SMOKING laws do not apply to Cypriot cruise ships, a Paphos holidaymaker and her family discovered to their expense this summer.
Forty-eight-year-old Myroula Ioannou said her three-day trip to Crete was ruined after a local cruise shipping company failed to enforce its advertised no smoking policy on board one of its ships.
Although EU smoking laws do not apply in international waters, the company advertised that it had a smoking policy.
But when Ioannou contacted the company upon her return she was told in no uncertain terms that “smokers are free to smoke and there is no law to limit them from doing so and they can smoke wherever they want”.
Ioannou said she and her husband, three daughters, two sons-in-law and two granddaughters, aged three and two, had chosen the cruise ship route to take advantage of the fresh sea air. Instead, they were confined to their cabin for most of the duration of the trip.
“We didn’t venture into the lounge, the TV room, the casino or even watch the show. My three-year-old granddaughter refused to watch the show because of the smoke and even said she wouldn’t go in there because the place was on fire,” Ioannou said.
The 48-year-old said she was extremely angry that the ship had failed to implement its no smoking policy.
“When the cruise was advertised, I read the booklet and it said there were designated smoking and no smoking areas. One third of the lounge was supposed to be for non-smokers and yet in the end it was all taken over by smokers,” she said.
Worst of all were the cigar and pipe smokers.
“They were not supposed to allow cigars and pipes, but at night they all came out. It was dreadful. Our clothes stank and our throats hurt,” she said.
Ioannou said she had paid €2,500 for the trip and yet as a non-smoker it felt as if she was being treated like a lesser paying customer.
“And what about the children and infants? There were 135 children on board and there were also pregnant women and other non-smokers. What about them?
“Did they not have the right to smoke-free areas? Instead there was smoking everywhere. The only place there was no smoking was the restaurant but then right outside there were two ashtrays with chairs placed around them. The area would soon fill up with smokers waiting to go in to eat. It was a small space and soon got very cramped and it was awful.”
Ioannou said a friend of hers had taken the same cruise a few weeks later and reported the same experience.
“I think it’s better to use a plane. At least that way the air is clean. I was recently in the UK visiting my daughter and realised that we are 10 years behind,” she said.
The worse part was that she felt the cruise ship company had let her down.
“I read the booklet carefully and it said there would only be smoking in designated areas. When we boarded the ship though, we quickly found out that didn’t apply.”
The only good part about the trip was the few hours they spent in Crete where they were free of the dreaded smoke.
“I certainly won’t be going back on a cruise ship again. Not from that company. I was horrified at how they allowed smoking like that. Even my son-in-law, who smokes, said it was extremely smoky and he chose to go outside to smoke,” she said.
Commenting on the incident yesterday, Cyprus Tourism Organisation Director of Tourism Lefkos Phylactides said: “In view of the austerity in many European countries where smoking is totally banned we feel the least Cypriot cruise ship companies can do is to respect non-smokers and to designate smoking and non-smoking areas.”
