New research from an independent cruise comparison website has revealed that 48 per cent of cruisers want smoking onboard cruise ships ‘totally banned’ while a further 11 per cent want smokers to be assigned a ‘designated’ smoking area onboard the liner. 

As part of ongoing research in to the holiday habits of British cruisers, an independent cruise comparison website conducted a study of 1,271 cruisers to discover the attitudes they had towards smoking cigarettes onboard cruise ships.

The study, conducted by www.CruiseCompare.co.uk, initially asked the respondents if they smoked cigarettes, to which almost a third, 32 per cent, answered ‘yes’.

A further 19 per cent of the respondents admitted that they were ‘social smokers’, meaning they only smoked occasionally when in a social environment. 

The remaining half, 49 per cent, stated that they did not smoke at all.

The total number of respondents were asked about their attitudes towards smoking when onboard a cruise liner.

According to the results, almost half, 48 per cent, stated that smoking onboard a cruise ship should be ‘totally banned’.

When asked to explain further, the majority, 37 per cent, said they felt this way because of the ‘health implications of passive smoking’.

A further 22 per cent felt it was ‘too dangerous’ to have lit cigarettes on a cruise liner.

A further 27 per cent of the respondents said that smokers onboard a cruise ship should be ‘assigned designated smoking areas’, much like the smoking ban introduced throughout the UK.

This would mean non-smokers would not have to interact with or be near the passengers when they chose to smoke.

Of the respondents who stated that smoking onboard a cruise liner should be limited to designated areas, two fifths, 41 per cent, said that they felt this way because smokers are ‘used to the same limitations when at home in the UK’.

According to the study, 14 per cent of the respondents cited that smokers on a cruise ship should ‘be entitled to smoke in their cabin’.

Danielle Fear, Managing Director of CruiseCompare.co.uk, said the following about the findings: “I can’t say I was surprised at these results; society seems to have easily adapted to the smoking ban that has made it illegal to smoke in public places such as restaurants, bars and bus stops.

“I can see the logic of spreading this ban across cruise ships; after all, many non-smokers find being around cigarette smoke unpleasant.”

She continued: “However, having said this, people who smoke can find it very relaxing, and in fact find not smoking stressful.

“It wouldn’t be fair to cause cruisers any stress, weather they smoke or not, as everyone is entitled to a restful holiday.

“Perhaps the best option would be to create designated smoking areas onboard a cruise ship, as this would mean those that didn’t want to be around cigarette smoke wouldn’t have to be, but smokers could enjoy their cruise stress free.”