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Sunday, December 10, 2000, 12:00 a.m. Pacific

Commentary
Vacation goes up in smoke as cruise line enforces rule

by Eileen Ogintz
Special to The Seattle Times
Some rules are not meant to be bent. My family learned that the hard way.

As many scattered families have done, we chose a cruise ship as a family reunion site. We booked 30 relatives on a Thanksgiving voyage aboard Carnival Cruise Lines' Paradise.

The fact that the Paradise is a smoke-free ship - the only one afloat - appealed to our group.

The ship was clear about its "zero tolerance" policy. Not only could a passenger caught smoking be fined $250, but for merely possessing "smoking materials" they could be forced to leave the ship in a foreign country and have to pay their own way home.

Our smoking nightmare on the Paradise started four days into the Caribbean cruise as our family was finishing Thanksgiving dinner and celebrating two wedding anniversaries.

After dinner, my 16-year-old son, Matt Yemma, and his older cousin, Chris Yemma, came to tell us that the ship's security officers wouldn't let them into their shared cabin.

It seems a smoke detector had gone off - though no one was in the cabin - and a room steward had found matches in the cabin - though none had been lit. (I remembered I'd innocently given the boys the matchbook so they'd have the address of a restaurant where we had planned to meet the day before in port.)

During a cabin search there was no scent of smoke, but a pack of cigarettes was found in my nephew's suitcase.

We pleaded with the ship officials, but there would be no reprieve from the cruise line's policy.

My nephew, his father (my husband's brother), my son and my husband were forced to leave the ship as soon as we docked the next day in Jamaica. "We were hustled off the ship down a back elevator by security officers into a cab. Everyone was staring at us," said my husband Andy Yemma, a non-smoker.

From the beginning, my embarrassed nephew readily acknowledged the cigarettes were his. He had come to the cruise ship straight from college and had already checked his bag by the time he learned of the non-smoking policy.

He said he was reluctant to tell his parents he'd brought cigarettes and didn't know what to do with them. He swears he never smoked on board. He said he didn't realize the dire consequences of that one pack of cigarettes buried amid his socks.

"Everyone always says they weren't smoking," said Miles Willis, the ship's hotel director.

Ship personnel, we learned later, are constantly on the lookout for those violating the rules.

"People have to realize we take this very seriously," said Willis.

Carnival officials say four to six people are sent home each month - at their own expenses - for violating the no-smoking policy. Earlier that week, another passenger and her teen-age son were kicked off the ship. On one earlier week, five passengers and 15 friends and relatives had been asked to leave the ship in St.Thomas.

"In order to effectively insure that the integrity of the smoke-free environment is maintained, the policies must be strict and the penalties severe," explained Carnival President Bob Dickinson.

"If we don't treat every violator in exactly the same way, the concept would be impossible to effectively manage," Dickinson said. (However, while Carnival continues to observe its hard line, its officials now say it is re-evaluating its non-smoking policy.)

Carnival Paradise passengers - even the kids - must sign a contract to abide by the no-smoking policy. Security guards X-ray bags and confiscate cigarettes and cigars when passengers return to the ship after visiting ports. There are reminder signs everywhere.

Many passengers choose the Paradise because it is smoke-free.

"I'm allergic to smoke," explained Sylvia Mueth, who was traveling with her extended family from Illinois.

"We didn't want the kids to be around smoke," added Lisa Della-Penna, a North Carolinian who was cruising with her husband and two children.

But both cruise experts and passengers who laud the policy are surprised by the severity of Carnival's policy.

"It's a bit much to fine you $250 and make you leave for having a pack of cigarettes. We're not talking about an illegal substance," said Anne Campbell, editor of an online cruise magazine, cruisemates.com.

"If you pick the Paradise, make sure everyone - especially the teens - understands the consequences," she warned.

Matt and Chris and their dads had some good talks about family while they waited for the rest at the dock in Miami two days later.

Their grandparents took their side. But that won't make up for the family time we didn't have on board ship or for all the missed memories.

Eileen Ogintz writes a syndicated travel column, 'Taking the Kids.'

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quote:

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Originally posted by Paddy:
...what exactly is the problem of having a solitary box of unused cigarettes in your own case if there is no intention of smoking them.

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Can 'smokers' really be trusted to not smoke on a cruise? After all they are addicted to one of the most powerful drugs know to man.

Some smokers manage to smoke in every other non-smoking environment, including Aircraft toilets, so they would have little conscience about a secret smoke in their cabin!

OK, most smokers can probably refrain for a few hours, even a 9 hour transatlantic, but how many smokers could refrain for an entire weeks cruise?

If someome has cocaine in their luggage at JFK, but says they had no intention of using it until they leave the country - is that O.K?

I realise that Ciggarettes are not an ilegal substance, but Ciggaretts effectivly illegal on the 'Paradise'.

If you can't kick the habit, don't take the ship!

Smoking on the other hand leaves a definite odour in the cabin that can be noticed days after the occurrence.

Of all the cruise ships in the world, there is only one non-smoking cruise ship. I hope after a policy review Carnival ups the fine to $1000 and maintains the policy of putting the offenders off the ship at the next port, with the return at their own expense, as it is now.

Paddy, why would a non-smoker want to buy duty free cigarettes.

You know the policy when you got the tickets, you know the consequences, and you have to sign the form before getting on board.

This young man is in College, he is not a kid, why didn't he just destroy the cigarettes and flush them. If he was keeping'em, chances are he was going to try an smoke'em.

Go Carnival Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

Don'tsmokeonParadise!!!

Paddy.

In fact they should give folks a blood test in the embarkation hall to see if they had nicotine in their blood stream! Anyone who failed should be fined and sent home without a refund. Anyone actually caught in the 'act' while onboard should be flogged publicly on deck.

Full spead ahead, Mr.Christian!

Additionally, a full correction centre, in the bows of the ship, will also be a featured.

I don't see the controversy???

Someone lit up. (even if just a match)

Someone lied about it.

Usually a match won't set off a smoke alarm.

Case closed...Carnival did the right this to protext the "integrity" of their rules.

quote:

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Originally posted by Barryboat:
Regarding the story above about the kid who had cigarettes in his bag.....And in that same cabin, the smoke alarm went off????

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Maynbe the Chef burned the steak and the fumes went into the guys cabin? Maybe not?

Believe me, it is also greatly appreciated by the masses in general here as well. The bars are fighting it but loosing big time. Other cities are looking at the same sort of by-law. Even Toronto.

Paddy, I'll give you the one about the gifts for friends but why not pick it up before going back home at the duty free, not before you go on the cruise knowing how they are reacting, and I also think properly so.

Nosmokingrulesnow.

Addicts could then take 'smoke' cruises to nowhere!