Cruise Lines

If more proof were wanted that smokers are the new pariahs of society, it surely comes in the survey by www.cruises.co.uk, which found that more than two thirds of Brits think smoking should be banned completely from cruise ships.

It's a hard life for those who want to light up - not allowed on flights, in public buildings, maybe not for much longer on cruiseships.

I know we're all supposed to live in fear of passive smoking these days, but personally I am more concerned with not going up in smoke - especially as almost a quarter of those questioned admitted either throwing a cigarette over the side or seeing someone do that.

Are they mad? That's just how a fire started on Star Princess three years ago, resulting in one death.

I'm all for personal freedom but if smokers can't behave responsibly, maybe it is time to call time on the weed. If nothing else, I would like to see a universal ban on smoking in cabins and balconies - not just for safety reasons, but so us holier-than-thou non-smokers don't have to live with the smell of stale smoke.

My stint on Swan Hellenic's Minerva is just about to end, mainly due to other commitments and partly because the guys in head office were concerned that if I stayed on to Kirkwall and we hit bad weather, the ship would not be able to get in to the port.

Result? Minerva would head off to Norway - it's next stop after Scotland - with me on board when I was supposed to be elsewhere.

But they hadn't factored in Captain John Moulds. "I'd have got you in," he told me over dinner yesterday evening, after telling me that bad weather is no obstacle for him when it comes to landing passengers in Antarctica - the most unfriendly climate in the world.

Somehow I really think he would.