"Kurt Ullman" wrote
>>group has at least a few smokers so those groups went on other ships.
>>
>> Not enough non-smokers booked individually to make up the loss... so
>> after
>> trying the non-smoking concept for about two years, the Paradise became a
>> smoking ship.
>
> How long ago, though? With the advent of (profitable) non-smoking
> hotel chains, it might be time to take another look.
The Paradise was launched in 1998 as a non smoking ship and that policy was
discontinued in October, 2004.
Westin became non-smoking 15 months later in January 2006 and Marriott
followed shortly after that.
The main difference is that hotels do not rely on group business to the
extent that cruise lines do. In addition, even in a non-smoking hotel... it
is possible for people to go outside and smoke... or leave the property to
dine, etc. On a non-smoking cruise ship, that isn't possible.
I give Carnival a lot of credit for hanging in there for as long as they
did. They had an aggressive marketing campaign but the bottom line was that
not enough non-smokers booked the ship to off-set the loss of group
business.
FWIW - I don't smoke..... quit almost 20 years ago.
--
George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com
January 20, 2008 - GGC2008 - http://cruisemaster.com/adventure.htm
October 26, 2008 Sleazy 5 http://www.cruisemaster.com/sleazy5.htm
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