While cruise ship casinos are a major draw for many passengers, the debate of allowing smoking in these venues has been a hot button topic.
While Royal Caribbean has not changed its policy at all, they have made an unexpected change on one of its cruise ships.
Freedom of the Seas went in for what was thought to be routine maintenance work at a dry dock in Spain, but returned with a brand new venue that could make a lot of would-be gamblers quite happy.
Confirming the news we were first to report, the Vintages wine bar on the Royal Promenade has been replaced by a non-smoking casino, providing a new alternative where non-smokers can gamble without any second-hand smoke issues.
Traditionally, cruise ship casinos are divided in half between smoking and non-smoking areas, but it's one large space where the smoke odor can easily travel between the two.
With Freedom of the Seas back in service, we've gotten our first look at this new venue.
The entrance to the casino is an open space, with tables inside and outside the venue.
Keeping tables nearby is likely an option for passengers to have when enjoying time on the Royal Promenade. Often these tables are used for a place to have a quick bite or drink, or sit and enjoy watching what's happening nearby.
When Vintages was still there, these tables were often used by guests that weren't ordering anything at Vintages.
The new casino is split into two sides, with a casino bar in the middle.
You'll find a variety of slot machines to play in this new non-smoking casino. While the footprint is smaller than the main casino, there's a good variation of machines to play.
Having a bar in this non-smoking casino is a feature not found on the Oasis Class ships.
While the non-smoking venues on Oasis Class ships have waiter service to get drinks, being able to quickly get a drink at the bar is far more convenient.
Plus, adding a bar to this casino reduces the workload on the casino bar in the primary casino.
We also spotted numerous televisions throughout the casino, including at the bar.
Since sport watching is so popular, there's now additional viewing opportunities when a game is on.
There's also a few table games in the casino, such as roulette.
The idea to replace a somewhat less popular venue with a casino was first introduced on Royal Caribbean's Oasis Class ships.
The genesis of the concept began on Wonder of the Seas, which was originally destined for the Chinese cruise market. In Asia, there's a need for more gambling venues so the original plan was to have a casino in lieu of Jazz on 4.
When plans changed and Wonder was re-routed to North America, Royal Caribbean decided to keep the idea.
Soon thereafter, all the Jazz on 4 venues were replaced by non-smoking casinos as a way to offer more passengers an opportunity to gamble.
This appears to be the same idea with Freedom, but this is the first time a non-Oasis Class ship received such a change.
There's been no official statement by Royal Caribbean or any official as to why they decided to make the change, but it's likely it has much to do with maximizing onboard revenue as it does addressing a need passengers have been asking for.
While Vintages was the only wine bar on the ship, the supply of wine should be unaffected to any passenger that wants it, since the bulk of the wine was always stored behind-the-scenes.
Could more ships be getting a non-smoking casino?
With this change to Freedom of the Seas, the next question becomes will other ships receive a similar change.
Royal Caribbean hasn't released any sort of update to indicate if it would. They didn't make any announcement with the Oasis Class either, but then systematically went through and made the change on each ship.
It's entirely possible other Freedom or Voyager Class ships would see their Vintages replaced with a casino, as the venue is nearly identical to Freedom's.
A few ships already had their Vintages replaced with something else.
Mariner and Navigator of the Seas have the Bamboo Room instead of Vintages, which is a tiki bar. Adventure of the Seas has Izumi Japanese Restaurant in its place.
