Those who have ever been on a cruise before may affirm how fun those few days at sea are.

Source: UNEP.org

But the daily paper publications, piles of plates used for meals, substantial amount of electricity used every day and other factors made me feel extremely uncomfortable about my own vacation in 2008. After reading the following The Telegraph’s report on the unsustainable practices of cruise ships, I was more than uncomfortable.

• ~712 kg of CO2 per kilometre
• Generally 1,000-3,000 passengers per cruise
• Carbon footprint of cruise passenger 36 times greater than a Eurostar passenger and 3 times greater than plane passenger.
• ~3.5 kg of waste daily/passenger (compared with the usual 0.8 kg)

In addition, cruises “bring limited economic benefit to local communities and small businesses.” (ResponsibleTravel.com)

Vacation cruising is still a relatively young business. It became popular just over the last decade, and it’s going to take time for social, environmental and corporate responsibility to climb priority list. When the days comes, however, I believe it is going to become a huge marketing strategy for cruise lines; a similar story is of hotels nowadays promoting environmental campaigns. Hopefully companies such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean will take advantage of tree-hugging vacationers like me soon.

Source: Andy Newman/Carnival Cruise Lines