Aerial view of a cruise ship graveyard

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/headlines/54392978/what-happens-to-old-cruise-ships

by zeristor • 6 years ago

60 67 6 years ago

bbc.co.uk

sasaf5• 6 years ago

Now that the corona virus has given us a marker of the places where respiratory diseases spread, I wonder if (or hope that) there will be a restructuring of those places, resulting in an overall reduction in all respiratory diseases after the pandemic ends.

feralimal• 6 years ago

Yes. Cruise ships were always a hotbed of respiratory diseases.

kijin• 6 years ago

Not only respiratory, but also gastrointestinal diseases like the norovirus.

They really are floating Petri dishes full of the most vulnerable elderly people.

zeristor• 6 years ago

This is a putative list someone put together a few months ago of ships he thought were likely to be retired:

https://thepointsguy.co.uk/guide/cruise-ship-sold-scrap-list...

7373737373• 6 years ago

There's this website where you can buy some: https://cruiseship.homestead.com/cruiseships.html

seibelj• 6 years ago

On a homestead.com domain no less! Incredible

marcod2• 6 years ago

"Vessel lost in Beirut explosion"

cushychicken• 6 years ago

This video is delightful.

Cruise ships are disgusting - on a public health, environmental, and labor law axes. (Probably a few others, too!) I love seeing them being dismantled.

barnabee2• 6 years ago

Not sure why this is downvoted, I 100% agree that cruise ships and the industry are an unsustainable scourge on the planet. Good riddance.

marcod2• 6 years ago

Add to that, that taking a cruise is just a superfluous luxury.

blazor• 6 years ago

I can't imagine anything worse than being a passenger on one of those (other than begin a low paid crew member who's been forced to remain aboard for the past 8 months)

WilTimSon• 6 years ago

Is there any reason they, in particular, are so bad? I'm presuming that running one takes a lot of energy but, other than that, why are they such a strain on public health and the environment?

noneeeed4• 6 years ago

They use a lot of energy, but more importantly they get that from something called bunker fuel. BF is the cheapest, nastiest form of fuel available. They are a significant source of pollution in parts of many port cities like London (especially places like Greenwich). I believe they are particularly bad for sulphur and particulate pollution.

One of the differences with cargo ships is that cruise ships need a lot of power even when they are at port to keep all the amenities of a large town going. Most cargo ships have tiny crews,and little demand for power when not at sea. They are a significant producer of local pollutants that cause very real health problems for many people.

Some ports do have electrical hookups for the cruise ships to use, but I think they are often more expensive than just burning more bunker fuel, and require to ship to be set up for them.

barnabee2• 6 years ago

The air pollution they cause for passengers and the inhabitants of towns and cities they visit is particularly atrocious. Searching the web for “cruise ship air pollution” turns up plenty on that front.

bserge6• 6 years ago

Absolutely useless pollution machines. Running on bunker fuel, used as floating towns for people's amusement, polluting more than all of Europe's cars combined.

There is no excuse for them. I believe they should be banned, and any leisure ships should be sail-powered. I bet they would be more fun for the tourists, too.

I understand international shipping is vital, that's why cargo ships get a pass, but cruise ships simply have no place if we actually care about the environment. Sadly, money trumps everything.

inglor• 6 years ago

Why assume it's a 0 sum game or try to regulate how people enjoy their free time?

Isn't it much more effective to simply force ships to have much fewer emissions or offset them?

noir_lord• 6 years ago

The newer ones run on LNG (which is better but still not remotely good).

darksaints4• 6 years ago

Counterpoint: cruise ships are one of only a handful of ways that poor people can experience a vacation, let alone be able to see a different part of the world. And their pollution is high because of their choice of fuel, not anything inherent to cruising. Specifically, the use of bunker fuel vs other alternatives drives SOx and NOx emissions extremely high, but carbon emissions are actually pretty low. Per person, a weeklong cruise has carbon emissions about equivalent to a 12 hour flight in economy class.

So if you want lower pollution, maybe just target the use of bunker fuel, and force them into low sulfur fuels like the shipping industry has already done. And if carbon emissions are still a problem, ban private jets and first class flights.

christoph• 6 years ago

The big companies pay pretty much zero in tax as well, "running" their businesses out of places like Bermuda and Liberia. Most passengers are also totally unaware of the rights they sign away when boarding as well - things like onboard doctors being immune from malpractice, no jury trials for lawsuits, the company can use any images and video of you onboard for any purposes at all, and agreeing you can't participate in class action lawsuits against the company.

timonoko4• 6 years ago

Except cruise ships are essential to countries like Finland or Norway. The tickets are reasonable priced only because of cruise passengers, tax-free booze and gambling. Especially Hurtigruten of Norway seems to be financed mostly by American Tourists, while providing essential coastal ferry service. And Finland is basically an island, as it is impossible to establish reliable routes through Russia, because local robber parons invent constantly new rules and taxes.

heavenlyblue2• 6 years ago

In which ways are they essential?

nabla9• 6 years ago

You can recognize that those are old Carnival Cruise Line ships from their red forking funnels.

Carnival Cruise has new ship and ship currently under test drive. It will be even larger than anything before https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras_(2020_ship)

bserge6• 6 years ago

Looks fucking diabolical.

speedgoose• 6 years ago

Is it more interesting to scrap these ships compared to selling them? Or Carnival prefer to make sure no competitor buys them?

seattledev3• 6 years ago

If you look elsewhere in the comments here they are often for sale. At some point however, the cost of renovations outweighs the benefit. Especially because the larger the ship the more profitable it is, and these ships are being retired for ones that hold up to 4 times as many people and are 50% longer.

jungletime• 6 years ago

I went on a Princess Cruise one time. Really great value for what you get. See multiple places, get fed, entertained, for less than it costs for a hotel in a lot of these places.

Looking through a low level port window at night, to moonlight, honestly feels like travelling through outer space on the USS Enterprise. Its pretty unique.

About the only thing I didn't like is that since the food is included, it seems to attract seriously obese people to take these cruises. Just so they can indulge in buffet gluttony 3 times a day for several days non stop. Served by their poor and skinny third world waiters, with a reputation for f-ing like bunny rabbits in their cage like quarters. The contrast is kind of comical.

Then seeing all these obese burgers leave the buffet tables, belly full, walking on a port deck at sea reminded me of wobbling marbles in a Maze run. Pretty funny and Wally like.

But wouldn't it make sense for a poorer countries government to buy this and use it for its tourism industry or even for fishing boats.

The value of a full ship has to be worth more than scrap metal. These ships are no longer to luxury standards. But most likely still very functional ships.

am_lu• 6 years ago

Been on little holidays in Weymouth, Dorset. It has a big bay sheltered from the rough sea. 5 Big Ships parked in there, each empty of passengers but fully lit-up each night, running off power from their engines, i guess is cheaper for them than using shore-power. Same for a lot of southern shores of UK https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-2.4/cente...

Neil44• 6 years ago

There was a really good Al Jazeera documentary about ship breaking called Brothers, but it’s been taken off YouTube for some reason sadly.

canada_dry• 6 years ago

Shame port cities like LA, NY don't buy old cruise ships to re-purpose them for homeless shelters.

I admit that I've loved the cruises I've taken - new port every day - super well-fed 24hrs - great entertainment... but the cruise industry is horrible for the reasons noted!

It really wouldn't be a loss if covid killed them off, though that's unlikely - more likely they'll just reposition all their ships to serve China.

Aerial view of a cruise ship graveyard

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