Royal Caribbean wants to make nonsmokers 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 revenue.
Related: Why Royal Caribbean Group will add new kind of ship to fleet
Land-based casinos, however, have more ways to protect customers from second-hand 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 nonsmoking areas in their casinos. In reality, though, the spaces are small, and even with enhanced ventilation systems post-Covid, the smoke still affects nonsmokers.
In addition, while technically only active gamblers are allowed to smoke, the reality is that both cruise lines struggle to enforce that rule.
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," he said. "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."
The cruise line has tried to ban 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 nonsmoking casinos
On its Oasis Class and Icon Class ships Royal Caribbean has tried to solve this problem by offering a smaller nonsmoking 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 U.S., the former Golden Room was turned into a nonsmoking 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 nonsmoking casino on all Oasis Class ships.
Icon of the Seas and the upcoming Star of the Seas have similar nonsmoking casinos. It's not an ideal solution, as many nonsmokers think the larger space should be nonsmoking, 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 nonsmoking casino as part of its recent drydock, those were not confirmed until Feb. 5.
Matt Hochberg of Royal Caribbean Blog reported that the ship would be getting a nonsmoking 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 on board, it's generally an underused space. And while the Promenade on Freedom of the Seas is crowded, the wine bar often has only 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 nonsmoking casino on Oasis Class ships. This move could serve as a precursor to other Freedom and Voyager Class ships getting nonsmoking casinos. 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.
A spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean International told TheStreet: "During Freedom of the Seas' current modernization the ship will receive a new nonsmoking casino. We have seen the popularity of this venue across our fleet and look forward to our guests having more choices while on board Freedom."
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