Royal Caribbean Int’l - Final Grade: "F"
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Royal Caribbean Int’l - Cruise Ship Fleet
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.
Royal Caribbean International (Royal Caribbean) was founded in 1997. A Norwegian/American company with headquarters in Florida, Royal Caribbean is a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group (RCG) which is incorporated in Liberia. Royal Caribbean’s fleet totals 26 cruise ships, including the largest cruise ship ever built—the Wonder of the Seas. Wonder joins the Harmony of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, and Symphony of the Seas as the largest cruise ships on the planet – all accommodate more than 8,800 passengers and crew. Over half of Royal Caribbean’s cruise ships were built in the last decade, and 17 ships have carrying capacities of more than 5,000 passengers and crew.
In 2004, Royal Caribbean made a public commitment through its parent company RCG to install advanced sewage treatment systems on all of its cruise ships by 2008. Of Royal Caribbean’s 26 cruise ships, all 26 have installed advanced sewage treatment systems, resulting in a grade of C for the company’s 60 percent sewage treatment score. Only four of Royal Caribbean’s 26 ships are plug-in capable, but only one docks at ports with shorepower, earning the company an F for air pollution reduction. Royal Caribbean operated four ships in Alaska from 2010 to 2018 and it chose to discharge sewage from those ships outside of Alaskan waters, thereby avoiding Alaska’s strong water quality standards. In 2019, Royal sent two ships to Alaska, and the Radiance of the Seas discharged illegally into Alaskan waters. Twenty-three of Royal’s 26 ships have scrubbers installed. Together these factors give Royal an F for water quality compliance since scrubber use merely converts air pollution into toxic water pollution.