I’ve enjoyed the cruises I’ve taken. You’re definitely on their time schedule (boarding times). I have no doubt that port towns suffer both negative and positive consequences. I am one of the many obese Americans who has had a snapshot visit of different tropical islands.
I’m not into the shopping or gambling but for many it is central to their cruise experience. My money usually goes to taxi drivers. I usually plan my own port excursions and sometimes just hire a taxi driver for the entire day. With a group it becomes economical to do that.
Some day I’ll take a paddling cruise and plan a short paddle at each island even if only for just a few hours. Usually I enjoy snorkeling, hiking, sight seeing, or a deserted beach. I totally get how hordes of people can change your experience. My last trip to Yellowstone in July 2019, included traffic, road construction, and just didn’t feel very relaxing.
I had no idea cruise ships dumped there garbage like that. Silly me I thought they would dispose of garbage like SANE people. Wow disgusting. Good thing the Keys banned them. With all the money involved no way to get them removed from then oceans. How about a law if they dump garbage at sea there not welcome in your country. Yea I know good luck with that as all politicians are bought and paid for. Plus the small countries cant afford to lose the money they generate for the locals. Guess were all screwed.
Yes, it is a vile practice even when done within legal limits.
One of the last nights on our Inside Passage trip, we were camped along a cruise ship route that funneled them to Skagway. In the darkest part of the short nights, I awoke gagging to the stench of raw sewage. It was no low tide funk; first of all, it wasn’t low tide time, AND it happened during a stretch of very HIGH high tide levels. Plus it stank of human sht—far worse than low tide funk odor.
A short distance off in the channel sat one of the behemoth Las Vegas-lit blazing emblems of Ugly American, probably illegally dumping. I doubt it was even one mile off shore.
In addition to the obviously harmful dumping, many cruise ships emblazon every single square inch with ultrabright light. It is bright enough to wake you from a sound sleep. When we lived in WA, some of the small cruise ships blasted so much light that the slowly moving swaths of brightness would wake me up when I saw them projected on a WALL in the room.
So besides sewage dumping, in-water effects on sea life from such huge things simply moving through the water, and fuel consumption, they exhibit unfettered enjoyment of destroying the dark beauty of wild country at night. All for passenger pleasure (and owner profit), nothing else. That anount of light just isn’t necessary for safety reasons.
Getting slightly off topic, but I wonder how the smaller vessels used as river cruise ships dispose of their biological waste. There are some with passenger counts “only” in the three figure range, which still generates a lot of sewage. But these vessels go along major navigable riverways and thus could access disposal facilities, if they were available. In the US at least, they pass by cities at closer intervals than Alaskan and Canadian cruises.
If I ever went to Europe, I’d be interested in renting a “narrow boat” for independent water travel between villages. But I wonder how THEY dispose of their waste, too.
@pikabike
I have done two river cruises, one Rhine and one Danube. I never saw any indication of a raw dump and frankly the European countries are stiffer about enforcing regs than in the US. Found this online from a best practices guide, lines up with what I didn’t actually see. Note that river cruising has been exploding in Europe up to CoVid, so if anything they have gotten more strict.
The ships generally reposition at night during the trip. But the end points of each 7 or 14 day cruise are used in common by all the lines. It there is a cleaning out of the tanks, it could happen there. The ships are essentially out of commission for up to 10 hours between discharging one set of passengers and getting the next. And yes, aside from the rare ones like the Magna cruiser from AMA Waterways, max count for a river cruiser is 197 passengers (Viking). Smaller passenger counts as you look at other cruise lines or move to very shallow rivers like the Douro.
“2. River cruise ships, just as with any inland waterway vessel, must comply with legislation on
inland waterways. National and/or regional legislation may mandate the segregation of
wastewater streams, use of holding tanks, disposal via port facilities and parameters for
wastewater discharge into waterways (see section 3.10 legal frameworks). Additionally,
compliance with EU regulations is required, such as those that stipulate that ships must be
equipped with treatment devices to prevent the discharge of untreated or inadequately treated
wastewater.”
One caution of the narrow boat trips, which often include barges. Be very alert to what you get and space available on the boat. I have a relative who did one and found it overly claustrophobic and not much fun, she learned she would have been happier with the access to better tours and the room to relax on the regular river cruisers.
Thanks for the info, Celia. I suspect the group river cruises would never happen with me because the nature of sedentary group trips isn’t appealing. But it’s another option for someone who might only know about the gigantic floating cities on the oceans.
The narrow boat trips do sound interesting as long as it is doable by one or two people per boat, which I have read it is. AND as long as there are frequent stops to get out to explore the land on foot and bicycle. Sort of like taking a road trip focused on hiking and biking involved daily.
@pikabike
It is not correct to describe river cruises as sedentary. They can be for people who take no advantage of the excursions but that is not true for the majority of those who choose this type of trip. Granted though the excursions that involve anything resembling a difficult hike are not the majority, and probably only about 10 to 15% of the passengers opt for the more challenging bike trips. Europe is extremely bike friendly especially on river ways. The drinking is also not a focus, an issue on the big ships.
Understandable that people who have not done one of these get the river cruise crowd confounded with the bigger ships. But it is not the same bunch, very little crossover between the two.
The availability of stops is something that you need to check carefully. It really depends on the specific waterway. The small canal boats usually run along stop almost anywhere waterways, likely the category of boats you have been looking at. That said, these waterways may also be a distance from some of the more popular cultural sites.