by Dani Escontrela, RJD Intern

On a regular basis I am at Port Everglades which is one of the biggest cruise ships ports in the world and on any given day can house six or seven cruise ships, if not more. Every Saturday and Sunday the Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the Seas are there, which are the biggest cruise ships in the world. These floating cities are extraordinary, everything needed to survive is on there and it functions just like any other city. They can even carry thousands of people at a time. I’ve been on cruise ships before and it feels like magic; everything is taken care off and at times it doesn’t feel like you’re out at sea. Cruise ships provide an important source of income through tourism not only to those working on the ships but to the ports of call that are visited (Cohen 2002); however, something we don’t think about the damage that cruise ships can cause. These ships can be a major source of waste and many times different cruise lines have been found guilty of illegally disposing of their waste. In fact some cruise lines like Regency Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Princess Cruises, the Holland America line, and Royal Caribbean, among others, have been convicted in the past of illegally dumping oil, garbage, paint, plastic, ballast water and food waste into the waters of Alaska and the Caribbean (Cohen 2002). These acts have either been due to negligence, by accident or have been willful acts (Cohen 2002).

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