Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Cruises - Final Grade: "F"

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 15 cruise ships has a carrying capacity of more than 3,000 passengers and crew, with the exception of its three expedition ships, which travel to the Galápagos Islands, and each have a capacity of fewer than 200 passengers and crew. Celebrity’s newest ship, the Celebrity Beyond, has a carrying capacity of over 5,250 passengers and crew and was launched in 2022.

Through its parent company RCG, Celebrity made a public commitment in 2004 to install advanced sewage treatment systems on its entire fleet of cruise ships by 2008, and now 14 of its 15 ships have installed advanced sewage treatment systems, resulting in a C for the company’s 56 percent sewage treatment score. Only three of Celebrity’s 15 ships are plug-in capable and only two dock at ports with shorepower, earning the company an F for air pollution reduction. While Celebrity operated four ships in Alaska from 2010 to 2018, it chose to discharge sewage from those ships outside of Alaskan waters, thereby avoiding Alaska’s strong water quality standards. In 2019, Celebrity sent three ships to Alaska, one of which was allowed to discharge into Alaskan waters and had two violations. Eleven of Celebrity’s 15 ships have scrubbers installed. Together these factors give Celebrity an F for water quality compliance since scrubber use merely converts air pollution into toxic water pollution.

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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 Constellation Celebrity Cruises 3206 Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Mediterranean, Mexico, Florida, Louisiana 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Beyond Celebrity Cruises 5353 Caribbean, Europe, Gulf of Mexico, Florida 05 04 00 02
Celebrity Solstice Celebrity Cruises 4134 Asia, Alaska, Southeast Asia, U.S. West Coast 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Equinox Celebrity Cruises 4142 Caribbean, Mexico, Florida 05 00 01
Celebrity Infinity Celebrity Cruises 3194 Antarctic, Caribbean, Europe, Mediterranean, South America 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Xpedition Celebrity Cruises 164 Galapagos Islands 05 00 01
Celebrity Silhouette Celebrity Cruises 4171 Caribbean, Europe, Mediterranean, Mexico, Florida 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Millennium Celebrity Cruises 3242 Alaska, Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Mexico, U.S. West Coast, Florida 05 07 03 05
Celebrity Eclipse Celebrity Cruises 4138 Alaska, Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand, South Pacific, U.S. West Coast 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Summit Celebrity Cruises 3185 Canada, Caribbean, Europe, Mexico, New England, U.S. East Coast, Florida 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Flora Celebrity Cruises 180 Galapagos Islands 05 00 01
Celebrity Xploration Celebrity Cruises 28 Galapagos Islands 00 00 00
Celebrity Reflection Celebrity Cruises 4339 Caribbean, Europe, Mediterranean, Florida 05 00 00 00
Celebrity Apex Celebrity Cruises 4725 Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Mexico, North Africa, Florida 05 07 00 03
Celebrity Edge Celebrity Cruises 4725 Caribbean, Central America, Mediterranean, Mexico, Florida 05 00 00 00

 

Grading Methodology For The 2022 Cruise Ship Report Card

Friends of the Earth’s Cruise Ship Report Card ranks 18 major cruise lines and 213 cruise ships — AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, Holland America Line, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Oceania Cruises, P&O Cruises, 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 Compliance 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. 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 Compliance grade for ships operating in Alaska, we used notices of violation issued for individual cruise ships to each cruise line by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation from 2010 to 2021. We also failed ships for their scrubber use since scrubbers convert air pollution emissions into water pollution.

Transparency
To determine the Transparency grade for each cruise line we graded each cruise line based on whether it responded to our 2022 requests for information regarding their environmental practices. Companies that responded with specifics were given As, those that didn’t received failing grades.

Grades In Comparison: Report Cards From Previous Years

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 2022 Cruise Ship Report Card, we graded 18 cruise lines and 213 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.