The addition is expected by 2024.īut Calkins estimated that ships are in port, plugged in, only about 4% of the time. Oaks would like to see changes such as preferential docking for companies with better environmental practices, refusing those cruise companies that repeatedly pollute and adding fees to cruising that could help fund restoration projects.Īsked how the port is responding to the environmental impacts of cruising, Calkins highlighted the fact that the port has been working toward adding electric shore power to Pier 66 (Terminal 91 already has it) so ships can turn off their diesel engines while docked. And the next step is starting to take real bold action as much as actually can be done legally on that journey.” But the first step is admitting that there's a problem. “We also know that that's a transition that would need to happen. “We do want to see a cruise-free Salish Sea,” she said. And so I think there was a missed opportunity there.”īetween greenhouse-gas emissions from each vessel and the flights passengers take into Seattle before and after cruises, Oaks believes removing the cruise industry could eliminate as much as one-third of Seattle’s carbon emissions.
Covid and cruise ships 2022 full#
“And, unfortunately, when they came back, it was full celebration mode. “We had that opportunity to really rethink, is this what we want to be doing,” she said. Stacy Oaks, founding member of Seattle Cruise Control, a group working to end cruising in the Salish Sea, said that during the pause she had hoped local officials would drastically change how the area does cruising given its negative impacts on the environment. Meanwhile, concerns and protests have been raised over whether this return to business-as-usual for the cruise industry was less an accomplishment than a wasted opportunity. Carnival Cruise Line did not respond to a request for comment. While they’re anticipating that ships will keep their passenger numbers at about three-fourths capacity to help ward off the virus, the Port of Seattle expects to see 1.26 million passengers and 296 sailings this year – thousands more passengers and dozens more sailings than in 2019.īut, as Jones Stebbins put it, “there’s new challenges every day.” And the latest involved a COVID outbreak on a cruise ship that docked in Seattle last month. Whether because the public has confidence in the safety measures or simply is eager to get back to cruising after such a long wait, the port expects more passengers and ships than the pre-COVID 2019 season. Nine months later, the Puget Sound cruise industry started its 2022 season at its traditional time in the spring, with agreements among the Port of Seattle, cruise lines and local health departments detailing COVID protocols (which included having at least 95% of vaccine-eligible passengers and crew vaccinated and isolation and disembarkation procedures following a COVID outbreak).
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