Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Cruises - Final Grade: "D"

Celebrity Cruises was founded in 1989. Headquartered in Florida, Celebrity is a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group (RCG) which is incorporated in Liberia. Each of Celebrity’s current fleet of 16 cruise ships has a carrying capacity of more than 3,500 passengers and crew, with the exception of its 3 expedition ships, which travel to the Galápagos Islands, and each have a capacity of fewer than 180 passengers and crew. One of Celebrity’s newest ships, the Celebrity Beyond, has a carrying capacity of over 5,300 passengers and crew.

Fifteen of Celebrity’s 16 ships have installed advanced sewage treatment systems, resulting in a C for the company’s 56% Sewage Treatment score.

Seven of Celebrity’s 16 ships are plug-in capable and 5 dock at ports with shorepower hookups. Four of Celebrity’s cruise ships (Celebrity Constellation, Celebrity Infinity, Celebrity Millenium, and Celebrity Summit) burn fuel with a 0.1% sulfur content worldwide which is lower than what is required internationally. Celebrity received a D+ in the Air Pollution Reduction category for its shorepower installation and cleaner fuel use.

Fourteen of Celebrity’s 16 ships have exhaust gas scrubbers installed giving Celebrity an F for Water Quality/Scrubber Use since scrubber use merely converts air pollution into toxic water pollution.

Celebrity was one of the cruise lines that responded to our inquiries about its environmental practices with specifics, but it didn’t fully respond despite multiple inquires. We awarded them a D for Transparency.

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Celebrity Cruises - Cruise Ship Fleet

Ship Name Cruise Line Total Persons on Board Destinations Sewage Treatment

Sewage Treatment

Has the cruise line installed the most advanced sewage and wastewater treatment systems available instead of dumping minimally treated sewage directly into the water? In determining a cruise line’s Sewage Treatment grade, we compared the number of cruise ships in the cruise line that have installed advanced sewage treatment systems against the total number of ships in the cruise line. Ships with AWTS were downgraded in 2020 since no companies publicly report on the performance of those advanced systems.

 Air Pollution Reduction

Air Pollution Reduction

Has the cruise line installed shorepower or adopted cleaner fuel worldwide? In determining the Air Pollution Reduction grade for each ship in a cruise line, ships that dock at a port and plug in to available shoreside power hookups were graded. In addition, ships were given credit if they utilize low sulfur fuels continuously worldwide at levels lower than required by international law. Use of scrubbers is not considered since the scrubbers in use by the cruise industry simply convert air pollution emissions into water pollution through their scrubber wastewater discharges.

 Water Quality Compliance

Water Quality Compliance

To what degree did cruise ships violate water pollution standards designed to better protect the Alaskan coast? In determining the Water Quality Compliance grade for cruise ships, we used notices of violation issued for individual cruise ships to each cruise line by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation from 2010 to 2019. In addition, we downgraded ships for their use of scrubbers since scrubbers convert air pollution emissions into water pollution.

 Final Ship Grade
Curved Grading Scale
A 100-85 Excellent
B 84-70 Satisfactory
C 69-50 Needs Work
D 49-25 Poor
F 24-0 Unacceptable
N/A Not Graded No Discharge in Alaskan Waters or Scrubber Use

**For the 2021 Cruise Ship Report Card, we graded 18 cruise lines and 202 cruise ships of those 18 lines operating around the world. All cruise ships from each cruise line were included in this report card. Friends of the Earth relied on data gathered from the internet, government sources, the cruise line industry, and other public sources in order to determine the grades assigned to the cruise lines. Friends of the Earth did not independently verify that the technology graded in the report card was installed on the individual cruise ships.
Celebrity Xpedition Celebrity Cruises 164 South America, Galapagos Islands 05 00 01
Celebrity Eclipse Celebrity Cruises 4,434 Canada, Caribbean, Europe, Mediterranean, Middle East, New England, North Africa, Florida, Transatlantic 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Edge Celebrity Cruises 4,750 Alaska, Canada, Hawaii, South Pacific, U.S. West Coast 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Ascent Celebrity Cruises 4,660 Caribbean, Europe, Mediterranean, Florida, Transatlantic 05 07 00 03
Celebrity Beyond Celebrity Cruises 5,353 Caribbean, Florida 05 07 00 03
Celebrity Silhouette Celebrity Cruises 4,824 Canada, Caribbean, Europe, Mediterranean, New England, U.S. East Coast, Florida, Transatlantic 05 07 00 03
Celebrity Flora Celebrity Cruises 180 South America, Galapagos Islands 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Millennium Celebrity Cruises 3,617 East Asia, Southeast Asia 05 11 00 04
Celebrity Summit Celebrity Cruises 3,626 Alaska, Canada, Caribbean, Central America, U.S. West Coast, Florida 05 09 00 03
Celebrity Xploration Celebrity Cruises 28 South America, Galapagos Islands 00 00 00
Celebrity Constellation Celebrity Cruises 3,581 Caribbean, Europe, Mexico, Florida, Transatlantic 05 09 00 03
Celebrity Reflection Celebrity Cruises 4,773 Caribbean, Florida 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Solstice Celebrity Cruises 4,432 Alaska, Australia, Canada, East Asia, Hawaii, South Pacific, Southeast Asia 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Equinox Celebrity Cruises 4,438 Antarctic, Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Mediterranean, South America, Florida, Transatlantic 05 04 00 02
Celebrity Apex Celebrity Cruises 4,725 Arctic, Caribbean, Europe, Florida, Transatlantic 05 07 00 03
Celebrity Infinity Celebrity Cruises 3,617 Europe, Mediterranean, Middle East, North Africa 05 09 00 03

 

Grading Methodology For The 2024 Cruise Ship Report Card

Friends of the Earth’s Cruise Ship Report Card ranks 21 major cruise lines and 243 cruise ships — AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Hurtigruten, HX|Hurtigruten Expeditions, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Oceania Cruises, P&O Cruises, P&O Australia, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean Int’l, Seabourn Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises, Viking Cruises, and Virgin Voyages—according to four environmental criteria: Sewage Treatment, Air Pollution Reduction, Water Quality/Scrubber Use and Transparency.

Sewage Treatment
To determine a cruise line’s Sewage Treatment grade, we compared the number of cruise ships in the cruise line that have installed advanced sewage treatment systems (AWTS) against the total number of ships in the cruise line. Ships with AWTS have been downgraded from As to Cs since 2020 because no companies publicly report on the performance of those advanced systems.

Air Pollution Reduction
To determine the Air Pollution Reduction grade for each ship in a cruise line, ships that dock at a port and plug in to available shoreside power hookups were graded. In addition, ships were given credit if they utilize low sulfur fuels continuously worldwide at levels lower than required by international law. Ships were downgraded if they have adopted the use of liquified natural gas which emits significantly more life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions over the short-term than low sulfur fuel. Use of scrubbers is not considered since the significant majority of scrubbers in use by the cruise industry simply convert air pollution emissions into water pollution through their scrubber wastewater discharges.

Water Quality Compliance
To determine the Water Quality/Scrubber Use grade we only grade cruise ships in the cruise line that have installed exhaust gas scrubbers. Many cruise ships have installed exhaust gas scrubbers to reduce smoke-stack emissions and comply with cleaner fuel rules in the US and worldwide. However, while scrubbers reduce some air pollution, most discharge contaminated, toxic wastewater–trading one dirty pollution source for another. We fail ships for their use of scrubbers since scrubbers convert air pollution emissions into wastewater pollution.

Transparency
To determine the Transparency grade for each cruise line we graded each cruise line based on whether it responded to our 2024 requests for information regarding their environmental practices. Companies that responded with full specifics were given As, those that didn’t received failing grades.

The grades for each of the four criteria were averaged to calculate the Final Grade for each cruise line.

Grades In Comparison: Report Cards From Previous Years

2024 Cruise Ship Report Card
2022 Cruise Ship Report Card
2021 Cruise Ship Report Card
2020 Cruise Ship Report Card
2019 Cruise Ship Report Card
2016 Cruise Ship Report Card
2014 Cruise Ship Report Card
2013 Cruise Ship Report Card
2012 Cruise Ship Report Card
2010 Cruise Ship Report Card
2009 Cruise Ship Report Card

**For the 2024 Cruise Ship Report Card, we graded cruise lines and 243 cruise ships of those 21 lines operating around the world. All cruise ships from each cruise line were included in this report card. Friends of the Earth relied on data gathered from the internet, government sources, the cruise line industry, and other public sources in order to determine the grades assigned to the cruise lines. Friends of the Earth did not independently verify that the technology graded in the report card was installed on the individual cruise ships. The grades are based on information understood to be accurate as of September 18, 2024. It is possible that changes in practices by a company since that date would warrant a different grade.