They’re marketed as floating paradise, but cruise ships do great environmental harm. One ship can emit pollution equal to 700 trucks and as much particulate matter as a million cars. Each passenger emits three times the carbon they would on land.

The ships release huge quantities of carbon dioxide, as well as sulfur, fine dust, heavy metals, and other particulates. The International Maritime Organization required all vessels to switch to cleaner fuel with a lower sulfur content by 2020. However, efforts to clean fuel have mostly been through scrubbers, which remove pollutants from the fuel but just transfer the pollution to the water.

Liquefied natural gas has been touted as safer, but it’s still climate-hostile because it’s obtained by fracking. Natural gas is a fossil fuel, and we simply need to leave those in the ground.

Cruise ship companies have been caught discharging sewage, toxic chemicals, plastic, and other waste into the ocean. The engine noise harms marine life; and hull paint sheds heavy metals into the ocean. Work conditions on cruises are abysmal, with crews working long hours for little pay.