I like the ocean & have been a passenger on about 35 ocean cruises.
When I refer to “bluer” ocean cruising in this post, I mean better for the ocean & kinder to marine life. Like kinder to the whales, as mentioned in my recent post “Towards a More Whale-Safe 2024”. One suggestion: we might politely ask while on an ocean cruise (e.g.: “how does this ship/this cruise line avoid striking whales? has this ship ever struck a whale & if so can you please explain”…). Sometimes there is a ship’s Environmental Officer to speak with.
Some seem to believe that we create too much carbon footprint with almost any type of travel. Can we passengers help ocean cruising to be one of the cleaner (more ocean blue) travel options? How would we like ocean cruising to evolve? I believe that cruise lines are responsive with (even further) good actions when their passengers express concern.
I think it hard work to organize responsively for 1000s of passengers. & That cruiselines are quite motivated (via customer requests?) to improve cruising environmentally. Why not try to engage the decision makers? One of my concepts: try engaging a ship’s officer in respectful conversation at least once a week while on a cruise. I believe that ideas/requests voiced &/or by filling out the cruiseline’s feedback questionnaire percolate up.
Another “blue-er” idea for cruise passengers: longer stays onboard. About a year ago I learned the term “slomad or slowmad” which can mean a nomad (or traveler) who stays put longer. I think that staying on the same ship in the same cabin for longer (on a longer itinerary, or via back-to-back cruises) can be bluer. A longer stay likely incurs less cleaning/cleansers & laundering of bed linens & towels (on changeover). Longest I have spent on the same ship so far: 5 weeks.
Working remotely while spending several weeks or months experiencing a ship? Digital Nomads/Slomads & 7-day ocean cruisers, have you considered crossing the Pacific or Atlantic via a longer ocean cruise? I haven’t found an ocean-crossing statistic (yet) comparing the energy/carbon expended/created per passenger per day when cruising vs. flying across.
Those who suspect they’d enjoy this type of slowmadding, might try a TransOcean cruise at least once as an alternative to flying across the Pacific, Atlantic (or to Iceland, Greenland, etc.). Ocean cruise can often be very relaxing & sometimes so *affordable too. *A price check just now (I use the vacationstogo website) found these lower cost examples:
– a 16-night cruise (Florida-England) on a newer ship at a starting/lowest base price < USD$700 per person, &
– a 26-night cruise (Australia-California) on an older ship at a starting/lowest base price < USD$1400 per person.
Lowest prices are usually for ea. of 2 people sharing an inside cabin; & other cruise costs (e.g. taxes & port charges & gratuities) are additional to the base price.
Reliable internet service might now be had TransOcean on some ships with the recent satellite connectivity improvements; I still look for recent definitive reports from TransOcean cruisers on this point. If the level of WiFi connectivity/speed/reliability offshore on a ship would be of rather vital importance to your ocean cruise experience, then is best to check/ask before booking a specific ship cruise whether satellite internet (probably Starlink) service is in place & functioning well on that ship & that itinerary.