Cruising through holiday planning

 

I was so excited when I could finally go on holiday. I wanted to do something fun and adventures. I started looking online and found an amazing looking cruise! I booked it immediately.

 

The day came and I had all my stuff packed and ready to go. When I go to my room I noticed disposable water bottles waiting for us. Cool free water.

 

As the cruise went on I noticed a lot of people trying all of the food and not eating all of it. How yummy! People would be plastic souvenirs and would end up on the floor of the ship. Must of lost them.

 

Then I started to notice more. I saw some waste pouring out of the side of the ship. I thought it was just water… I was wrong. It was sewage and gray water. The ocean was being filled with all of the passengers waste. I was horrified to see this. I was ashamed that I didn’t even think of all the things that had been happening right in front of me:

• Single use water bottle of each passenger – over 3000 bottles
• Food wastage for passengers – over 170,000 pounds
• Random plastic souvenirs – 5 pounds of plastic
• Liquid waste from passengers – 210,000 gallons of sewage and 1 million gallons of grey water  

 

All of this was wasted in under 7 days…

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Hello hello. For those who didn’t tune into this weeks podcast, we have created a more detailed blog post for you to read and think about!

 

When i was creating this weeks podcast, I reflected on my own times on holidays and how I never thought of being environmentally friendly. Making simplistic choices such as choose an eco friendly cruise line can make a huge difference. In the podcast i went into some detail around what cruise liners are more so inline with eco friendly policies then other.

 

See, I’m not going to sit here and write ‘don’t go on a cruise its bad for the planet aaaaa’. However, I will provide some recommendations on liners to use that will have a minimized impact. After all, it’s about being conscious about the choices we make.

 

Carnival Cruise Liner

• This cruise liner donated unwanted furniture to charities
• They focused on recycling plastic, glass, electronics, and incinerate solid waste onboard where possible
• All crew partake in a course focused on waste management.
• They ship has designated containers for recycling for passengers to use on board

P&O Australia

• Has equipment to help reduce the use of sulphur, and keep it as clean as possible
• Has advanced water systems to clean sugars and oily bilge water
• A full-time Environmental Officer who ensures each ship is following the Planet P&O program.
• Focused on reacting to leaking taps, reusing towels and linens

Princess Cruises

• Invested millions in implementing pollution prevention technology such as Gas Cleaning systems
• Onboard treatment facilities to aid in the breakdown and cleaning of black water
• State-of-the-art waste management equipment
• Paper laundry bags, reuse towels and linens, and crew also brush their teeth and shave in the shower

Celebrity Cruises

• Celebrity Solstice is a showcase ship that have a number of green initiatives
  • Over 4,000 LED lights
  • Solar power technology with over 216 panels installed
  • Wastewater purification system
  • Smoother silicone painted hull to reduce the amount of fuel needed to travel
  • River rocks to replace ice beds at buffets.

Crystal Cruises

• Fuel reduction program that includes hull cleaning to decrease the amount of energy needed to move
• Uses optimal light settings and LED lights
• Low-flow shower heads and water restrictors are in place to reduce water consumption
• The cruise line has a ‘nothing overboard’ policy. Nothing is wasted into the oceans, wit everything either being reduced, reused, or recycled.

This research took a total of 1 hours and 5 minutes. An extremely minimal time, but in the case of making small environment changes, a huge start. Being environmentally friendly when planning a holiday is not something we think about. It’s not even something we focus on. But hopefully this blog post, as well as the podcast will open some of your eyes into how such a small decision can actually make big impacts.

 

 

Reference list:

Beachapedia. (2020, October 27). Cruise Ship Pollution – Beachapedia. http://www.beachapedia.org/Cruise_Ship_Pollution

Kundu, A. (2021, January 29). Watch: How The World’s Largest Cruise Ships Handle All The Waste? Marine Insight. https://www.marineinsight.com/videos/watch-how-the-worlds-largest-cruise-ships-handle-all-the-waste/

Ruiz, A. (2019, September 30). Feeding the Largest Cruise Ships in the World. Waste Advantage Magazine. https://wasteadvantagemag.com/feeding-the-largest-cruise-ships-in-the-world/

Sayles, J. (2018, October 9). 6 of the best environmentally friendly cruises. Cruise Trade News. https://www.cruisetradenews.com/6-of-the-best-environmentally-friendly-cruises/