We call this confusion. On the weekend, the Seattle Times reported that the environmental group Friends of the Earth, in its second annual report card on the cruise industry, downgraded Princess for “its numerous recent violations of Alaska’s strong water pollution laws.”
Fair enough? Yesterday, the Port of San Francisco 2009 Cruise Ship Environmental Award’s gold-medal winners were announced, citing ships for their “outstanding record in safeguarding the environment and protecting the air and water quality of San Francisco Bay during their port calls.”
Three ships were gold-medal winners. All were Princess ships — the Sapphire, the Sea and the Star. It was the fifth straight year that Princess ships won for demonstrating “the strong environmental commitment of Princess Cruises in the areas of air emission reduction, waste water treatment, and recycling and disposal programs for solid waste.”
It gets better. In Venice, Italy, Princess ships were awarded the Venice Blue Flag for safeguarding that city by reducing air emissions. It was the second straight year that Princess was awarded the flag after four ships — Royal Princess, Ruby Princess, Crown Princess and Grand Princess — stopped at the Italian port last year.
Heard enough? How about the Vessel Speed Reduction Flag, awarded to Princess ships based in Los Angeles for their reduced speeds that also reduce air emissions.
Environmental organizations do much to keep us all in line with our planet, and perhaps that’s especially true with cruise ships, so their impact on all of us should not be minimized. But this we know: Friends of the Earth are not Friends of Princess.
That’s it…we’re done.