by Donald Wood
Last updated: 10:25 AM ET, Tue February 15, 2022
Two major cruise lines announced smoking would once again be permitted inside casinos onboard qualifying ships.
According to Cruise Critic, Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Cruises announced they would lift restrictions on indoor smoking, a protocol implemented last month to combat the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Carnival revealed that passengers playing at gaming tables and slot machines are now permitted to temporarily remove their masks to smoke, but the casino bar and the rest of the cruise line's vessels would be off-limits to smoking.
In addition, Royal Caribbean announced that smoking is now permitted in designated areas of its casinos on most ships, sans voyages scheduled to depart from the United Kingdom and China.
The smoking bans in casinos will remain in effect on Holland America Line and Princess Cruises voyages until at least March 31.
Last week, Royal Caribbean made changes on its Healthy Sail Center webpage, saying that "venues designated for vaccinated guests only, such as select bars, lounges, restaurants, shows and Casino Royale" no longer require masks.
Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises also announced they would lift all mask mandates for fully vaccinated passengers, starting on March 1.
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