Royal Caribbean wants to make non-smokers happy while not losing revenue in its casinos.
That means the cruise line faces the same dilemma that many land-based casinos, at least the ones in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, deal with. Doing the right thing and getting rid of smoking means lower revenues.
Related: Why Royal Caribbean Group will add new kind of ship to fleet
Land-based casinos, however, have more ways to protect customers from secondhand smoke. They have the room to offer meaningful smoke-free areas if they choose to.
Cruise lines lack that space. Royal Caribbean, like its chief rival, Carnival Cruise Line, offers non-smoking areas in their casinos. In reality, though, the spaces are small, and even with enhanced ventilation systems post-Covid, the smoke still impacts non-smokers.
In addition, while technically only active gamblers are allowed to smoke, the reality is that both cruise lines struggle to enforce those rules.
Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley was blunt about the issue in comments made during his 2022 President’s Cruise.
“The dilemma is that there are many people who do want to smoke in the casino. I know that’s not a popular response, but it’s the truth. I’m not judging anyone or anything, but there’s a large group of people who do want to smoke in the casino,” he shared.
The cruise line has tried banning smoking in its casinos, but the results have not been encouraging.
“I would say every couple of years, we do test this, and we take one or two or three ships and we ban smoking in the casino. And the result is less people go in the casino, and that’s the reality of it,” he added.
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Royal Caribbean adds non-smoking casinos
On its Oasis-class and Icon-class ships, Royal Caribbean has tried to solve this problem by offering a smaller, non-smoking casino. That’s a solution the cruise line sort of accidentally found as the secondary space, which first appeared on Wonder of the Seas, had been built as a high-roller room.
Wonder of the Seas was supposed to sail out of China, a market that warranted the high-roller space, Royal Caribbean believed. When it was moved to the United States, the former “Golden Room” was turned into a non-smoking space.
That space was “Jazz on 4, a lightly-used music venue on the rest of the Oasis-class ships. Royal Caribbean kept its jazz performers but moved them to other venues and turned the location into a non-smoking casino on all Oasis-class ships.
Icon of the Seas and the upcoming Star of the Seas have similar non-smoking casinos. It’s not an ideal solution as many non-smokers think the larger space should be non-smoking, but it does offer a choice for players.
Smaller Royal Caribbean ship gets non-smoking casino
While rumors have been floating around on social media that Freedom of the Seas was getting a non-smoking casino as part of its recent drydock, those were not confirmed until Feb. 5. Matt Hochberg of the Royal Caribbean Blog reported that the ship would be getting a non-smoking casino on the Royal Promenade.
“Updated deck plans within the Royal Caribbean show the ship’s wine bar, Vintages, is being replaced. In place of Vintages is “Casino Royale Non-Smoking,” Hochberg wrote.
While Vintages offers the largest selection of wine onboard, it’s generally an underused space. While the Promenade is crowded on Freedom of the Seas, the wine bar often only has a few people inside, and some of them are just using the tables to eat pizza, not partaking in a glass of wine.
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The Vintages space is smaller than the Jazz on 4 space now used as a non-smoking casino on Oasis-class ships. This move could serve as a precursor to other Freedom and Voyager-class ships getting a non-smoking casino, but not every one of those ships has a Vintages and some, like Navigator of the Seas, have the more popular Bamboo Room tiki bar in that spot.
Royal Caribbean did not return an early morning request for comment on this story, which will be updated with their response should one be sent.
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