Tobacco.org

REYNOLDS: Thank God, the state has Big Tobacco to feed on 

We don't force the liquor industry to pay damages to alcoholics or the government for selling alcohol, which is a legal product. Drunks take to the road and kill people. We know that. What we don't have hard evidence of is whether second-hand smoke is a serious health smoke, or anti-smoking propaganda.

It will be interesting to see how the state legislature and governor deal with the request smoking be allowed in casinos, but denied in other public places.

Allow it and rake in tens of millions of dollars in revenue, which can be used to help solve the budget problem state government created.

Thank God, the state's got Big Tobacco to feed on. Too few dollars of which will be used to encourage smokers to quit.

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• Places that allow smoking on water are harder to find 

It's difficult to truly appreciate smoking restrictions on cruise ships until you've sat in the late-night dance club on an Italian ship packed to the ceiling with 300 chain-smoking Italian high school students.

The dance floor had a fog machine, but it was completely unnecessary.

Just two years after I witnessed that scene, however, the world is a different - and increasingly smaller - place for smokers. . . .

Last week, Celebrity said it will eliminate smoking from staterooms and, more significantly, all balconies, in October, becoming the first major North American line to ban lighting up in both areas. (Italian line MSC Cruises enacted a similar ban in September.) . . .

A few of the ultra-luxury and boutique lines have already made similar changes, including Regent Seven Seas and, to a lesser extent, Crystal Cruises. Celebrity's and MSC's are among the first behemoth-ship lines to cover all cabins and balconies, the latter traditionally having been the haven for smokers at sea. Royal Caribbean, for instance, enacted a smoking ban last year on all staterooms, but not on balconies.

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Web exclusive: Senate snuffs out Riverboat smoking exemption 

The latest attempt to exempt riverboat casinos from the statewide smoking ban failed in the Illinois Senate Wednesday.

By a vote of 15-35, the Senate voted down a measure that would have exempted casinos for five years from the ban, which prohibits smoking in most indoor, public places in Illinois.

State Sen. Frank Watson, R-Greenville, had argued that gaming revenue has dropped by about 17 percent since the ban went into effect in January and that is a loss to the state coffers.

Watson used a parliamentary maneuver to tack the riverboat exemption onto a bill by state Sen. Terry Link, a sponsor of the original Smoke Free Illinois Act.

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Asia warms to cruises 

Want to get into an argument? Have a discussion about smoking on cruise ships.

Royal Caribbean is banning smoking in cabins starting in the new year. Oceania and Disney are already there and Regent Seven Seas will be smoke-free in all rooms and balconies this December. If you're banning in the room, why not the balconies? It's just going to drift onto the next balcony anyway.

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• At Your Service: Cruise Line Smoking Policies  

To smoke ... or not to smoke. Nothing fires up cruise travelers more than this issue. Indeed, check out the posts on Cruise Critic's message boards -- but we warn you: Put on your oven mitts before you open any thread with "smoking" in the title. It'll be red hot.

This issue is so incendiary (pun intended) that smokers often feel bruised and battered and slink away in shame, and non-smokers are often arrogant and self-righteous and ... well, just plain rude. On the other hand, there are non-smokers whose response is to live and let live and smokers who take the position that "hell, it's still legal, so leave me alone." . . .

several major cruise lines have recently introduced very limiting policies, as have many small-ship "boutique" lines and river cruise vessels. But for other major companies, the policies are not nearly as restrictive as most non-smokers wish they were.

It's an issue of "spoilage" (the industry's lingo for unsold cabins) that keeps cruise lines from designating some cabins non-smoking, in the fashion of hotel rooms. "It would present an inventory mess," says a spokesperson for CLIA, the cruise industry's official trade association. "The cruise lines' yield management people want the ships to sail full at all times; you can't do that if you set aside non-smoking rooms."

We're presenting the policies for you in one neat, tidy package

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Celebrity Tightens Smoking Restrictions  

While by far most cruise lines permit in-cabin smoking, there's a small group of lines that have begun to create stricter rules, such as Disney, Crystal, Peter Deilmann and Oceania. One major instigator of tightening restrictions was of course the terrifying fire aboard Star Princess last year; it was discovered that it began as a result of a passenger smoking on his balcony.

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• Celebrity Cruises Revamps Smoking Policy 

Beginning October 1, 2008, guests on Celebrity's ships will enjoy fresher air as a result of a new policy that disallows smoking in Celebrity's staterooms or on stateroom verandas. The policy also will reduce the number of public areas in which guests can smoke onboard.

"We are proud to be the first premium cruise line to set a new standard toward creating an environment of cleaner air on our ships," said Celebrity Cruises President & CEO Dan Hanrahan. "We pay careful attention to what our guests have to say, and approximately 90 percent of them have told us they are non-smokers. By increasing the number of smoke-free areas onboard while still designating areas for those who smoke, our aim is to make the onboard experience as pleasant as possible for all of our guests."

The new policy, created after Celebrity polled past guests, will result in a cleaner, fresher and healthier environment on Celebrity's ships.

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Impact of smoking ban: Casino Queen says it's been devastating 

The Casino Queen's business is down, and it blames Illinois' smoking ban.

Initially, the $92 million new casino, which opened last summer on the East St. Louis riverfront, saw revenues increase from the smaller boat, but business has declined since Jan. 1 when the state's ban on smoking in public places took effect.

"It's been devastating," said casino manager Tom Monaghan, who has seen fewer gamblers on the new "boat in a moat" and fears more are going to new nearby competing casinos across the river in Missouri, where gamblers still can smoke.

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• Crunching the numbers: Are casinos or complainers blowing smoke? 

Debate continues as to why admission numbers are dropping at most gaming boats in Illinois, including the Argosy Casino in Alton, and whether gamblers who smoke are fleeing to Missouri.

Tom Swoik, executive director of the Springfield-based Illinois Casino Gaming Association, earlier this month said the state's new ban on smoking at public places that went into effect Jan. 1 is largely responsible for the drop in gaming boat admissions.

The Illinois Gaming Board's figures for February 2008 for all nine casinos showed eight of them recording lower revenues than in February 2007, with an average decrease of 12.88 percent. Alton's comparative drop was the largest, 24.93 percent. . . .

anonymous telephone calls to The Telegraph accusing Argosy of tightening up its slot machines to reduce payout amounts apparently aren't reflected in recent numbers from the Illinois Gaming Board. According to the board's official numbers, adjusted gross receipts (AGR) from electronic gaming devices (EGD) are down at Argosy from $9.9 million last August to $7.51 million in January.

AGRs are casino wins, or the gross gaming receipts minus winnings paid to bettors.

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Cruise customers confused by smoking regulations 

Two thirds of holidaymakers do not know what the smoking policy is onboard cruise ships, an online poll has revealed.

Eight months after the introduction of the smoking ban, 66% of the 5,500 people asked by cruise website cruises.co.uk said they did not know what the policy was onboard cruise ships.

British law does not apply to cruise ships either docked or travelling in international waters, leaving companies to apply their own laws.

Over half of respondents thought cruise ships should not decide their own policy, and 68% of respondents believe British ships should ban smoking completely.

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Talk About Travel  

Cherry Hill, NJ: On a trip to see several spots in Scandinavia, my husband and I (both non smokers) booked a cheap room - with bunkbeds - on an overnight ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm. It was cheap for a reason. My tall (6'4) husband didn't fit on the bed, and the floor was a smoking floor! Apparently, lots of young college kids go back and forth from Helsinki to Stockholm and party - drink and smoke - all night. We had already purchased our return trip for a few days later in the same cabin class, but a gracious agent allowed us to upgrade to a room with a view, in a nonsmoking area. Oh, that was heaven!

John Deiner: Good for you, CH. Smoking rooms, if you don't smoke, are disgusting. Glad you changed.

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How to give up smoking: row 5500km across an ocean solo  

Pete Collett said the worst thing about crossing the Atlantic alone in a row boat wasn't the nine metre waves, the sharks, the boredom, the blisters, the weather, the aching muscles or the fact that he is scared of the open ocean.

It was running out of ciggies.

At the weekend, after a gruelling 76 days, the 32 year-old adventurer became the first Australian to row across the Atlanic solo, covering 5500km from the Canary Islands to Antigua in the West Indies as part of the WoodVale Atlantic Rowing Race.

"My Dad gave me three packs but I smoked them all within the first 10 days and then I went cold turkey," he said. "I just ran out one day. There was no self control, there was no rationing or anything. It was ridiculous to be like that in the toughest race in the world and all the other rowers of course are super fit."

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Overweight chain-smoker rows across Atlantic  

An overweight chain-smoker and aquaphobic has beat an infection and the competition to be the first solo Australian to row across the Atlantic - a 76-day journey across 5,500km of open seas.

Pete Collett, 32, arrived at 8.40am local time (11.40pm AEDT) in the West Indies yesterday, after rowing the final leg for 30 hours straight to edge out his nearest competitor. . . .

Even more audacious, the chain-smoker brought cigarettes along but ran out two weeks into his journey, forcing him to go "cold turkey".

"Actually, stopping smoking was great because it was one less thing to do every day," Collett said.

"It meant four minutes of sitting on the deck, puffing away and choking until I could get into the cabin and have a sleep."

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Metropolis officials blame smoking ban for gambling drop  

METROPOLIS, Ill. - Officials of Harrah's Metropolis riverboat casino claim Illinois' new smoking ban has resulted in the layoff of about 30 jobs at the casino.

Casino officials claim guests are spending less on entertainment and making fewer trips because of the ban and the casino suffered a drop in visitation compared to the previous six-month average.

General manager Mike Rich says a "national economic slowdown" also bears some of the blame for the layoffs.

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• LETTER: Why does Saga allow smoking on its cruises?