Cruise ships really need to disappear if we are gonna keep this planet somewhat livable. Mega polluters.
this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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The problem isn't the ships it's the insane amount of diesel they suck down. We already run giant ships powered by nuclear reactors.
Honest question: do the use diesel? A lot of big ships when they are not in a nation's waters burn bunker oil which is significantly worse.
While googling this, it seems like there is an international cap on marine fuels for 0.5% sulphur.
https://www.cruisemapper.com/wiki/752-cruise-ship-engine-propulsion-fuel
A lot of ports and shipping areas require 0.1% sulphur content.
A lot of places I've read say things along the lines of "cruise ships run on diesel, specifically MDO or MGO".
E.g.
https://luxurytraveldiva.com/what-does-a-cruise-ship-use-for-fuel/
Here's a thing about MDO and MGO.
https://maritimepage.com/what-are-mgo-and-mdo-fuels-marine-fuels-explained/
MGO is 0.1% sulphur content.
MDO is 2% sulphur content.
For comparison, car diesel sulphur content is like 0.001%.
Best source I can find for bunker fuel is 3.5%.
So, MDO/MGO are better than bunker fuel, I guess. Feels like a rebrand with minor improvements, so everyone can say "yeh, it's just diesel. Not bunker fuel".
But 2% MDO is still a 40% improvement over 3.5% bunker fuel.
Seems like there is a lot of changing and outdated information on this.
And it being related to international trading, laws and standards... There doesn't seem to be a reliable definitive source on it.
My takeaway is "yeh, it's not bunker fuel. It's diesel. But it's not diesel as we know it from driving cars, trucks, tractors and other plant"
I was surprised to learn that many cruise ships burn diesel rather than bunker oil.
That's a recent change, IIRC, and not all cruise lines are in on it.
Cruise ships are pretty big polluters, yes. Cruise passengers have about 8x the emissions that they'd have from a comparable land-based vacation.
But when people talk about ship pollution, they're usually talking about non-carbon pollution.
For example, ships often burn heavy fuel oil, which produces tons of sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain, and NOX, which depletes the ozone and causes smog and asthma.
Cruise ships are bad for the environment, but there's honestly bigger fish to fry. Gas power plants are way, way worse for the planet.
It’s all bad. This isn’t a competition. It all needs to cease.
Are you comparing power plants to cruise ships?
From the comparisons I've made in the past, they're also relatively cheap compared to land based vacations. For some reason, it's cheaper to make your hotel float.
Then there's places where ships are more inherent to the experience, like transiting the Panama canal, or coastal regions of Alaska or Norway. Places that are too remote to get to by most other means.
But fuck Caribbean cruises. That's a boat taking you from one tourist outdoor shopping mall to another.
Refund paid in monthly installments seems like a huge red flag too…yikes. Hopefully these passengers can come out of this mostly okay at least.
Yeah that was my first thought. I'm willing to bet the company declares bankruptcy soon.
Seems like fraud to announce that close to leaving, the monthly payments on top makes it worse.
So they sold tickets to a cruise... But they didn't have the ship ready.
It's worse even, they couldn't afford the ship. They claimed the sale was taking too long, when they couldn't afford it, and another company bought it out from under them.
Larger companies do this often... but they build their own ships
Mmmm. What fun. Stewing in a disease-ridden floating money-sponge for three years. Marvellous.
Idk man. You go hang out on a cruise for a bit you will find some old people who have made cruising their entire retirement plan. Basically just staying on boats going from port to port until they die.
Which actually doesn’t sound all too bad. I’d think it’d get old after the first few weeks (I never heard Cupid Shuffle so many damn times in one week), but hey, whatever floats your boat.
Not my idea of a good time either but it was appealing to some people. Cruises are incredibly popular. I'd only go if it were free and I was unable to sell the ticket(s).
I don't think I'd go if it were free. I have other things - productive things I could be doing.
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So… if I wanted to do a scam… and I’d sell tickets to a cruise ship for 3 years, upfront payment of $90k… let’s say I sell 2000 seats for $180mil.
Is that enough money to disappear forever and live under a false identity?
Maybe, maybe not. But if you're paying back in monthly installments, there's still going to be a lot of interest for you to live off of in the meantime.
Yeah, I’ll… pay it back. Promise.
I am legally required to say no.
~~yes tho~~
Why are we linking to a Fox News affiliate?
The article itself seems quite factual and straightforward. The comment section on the other hand…
~~Is it just me or does 10k a year for full accommodations seem wildly cheap?~~
Fml I need coffee
Even at $30k per year it was ridiculously cheap. I have a friend of a friend that was going to do this for his retirement. $2500 per month for a room and board that allows you to spend your life sailing from port to port is actually a great deal, and if/when you need more medical care you simply move back off of the ship. The idea was that passengers could just buy another ticket and keep sailing for as many years as they wanted.
I called this one.
- It sounded too good to be true. I had a feeling that they wouldn’t launch and if they did it’d be a floating Fyre Festival except with senior citizens who would not be able to escape.
- Cruise ships are Petri dishes as it is. The idea of a cruise consisting of mostly elderly people who stay on board and mingle with crowds in the various ports of call sounds like a death cruise. Just imagine a viral outbreak on that ship that was killing passengers, resulting in a lockdown.
- It was basically someone watching Wall-E and deciding that the dystopian part was actually a pretty idea.
$30k/year is what I saw...
To be fair, 2.5k a month is what some people spend on rent+food+utilities. Assuming all food onboard is paid for, it's sounds like an ok deal for someone who actually wants to temporarily live on a cruise ship and has the income/savings to pay for all of it upfront.
Thank you, that makes more sense.
Even 30k a year seems way cheap. Most of these "live at sea" "cruises" are orders of magnitude more expensive.
I personally hate boats but yeah I could see people like my lil bro loving this sort of thing, he cruised at least once every couple years and loved it.
Lmao this small business paper where I grew up just did a little blurb on a local executive "living at sea" for three years - article came out days after this was all canceled
Womp womp