Hi maygwan and welcome to HT!

I don't now how the smoking ban in England will affect cruises as it seems very unclear at the moment.

Regarding being able to wear jeans and eat at the buffet, this will depend on which ship you are sailing on. It wouldn't be a problem on the Island Escape, Ocean Village, Ocean Village Two, any of the Thomson's ships which have buffets or any other ship which has a buffet. You would need to check that the ship you are intending sailing on does have a buffet. Most, but not all of them do and casual dress would be OK there.

Can I ask you not to use phone style text, eg u instead of you, as per the T&C's? Thanks.

luci

Sorry about my phone text typing lol u almost forget you went to school when using a pc.

Thanx so much for a speedy responce too, and im happy to have joined i have found these forums so useful to me.

i was very tempted to go on the rci navigator of the seas but after reading reviews i see the smoking issue looks like a problem on there.

I am a single traveller which also seems to be another downfall of mine lol as it sure does bump up the prices of a cruise,not only that but i am not a great flyer either so i was looking for cruises from southhampton.

As i have never been on a cruise before it seems as though my lifestyle may hold me back from actually ever trying a cruise..

If any single travellers that smoke and have been on a cruise from southampton to anywhere and found a good priced cruise can help me out here i would be so grateful, theres so many cruiselines and so much imformation to take in im kinda lost.

Perhaps the following link might give you an idea on smoking policies:

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=996634#996634

Mark

See my comments in discussion forum re Thomson Destiny.@ 10th June.

The Black Watched wanted people to dress up on formal night whether they were going to the main restaurant or not. Navigator had some dress rules in, Windjammer, the self service restaurant. I though it was no hats, someone else said no jeans on formal night, but my husband, bless him, wore jeans the whole time with nothing said. He wore his hat quite a bit too ;O)

The Navigator is clearly equipped for kinder weather than that often found around the UK. The only trouble relating to meals on our cruise was was that, because it was cold and windy on deck, and there really were few inside seats with any kind of a decent view, people were spending many hours sitting by the panoramic windows of the Windjammer, meaning that later diners couldn't find a seat at all.

Royal Caribbean ships,including Navigator, have a buffet restaurant called the Windjammer,you can always wear casual clothing there- if wearing a swimsuit you have to at least wear a coverup but otherwise it's strictly comfort clothing. Jeans,hats,whatever. The dining room rules are quite different.
RCCL likes cruisers to restrict their smoking to outdoors,on Starboard side- that way non smokers are affected minimally. You can ask for an ashtray for your cabin and smoke there if you wish.
You can also smoke in the Casino.

BTW- Navigator has several casual dining area- Johnny Rockets is a 50's style diner with good hamburgers.... fun experience too... you can get Pizza on the Promenade at the cafe there,or snacks. Part of Windjammer is called Jade,which is all Asian dishes.
Don't worry about the smoking,it's a huge ship,you can always find somewhere outdoors to smoke.