Interesting article from Cruisemates....
http://cruisemates.com/articles/feature/starfire.cfm
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Tim Rubacky of Oceania Cruises told me his cruise line immediately
implemented a policy of "zero tolerance" for smoking in areas of the ship
that are designated as non-smoking and will strictly enforce its fleet-wide.
While passengers were never permitted to smoke in cabins or on balconies,
those who were previously caught or reported by other passengers were merely
sent polite and gentle reminders of the cruise line's policy. Effective
immediately, anyone caught smoking in a non-designated area will be thrown
off Oceania's ships and no exceptions will be made, Rubacky said. The cruise
line does permit smoking in a small area on the top passenger deck.
Cruise ship insurance companies and the U.S. Coast Guard have yet to comment
on the Star Princess fire. But the executives I spoke to said it's
conceivable that the cruise industry may be forced to declare cabins and
balconies off-limits to smokers and adopt a policy of zero tolerance similar
to Oceania's new strictly-enforced policy. It took Star Princess' staff
three hours to account for all passengers because of the vessel's size. This
could conceivably affect future shipbuilding in terms of size and passenger
capacity, one executive told me.
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