Poll: How important is a cruise line's commitment to the environment to you?

Hi, we're wondering: How important is a cruise line's commitment to the environment -- whether it's the seven seas or ports of call -- to you when booking a cruise? Please vote in our poll and feel free to comment below. Thanks!

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Chief Content Strategist

Cruise Critic

Hi, we're wondering: How important is a cruise line's commitment to the environment -- whether it's the seven seas or ports of call -- to you when booking a cruise? Please vote in our poll and feel free to comment below. Thanks!

 

 

 

Carolyn

 

 

 

Carolyn Spencer Brown

 

Chief Content Strategist

 

Cruise Critic

As long as the ship is in compliance with IMO environmental regulations, all is OK with me.

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How "green" they are has no effect on my decision. If they are out of spec, it is between them and the governments.

If I wanted to make the environment a big factor in my vacation choice, cruising wouldn't be my vacation choice! While they are probably less ecologically damaging than they were in the past, they're still a horribly consumptive way to vacation.

If I wanted to make the environment a big factor in my vacation choice, cruising wouldn't be my vacation choice! While they are probably less ecologically damaging than they were in the past, they're still a horribly consumptive way to vacation.

While probably not as "consumptive" on a per capita basis as a motor home trip or a first class flight to Australia, cruises are not particularly ecologically friendly.

Anyone who really sincerely sees "being green" as of great importance will spend his vacation bicycling or hiking (near home) rather than cruising.

What cruise lines SAY they do, I treat like any other cruise line hype- I believe it when I see it.

The plastic bottles from bottled water I find especially offensive.

Agree with bottled water...what a freaking rip-off, and what a detriment to the environment! How did people come to believe that "bottled" water is better than other water? It's insane and unrealistic. Barnum and Bailey said it....there's a "sucker" born every minute!

Water in bottles is the same as water out of the ship's tap.....same stuff...H2O...water.

I find the results of the poll, with the large majority saying they don’t think about it, quite depressing. No wonder the planet is in such a mess

For the most part, I don’t think about it. But I have to admit that when Princess and Carnival Corp was hit with that $40 million fine for illegal dumping, it opened my eyes to how little regard they have for the environment.

Agree with bottled water...what a freaking rip-off, and what a detriment to the environment! How did people come to believe that "bottled" water is better than other water? It's insane and unrealistic. Barnum and Bailey said it....there's a "sucker" born every minute!

 

Water in bottles is the same as water out of the ship's tap.....same stuff...H2O...water.

The bottled water craze is one of the most frightening demonstrations of the stupidity of the American consumers - who now spend over 15 billion dollars a year on what about 60% of the time is tap water - possibly filtered, but essentially the same.

I wouldn't particularly care about how impressionable suckers spend their money - were it not for the fact that so much of the water they drink comes in non-degradable plastic bottles - wastefully made from petroleum and more wastefully tossed into garbage dumps or into the sea.

I would like to see a $10 or $20 deposit collected on each bottle - sure, it would mean that the suckers who buy it would be temporarily out a few dollars until they redeemed the empties - but as it now stands so much of our land fills and seas are been littered by the debris which lasts for generations, if not centuries.

It is annoying to see so much damage done by so many stupid people.

Sort of hate some of the new restrictions .... no skeet shooting, etc. :(

Sort of hate some of the new restrictions .... no skeet shooting, etc. :(

Yes, there must be an environmentally safe way to re-implement those. Or maybe plant a tree per shot or something. I feel I missed out! :(

Sort of hate some of the new restrictions .... no skeet shooting, etc. :(

On my very first cruise the only on board activities were skeet shooting and shuffleboard.

Those were the good old days.

The bottled water craze is one of the most frightening demonstrations of the stupidity of the American consumers - who now spend over 15 billion dollars a year on what about 60% of the time is tap water - possibly filtered, but essentially the same.

 

I wouldn't particularly care about how impressionable suckers spend their money - were it not for the fact that so much of the water they drink comes in non-degradable plastic bottles - wastefully made from petroleum and more wastefully tossed into garbage dumps or into the sea.

 

I would like to see a $10 or $20 deposit collected on each bottle - sure, it would mean that the suckers who buy it would be temporarily out a few dollars until they redeemed the empties - but as it now stands so much of our land fills and seas are been littered by the debris which lasts for generations, if not centuries.

 

It is annoying to see so much damage done by so many stupid people.

Well, I would like to agree with you......but given the risky-to-downright dangerous state of some tap water in various places around the US in the last several decades, I'm not sure I'd call those consumers stupid. Now, you might call them unjustifiably scared or untrustworthy of their regulators, but stupid might not be the right word.

Now, people buying the latest trend of "raw water"? They're stupid.

I'm glad that when cruising out of US ports, a ship now has to use low sulpher diesel. I'm glad that most cruiselines don't dump all their garbage into the ocean as they used to a few decades ago. I'm glad that some new cruise ships will be LG (liquid gas) powered.

Very important! If we want to keep our oceans, our air, our planet clean so we can keep on enjoying cruising and travelling than everyone including cruise lines need to be conscious about the environment. Maybe a little bit less wasted food and more recycling on board would be a nice start... People who take a heaping plate full of food and don't even eat it are a big pet peeve of mine....

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A cruise especially when combined with a flight is the opposite of caring about the environment . To pretend otherwise is hypocritical and self serving . Your attitude is the reason that talk often takes precedence over action . Such "caring" is empty and shallow but I'm glad if it makes you feel virtuous .

Well said. It is amazing how some people will shout out how incensed they are about poorly managed environmental issues. That is until they want to travel, and then conveniently place their outrage in a back pocket for their own convenience. Being a when-it's-convenient "activist" is disingenuous at best, hypocritical at worst.

Hopefully cruise lines will stay “inline” with all regulations. I would like my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren, ( you get it) to enjoy cruising.

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If we are to believe the climate change zealots, none of us should be sailing on a cruise ship. Passenger ships should not even exist beyond those used for bona fide A to B transportation.

"Environmentally sensitive" cruising is something to make us feel good. It's the equivalent of using "degradable" coffee pods in a keurig machine....while using energy to keep water at brew temperature 24/7. I get to feel good about being sensitive to the environment while still enjoying the convenience.

If one really are truly feels that cruise lines contribute to the ruination of the planet then don't cruise. Instead, lobby to shut them down.

I'm glad that when cruising out of US ports, a ship now has to use low sulpher diesel. I'm glad that most cruiselines don't dump all their garbage into the ocean as they used to a few decades ago. I'm glad that some new cruise ships will be LG (liquid gas) powered.

I agree.

One doesn't have to be an environmental zealot to want to see the worst abuses curbed and businesses (including cruise lines) complying with existing regulations, at a minimum.

I don't understand why, especially on social media, everything has to be reduced to black and white terms. Doing something is better than doing nothing at all, whatever the crazies would have us believe....

What's the difference between uneaten food and "needing" a suite and perks, using the extra resources to build and maintain?

As far as I know, all cruise lines comply with legal requirements, with their systems designed for the most stringent requirements anywhere they sail. As I understand the fight with Princess a few years ago, it was an argument over whether what was actually discharged met the legal requirement for "not polluted" and Princess decided the publicity wasn't worth fighting.

When the garbage that's been so painstakingly sorted is put ashore on some Caribbean island for disposal, where does it actually go?

What's the difference between uneaten food and "needing" a suite and perks, using the extra resources to build and maintain?

As far as I know, all cruise lines comply with legal requirements, with their systems designed for the most stringent requirements anywhere they sail. As I understand the fight with Princess a few years ago, it was an argument over whether what was actually discharged met the legal requirement for "not polluted" and Princess decided the publicity wasn't worth fighting.

When the garbage that's been so painstakingly sorted is put ashore on some Caribbean island for disposal, where does it actually go?

Well, what Princess did was to discharge potentially oily water without any monitoring, which is required by law. Therefore, no one can say whether any pollution happened or not, but the line was definitely guilty of improper operation of their oily water separators, and guilty of falsifying official documents, their oil record book. The fine was settled out of court, as most of these violations are, since there was no doubt of their guilt, and it was simply a negotiation as to the size of the fine, and the restrictions placed on the cruise line during their "probation" period. Had nothing to do with publicity. One thing that Princess did was to fire all the executives involved, as these would have been convicted felons if they had remained with Princess. Ankle monitors and all.

Well, what Princess did was to discharge potentially oily water without any monitoring, which is required by law.

Do you feel that highly visible cruiselines are held to higher standards than let's say cargo ships?

Do you feel that highly visible cruiselines are held to higher standards than let's say cargo ships?

I don't think they are held to higher standards by outside agencies, but I know that they have instituted many extra standards on themselves due to the whistleblower reward system the US uses for environmental fines, and the fact that every single passenger has a cell phone camera.

Thanks cheng, it was hard to sort out the pearls of wisdom from all the verbal diarrhea.

How's retirement treating you? Cruising as a passenger now?