Cruisers Were Asked If Smoking Should Be Banned On Ships… One Answer Won By A Mile

Most cruisers will tell you smoking on a ship is a problem. Most cruisers, when you actually ask them, don’t want it banned.

We posted a question to the Travel Life Vibes Facebook community asking what cruisers think about smoking on cruise ships. Should it be banned completely? Are designated smoking areas fine? What about people lighting up on their balcony? The post drew over 1,300 comments. We worked through the most-engaged responses the thread surfaced, and the answers were not what we expected.

What We Asked

The question went up on the Travel Life Vibes Facebook page. We laid out the basic positions cruisers tend to take on this — some don’t mind because the smoking sections are small and out of the way, others want a full cruise-wide ban, and there’s a separate camp arguing about whether balcony smoking should ever be allowed. We asked which side people landed on, and why.

The post drew over 1,300 comments. Facebook’s public view doesn’t expose every single reply, so this article works from the most-engaged comments the thread surfaced, including several that pulled dozens of reactions and replies of their own.

The Ban-It-All Camp Barely Showed Up

Out of more than 1,300 comments, the most striking thing wasn’t what cruisers said. It was what they didn’t say.

Almost nobody called for a total smoking ban.

The most-engaged comments, the ones with dozens or hundreds of reactions, kept landing in the same general territory. Smoking is fine, as long as it stays in a clearly marked designated area where non-smokers don’t have to walk through it.

“The smoking areas on ships are generally a tiny portion of the ship, as long as they smoke in the designated areas then smoke ’em if ya got ’em. Have we really become that precious that we can’t be happy with the 98% of the rest of the ship that is non smoking?” — Steve

Steve’s comment was one of many making the same case. Marni put it more bluntly: “I don’t smoke but what I want to know is why people complain so much over something they can avoid?” Her comment pulled 54 reactions. Paul argued that smokers occupy maybe 0.0001% of the ship and pulled 24. Bri pointed out that on her last sailing, non-smokers had no reason to cross the smoking area in the first place because there was always another route. Demond summed up the shared logic in seven words: “Y’all know where not to walk after day 2.”

Even cruisers who said outright that they hate the smell of cigarettes mostly stopped short of calling for a ban. Smoking didn’t even crack the top of cruisers’ actual wishlist of things they want gone — we get into the things cruisers wish were banned on cruise ships in a separate piece, and smoking isn’t at the top.

The takeaway from the most-engaged responses wasn’t “ban it.” It was “contain it, and the rest of us will work around it.”

Balconies. Everyone Agreed.

If there was one thing the comments did agree on, it was balconies.

Multiple commenters who supported designated smoking areas drew a hard line at smoking on private balconies. They did it for two specific reasons that came up over and over.

The first was drift. Balconies aren’t really private when it comes to smoke. Cigarette and cigar smoke spills into the balcony next door, into the cabin behind it, into the air right above it.

“No smoking on balcony’s and there should be a designated area back of ship for smokers. Need to be an area where there is little foot traffic. So people with asthma or allergies won’t just happen upon it or have to walk through to get to somewhere they are trying to go.” — Kristi

Kristi’s comment was the highest-engagement reply on the entire thread, with 96 reactions and dozens of replies. The pattern she set — designated areas yes, balconies no — got echoed by Athene, David, Carlos, Leigh, and a long list of others.

The second reason came up almost as often: fire safety. A burning cigarette left unattended on a balcony, or a cigar ash blown back onto fabric, isn’t theoretical. The major lines now permanently ban balcony smoking specifically because of past fire incidents. Donna captured it in one sentence: “Absolutely no smoking on the balcony, not just for smell, but fire safety.” Erin made the same point and added that you can’t expect every cruiser to be responsible enough to handle it.

If you’re new to cruising and wondering what else cruisers warn each other about doing on balconies, our list of balcony don’ts covers the rest.

Location, Location, Location

Smoking sections existing isn’t enough on its own. The comments made it clear that where the smoking area sits matters at least as much as whether smoking is allowed at all.

The strongest preference: aft, outdoors, and away from foot traffic. Kristi specifically called for an area at the back of the ship where people with asthma or allergies wouldn’t accidentally walk through it. Athene, who has asthma herself, made the same point. She noted that outdoor areas placed aft would let the wind carry smoke straight off the back of the ship instead of trapping it on deck.

David, who flagged that plenty of cruisers have lung issues, said the same thing in fewer words: “I would prefer the smoking area be at the very back of the ship.”

The pattern was consistent. Smokers can have their corner. The corner should be where the smoke can leave the ship without sweeping across walkways, lounges, or the pool deck on its way out.

The Casino Question

If the comments agreed on balconies, they split harder on casinos.

A few major lines still allow smoking inside casino areas. That setup is straightforward for smokers because you can smoke and gamble in one place. It’s divisive for non-smokers because casino smoke doesn’t stay in the casino. It seeps into nearby corridors, lounges, and shops.

Athene laid the issue out: “If the line has a casino, I wish they could close it off so the smoke does not seep out into other areas of the ship.”

Pam saw it from the other angle: “If the cruise line is going to allow it in casinos so you can come in and blow through your money, then there’s no reason not to allow it outside in the fresh air in designated areas.”

Carlos, a non-smoker himself, said he had no issue with smoking in designated areas, an open deck, or a cigar lounge, but specifically pushed back on indoor smoking in closed spaces. Kass added the practical point cruise lines tend to underestimate: “I do, however, see that there could be an issue with the smoking inside, that smell does linger no matter what.”

This was the area where the comments were genuinely conflicted. Outdoor smoking in a designated section had broad support. Casino smoking, and the smoke that drifts out of it, was where opinions got messier.

While we’re talking about the casino: chips and drinks aren’t the only spending traps onboard. We dug into the ones that catch first-timers off guard in our hidden costs guide.

Smoke vs. Drunks

This was the surprise of the thread.

Multiple commenters, including non-smokers, said the same thing in slightly different words. They’re more bothered by drunk passengers than by smokers.

“I just cruised a few weeks ago. Smokers were off in a little glass enclosed hut in a corner. They weren’t bothering anyone. I’m more bothered by the people who get fall down drunk and make an a$$ out of themselves than I am by someone over in the corner smoking a cigarette.” — Bridget

Bridget’s comment pulled 85 reactions, second-highest on the thread. Ken, who doesn’t smoke himself but whose wife does, put it more bluntly: “I’d rather smell smoke than deal with drunks.”

Diana made it an apples-to-apples comparison. “A person that smokes can smoke a dozen or more cigarettes and not fall down. But someone who drinks that much is falling all over the place.” Mary, a former smoker, didn’t even put alcohol in the mix. She said heavy perfume bothers her more than cigarettes do.

This wasn’t fringe. It was a recurring theme, and the reaction counts showed it landed with a lot of cruisers. Smoking, in this thread, wasn’t the worst-behaved thing on a cruise. Drinking was. (And if you’re trying to figure out whether the math on a drink package even works for your sailing, we went deep on that in our breakdown of cruise drink packages.)

Smokers Are Paying Guests Too

Some of the most thoughtful comments came from former smokers. These are cruisers who don’t smoke now, can’t stand the smell anymore, and still pushed back on the idea that smokers should be made to feel like the problem.

Graeme: “Why should smokers be penalised or made to feel like they are the issue? They have also paid their hard earned cash to go on holiday. The smoking areas are easy to avoid.”

Cheryl, also a former smoker: “I do believe that they have a right to a space, but I definitely can’t stand the smell anymore.”

Mark, who described himself as a former two-pack-a-day smoker, said ships should provide adequate smoking sections and non-smokers can avoid them. Stefania split the difference with what felt like the most reasonable middle ground in the entire thread. Hate the smell, believe in freedom, and the cruise line’s job is to keep the smoking area from impeding non-smokers. A sealed space, in her view, would do both.

The fairness argument came up enough that it deserved its own section. Smokers paid for the cruise too. The compromise position the thread kept circling back to was about coexisting, not pushing anyone off the ship.

What Surprised Me Most

A few things stood out, but the answer that genuinely surprised me had nothing to do with the smoke itself.

Karen described the smoking sections on the Carnival ships she’s sailed as some of the most fun, social spots on the entire ship. Her words: “The smoking areas on the ships are always packed and the most fun place to meet new people. Lots of people go there just to socialize, smoking or not.”

I was not expecting that.

The mental image most non-smokers carry of a cruise smoking section is a sad little corner with a few people hunched against the wind. Karen’s description, and a few other comments echoing it, flipped that. The bar served drinks. People without lit cigarettes wandered over because the energy was good. The smoking section was a social hub.

I don’t smoke. I’m not going to start. But after reading through over 1,300 comments on what cruisers actually think about smoking on a ship, the takeaway I didn’t see coming was that the people who do smoke seem to be having a better time than anyone is willing to admit.

What The Comments Agreed On

For all the disagreement on casinos, indoor spaces, and where exactly the smoking section should sit, the thread converged on a pretty consistent position. Most cruisers don’t want smoking banned. Most cruisers do want it contained. Keep it out of balconies, keep it away from foot traffic, and ideally keep it outdoors where the wind can do its job.

The minority position calling for a complete ban barely surfaced in the most-engaged comments. The strictest visible voices weren’t pushing for total bans either. They were pushing for stricter balcony enforcement and better placement of designated areas.

If there’s a takeaway for cruise lines reading this, it’s the same one cruisers have been saying for years. Don’t ban it, design it. Cruisers don’t want fights with smokers. They want smoke that doesn’t drift into their dinner.

If you’ve sailed on a ship with a designated smoking area, did you notice the smoke at all? Or was the layout doing its job?