The 218 cruise ships operating in European waters in 2023 emitted the sulphur oxide (SOx) equivalent of a billion cars.
I feel like getting rid of cruise ships would be the lowest of the low hanging fruit in cutting emissions, yet nothing ever seems to happen. Every year they just get larger and more numerous.
The business of themed cruises is booming it seems. Metal cruise, gaming cruise, whatever cruise. Enough people are willing to support that kind of decadent nonsense.
Governments could slap a hefty emission tax on those engines. The cruising companies will soon realize, that if they want to stay afloat, they need to switch to sails, kites, or something like that. Just don’t expect USA to do that sort of ting any time soon.
They’re not even required to plug in at port? They can just run their diesels wherever they want?
Fuck them and fuck the ports for allowing it.
The engines keep running to power the generators and provide electic energy. As of today, only few ports have the possibility to provide enough electricity to power a cruise ship.
I can’t help but feel that one way or another, the money is there - clean energy is always getting cheaper, it’s just a necessity of taking money from oil barons that becomes politically difficult.
Fortunately, in the EU, cities are forced to keep their air clean. Thus, more and more ports are equipped with power stations to provide ships with electric energy.
And American cruise ships are no better. Just more.
it’s for middle class people to pretend they’re rich, while giving actual rich people an enclosed space to exclude and look down on everyone else
cruise industry is only going to get bigger and bigger, regardless of whatever damage they’re doing-- that’s the poors’ problem
I would go on a cruise propelled by sails if they had one.
Wait you think sailing cruises don’t exist?
That’s called “colonisation” and I hear it’s a hoot