‘Cruisezilla’ Is a Greener Holiday Than You’d Think
Compared to smaller vessels, mega cruise ships have become more efficient.
A cleaner way to sail.
Photographer: South Florida Sun-Sentinel/Tribune News Service/Getty Images
For many people, cruise ships sound like one of the blander circles of hell: Enormous floating holiday parks laden with lukewarm buffet food, bored families, and gastroenteritis. To that list you can add a fresh torment: environmental damage.
The ballooning size of the vessels means we're now in the age of “cruisezillas,” according to Transport & Environment, a climate lobby group. The Icon of the Seas, which became the world’s largest cruiser when it was launched earlier this year, is roughly five times the size of the RMS Titanic. With room for 5,600 passengers and 2,350 crew, it can accommodate as many people as one of Las Vegas’s bigger hotels. Standing in the bow, you’re roughly as far from the stern as the top floor of the Empire State Building is from the ground. The Icon’s sister ship, currently under construction in Finland ahead of a launch next year, will be even bigger.