Re: Cigars On Cruise
 

you didn't understand that ;/ :confused: but then again I guess it was stupid in a way..

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In actuality, I found them to be very cigar friendly. They provided a VERY COMFORTABLE lounge for us to get together in. Waitresses came in and took orders. There were also a lot of places up on deck that you could smoke cigars if you chose to do so. They just didn't want you smoking in your room or balcony. Someone on here explained it very well to me. Their thinking is that the people close to you who hate cigar smoke paid as much for their cruise as you did and have the right to enjoy it on their balcony. It would have been different if there were no place to smoke...but like I said, they made us feel very comfortable.

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Sneaking liquor (even whiskey) is easy. I just do what I did in college...refill a saline solution bottle with your favorite liquor !

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We're getting ready to book our honeymoon on the Norwegian Epic. It'll be our first cruise. I'm definitely planning on bringing PLENTY of smokes. Can't wait.

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I didn't read through all the posts, but this summer I took a cruise from Boston to Bermuda and they had a great cigar lounge. It was on the Norwegian Spirit. They had beautiful humidors built into the book cases. I made sure to hit up the lounge every night.

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That's great to hear, JMSREMAX. My wife and I were looking to go on that ship out of New Orleans, and a cigar lounge is a prerequisite.

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I just got off the Carnival Destiny on Saturday. I'm not sure exactly what the cigar policy was on board but they did have a cigar lounge and even had cigars for sale in there. The selection was not really appealling to me but it was nice they had a place for cigar smokers.

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Saline solution bottle, my azz!!
I bring my bourbon aboard cruises with a 1/2 gallon Arizona Ice Tea bottle.:p
Keeps me happy until the 4th or 5th day, anyway.

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We had two different methods of getting booze onboard:

1 - Filled Listerine whitening mouth wash bottles with Capts (the bottle is white).

2 - Filled 8-10 poland spring water bottles with clear rum or vodka and simply put a black dot on the bottoms. This was fun because we had to remove and put back the bottles without ruining the plastic it came in (24 pack).

No questions asked and it saved us a lot of $$$.

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That makes no sense

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Just got from a 7 day cruise on the RC Freedom of the Seas:

-the ship did have a dedicated cigar lounge that, while nicely appointed, is a touch out of the way of everything else and is somewhat small compared to some of the lounges I have heard about on Carnival ships (still a nice quiet spot though).

- RC seems to believe in the complete BS idea of allowing cigarette smoking in certain public bar/areas, but NOT allowing pipe or cigars in those same areas. So, I stuck to outdoor decks/bars (no one even looked at my brother and I twice when we lit up anywhere outdoors) and the cigar lounge after dinner.

As far as purchasing CC's at ports... FLAT out don't bother unless its an LCDH. I found an LCDH in Grand Cayman and nearly passed out at the prices... 15-30 USD as a rough estimate for singles.... NO THANKS.

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:confused:

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What cruise line allows you to bring in a 24 pack of water ??

I went on the MSC Orchestra out of Ft Lauderdale last spring and it had a great cigar lounge. It was right in the middle of the ship off of the atrium. I guess because they are primarily a mediterranean ship, they had CCs for sale and also had Havana Club rum. The Orchestra is not in the Caribbean this year, but its' sister ship is.

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I went on a Royal Carribean cruise last weekend. It was junk and the only place to smoke cigars was out on the rainy deck. Certain bars allowed cigarette smoking but not cigars. What's the reason for this stupidity?

What are some cigar friendly cruise lines, particularly specific ships.

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Anyone ever been on a "cigar cruise"?

Seems like an interesting idea. The one site I found has a "Herf at sea" twice a year, prices seem decent. The whole ship isn't BOTL, but they get a group together and do special group activities that revolve around cigars.

We should have a CA herf at sea! :ss

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I have tried in vain to get this to be a reality and you'd think it would be easy to get ahold of BOTL to do this. First of all you have to pick a cruiseline that welcomes this activity. Secondly is the itinerary and third is cost. Most cruiselines will discount the cost if you get more than 10 rooms and what usually happens is that the person who organizes it gets their room for free. What should happen is that you get as many people as you can and then break the discounted room into a general pool so that everyone shares the discount. I don't see many ships catering to having a whole ship being a "Cigar" ship because that will scare most cruisers away from going on this type of cruise. The cruiseline is there to fill the ship.

I'd love to see a shared cruise among BOTL to just get together for a Herf At Sea. There are some great 3 and 4 night cruises in Sept. thru Dec. that are pretty inexpensive and it takes you to Nassau, Private Island and Key West for less than $200 for 4 nights. Maybe we can start from there.

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Norweigan

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I went on the Norweigan Spirit and they had a small but nice cigar lounge.

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Interesting. The easiest thing might be to find 2-3 folks that are interested and pick a cruise and date, then say alright, this is the days/week of the cruise, this is where its going, contact your local *insert travel agent, cruise line, medicine man* and we will see you there for the CA herf at sea 2010. (or whenever)

Judging by this thread we have enough people interested in going on cruises that we could eventually get a good base of people going.

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Both the Disney ships (Disney Magic and Disney Wonder) allow cigars. You cannot smoke (anything) in your room, but you can smoke on your veranda and on deck (both covered and uncovered).

In January my wife and I are taking the maiden voyage of their newest ship (Disney Dream) and it is also going to be cigar friendly and will have a cigar lounge.

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You wouldn't catch me DEAD on a Disney ship.

1. Too many kids on board
2. No casinos on their boats

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To each is own!

The Disney cruises I have been on the kids mostly stayed on their deck (Deck 5 with all the kids stuff) or by one of the two pools that they can use. You would also see kids at mealtimes, but not a problem for me.

Kids are not allowed by the adult pool, where I hang out with my cigar.

I'm not much of a gambler, so the lack of a casino is not a big deal for me.

On the plus side, the service on Disney ships is top notch, the staff is very friendly and helpful, they have Broadway-class theater, and the ships are always immaculate.

The final thing for me is that I am a member of Disney's Vacation Club (Disney's version of a time-share) and I can use my time-share to cruise, which makes cruising a very good deal.

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I hear you and the disconnect comes when the actual roll call starts. Some do not like the CruiseLine or Ship,,or the itinerary or the cost. There have always been people who want to do this right up until the real planning starts. I'm pretty easy as I have gone on just about every cruise line there is and all I care about is decent food and being able to smoke my cigars. You lead and I'll follow.

I'm not a big Disney advocate myself because they are one of the most expensive ones out there. There are a lot of other cruise lines out there that have some great deals.


Maybe what we can do is start a thread to see how many people are even interested in this and then start from there. The Time,,,the Cruiseline,,,how long,,,and where to cruise.

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I'm in - if only to remind folks who owns the ship. ;)

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We'll follow your lead as long as you can hold a great cigar area for us. There are some great cruises right out of San Diego that hit Acapulco, Cabo and the other usual places. I will start looking at those ships and Cruiselines that offer some really good Cigar Lounges. I know that Holland America and Princess have very nice lounges.

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Speaking of herfing at sea, anyone else happen to be cruising on the Norweigen Epic on July 17th? We just booked it for our honeymoon, and I wouldn't mind having a sea-herf.

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I would imagine all the Norwegian ships are pretty similar. The Pearl had the same set up when it came to a humidor. There were about 10-14 cigar types to choose from and there were 14 leather chairs. Dimmed lighting and pictures and quotes from famous cigar smokers. It was a very relaxing place.

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I can't remember all the cigars the Pearl had for sale. I do know they had NO CC's. I do remember they had two different Davidoffs; two Fuente's; a Puros Indios; etc. Not a large selection, but what they had was good.

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Update on Cigars while on Cruises:

My wife and I do a lot of cruises and have sailed on just about every line out there. As is my custom I want to ensure that when we go I get to take my cigars with me and enjoy them. There is a list of Cruise Lines with "Do's and Don'ts" associated with each line and their rules. Please see link and plan accordingly before you book a cruise and then find out later you don't get to smoke your cigars.



http://cruisediva.com/smoking-policy.htm

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I went on a Carnival cruise a couple of years ago and it was pretty annoying. Though there were lots of smoking area's on the ship there was only one place to smoke cigars. It was a great place with good music, nice leather furniture...and every cigarette smoker on the ship.

Seriously every night I went in there and couldn't find a good seat. It was so frustrating. I think I saw maybe ten cigars being smoked there all week. The times I wedged myself in there I was also annoyed that there were only cigarette ashtrays. My smokes kept rolling off the side.

Don't get me wrong I don't have a problem with cigarettes but c'mon...they had like thirty other places they could smoke.

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Dude, I would just pack some cigarrelos (sp?) or small petites and go to town..

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Nice review. :D

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When I sailed on Liberty of the Seas (RC) they had an amazing cigar lounge that we used a few times, but smoking on the balcony was a definite no-no.

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U ever notice how cigar smoke clears out a room of cigarette smokers?
Couple of months ago, between flights i went into the smokers room
and lit a stogie... Within 10 mins 80% of the room was gone! I say light
a big one, and enjoy!:r:=:

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Ha ha,,,you got this right! Bring in a big ole Churchill and see the natives get restless. I did a thread on here some time ago of which was the nastiest smelling cigar out there and I bring a couple just for these kinds of things. When there is a lounge that is loaded with cigarette smokers who won't give any ground I bring out the "Big Bomber" and it usually works and people leave and I get a seat.

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I'm going on the Carnival Dream in Sept. This is my first time getting a balcony room. I paid good $$$ for that room and I plan on smoking cigars on the balcony.

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I went on the Norwegian Spirit last summer and we smoked on our room's balcony and in their cigar lounge. They were very accommodating to cigar enthusiasts. Enjoy the cruise!

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We will be on the Celebrity Solstice in July but unfortunately Celebrity only allows smoking outside. We chose them because other than Celebrity only Carnival had the same itinerary during the same time which is when we would have to go with the wife being a teacher but after a couple negative experiences with them we refuse to ever cruise with Carnival again. Normally I would have spent more money for a balcony room but because they don't allow smoking on the balconies we got a regular room which makes me wonder how many other cigar smokers or cigarette smokers make the same decision because of the tight restrictions on smoking on their ships and if they are losing money on upgraded rooms because of it. It was a tough decision to choose whether to go with Celebrity or risk trying Carnival again especially since my wife cruised on the Solstice when she went to Europe last summer so she will be on the same ship for a second time. I am really shocked they don't have a lounge. When we cruised before my routine was to always hit the lounge after dinner to enjoy a smoke before heading to a show or some other activity.

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Funny you should bring it up. I just booked a Panama Canal cruise. I came pretty close to booking with Celebrity, but their anti smoking policy drove me away. To be honest, they also are one of the last lines to emphasize an evening dress code, and that was the second reason we shied away from them. I hauled my tux on cruises for years, but no more. I'm done worrying about "dressing" when I'm on vacation.

So we're booked on the NCL Pearl for the Canal. NCL is more cigar friendly so they get my money.

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Good to know. Only reason for getting 12 miles out is to play some blackjack. On the other hand, after 10+ years of sea duty, 6 cruises, amd multiple workups; I have no desire to ever go to sea agin to begin with. I know the wife does, but I'll fly us to a place to visit before I take a ship.

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:tpd:

Makes it a no-brainer in my book as well!!

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True but you will miss out on the finest cruise I have ever been on (I think I have done like 15+ now).

It is completely top notch, top of the line. The variety of restaurants and rotation of such makes it awesome as you never eat in the same restaurant.
Their "pay extra" restaurant is amazing!

Disney sets a high bar to hurdle.

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I am kind of amazed that Disney/ABC allows smoking on their ships. Kudos to them for being realists, I think, rather than Nanny-Staters.

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Yeah, we tried to go with NCL but the itinerary that we are doing wasn't available in June or July. So we decided to deal with me being restricted with my cigar smoking rather than ruin another vacation by going with Carnival as our prior experiences were less than stellar which is odd because my parents cruise with them at least if not twice a year and only had a couple issues but that's usually the way my luck runs.

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I was un-impressed with Carnival with the absolute LACK of windows.

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It's interesting -- both of the current Disney ships (Magic, Wonder) had Cigar Lounges that they turned into coffee bars -- which they thought would bring in more revenue. Don't know if that is the case.

Disney's newest ship (Dream, sails in January) has a much bigger cigar lounge over looking ocean aft. My wife and I are booked on the maiden voyage and I am really looking forward to visiting this lounge :ss

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"Maiden voyage" - I hope you keep a sense of humor on that trip. To expect that all mechanically and the staff will be 100% smooth might be a dream. They can test and simulate all they want, but untail a 100 people hit the crappers at one time, they have only a best guess at how some of the mechanics will perform. While they were US Navy ships, I have brought many a ship out of the yards and even the stuff we thought we had perfect still would goof up.


BTW, not headed up North towards the iceberg area are ya?

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Hell, We're already planning the 2011 cruise....Need to talk to the wife to see the dates!

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We know the drill, this will be our third maiden voyage with Disney :)

Also, (lucky for us) -- they get a lot of the kinks worked out when they bring the ship across the pond to Port Canveral :)

The itinerary for the maiden voyage is the Bahama's! I can't wait! Well, actually I can, since I am leaving on the Disney Magic on Saturday for a trans-atlantic from Port Canveral to the Bahamas, Gibralter, Madeira, Cadiz, and Barcelona :D

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Just verified with Disney and you can bring alcohol on board:

Bringing Alcohol aboard the ship
Alcohol is permitted on board. Any fragile items (including bottles of alcohol) must be brought aboard in a carry-on bag not to exceed 22" wide, 14" high and 9" deep. All fragile items must be transported inside carry-on luggage...