Princess Cruises - Final Grade: "B+"
Princess Cruises was founded in 1965 and was the first of today’s modern cruise lines to focus on the leisure travel market. Headquartered in Santa Clarita, California, Princess is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, which controls almost 50 percent of the worldwide cruise ship market, and Princess currently operates 16 cruise ships. In 2011, the Royal Princess was transferred to P&O Cruises and renamed the Adonia. The new Royal Princess is due to be launched in mid-2013 and will have a capacity of at least 4,800 passengers and crew.
Of the 16 Princess cruise ships, 11 have installed advanced sewage treatment systems, resulting in a grade of C+ for the company’s 69 percent sewage treatment score. In determining the air pollution reduction grade for each cruise line, only ships that dock at a port that currently has shoreside power (thereby avoiding burning dirty fuel in port) were considered. In total, 82 percent of Princess’ ships that dock at a port with shoreside power are plug-in capable, giving the company an B+ in this category (two of the ships Princess has equipped with shoreside power hookups, the Dawn Princess and Sun Princess, are currently not being sent to ports where shoreside power is offered, so for purposes of determining Princess’ air pollution reduction grade, these ships were only given half credit). Princess has invested approximately $4.7 million to bring shoreside electrical technology to Juneau, Alaska, so its cruise ships can plug in to the shore-based electrical grid. Princess has also invested approximately $1.7 million in Seattle, Washington, $1 million Canadian in Vancouver, British Columbia, and an indeterminate amount in San Francisco, California for shoreside power. In 2010, only one Princess cruise ship was cited by Alaskan authorities for four violations of Alaskan water pollution standards, giving Princess a 96 percent for water quality compliance in Alaska, or a A.
Princess Cruises - Cruise Ship Fleet
| Ship Name | Total Persons on Board | Destinations | Sewage Treatment | Air Pollution Reduction | Water Quality Compliance | Final Ship Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coral Princess | 3846 | Alaska, Central America | A | A | A | A |
| Sun Princess | 3150 | Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, India | A | C | N/A | B+ |
| Diamond Princess | 4386 | Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, India, Africa | A | A | A | A |
| Dawn Princess | 3150 | Australia, Europe, India, New Zealand, Asia, Africa | A | C | N/A | B+ |
| Golden Princess | 4309 | Alaska, Hawaii, South America, South Pacific | A | A | A | A |
| Star Princess | 4309 | Mexico, South America, Alaska, Hawaii, South Pacific | A | A | N/A | A |
| Island Princess | 3486 | Alaska, Central America | A | A | A | A |
| Sea Princess | 3150 | Alaska, New England, Africa, Asia, Australia, India | A | A | A | A |
| Sapphire Princess | 4386 | Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, South Pacific | A | A | B | A |
| Grand Princess | 4309 | Caribbean, Europe, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, South America, South Pacific | A | F | N/A | C- |
| Pacific Princess | 1175 | Europe, South America | A | F | N/A | C- |
| Caribbean Princess | 4982 | Canada, Caribbean, New England | F | F | N/A | F |
| Crown Princess | 4963 | Caribbean, Europe | F | F | N/A | F |
| Emerald Princess | 4963 | Caribbean, Canada, New Zealand | F | F | N/A | F |
| Ocean Princess | 1175 | Africa, Asia, Europe, India | F | F | N/A | F |
| Ruby Princess | 4963 | Caribbean, Europe | F | F | N/A | F |
Grading methodology for the 2012 Cruise Ship Report Card
Friends of the Earth’s Cruise Ship Report Card ranks 15 major cruise lines and 148 cruise ships -- Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Cunard Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Oceania Cruises, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean Int’l, Seabourn Cruise Line and Silversea Cruises -- according to three environmental criteria: Sewage Treatment, Air Pollution Reduction, and Water Quality Compliance.
- To determine a cruise line’s Sewage Treatment grade, we compared the number of cruise ships in the cruise line that have installed advanced sewage treatment systems against the total number of ships in the cruise line.
- To determine the Air Pollution Reduction grade for each ship in a cruise line, only ships that dock at a port and plug in to available shoreside power hookups were graded.
- To determine the Water Quality Compliance grade for ships operating in Alaska, we used 2010 notices of violation issued for individual cruise ships to each cruise line by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. Ships were given an ‘N/A’ if they traveled to Alaska but avoided Alaska’s strong water quality standards by discharging outside of those protected waters.
- The grades for each of the criteria were averaged to calculate the Final Grade for each cruise line.