One intriguing debate, in the lively Chronicle Letters Page recently caught my eye. Cruisezillas! The rise of the mega-cruise ships. ‘The behemoths of the deep’ wrote one reader, ‘gorging on filthy untaxed fossil fuels, belching CO2 and methane into the air and soiling the seas’.
The call for their banning, received a swift response a week later. Another contributor insisted that new ships use green energy, recycle water, and at ports plug in, and unload their waste. Over the last 30 years, cruise ships have grown longer and wider.
The largest, the , weighs 248,336 tonnes, and is 1,198 foot long. This mega floating hotel feeds and entertains 7,600 passengers at a time. Demand is increasing too, with 2.
3 million luxury cruise holidays in the UK and Ireland taken last year alone. A few weeks ago, I found myself looking up at a mega ship on the quayside in Southampton. It was about to welcome 5,200 passengers and were bracing themselves.
Obscene and terrifying large with 19 decks? Or an engineering triumph that offers luxury for all? Not being great with heights or the sea, my legs turned to jelly. This was quite awkward, as we were boarding at the time. Yes dear Reader, I was embarking on the bucket list visit to the Norwegian ; the dream of a lifetime on an affordable holiday.
The plan was to get closer to the ancestors and visit some of the most beautiful and UNESCO protected landscapes on the planet. But would we be able to enjoy the experience, with so many issues a.