Think about what it would be like if you were filling up your tank with 110 tons of fuel a day! Yup, that’s how much a 48 ton cruise ship carrying 700 guests consumes in one day at sea. On a seven day Alaskan itinerary with four port stops that translates to about $1 million dollars a month in fuel costs. Short of passing on those charges to the consumer in surcharges and taxes, what can be done if anything to keep ships afloat and people cruising?

I asked that question to senior deck and engine officers; the answers I received were very interesting. We all remember (well, most of us that is) the gas crisis of the 1970’s when the United States interstate speed limit was reduced to 55 mph. It drove many of us crazy having to inch along the freeway after years of flying by at break-neck speeds but the fact remains; reducing your speed by 20% saves up to 40% of fuel. Same is true for a cruise ship. Reducing the ship’s speed from 21 knots to 17 knots saves $200,000 off that $1 million dollar a month bill. Over one year that equals $2.4 million dollars saved; in a company with five ships that is $12 million dollars! Reducing the speed also means that not all three engines need to run; another cost saving as they can be rotated less frequently thereby extending the period in which they must undergo mandatory overhaul for maintenance.

To realize the savings available by reducing speed, itineraries must be better planned. As a consumer how might this affect your cruise? Answer: smarter, greener itineraries – that means shorter distances and courses set with rather than against strong currents. Developing marketable itineraries using reduced sailing speeds will require research and creativity but there are plenty of destinations and regions that could be cultivated – including right here in Alaska where places like Prince William Sound offer a myriad of attractions from small towns with deep water ports to beautiful shipboard scenery without days at sea pushing full speed. Another added bonus of shorter runs is reducing the chance for late arrivals that result in tour cancellations or missed flights.

If you enjoy cruising let your favorite cruise line know that you want to see these fuel savings measures put into place. Planning and pricing departments along with sales and marketing teams need to know that you are willing to explore new destinations and can adjust to changes in published itineraries if it means saving costs and saving the planet. This is a simply solution to a big problem but we need to hear from you.

When it comes to the carbon footprint of your vacation, is it “greener” to fly or to cruise? Anyway you look at it modern-day travel is “dirty business” whether you travel by car, plane, boat or train. Because cruise ships carry thousands of passengers and thousands of crew, divided out per person the carbon emission from a cruise ship is less than that of an airplane. Critics point out that most passengers fly to reach their cruise ship thereby combining both air and sea travel making the carbon footprint high; however, there are things the industry is trying to reduce its carbon emissions. Holland-America is in the process of introducing new “scrubbers” that will reduce carbon emissions from their ships – a very positive step in the right direction and the State of California requires that cruise ships burn diesel rather than heavy fuel within California state waters.

As more travelers become aware and concerned about the down line affect of their holiday choices, perhaps we will see the cruise industry put into effect the same conservation efforts found in major hotels i.e. linen changes upon request, reusing towels, and the addition of key card activated room lighting. One of the oldest jokes on a cruise ship is, “does the ship generate its own power?” Yes, of course it does; and as a self-contained power generating source most people on holiday feel no guilt in leaving on the television or the lights. However, to generate that energy the engines must run – which means more emissions and more fuel consumption. For those who love to cruise, maybe its time we tell the executives of our favorite lines that we can do without clean linens everyday and that we don’t mind being asked to turn off lights when not in use. If that will help keep the costs down and the industry going, I think everyone would be happy to comply.

Welcome to Nowhere, Alaska! Add that to all the colorful monikers for which the town of Ketchikan is known. After years of ridicule and harassment for the planned bridge that would link Ketchikan with isolated Gravina Island (aka “Nowhere”), the project has officially been scrapped, so said Ketchikan’s mayor Joe Williams, Jr.� West of Ketchikan, Gravina is a large, essentially uninhabited island; with the exception of some industry on the eastern shore and the world famous Ketchikan International Airport (only place in the world where the control tower is lower than the runway!) no one lives there. It is an open expanse of green trees and black bears. Yet today if you look over at Gravina Island, you will see heavy equipment cutting down trees and building roads. So, what’s going on? I asked Mr. Williams. � He said though the bridge will not be built, a new ferry system will go into service connecting the southeast portion of the island. He went on to point out that Ketchikan’s future lies on Gravina Island; the borough of Ketchikan located on Revillagigedo Island is hemmed in on the east by the Tongass National Forest and on the west by Tongass Narrows; the only direction the city can grow is north-south along the narrow strip of land parallel to the sea. Soon all the available land will be gone and the city will need to move west onto Gravina Island if it is ever to expand. Mr. Williams said the roads being built are for logging and will eventually include helicopter logging – good for Ketchikan’s lagging economy. Cynics in the capital city of Juneau have a different opinion about the roads and point to the fact that most of the land to which they will lead belong to influential Anchorage lawmakers who stand to gain the most from Ketchikan’s eventual population overflow. It was their urging that Congress approve the pork-barrel “Bridge to Nowhere” and it will be them not the residents of Ketchikan who will benefit the most. Hmmm… politics.

The blue boat floating around south of Skagway is the EPA Bold; a research vessel that is testing waste water from a group of selected cruise ships. The study that hopes to determine the dispersal levels of waste in open sea. The tests are being done in the sheltered water of the upper reaches of Lynn Canal in the area known as Taiya Inlet south of the popular cruise destination of Skagway, Alaska. For more information please read the follow-up article from the Juneau Empire. http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/070308/loc_299385263.shtml