Society & Politics

The Dirty Secrets of Cruiseliners: What Really Goes On Behind the Scenes

IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE PUT OFF FROM GOING ON A CRUISE THEN STOP READING NOW!



You may think cruise liners provide a nature experience, but at the same time they destroy the very nature they are showing you.



Look at this image. It shows you exactly what cruise liners are doing while you're enjoying the nature.



Cruise liner's big dirty secret that they hide behind the curtain!!! What really goes on!!!

1. Excessive Air Pollution


The Dirty Secrets of Cruiseliners: What Really Goes On Behind the Scenes

Cruise liners burn poorly refined diesel, it is know as bunker oil. It's cheaper to buy than fully refined diesel. The problem is, burning bunker oil results in extremely high levels of air pollution. It would take 13 million cars driving around all day to create the same level of air pollution 1 cruise ship does in a day. Now when cruise ships are sitting in city ports, that is when the problem is, at it's worst because of what they are doing to people's breathing air.



2. Water Pollution


The Dirty Secrets of Cruiseliners: What Really Goes On Behind the Scenes

Cruise liners dump high levels of sewage, oils, cleaning products and many other chemicals into the sea. When they are in port, they dump grey water. To give you an idea of how badly they pollute the water, I will give you an example. Each year cruise liners pump over 1 billion gallons of sewage into the ocean with most of it being raw. Oils, cleaning products and other chemicals they dump into the water are around the same kind of levels.



3. Dumping Rubbish into the Ocean, plastics, etc.



This is another form of water pollution but I wanted to list it separately because there is a lot to say. The video is of a cruise ship worker dumping rubbish through the porthole and into the sea. Tons of plastics and other rubbish is dumped into the ocean by cruise liners each year.




It's not only the rubbish in plastic bags that get dumped into the sea. The image is of pallets that have been cut down to fit through the porthole so they can also be dumped into the sea. All types of rubbish is dumped.


The Dirty Secrets of Cruiseliners: What Really Goes On Behind the Scenes

4. Ballast Water


The Dirty Secrets of Cruiseliners: What Really Goes On Behind the Scenes


It may only be sea water that was pumped into tanks to keep the ship stable so you may ask, "What's the problem with returning it back to the sea?" Well, the problem is that when a cruise linter fills its tanks in one area of the world and empties them in another, it also dumps species of fish into a climate that they are not use to. It can also spread disease to both the native marine life of that area and even humans.



At the moment very little is being done to stop this, it's time cruise liners were held accountable for their extreme levels of pollution .



Four examples of many are:



Oosterdam, Holland America Line:



The Juneau Empire reports the ship was cited for one air quality violation in Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. On the 24th of July, the ship's smoke emissions exceeded 20% opacity. It also had an air opacity incident on the 2nd of July, but a notice of violation was not issued.



Texas Treasure, Corpus Christi Day Cruise:



The ship's operator plead guilty to obstructing a US Coast Guard investigation into whether the ship had illegally discharged waste oil and deliberately bypassed its pollution prevention equipment. The incidents occurred in October of 2004. Sentencing was on the 25th of April, 2006. The proposed plea agreement included a $300,000 fine and the institution of an Environmental Compliance Plan.



Lyubov Orlova, Quark Expeditions:



From a passenger: "We took a trip to Antarctica for a study abroad program with the University of Delaware. Aboard the Lyubov Orlova through Quark Expeditions, we traveled with 25 students and 2 advisors on a 10 day Antarctic cruise from the 6th to 16th of January. While aboard, we witnessed dumping of trash, including plastic garbage bags, overboard. Luckily, we were able to catch the act on video and are extremely unhappy with current dumping regulations."



Editor's note: "Sadly, the Orlova has a long history of this type of behaviour though no government or authority has yet to address the problem."



Carnival Cruise Line:



Carnival Cruise Line paid a $200,000 administrative fee to settle with the California State Lands Commission over the cruise line's noncompliance with state ballast water law.

The Dirty Secrets of Cruiseliners: What Really Goes On Behind the Scenes
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