The push to ban smoking continues. This time the story comes from a cruise line. Certainly, any private cruise line has the right to create whatever conditions and rules it wants aboard its ships, as long as it’s legal. Smart business execs will offer what customers demand and customers who don’t like the ship’s rules will go elsewhere.
That said, this new test is silly: a ban on smoking in cigar bars.
The cruise world is abuzz this week over a recent experiment by Carnival to ban smoking in more areas of its ships, including — and here’s what’s getting people talking — in cigar bars.
Carnival fans on message boards at cruise sites such as CruiseCritic.com are noting the irony of considering a smoking ban in the one place on a ship specifically designed for smokers. Some are comparing the move to banning passengers from swimming in a ship’s swimming pools.
If execs are concerned that non-smokers have to walk through the cigar bar in order to get to other areas of the ship, that’s legitimate. But that’s a design problem. Would they also consider a ban on eating in the dining room if those who aren’t hungry have to walk through to get to the casino or the pool?
