By Kaitlyn Bailey, Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
After two years without any cruise ships in Prince Rupert due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cruise tourism returned bigger than before.
Between May 17 and Oct. 3, 42 cruise ships with more than 40,000 passengers stopped in the city, the P.R. Port Authority (PRPA) announced.
Continue reading Prince Rupert gets a $3.5 million boost from the return of cruise tourism
By Kaitlyn Bailey, Prince Rupert Northern View, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The arrival of the Ruby Princess in Prince Rupert on May 17 marks the start of cruise ship season once again.
After more than two years without any cruises, this year is shaping up to be busy on the north coast.
Continue reading First cruise ship in two years docks in Prince RupertNational Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Environmental groups are hoisting red flags as the cruise ship season relaunches after the easing of COVID restrictions on the West Coast despite Ottawa’s recent announcement it will roll out stricter wastewater dumping rules.
The federal government’s proposed environmental regulations are ambiguous, but signal Transport Canada is starting to acknowledge cruise ships have been taking advantage of Canada’s lax standards to dump billions of litres of dirty water waste along the B.C. coast, said Anna Barford, Stand.earth’s shipping campaigner.
Continue reading Wave of pollution from cruise ships expected regardless of new federal wastewater rulesBy Roy L Hales
Princess Cruises have been voted “Best Cruise Line in Alaska” for the seventh year in a row, by the annual Travel Weekly Readers’ Choice Awards. The cruise line also won awards for “Best Itinerary Design” and “Best Travel Agent Educational Program.” These are all industry awards. Every year Marcie Keever of Friends of the Earth (FoE) grades the industry’s environmental records in her Cruise Line Report. The “B ” she gave the Princess Line was good, but not exceptional. Keever gave most Alaskan Cruise Lines high marks.
The ECOreport uses Marica Keever’s 2013 Cruise Report Card to evaluate California Cruise Ships: an Environmental Report Card
By Roy L Hales
According to a report released three days ago, Cruise ships dumped more than 1 billion gallons of sewage in the ocean last year, much of it raw or poorly treated. More than 40% of the 162 ships in the 2013 Cruise Report Card“still rely on 30-year-old waste treatment technology, leaving treated sewage with levels of fecal matter, bacteria, heavy metals and other contaminants harmful to aquatic life and people.”
“It’s time for cruise ships to stop using our oceans as a toilet!” said Marcie Keever, author of the Friends of the Earth report.
