Considering a Vacation Cruise?

Hamilton by Seattlest flickr pool member Freeman Mester

We’ve never been a fan of cruise ships. The prospect of spending a week with the same set of people in what’s basically a gigantic floating shopping mall fills us with dread. And forget about eco-cruises: we love the ocean and the coast but cruising to Alaska seems like the equivalent of snowmobiling through Yellowstone--fun, superficially pretty, but ultimately not the best way to relax with nature. When we see cruise ships parked in Elliott Bay, their bulk rivaling most apartment buildings, we have to wonder what kind of environmental impact these behemoths have. Plus, "eco-cruises" might be a nice way to see whales, but they’re also a pretty good way to kill whales.

So we felt pretty vindicated when we saw that Friends of Earth had released a cruise line report card which rates the major cruise lines - no one gets an A, and the report card also contains quite a few Ds and Fs. The report card rates cruise lines on environmental sensitivity, including sewage treatment methods, air pollution reduction, compliance with water quality laws, and accessibility of cruise line environmental impact information.

Royal Caribbean, which offers offers seven-day cruises that depart Terminal 91 for Alaska every week, got a D in sewage treatment and an F in air pollution reduction. Slate estimates that your carbon footprint doubles each day you're on a cruise. You might as well idle your car for a week instead.

Our advice: If you want the cruise experience, stay home, watch a few episodes of Blue Planet and have a couple cocktails. Later, if you still think you're missing out on the cruise experience, read David Foster Wallace's "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" for a reminder of what you're avoiding.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Regis Lacher in Miscellaneous on September 17, 2009 3:30 PM

Comments [rss]

Jenn Mikosz

I was rather anti-cruise until I took one-yes, I'd been citing DFW's piece. As big a fan of DFW as I am...I just can't read his nonfiction anymore because it's like One Big Suicide Note A sibling pointed out to me that David Foster Wallace's idea of a good time was swiping Pynchon & arranging his suicide via dog collar in a very nice house where his wife was sure to find him; http://theriottrail.blogspot.com/2009/07/further-infinity.html

My family's been here in Seattle for 120+ years. Starting with the Denny Party, Seattle was a sketchy port town and its heart will always remain so. After William Boeing got here from Michigan. After Eddie Bauer started selling sporting goods downtown. After Jerry, Zev & Gordon set up their Peet's knock-off @ Pike Place. After Bill Gates moved back here from Albuquerque. To suddenly declare 150 years of history "bad" is the ultimate in Lesser Seattle idiocy. When my grandfather would point out on the Sound where my ancestors went fishing or the journey from Ireland our fore fathers took to arrive in a new amazing country....Canada, in 1821, he failed to mention the "carbon footprint" they had left. Rather, my paternal grandmother spoke of journeying to Ellis Island locked down in steerage...only allowed to walk the ship's decks at night. While that made her mad(imagine if their boat sunk)she left out how she was dooming polar bears. EvilCornbread is correct. The secret of cruises are-they're fun. It's impossible to get our family together, but we can be together on a boat for a week & get to bond in ways you just can't in the day-to-day via e-mail-get a piece of pizza at 2 AM. Yes, we tip the stewards well. I was taken aback by an off-duty porter from Prague we met @ 3 AM who complained about conditions for employees then explained how a Jewish Z.O.G. cabal perpetuated 9/11 but you take the good with the bad.

Regis Lacher

Thanks for catching that, TOS.

TOS

Correction: "a cruise line report card which didn’t give any of the major lines a grade above B"....not "B-".

See Holland America on the report card.

EvilCornbread

Also, while I'm spamming posts, that photo is EVERYTHING that's wrong with HDR photography. Yuck.

EvilCornbread

Er, that should be "...if my typical carbon footprint doubles for the..."

EvilCornbread

How much does your carbon footprint increase while on vacation typically, though? Like when you're flying across the country or to Europe or something?

Frankly, if my typical carbon footprint for the one week a year I'm on vacation, that's fine with me.

I'm sure some cruises are awful, but I've always enjoyed them, particularly with my extended family. Seeing a bunch of cities in one trip, traveling while I sleep, with abundant good food? Sounds great to me.

BigGreenFrank

"You might as well idle your car for a week instead. "

WORST. VACATION. EVER.

Joe G

I agree! I took my first cruise a year ago and was appalled by all the food wasted, the fact that the staff was all foreign depending on our tips for their salary and getting paid hardly anything by the cruise line and by the sure devastation it had on the environment. I will never be doing that again.