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"I've never been on one, but that figure sounds pretty high to me."

Never been on one? My wife and I have been on many, and here's how it works.

Port side of the ship (left side) is where smokers light up. No smoking on the starboard side (right side) and in the dining rooms. Smoking allowed in cabins, in lounges and bars on the port side, the casino, in the Showroom during Bingo games, and in other deck areas. Some ships flip-flop the port and starboard designations. On Holland America, starboard smokes, port is non-.

About 25% of the pax on a Caribbean cruise smoke, about 40% on a Mediterranean cruise. Non smokers can enjoy the smoke free bars and lounges on the non- side of the ship. Ventilation on the typical modern cruise ships is fabulous, and the overall air quality away from areas where smoking is allowed is top-notch. You don't walk down the retail promenades smelling smoke. It's exhausted away. And, as I said, all the dining rooms are non-smoking. You're free, at any point in the dinner, to get up and wander over to the bar for a puff. It's all very well-planned to accomodate the preferences of all pax without stepping on anyone's toes.

Carnival's Paradise wasn't the only non-smoking ship. Rennaissance Cruises was non-smoking, but they went belly-up. And Carnival's Zero-Tolerance Policy was modeled right out of the typical governmental public schools' ZT program. The Carnival Smoking Nazis would throw you off the ship if you had even one cigarette in your possession.

The n/s Paradise was an ill-conceived move because Carnival failed to realize that the group that was clamoring for a ship with no smoking wasn't conprised of people who had an interest in cruising, only in CONTROLLING others' lives.

Michael

Thank you for the clarification. It's great to hear an INFORMED opinion, as you have been on cruises.

Again, personally I don't care if you smoke (and that includes tobacco, hashish, marijuana, old tires and chicken salad); I just don't want to smell it. What you do to your body, is your business.

I have no problem with a cruise ship, as long as I can enjoy myself alongside other passengers like yourself. I'm sure you have gone into a hotel room after a smoker has checked out, and have noticed the reek of stale smoke. I don't believe anyone enjoys that. And I also think that non-smokers are more affected by that, as they are not conditioned to the odor as a smoker would be. A smoker is surrounded by the smell of stale smoke (hair, clothing, car, ect.) and unless the reek is bad enough, probably doesn't notice.

So, like the smell of mildew, body odor and other unpleasant smells; no one wants to be subjected to obnoxious smells 24 hrs a day. As long as I'm blissfully unaware of the smell, I have no problems whatsoever.

"And Carnival's Zero-Tolerance Policy was modeled right out of the typical governmental public schools' ZT program. The Carnival Smoking Nazis would throw you off the ship if you had even one cigarette in your possession." I seem to recall news articles of one incident where a family was on a cruise and the ZT policy kicked in when their teenage son was found to have a pack of cigarettes in his luggage. The cruise line promptly kicked him off in a foreign country to find his own way home. Of course, the parents "vacation" turned into a nightmare and the whole family had to debark and try to procure transport back to the States because they surely couldn't leave their offspring off on his own. I don't even care that they are now reversing the policy to "allow" us back. That one incident was enough to convince me that they don't deserve my business.