You can't smoke inside in any U.S. public place except for some casinos, and even that has become controversial as workers-rights groups in both Atlantic City and Las Vegas have pushed to change those rules.
Banning smoking in restaurants and bars on land makes sense given the dangers of second-hand smoke. It's also only a minor inconvenience for smokers since they can simply go outside to smoke.
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On a cruise ship, however, it's not that simple.
Aside from passenger cabins, all areas of a ship are shared, and smoking in a cabin is a fire hazard and is strictly prohibited.
The smoking rules at Carnival and Royal Caribbean are similar. Both allow smoking and vaping in parts of their casinos but only for active players. And they offer smoking areas on the pool decks and perhaps in another section of an outdoor deck.
You also can't, for the record, smoke anything on a cruise ship other than tobacco. Cannabis is strictly prohibited, and if you're caught smoking it, you'll be thrown off the ship and you might face a lifetime ban.
Some cruise passengers, however, have issues with these rules. Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald, writing on his Facebook page, addressed some pushback he recently received.
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Carnival is pushed on its vaping policy
Smoking and vaping are not exactly the same thing, but cruise ships treat them exactly the same way. A Carnival customer took issue with this in an email to Heald.
"John Heald can you confirm Carnival’s policy on vaping? Is this only permitted in smoking sections of the ship? If the answer is yes then it needs to be changed," he said.
The letter writer actually had reasonable logic for his request.
Use of vapes in the USA is almost exclusive to smokers trying to quit smoking; their efficacy in this role is confirmed by authoritative evidence reviews by Harvard University, The fall in US smoking prevalence since 2017 is one of the fastest in the world because of vaping. Smoking among young people in The USA is at an all-time low. Therefore placing vapers with smokers is cruel and unjust. Vaping may not be totally safe, but is safer than smoking and helps smokers to quit.
Some vapers are, of course, former smokers, but the poster seems to be conflating his personal experience. Vaping is pretty evenly distributed among people who both smoke and vape, former smokers, and people who have never smoked.
The numbers: "29.4% also were current cigarette smokers, 40.3% were former cigarette smokers, and 30.3% had never been cigarette smokers," according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The poster, who has substituted vaping for smoking, says vapers are not being treated fairly.
"Carnival passengers include hundreds of people who vape. Why are they punished by being forced into cigarette-smoking areas? Is this still true today? Is this the barbaric rule Carnival still has," they wrote.
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Carnival has clear rules on smoking and vaping
Heald was compassionate but resolute in his response.
"Thank you and that was a very well-presented message," he wrote. "I am not going to pretend I understand if what this guest has said is true because I have never smoked cigarettes or tried vaping. What I can tell you is that we (Carnival Cruise Line) do insist that people who vape can only do so in smoking areas."
The brand ambassador was clear that vaping in other areas would not be tolerated.
"Anyone caught vaping in nonsmoking areas would be subject to the same consequences as those smoking a cigarette or cigar or pipe," he added. "As there were many of you questioning this rule recently I wanted to share this with you all."
Most of the more than 1,000 comments on Heald's post favored keeping the current rules on smoking and vaping.
"Vaping in the smoking area ONLY needs to continue John Heald. I definitely don’t want to be forced to breathe in the chemicals that they are vaping," Mary Ellen Dillon wrote.
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Lisa Lisa agreed.
"I am a former smoker so I understand but it's not fair to expose non-smokers to cigarettes or vaping. Both are harmful," she wrote.
Many smokers also supported keeping the current rules in place.
"I’m a smoker, so I hang out and make new friends in the smoking area. I’ve met plenty of vapers there who just like me, hang out and meet new friends. Not a single one has ever complained about vaping in the smoking area and just like smokers, vapers enjoy the social aspect of the smoking area," posted Lisa Park.
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