. Today's American child is the most overweight and sedentary in our history.

And it makes you wonder if obesity lends to the high cost of cruising, both in food costs and fuel costs. I wonder if there should be two prices for a cruise, a lower cost for average size people and a higher cost for overweight people. Would that be fair given that they eat as much as two or three people and it creates more weight on the ship = higher fuel costs?

Hey ~ maybe the problem was that the smoker was obese and they dropped a hot ash in a spot too tight for their foot and were unable to bend over and extinguish it.

 

[Minnie&Mickey]

No, there are not ashtrays on the balconies on DCL. And, you cannot get one. You are permitted to smoke on the balcony but are not provided with a proper disposal method. Not a good plan.

Actually, I just went back and looked at a picture of my daughter standing on our verandah on the Wonder in 2004, and hooked onto the partition behind her is a cylinder that looks like it is probably some type of ashtray. We are all non-smokers (father-in-law died of lung cancer), so we never really investigated this thing on the balcony to see if that's what it was.

I live one county over from the man that died, so I'm sure we will be hearing a lot more information about this on the news for a long time to come.

 

[tam012864]

dwkwootton--you are totally off base in your assumptions that all overweight people can not bend down or eat as much as 2-3 people. I for one have a child who is not obese or sedentary but who is very active in sports--but who has a mother that is on the chubby side. I was on the Wonder in June 05 and dont believe I ate as much as the "regular" person sitting beside me--nor did I drink as much as some of the others I seen. Before you judge people, maybe you should open your eyes a little wider.

 

[dwkwootton]

dwkwootton--you are totally off base in your assumptions that all overweight people can not bend down or eat as much as 2-3 people. I for one have a child who is not obese or sedentary but who is very active in sports--but who has a mother that is on the chubby side. I was on the Wonder in June 05 and dont believe I ate as much as the "regular" person sitting beside me--nor did I drink as much as some of the others I seen. Before you judge people, maybe you should open your eyes a little wider.

Thank you for getting the point. Hopefully some others will too.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I am really not trying to be rude however, too make a statement like this is unnecessary and just plain mean. It could just have easily been a non-smoker who got drunk and decided to light up that caused the fire.

Could have. But didn't they say it was caused by a cigarette???



If they can keep the paraphanelia off of a metal tube, then they can keep it off of a floating city.

As far as it being bad business--well yes, when only one ship in the fleet is non-smoking, then the other options will be found. But if there is no option--it may take an initial hit--but then people will get over it.

My mom sailed the paradise---smokers in her party just smoked in port.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

And it makes you wonder if obesity lends to the high cost of cruising, both in food costs and fuel costs. I wonder if there should be two prices for a cruise, a lower cost for average size people and a higher cost for overweight people. Would that be fair given that they eat as much as two or three people and it creates more weight on the ship = higher fuel costs?

Seriously???


Teenagers--high metabolizers and those just in general who are enjoying their vacation and hvae taken a carte blanche to eating...blaming the high cost of cruises on fat people eating too much---is absurb.

 

[minkydog]

No, there are not ashtrays on the balconies on DCL. And, you cannot get one. You are permitted to smoke on the balcony but are not provided with a proper disposal method. Not a good plan.

Maybe the smoker was not falling down drunk as suggested earlier or an inconsiderate stupid piece of pond scum as suggested earlier. Maybe they had to gerry-rig (is that spelled right?) a disposal method and it was not a good one. Before we march all the smokers through the gauntlet, maybe we should consider that its the folks who lack engineering talent that should be flogged in the town square.

What?? Are there no drinking cups and running water out there?? If someone lights up and has no ashtray, then they just being inconsiderate from the start. Where do they think that ciggie is going to go when they get done? On the floor? In their hand? Not likely Why does it take "enginieering talent" to figure out you need an ashtray? Most of us learned to clean up after ourselves in kindergarten rather than blaming dear ol' Mom for our messes. I think the same could go for adult smokers on a cruise line or anywhere else.

 

[lbgraves]

They just reported that at least 100 rooms were burned.

 

[MdmMim]

No, there are not ashtrays on the balconies on DCL. And, you cannot get one. You are permitted to smoke on the balcony but are not provided with a proper disposal method. Not a good plan

There are receptacles for butts on DCL balconies.

 

[cruisnfamily]

No, there are not ashtrays on the balconies on DCL. And, you cannot get one. You are permitted to smoke on the balcony but are not provided with a proper disposal method. Not a good plan.

Ummmm, really?
I've been on 3 DCL cruises and on all of them, we just requested an ashtray from our cabin steward and one was provided. They even cleaned and replaced the ashtray for us several times a day.

 

[logan1_2000]

just scrolled through some of the p*ssing contests here back and forth that took smokers, drinkers, engineers, sloppy people, wife beaters, child beaters, and the overweight to task in various turns. usually i need to go to cruise critic for sniping and pettiness and mean-spirited exchanges.

our thoughts and wishes to our fellow cruisers out there, on all cruise lines. disney ships are happy places, so lets share positive emotions.

 

[missyoh8]

There are receptacles for butts on DCL balconies.

There are ashtrays on the balconies! My husband and I always used a glass of water instead to prevent any chance of fire.

However.........we have now both quit smoking!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO

Missyoh8