Ship’s No-Tobacco Rule Sends Trip Up in Smoke

Some rules are not meant to be bent--even on vacation.

Our family learned that the hard way on a recent multi-generational holiday trip aboard Carnival Cruise Lines’ Paradise.

The Paradise is a smoke-free ship, and that appealed to our group. The cigar smokers among us said they would forgo their pleasure to make the trip more comfortable for the eight seniors, some in poor health.

The ship was clear about its “zero tolerance” policy: Not only could a passenger caught smoking be fined $250, but he or she could be forced to leave the ship for merely possessing “smoking materials.”

Although no one was caught smoking, Chris Yemma, one of our family members, was discovered to have a pack of cigarettes in his suitcase. My 16-year-old son, Matt Yemma, also was held liable because he was sharing the cabin with Chris, his college-age cousin. Both were put off the ship at the next stop, with their fathers.

Four to six passengers a month violate the no-smoking policy and must pay their way home, Carnival officials say. No exceptions are made.

“In order to effectively insure that the integrity of the smoke-free environment is maintained, the policies must be strict and the penalties severe,” said Bob Dickinson, the president of Carnival Cruise Lines.

Carnival Paradise passengers--even the kids--must sign a contract promising 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.

Our saga began as we were finishing Thanksgiving dinner four days into our Caribbean cruise. A room steward apparently reported finding matches in the boys’ cabin. None had been struck. 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.

Ship personnel, we learned later, are constantly on the lookout for violators. “We have a secret association all over the ship,” said Miles Willis, the ship’s hotel director. “People have to realize we take this very seriously.”

That Thanksgiving evening, ship security officers wouldn’t let the boys into their cabin after dinner. They said a smoke detector had gone off, though no one was in the cabin. Matt and Chris were ordered to get their parents so the cabin could be searched for tobacco. There was no scent of smoke, all agreed, but the officials quickly zeroed in on the pack of cigarettes in my nephew’s suitcase.

Although we pleaded their case to the ship officials, there was no reprieve. 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. They incurred several thousand dollars in extra expenses returning home.

From the beginning, my embarrassed nephew acknowledged that the cigarettes were his. He had come to the cruise straight from college in California and had already checked his bag by the time he learned of the nonsmoking policy. He swears he never smoked on board, and there is no proof that he did. Nor did he realize the consequences we would face for that one pack of cigarettes buried amid his socks.

Neither did fellow Carnival passengers who told me they had sneaked Cuban cigars on board. “The bargains were too good to resist,” one man said.

My son Matt, a high school runner, doesn’t smoke. But the fact that neither boy had been caught with a burning cigarette was immaterial, we were told. “Everyone always says they weren’t smoking,” Willis said. It didn’t matter that the cigarettes clearly didn’t belong to Matt.

Carnival corporate officials since have acknowledged that the incident might not have been handled properly. They are investigating.

Most cruise ships now have smoke-free dining rooms and other smoke-free areas, as do hotels and restaurants.

Carnival officials said the smoke-free vessel has proved an effective marketing tool and is the reason many passengers choose the ship. For instance, Lisa Della-Penna, a North Carolinian who was traveling with her husband and two children, said, “We didn’t want the kids to be around smoke.”

But even those who laud the policy as well as some cruise experts are surprised by the severity of the policy. “It’s a bit much to fine you $250 and make you leave for having a pack of cigarettes,” said Anne Campbell, the editor of Cruisemates.com, the leading online cruise magazine. “We’re not talking about an illegal substance.

“If you pick the Paradise, make sure everyone--especially the teens--understands the consequences.”

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Christopher Reynolds is on vacation. Eileen Ogintz writes the “Taking the Kids” column, which appears twice monthly in Travel.