NYT: Royal Caribbean's newest ship & climate friendliness

[msmerymac]

I know in Alaska they can only run the smaller ships (still 2k people). My stepmother thought they were so small compared with all the stuff they had to do on the Oasis and Allure.

Thankfully this year my dad has decided to rent a beach house and invite the whole family instead. And all of us will be either driving there or taking the auto train.

[InBetweenDays]

Jan 28, 2024 17:23:25 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I know in Alaska they can only run the smaller ships (still 2k people). My stepmother thought they were so small compared with all the stuff they had to do on the Oasis and Allure.

I've never been on an Alaska (or any actually) cruise, but I don't think this is true. We have several Alaska cruise ships that leave from Seattle that hold 4-5,000 passengers.

[msmerymac]

Jan 28, 2024 17:43:40 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

Jan 28, 2024 17:23:25 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I know in Alaska they can only run the smaller ships (still 2k people). My stepmother thought they were so small compared with all the stuff they had to do on the Oasis and Allure.

I've never been on an Alaska (or any actually) cruise, but I don't think this is true. We have several Alaska cruise ships that leave from Seattle that hold 4-5,000 passengers.

I guess it depends where it goes. Ours was Juneau, Tracy Fjord, Ketchikan, Skagway, and definitely in the Fjord they couldn’t do anything large, probably in Skagway either since there are fewer than 1000 residents (in the summer).

[InBetweenDays]

Jan 28, 2024 17:58:19 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Jan 28, 2024 17:43:40 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

I've never been on an Alaska (or any actually) cruise, but I don't think this is true. We have several Alaska cruise ships that leave from Seattle that hold 4-5,000 passengers.

I guess it depends where it goes. Ours was Juneau, Tracy Fjord, Ketchikan, Skagway, and definitely in the Fjord they couldn’t do anything large, probably in Skagway either since there are fewer than 1000 residents (in the summer).

They do go to Skagway. And looks like Ketchikan, Sitka, Icy Strait Point, Endicott Arm, Dawes Glacier, etc.

Not sure when your cruise was but the bigger ships are relatively new (4-5 years?).

[sent]

Jan 28, 2024 18:12:11 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

Jan 28, 2024 17:58:19 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I guess it depends where it goes. Ours was Juneau, Tracy Fjord, Ketchikan, Skagway, and definitely in the Fjord they couldn’t do anything large, probably in Skagway either since there are fewer than 1000 residents (in the summer).

They do go to Skagway. And looks like Ketchikan, Sitka, Icy Strait Point, Endicott Arm, Dawes Glacier, etc.

Not sure when your cruise was but the bigger ships are relatively new (4-5 years?).

Our itinerary last summer was Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan. We were supposed to go into some straits in between the Sitka and Juneau stops where only small ships can go but the captain ended up having to skip it to make up time. We were on an old Royal Caribbean ship that held about 2K passengers. The other ship that Royal Caribbean sails to Alaska is larger has a different itinerary. I doubt the behemoth ships would ever go to Alaska. 

I can see Alaska being a place where there wouldn't be much tourism to the port towns if the ships didn't sail there. It's not like Hawaii where the allure of the beach naturally draws visitors with or without cruise ships. I don't know much about the Alaskan economy to know if that is good or bad for those towns.

@@@@@@
The old ship definitely had none of the bells and whistles like you see on the commercials. The kids were very old school style bored on the ship and resorted to old school activities to stay occupied, like coloring and people watching. 

[pixy0stix]

I would like to point out that if you've taken a cruise to Alaska or Antarctica you're being particularly stupid. A simple Google search will give you many hits on how air quality and wastewater dumping are severely degrading the environment due to cruising alone.

One article - www.nps.gov/articles/aps-9-2-6.htm

[wawa]

Jan 27, 2024 16:42:45 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

It's the propulsion of that large of a vessel that is the problem. It's going to be chugging along slowly and just expending heaps of fuel to move that monstrosity.

I worked on a 100ft tall ship which weighed about 100 tonnes. Our engine was the same size as a semi truck, which are usually up to 40 tonnes. Our engine at full power could move our ship at 12 mph, while that semi could drive at 70 mph. Propellers are unfortunately just a really inefficient mode of propulsion.

Also water is heavy and in the way of a big ship. Like...nobody would think twice about whether recreational tunnel machines are really inefficient. So...not that bad. But bad.

[sent]

Jan 28, 2024 19:44:38 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I would like to point out that if you've taken a cruise to Alaska or Antarctica you're being particularly stupid. A simple Google search will give you many hits on how air quality and wastewater dumping are severely degrading the environment due to cruising alone.

One article - www.nps.gov/articles/aps-9-2-6.ht

Seems like if Alaska or the federal government wanted to, they could make it difficult to impossible for cruise ships to go there. That would be more effective than depending on the moral compass of individual Americans to save the earth.

Are there any such initiatives? 

Do we as a nation care about doing the right thing? (Sadly I think we won't in my lifetime. See COVID response.)

The cruise industry doesn't even seem to have very many American workers, moreso American vacationers. The videos of the ships being built are always over in Europe and the actual ship employees are almost never American. What incentive do we as a nation even have to allow this industry to operate? How would they influence our government?

We are doomed. 

[pixy0stix]

Jan 28, 2024 20:34:28 GMT -5 sent said:

Jan 28, 2024 19:44:38 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I would like to point out that if you've taken a cruise to Alaska or Antarctica you're being particularly stupid. A simple Google search will give you many hits on how air quality and wastewater dumping are severely degrading the environment due to cruising alone.

One article - www.nps.gov/articles/aps-9-2-6.ht

Seems like if Alaska or the federal government wanted to, they could make it difficult to impossible for cruise ships to go there. That would be more effective than depending on the moral compass of individual Americans to save the earth.

Are there any such initiatives? 

Do we as a nation care about doing the right thing? (Sadly I think we won't in my lifetime. See COVID response.)

The cruise industry doesn't even seem to have very many American workers, moreso American vacationers. The videos of the ships being built are always over in Europe and the actual ship employees are almost never American. What incentive do we as a nation even have to allow this industry to operate? How would they influence our government?

We are doomed. 

It already is difficult to go to these places. The problem is that waterways are hard to restrict.

Chicken and egg again. Did you do any research of the damage it causes to certain pristine ecosystems when you visit as a tourist? No. Because your money could buy what you wanted, and you need someone to physically stop you from going. (General you)

[InBetweenDays]

Jan 28, 2024 20:34:28 GMT -5 sent said:

Jan 28, 2024 19:44:38 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I would like to point out that if you've taken a cruise to Alaska or Antarctica you're being particularly stupid. A simple Google search will give you many hits on how air quality and wastewater dumping are severely degrading the environment due to cruising alone.

One article - www.nps.gov/articles/aps-9-2-6.ht

Seems like if Alaska or the federal government wanted to, they could make it difficult to impossible for cruise ships to go there. That would be more effective than depending on the moral compass of individual Americans to save the earth.

Are there any such initiatives? 

Do we as a nation care about doing the right thing? (Sadly I think we won't in my lifetime. See COVID response.)

The cruise industry doesn't even seem to have very many American workers, moreso American vacationers. The videos of the ships being built are always over in Europe and the actual ship employees are almost never American. What incentive do we as a nation even have to allow this industry to operate? How would they influence our government?

We are doomed. 

I'm sure it's very complicated. Juneau is actually putting in a limit of 5 big cruise ships a day for the 2024 season and that had to be negotiated with a trade group that represents the cruise lines. But I guess several years ago Juneau also tried to enact a marine passenger fee and was sued by the industry - and I'm sure we all know which party has deeper pockets.

www.ktoo.org/2023/04/18/juneau-limits-future-cruise-tourism-as-first-ship-docks/

[sent]

Jan 28, 2024 20:45:06 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

It already is difficult to go to these places. The problem is that waterways are hard to restrict.

Chicken and egg again. Did you do any research of the damage it causes to certain pristine ecosystems when you visit as a tourist? No. Because your money could buy what you wanted, and you need someone to physically stop you from going. (General you)

I feel like this is best answered by the meme going around on Reels/TikToks/Shorts wherever the youths start these things.

"We're Americans. Of course we love consumerism. Of course we have no financial literacy and love living with debt. Of course, we worship corporations that tempt us to spend our money on unnecessary things while attempting to control us. Of course we don't have common sense. Of course we hate science."

[Scout'sHonor]

Laurel Bristow's latest stories were all about hating on cruises (saved in her highlights as "C.H.U.Y."):
www.instagram.com/laurel__bristow?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==