More cruise lines ban smoking

Sailing sans smoke

First airplanes. Then restaurants. Now cruises.

Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Carnival Cruise Lines are tightening their smoking policies.

Princess will ban smoking in passenger staterooms and balconies for all voyages departing after Jan. 15. The ships will still have smoking areas in cigar lounges, a section of the nightclub and casino and a portion of the open decks.

Holland America will also ban smoking in staterooms starting Jan. 15. Smoking will still be permitted on stateroom verandas and in other designated indoor and outdoor deck areas.

Earlier this month, Carnival started permitting smoking only in its dance clubs, designated areas within the casino and casino bar, and certain sections on the open decks on all vessels. Starting Dec. 1, Carnival will also ban smoking in all staterooms. Guests with balconies will be able to smoke there.

Cuban tourism rises

Cuba is getting more visitors, including a 20 percent uptick in the number of Americans. Overall tourist arrivals rose 18 percent to 2.53 million last year from about 2.15 million in 2007, Cuba's National Office of Statistics said.

The United States was the eighth-biggest source of travelers despite the government's decades-old ban on American tourism to the island. About 63,000 Americans visited last year, compared with 52,000 in 2009.

The figures include both U.S. citizens on trips approved by the U.S. Treasury Department and those who sneaked in through third countries.

Bob Guild, vice president of Marazul Charters, said the U.S. government issued some $1 million in fines to about 1,000 Americans who traveled to Cuba illegally during the early part of the past decade. But, he said, it stopped going after individuals in the latter years of the George W. Bush administration.

No babies on board

Malaysia Airlines will ban babies from traveling first class on its Airbus A380 super jumbo jet, according to online reports.

The decision comes after the airline banned babies from the first-class section of its fleet of Boeing 747-400 jets.

The baby ban will be extended to its Airbus A380 jets, Malaysia Airlines CEO Tengku Azmil told Australian Business Traveller via Twitter. Defending his policy, Azmil said that while it was "a tough call," it addresses complaints from first-class passengers that they spend a lot of money on first-class travel but are often unable to sleep because of wailing infants. Instead, babies and their parents will now need to fly in the airline's business and economy classes. The airline's 747-400 planes make long-haul flights between Kuala Lumpur and Sydney, London and Amsterdam.

Moon offers

summer travel planner

Publishers of the Moon series of guidebooks are offering readers a new eBook, the Moon USA Travel Planner. The guide is a sampler of top travel destinations in the U.S. and is available free though September for download at most online booksellers and the Apple iTunes store.

Compiled by Seattle Times staff and news services.