The announcement last week that Norwegian Cruise Line will be building some more of the Breakaway Class ships — for the time being now dubbed Breakway Plus — has opened up the discussion about the new emission controls that will go into effect in 2015 in North American waters.
Embedded in Norwegian’s announcement was the fact that the two newest ships, scheduled to arrive in 2015 and 2017, will have the latest in innovator scrubber technology.
Why scrubbers?
Without going into a lot of the technological detail starting January 1 that year all ships, including cruises ships sailing within a 200-mile limit of Canada and the United States, must be compliant with 0.1% sulphur limit when in those waters.
The 200-mile limit starts at the tip of Labrador and extends all the way around North America up to Alaska, narrowing in Florida with the Bahamas and Caribbean within the 200-mile limit. It also includes Hawaii.
Some ships are testing the new scrubbers. However, with just a year and half to go until the new rules are activated, will the testing be done and the limits be met? Deadlines can be pushed, as we have seen with car emissions, and cruise lines will be asking for exemptions during the testing stage.
What if exemptions are not allowed? Then you would expect significantly higher prices for Alaska and for New England-Canada cruises. In both cases, they are within the limit (for most cruises) and burning higher-priced fuel.
I doubt that’s going to happen.
The Environmental Protection Agency has indicated that it will provide exemptions if the cruise lines are aggressive in developing new technologies to meet the standards.
However, Carnival has pushed the “we’re changing” button.
Carnival Pride is moving from Baltimore to Tampa at the end of 2014, and Carnival Glory is moving out of Boston and Norfolk in November this year. The line has also said it will “dramatically reduce” the number of Atlantic Canada cruises next year, all so the ships can spend less time inside the 200-mile limit.
So far, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean have not announced any major changes to 2014 schedules.
I assume the lobbyists are all over Washington on this one.
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Port Canaveral (Orlando) has seen more and larger ships home-porting there, and more cruise lines with one-day port calls. Fort Lauderdale and Miami are the biggies as homeports but Orlando offers something they don’t have: Disneyland. With increased popularity and two more ships — now nine — that will call Port Canaveral home next year comes a proposal for a new and bigger terminal to accommodate the largest cruise ships in the world…like Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas at 6,000 passengers each.
The cost is $75 million and if the approvals arrive soon, the port says the new terminal will open next year.
With all the family attractions around Orlando, look for cruise ships that cater to that demographic.
Phil’s Pick of the Week
They just lowered the price on this Princess Amazon River cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Manaus in Brazil. I like the fact there are two overnights on the Pacific Princess. This 14-day cruise leaves Fort Lauderdale two days before Christmas.
After leaving Florida, you stop in the Caribbean at St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago before arriving at Devil’s Island in French Guiana. Then Santarem and Boca da Valeria on the Amazon, finishing with overnights in Parintins and Manaus.
Starting price: $2,899. See princess.com or a travel agent who specializes in cruises. Prices noted were in effect at time of writing.