With Baltimore's cruise business growing, here's a sobering report card for green travelers.
Friends of the Earth, in its second annual assessment of the environmental performance of cruise lines, finds many of those "love boats" still pollute the air and water more than they need to, fouling the very places they're taking vacationers to see.
"For the second year in a row, we've found that cruise lines are doing less than they can to limit the environmental impact of their ships," Marcie Keever, the group's Clean Vessels Campaign director, said in a release accompanying the report.
Only a few cruise lines, for example, have retrofitted their ships to plug into available portside electricity when docked, reducing their air pollution. About a third apparently still dump raw or minimally treated sewage overboard. And only about a third make it easy for prospective customers to learn online about the cruise lines' environmental practices and performance.
Cruise Lines International Association, an industry group, says on its website that recent pollution violations by cruise ships have served as a wake-up call to member companies to redouble their efforts to improve their environmental performance.
Not much has changed from last year's report card, though. Disney and Royal Caribbean improved their grades, while Holland America and Princess lost groud.
Of the three rated cruise lines that serve Baltimore, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean got a D-plus, and Carnival a D-minus. American Cruise Lines, which sails the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic coast from Baltimore, wasn't rated.
To see the ratings, go here.
UPDATE: The Cruise Lines Industry Association, which disputed the Friends' earlier report card, issued a statement saying this one was flawed and arbitrary as well. The industry group says its ships treat all "blackwater" aka sewage before discharging it, and it contends its members "meet and often exceed all applicable international and federal environmental standards." For more, go here.
(2009 Baltimore Sun photo by Algerina Perna)