More Bruise Than Cruise: The Environmental Impact Of Cruise Ships

Cruises have been a popular vacation style for decades. With ultimate food and drinks, various activities for all ages and award-winning shows conveniently in one place, what’s not to love? Well as it turns out, a lot. The glamour of this experience often overshadow the dangerous environmental impact of cruise ships in an already vulnerable world.

The truth is, environmentalist or not, there is no denying the severe threats we are facing as our actions continue to exacerbate global warming, wreaking havoc on our extremely delicate planet, and cruise ships are not helping the problem. 

The greatest environmental impact of cruise ships often regards their impact on our waterways and oceans – but they are also dangerous to the air we breathe.

Cruises are one of the fastest growing travel sectors. With their traffic, fossil fuel usage, unethical waste disposal and pollution of various other forms, they have a hugely negative impact on the survival of the coral reef and other ecosystems. Over the years, companies have been fined for their irresponsible disposal methods and overall behaviour, but unfortunately, they still get away with damaging our environment. As shared by Hassan Minhaj in his ‘the real cost of cruises’ episode of Patriot Act, legally, the industry is allowed to dump food waste, cargo residue, cleaning agents and animal carcass into the oceans. 

If that is not terrifying enough, due to their heavy use of fossil fuels, a person will produce the same amount of emissions as 18 days on land on a seven-day cruise. In fact, according to an article written by Andy Newman in the New York Times, “cruise ships produce 3 to 4 time more carbon dioxide per passenger mile than a jet“. Further, one ship alone can produce around 79000 litres of sewage per day, and maritime regulations allow for all this to be dumped into the sea, which is naturally harmful to marine life. 

Even worse, with the amount of sulphur dioxide emitted by cruise lines, they play a large role in the growing problem of acid rain. The environmental impact of cruise ships therefore has become a damaging social problem too. In 2019, it was reported that the largest European cruise operator Carnival releases ten times more sulphur dioxide around European coasts than all of the continent’s 200 million cars combined. As a result, James Ellsmoor wrote for Forbes regarding cruise ship air pollution and found that it has links with “high rates of cancer and other forms of respiratory diseases. As such, cruise operators have been urged to switch to cleaner fuel alternatives with lower sulphur content, but few have heeded these calls”. 

In the United Kingdom, between 40,000 and 100,000 Britons die prematurely annually as a result of emissions from the shipping and cruise industries, with major port-cities such as Southampton, Grimsby and Liverpool particularly affected. Recently there have been several moves towards reducing pollution; however, half of the UK seashore lacks the legal protection of maritime pollution laws.

Maybe bon voyage is not very bon after all. 

However, not all types of cruise ships are bad and not all forms of cruises are damaging to the environment.

So many parts of the world, notably Asia and South America, provide incredible eco-friendly cruises that do not have a threatening environmental impact, and use the money they earn from providing beautiful experiences, to protect the very environment they are in.

If you want to cruise the Amazon or the Nile for example, you absolutely should! Just research into companies that are eco-friendly, and remember that the small and more simple the boat, the more sustainable it probably is.

Great news to know: this year, after more than ten years of cruise ships ploughing through Venice’s historic Giudecca Canal, they have been permanently banned by Italian Cultural Minister Dario Franceschini in response to ongoing requests from UNESCO.

Ultimately, and cleaner and greener travel can be implemented in all your adventures and do not have to prevent you from exploring our beautiful world in a variety of interesting ways.