I recently took a cruise on the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore. I was particularly looking forward to spending some time in the cigar bar they advertised.

I was disappointed. The cigar bar is not a dedicated cigar bar but the sports bar. At any given time there were four to six crew members smoking cigarettes and the ratio of cigarette smokers to cigar smokers is 8:1, at best.

The smell of cigarettes was overwhelming and detracted from my ability to enjoy my time with a cigar.

I took a photo of the cigar bar menu (which was only put out in the afternoons/evenings). There was nothing in the way of cedar spills, lighters, or cutters available. I had a difficult time just finding a cigar ashtray some days.

I walked into the casino to try to find any sort of ashtray and was quickly scolded by a crew member who basically ordered me back into the sports bar with my cigar.

I was underwhelmed, YMMV.
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Thats sad....bout like a local "Cigar" bar around here that doesn't allow Cigars. What a crock...
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I was on the Carnival Destiny last month and they had the exact same cigar selection in their cigar lounge. I think it was called the Onyx Lounge. It was pretty much deserted most of the cruise. Occassionally, there would be people in there listening to a musician playing but rarely were there people smoking a cigar.
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That's awful. Better to bring your own and sit on the deck I guess?
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$4.75 for an Ascot ... yikes
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I am not a fan of Carnival (two bad experiences in the past with them) and the wife and I have been looking into cruises for this summer and when we went to see the travel agent I told her my two requests after destination are no Carnival and the ship must have a cigar bar or lounge. Does anyone know of any lines that have a no smoking policy so I know which to avoid. Sorry if this sounds like a thread jack, just good timing.:-)
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Here's a link to an article detailing the policies of the various cruise lines.

Smoking Policies
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Too bad!!!:-)

The prices don't look bad at all!!!
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I cruised the Carnival Liberty in December of last year. It had the same cigar menu. At most I saw was 6 other men smoking cigars in the bar at the same time. Mostly it was crew lighting a cigarette. It wasn't too bad of a bar. They did have lots of cigar ashtrays but no lighters.
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This is typical Carnival with regards to Cigars. I have been on quite a few of the Carnival Ships including the Pride, Glory, Triumph and Destiny. If you want the old fashioned type of cigar library smokers lounge try sailing on Holland America or Queen Mary 2. I loved these ships as they are a throwback to when men would finish dinner and retreat to the cigar parlors.

The only thing I liked about the Pride/Glory was that they had a great Jazz band at night when I could smoke my cigars. Other than that it was just a bar area where smoking was available.

Pics of the Churchill Room on QM2,,one on the left is the whole lounge area and the one on the right is where I spent every night with a great cigar.
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I've sailed most lines out there. Carnival is by far the worst, for cigar smokers or otherwise...
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And the best?
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We will not cruise on Carnival because of a terrible experience. And, when we do book another cruise, it will only be with a cruise line that promotes a fine cigar lounge! Thanks for the link!
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The lounge on Mariner of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) was very nice. TVs, magazines, medium size selection of cigars (6.00 for something Macanudo), leather couches, etc.
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I have to say that the best cigar lounges I have been on belong to Holland America and the best one is on the Queen Mary 2. They set aside a library like lounge area where it is conducive for people who love cigars and it's private and large enough to accomodate at least 15 people. Carnival is kind of a hit/miss depending on the ship. Some of the lounges are shared bars where you can listen to jazz in the evening which I like and then there are other places where you are in a small bar lounge area where it is closed off. On some RCL ships you can only smoke outside which sucks if the winds pick up. I don't understand why they can't take a decent area of the ship inside for cigars/pipes and then ventilate it so it doesn't bother anybody else. A nice 15x20 foot area would be great on any ship.
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I'd like to share my experience with MSC Cruises, an Italian cruiseline fairly new to the American market. I took the MSC Orchestra out of Ft Lauderdale last spring. They have a dedicated cigar lounge, the Havana Club, amid ship adjacent to the atrium. Big leather chairs, good music (Sinatra, Latin Jazz, etc), cigar art, real cigar ashtrays, a well kept humidor stocked with cc's, and a bar stocked with Havana Club rum. There is an attendant there who takes great pride in "his" cigar lounge. I spent a lot of time there when at sea, and during the day I sometimes was the only passenger in there for 30 minutes or so. At night, however, it was quite busy. I came to "know" about 10 other regular cigar smokers, and we had a blast. The Italian passengers were a friendly, boisterous bunch and they enjoy their cigars too. Officers would come in to enjoy their stash of cc's, and I even met the author of a very well known series of travel books who was on the cruise doing a review. She said it was one of the top 3 cigar lounges on the seas (the Orchestra has several sister ships that also have the same lounge). Best of all was the price...kids sail free, so my wife and 2 kids went for a very low price.
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I would have to say Royal Caribbean... All ships are managed a bit differently though. Believe it or not, (and I cant believe I'm gonna post this publically) Disney is superior by far! However, so is the price.
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Sorry to hear about your bad experience. We cruised Norwegian this past Summer and totally enjoyed it. The cigar lounge was off in a corner past the piano bar, etc. They had about the same selection as yours with maybe one or two exceptions. There were 14 leather chairs and piped in jazz. There were times when I was the only one in there and there were never more than six of us in there at a time. The waitress from the bar next door would come in and check on us and if you bought a cigar she would go to the bartender and get a cutter...unless you had your own. :-) Since this was the only cruise I've been on, I can't really compare, but my experience with them was very good. There were a few times when members of the crew would come in since the back door accessed the crew "tunnels" and they could use the room for cigarette smoke breaks. It was interesting to talk to them and they didn't smoke up the room too bad. :-)
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That is a testament to the fad nature of, well, modern America. When cigars were "IN" I imagine they
tolerated a little more smoking. But now that we are back in the witch hunt times, it's every man or
woman for themselves. They have a cigar lounge with the same name as the past, but a whole new
attitude it sounds like. Unless Arnold was to come aboard, then maybe it's 1995 all over again.
Face it we are all scum and will not be tolerated.
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