The Ventura County Star's Cruise Columnist interviewed Mark Conroy regarding their new smoking policy and has the statistics regarding World Cruise cancellations and the cost to Regent for the new policy.

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/sep/02/staterooms-on-regent-wont-smell-of-smoke/

I saw that this morning and was surprised at how low the cancellation loses were!

Thanks Kathy. Wow, 3 M in cancelations....that hurts :ohmy:

That cancellation of 3 million $ quoted may be conservative IMO based on how many full WCers I know who have cancelled and re-booked on other cruise lines. Remember Mark Conroy said that on the full WC 15-20% of passengers are smokers. On regular cruises only about 12-15% are smokers. (his numbers, not mine).

Actually the web article is much shorter than the full printed article. I contacted David Loe for permission to print the full article here.

The writer of the Article (not Mark Conroy) failed to mention that it is VERY possible for cruise ships to have smoking and non smoking rooms, because they did ten years ago on many lines -- including the larger ones. And the writer erred in stating that guests book a specific room on a cruise ship and not in a hotel as the reason for the ship's failure to have smoking rooms. Often, I have booked a category guarantee -- not a specific room. Back when cruise lines did have smoking segregated rooms, each room's designation was available to the booking guest, so if that guest wanted to book a specific room, the designation was known.

Personally, as a non-smoker, I would prefer to have the only place guests could smoke limited to their own smoking-designated suite interiors, with no smoking in any public area (inside or out) and no smoking on balconies. This would insulate me from second hand smoke and odor far better than Regent's plan.

I agree with Marcie that I think Mr. Conroy when speaking of losses, was on the conservative side when you take into consideration the amount of people Marcie alone knows who have cancelled the WC. It will be interesting to see how the year of 2008 works out in comparison with 2007. I think there will be quite a few people who just won''t book Regent so they only way to judge is by year end net profit comparison.
Ngaire, is that ever published?
Lynn

I'm not Ngaire, and can't answer for sure, but it is very rare that private, family owned corporations such as the one that owns Regent ever make their financial information public.

Further, it would be almost impossible to assess this information relative to smoking policy, even if we could get it. People will cancel and refuse to book because of it. Others might book BECAUSE of it. If the net result were a decrease in bookings for '08, it would be difficult to know whether the decrease were due to the smoking policy, the down-turn in some segments of our economy, Regents ever-rising fares, other reasons, or all of the above.

Starting to sound like a broken record, but I still do wish that Regent had instead established designated smoking suites in designated smoking parts of the ship, and banned smoking in all public areas and balconies. Better, I think, for smokers and us non-smokers too.

I give Regent credit for announcing the decision as early as they did. Had they not done so, the cancellation rate would be higher. Since our trips are family related and we have older family members who are not going to quit, we will simply not book Regent in the future. We would have been happy to pay a higher (within reason) fare for a designated smoking cabin, but that was not allowed within the new policy.

Sue, I think most smokers would agree with you and be willing to pay more for a cabin if there was extra cleaning etc. involved. I think the problem Mark Conroy was running into was trying to figure out just how many cabins to set aside. On shorter cruises there wouldn't be nearly as many needed as on longer cruises such as the WC. I guess setting "x" amount of cabins aside and when they're gone, they're gone wasn't an option?? I do wish they would have given it a try before saying it wasn't doable.

Richard, I also agree with you. As a smoker I would rather be able to smoke in my own cabin or balcony and make all the lounges and public areas non smoking except for the pool bar and of course the conoisseur club.

Frankly, I think a mere $3 million in cancellations is a small number, much less than I would have expected. And lets remember the new non-smoking policy probably generated considerably more than $3 million in new bookings from non-smokers although that pricise statistic would be hard to calculate. Consider, then, the savings generated from the greater ease on the crew who have to clean up after smokers and the fact that the percentage of smokers in the population continues to decline. Seems to me only $3 million in cancellations is a remarkable positive achievement.

Patrick

Patrick, I don't think the new policy will attract those who don't like smoking in public rooms. The smoking policy hasn't really changed at all in the lounges and casino.

Just a guess, but when I quit smoking about ten years ago, places to smoke were already becoming slim to none in some environments. The one place I wanted to keep smoking OK was, of course, my own home. When I am on vacation, my hotel room of ship's suite takes the place of my own home. This was sort of my "last line of defense" as a smoker. So it is Regent's ban on smoking in ALL suites that I feel is a bit draconean on smokers -- as I remember back to when I was one of them.

No doubt, the designation of a block of smoking rooms on all of Regent's ships might result in a degree of "booking inflexibility" on some cruises, that might result in some vacant suites. But isn't (or wasn't) Regent all about customer service, above all?

Nope - it's a business with a profit motive. Good customer service impacts that. And the way of the world, at the moment and in the future, is non-smoking. They're leading the way in making a change that for the short term might hurt but may actually increase that bottom line. If only 15% of adults in the US smoke and if 15% more non smokers book because of the new policy then they will reap a reward. My guess is that the smoking issue might be a number one complaint among passengers coupled with the possible insurance requirement.

Karen, I think you are right to a degree. But consider this. Every smoker who exits Regent helps clear the air just a bit in the public rooms. Every little bit helps.

I am one of those who doesn't want any of my smoking friends to leave Regent. I love sailing with them smoke or not. But I am also one of those non-smokers whose biggest concern is not smoking in the public rooms. My feet help me deal with that. I am concerned about walking into my cabin on CROSS to discover that it has been occupied previously by smokers. It's happened to us once. If that happens, my feet can't help be because CROSS is sold out. I'm going to have a good time even if the cabin stinks for a few days. But I'm really happy I won't have to worry about that possibility on CAVIAR.

Patrick

I still am not getting this logic. Why would non smokers suddenly change cruise lines and try Regent just because you can't smoke in your cabins? If I was a non smoker and wanted a non smoking environment, I would book Oceania or another line that didn't allow smoking in public rooms! I really doubt that any non smoker that didn't want to encounter smoke would think that Regent's new policy is a good one for them.

Island Cruiser:

Actually, your main problem with smoking is exactly the same as mine! I don't wan a suite smelling of stale smoke either. I wouldn't let anybody smoke in my cars back when I was a smoker for exactly that reason.

But wouldn't designation of non-smoking and smoking rooms solve our problem?

Karen, you are quite right. People who don't want to encounter smoke at all will not be totally satisfied with Regent's new policy. They could go to Oceania and be happier. But even those folks would no doubt opine the new policy is better than the old one, a step in the right direction. And, for that matter, they aren't cruising Regent now. Never have. They are already over on Oceania. I believe there are very few nonsmokers who are that adamant.

For most people, I believe, this is a matter of degree. I prefer Oceania's smoking policy to Regent's. But not so strongly that I would walk away from luxury cruising to enjoy it. I am very happy Regent has taken a policy step in the right direction. The company is offering a cruising option that is not available to others booking luxury cruises. Bravo! And yes, Richard, offering smoking and nonsmoking cabins would eliminate my concern about walking into a stinky cabin. I would prefer that policy change to no change at Regent. But I like new policy even better because it changes the ratio of smokers to nonsmokers on the ship in favor of nonsmokers. Every little bit helps. I think given the changes taking place in our society, the ratio of smokers to nonsmokers on all ships will change anyway. Regent has just nudged it along. Patrick

Ah, the glee that this thread brings out and the compassion, is so heartening.

Karen, don't you think this dead horse has been beaten enough.

Howard, I guess it will be beaten enough when no one else has anything to say about the topic :)

For the same reason I always request a non-smoking room at a hotel. No matter how much the staff cleans, there is still a slightly stale odor of smoke. (My last stay at a hotel, I had to change rooms 3x even though the rooms given to me were designated non-smoking.) So by making the rooms non-smoking the issue of whether a room smells stale because of smoke becomes moot.(Funny thing? I never noticed it until I became an ex-smoker.)

I heard back from the author, David Loe. He is the reason that the ship stops in Ventura County every year because he arranges a group which departs from Port Hueneme. Margo might have met him or his group on the Navigator a few years ago. Anyway, here is the full article:

“On Cruising”
Publication Date: September 2, 2007
By David Loe

It isn’t easy being a pioneer. Just ask Carnival and Renaissance Cruises. In the quest to provide a smoke-free cruising experience both tried and failed.

Carnival, the biggest cruise line of them all, designated one ship in their fleet to have a strict no-smoking policy in 1998. Six years later they gave up on the idea and the Paradise became a smoking ship again. Renaissance premiered as a totally no-smoking cruise line, but they went bankrupt in 2001.

Maybe aiming for a completely smoke-free environment on a cruise ship was too radical an idea. I mean even here in California where less than 15% of adults still smoke and where we have the toughest smoking laws around; smokers are still entitled to a few places to legally take a drag. Even us non-smokers understand that if someone is addicted to nicotine, they can’t be expected to take a 7-night cruise and not light up. The question is where should the limits be drawn?

For years non-puffers have told me that they would like to see designated non-smoking rooms on cruise ships. It’s easy enough to reserve a room like that at a hotel, but just about impossible to find on a cruise ship. Why is that? Because hotels do not assign a specific room to you when you make your reservation. That plus the fact that most hotel guests only stay a night or two makes it much easier for a hotel management to oversee the distribution of smoking and non-smoking rooms.

Now we have a new pioneer in cruise line smoking policies, and my instincts tell me this will work. Regents Seven Seas, a luxury cruise line, has announced that all staterooms on all of their ships will be non-smoking starting in late December of this year. Not only that, they are prohibiting smoking on private balconies as well. Personally, I like that codicil best of all. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been out relaxing on my balcony reading a book and enjoying the fresh sea breeze only to have a smoker down wind of me light up and ruin the experience.

Like many cruise lines, Regent had previously prohibited smoking in many public rooms including the dining rooms, but this is a huge step to tell guests not to smoke in their rooms and on their private balconies. They sound serious too! Here’s the fine print: “Failure to comply with this ban will result in guests being asked to leave the ship at their expense, without refund or credit for the unused portion of their cruise.”

Really? Kick them off the ship? Now that’s what I call serious. I got a hold of Mark Conroy, the long-time President of Regent, to follow up on that statement. “I don’t want to be the smoke police, but if you have a policy you need to enforce it,” he told me. “Smokers are very welcome on our ships, and I think they will find the restrictions we put in place no more draconian than what they face in everyday life.”

I’ve always enjoyed interviewing Conroy because he tells it like it is without the usual corporate spin you get from most executives. I asked him if the announcement of this pending policy had resulted in any cancellations. He frankly replied, “about 3 million dollars (in bookings) particularly on the World Cruise where we had a core of loyal customers who were heavy smokers.”

I am aware of only one other cruise line, Oceania, which has taken such a strong policy on prohibiting in-room and on-balcony smoking. They are a relatively new operator that currently has a fleet of 3 ships.

You’ve got to appreciate the guts it must have taken for both Oceania and especially an established and very successful cruise line like Regent to shake up the cruise world with a policy like this. After all, they’ve already got a good thing going. Though more expensive than many lines, my experience is that guests who have cruised on Regent Seven Seas can’t wait to book another voyage, and often do so before their trip ends.

I asked Conroy if there was anything else he wanted to add. He said, “I want to make the point that this is not an anti smokers action, we are in the business of saying yes to our guests and the idea of being restrictive is completely counter to what we do for our guests everyday. That being said we looked for alterative ways to accommodate both our guests who are smokers and those that are not and could not find a practical solution that continued to allow smoking everywhere without impacting non smokers.”

If you stop to think about it, you’ve got to wonder why smoking in cruise ship staterooms has been allowed to go on for so long. Forget, for a moment, about the dangers of second hand smoke and the discomfort of the lingering smell of smoke for the next guest in a stateroom. Smoking is a major fire hazard. The number one anxiety for any sea-going captain is the thought of having to contend with a fire at sea. Let’s just say it could be a lot worse than those house fires you read about where someone was smoking in bed.

Tag: David Loe, President of Radio Cruises, has been organizing group cruises for Ventura County residents for more than 20 years. Contact him at David@RadioCruises.com


Suggested photo caption: Mark Conroy, President of Regent Seven Seas Cruises has taken a bold step by prohibiting smoking in all staterooms and adjoining balconies on his entire fleet of ships starting later this year. The decision has resulted in some passenger cancellations.