Disney Cruise Line Earns Second Consecutive A Grade from Friends of the Environment’s Cruise Report Card

Friends of the Earth released their 2013 Cruise Report Card which compares the environmental footprint of 16 major cruise lines and 162 cruise ships.  For the second consecutive year, Disney Cruise Line earned an A which is an improvement on last year’s A-, and remains the only cruise line to earn an A grade.  The overall average final grade in the 2013 Cruise Ship report card was a C, with only 5 of the 16 lines graded earning better than the average marks.  There were 4 cruise lines that received failing grades of which 3 lines were unchanged from last year.

All of the Disney Cruise Line ships have advanced sewage treatment systems, resulting in a grade of A for the company’s 100 percent sewage treatment score. The air pollution reduction grade is determined only by ships that dock at a port that currently has shoreside power (thereby avoiding burning dirty fuel in port) were considered. In total, 73 percent of Disney’s ships that dock at a port with shoreside power are plug-in capable, giving the company a B- in this category. The Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy are are capable of connecting to shoreside power hookups, but are currently not being sent to ports where shoreside power is offered, so for purposes of determining the air pollution reduction grade, these ships were only given half credit. The Disney Wonder traveled to Alaska in 2011 and 2012 season and received no violations of state water pollution standards, giving Disney a 100% for water quality compliance in Alaska.

Friends Of The Earth Cruise Report Card 2013Disney continues to find ways to improve their air pollution reduction grade year after year going from a F in 2010 to a B this year.  This was also the first year Friends of the Earth graded DCL with regard to their water quality compliance in Alaska which is based on the degree a cruise ship violated the 2010, 2011, and 2012 water pollution standards.  These standards are designed to better protect the Alaskan coast and are based on notices of violation issued to each cruise line by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation for individual cruise ships.

Disney Cruise Line | Friends of the Earth Annual Grades
Year Sewage
Treatment
Air Pollution
Reduction
Water Quality
Compliance
Final Grade
2009 F F N/A F
2010 A F N/A C-
2011 FOE.org did not issue a Cruise Report Card
2012 A B- N/A A-
2013 A B A A
Click on the year to view complete FOE.org Cruise Report card.
N/A – No discharge in Alaskan waters

The following are the grades for each of the Disney Cruise Line ships.  As you can see the Disney Magic was deemed unsatisfactory in the air pollution reduction category.

Friends Of The Earth Cruise Ship Report Card 2013

For the most part the fleet received the same grades as last year except for the Disney Wonder which received an A in Water Quality Compliance bumping her final grade from a B+ to an A. (Individual grades for 2010 are being researched.  The chart will be updated when and if they become available.)

Disney Cruise Line | Friends of the Earth Annual Grades per Ship
Year Sewage
Treatment
Air Pollution
Reduction
Water Quality
Compliance
Final Grade
M W D F M W D F M W D F M W D F
2009 F F F F N/A N/A F F
2010 A A F F N/A N/A C- C-
2011 FOE.org did not issue a Cruise Report Card
2012 A A A A F A C C N/A N/A N/A N/A C- B+ B+ B+
2013 A A A A F A C C N/A A N/A N/A C- A B+ B+
Click on the year to view complete FOE.org Cruise Report card.
M-Disney Magic, W-Disney Wonder, D-Disney Dream, F-Disney Fantasy
N/A – No discharge in Alaskan waters

The Grading Scale

According to the Friends of the Earth, the Cruise Ship Report Card ranks the cruise lines and each ship in the respective fleet according to three environmental criteria: Sewage Treatment, Air Pollution Reduction, and Water Quality Compliance.

  • To determine a cruise line’s Sewage Treatment grade, FOE 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. In addition, ships were given credit if they only utilize low sulfur fuels continuously at levels lower than required by international and U.S. law.
  • To determine the Water Quality Compliance grade for ships operating in Alaska, we used 2010, 2011 and 2012 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.

It should be interesting to see how the Disney Magic scores next year coming off her major overhaul.  To read more about how the other cruise lines measured up and your other favorite cruise ships click over to the full 2013 Friends of the Earth Cruise Ship report card.

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