Cruise ships have gotten larger and larger over time, raising eyebrows and questions about their impact as they sail the seas.
One Redditor shared a photo in the r/Cruise subreddit of two Royal Caribbean cruise ships, the Grandeur of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas, side by side in a Mexican port, pointing out their monstrous size.
The Grandeur of the Seas was built in 1996 and is the "smaller" ship, measuring 916 feet in length, compared to the Harmony of the Seas at 1,188 feet. Both boast dozens of restaurants and bars, pools, hot tubs, and activities, per Cruise Spotlight.
All those amenities come with a cost beyond the financial. A 3,000-person cruise ship generates 176,400 gallons of sewage per week, totaling over one billion gallons of sewage per year for the cruise industry, according to Earth.org. For reference, the Grandeur of the Seas can host 2,752 passengers and crew, while the Harmony of the Seas can take a staggering 7,697 people.
The vessels also emit air pollution, light pollution, and noise pollution as they travel from port to port, as well as literal tons of solid waste.
People have spotted other enormous ships darkening their ports, like one Redditor who shared a video of the Harmony of the Seas causing major water displacement along a shoreline with people walking on it, showing a frustrating disregard for the world around them.
Cruise ships also require tons of resources, including pollution-heavy fuels, to operate even when they're not actively sailing.
If multi-destination travel is a must, there are lower-impact ways to do so, such as trains or renting an electric vehicle to explore a new area. It's also important to consider the destination itself and aim for areas that won't be negatively affected by tourist visits.
Redditors in the comments of the size comparison post were just as shocked as the original poster by the ships' massive size.
"Doesn't even look like a ship," one person wrote.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 "And they just keep getting uglier and uglier," another added.
"Excessive consumerism and over consumption is the dirty little secret that no one ever talks about," a third noted. "Fortunately these excessively large ships cannot go to too many places."
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