Cruise companies are questionable business partners. Virtually all large cruise ships are foreign registered to avoid U.S. taxes and labor laws, while taking full advantage of the infrastructure, emergency services and other amenities of the port cities they visit. The industry spends millions each year lobbying to prevent meaningful federal, state and local regulatory controls on their activities. Largely self-monitored, cruise lines repeatedly fail at voluntary compliance with existing regulations.

The cruise passenger’s ticket is essentially a loss-leader. Once aboard, vacationers are tempted to splurge on onboard shopping, dining and gambling. In early 2024, Princess lobbyists, including Wagner, pressed the Virginia legislature for a bill to allow onboard gambling in Virginia waters (HB1478). The purpose? To maximize dollars spent on board while minimizing dollars spent in localities. Praised by Wagner, who said gambling permission would “roll out the welcome mat” for cruise companies in Virginia, the 2024 bill was defeated. However, it is sure to reappear in the near future.

A recent study, “The Economics of Cruise Tourism in Key West: Behind the Cruise Industry’s Propaganda Veil,” concludes that passengers spend roughly 20-70% fewer dollars ashore than the industry contends; that port fees paid to local governments are smaller than the industry claims; and that cruise passengers spend far less per visit than “stayover” tourists do. We have found no independent evidence to corroborate Wagner’s claim that U.S. cruise tourism converts into future longer-term visits.

The Key West study also noted that cruise lines often require fees from onshore tour operators and retail establishments wanting to do business with cruise line passengers. This “pay-to-play” practice is not mentioned in industry-commissioned reports, such as the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) study Wagner references.

Mega cruise ships are like floating cities that generate power and discharge waste on a scale far exceeding that of other vessels. A 2011 report by the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that during a weeklong cruise, a ship carrying 3,000 passengers and crew generates approximately 210,000 gallons of sewage; 1 million gallons of gray water; 130 gallons of hazardous materials; up to 8 tons of solid waste; and 25,000 gallons of oily bilge water. The cruise industry is notorious for violating existing pollution regulations. Princess Cruise Lines, which Wagner represents, received the largest ever maritime fine ($40 million in 2016) for felony convictions stemming from deliberate vessel pollution, with corporate-level knowledge. It also violated its probation as recently as 2022 and was fined $20 million.

Environmental concerns include atmospheric pollution and ocean acidification, toxic discharges from open loop exhaust scrubbers (currently banned in 120 ports), and wastewater discharges. Fine particles, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides found in cruise ship exhaust can cause asthma, emphysema and cancer.

Cruise ship waste streams and accidental pollution incidents are increasing in proportion to the burgeoning growth of the industry. Public health and environmental issues are serious and complex; for more detailed information, please visit Protect-Virginia.org.

Cruise companies constantly seek new markets for global expansion, and once established they fight vigorously to maintain and increase their presence. Communities pushing back against this exploitation include Key West, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Juneau and Sitka, Alaska; Seattle; Monterey Bay, California; Bar Harbor, Maine; Venice, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; Amsterdam; Marseilles, France; and Bergen, Norway. Each tells the same story: that their citizens had little input in the initial decision to bring in large cruise ships and little recourse after the fact, and that the cruise industry has brought them to the breaking point.

Virginians have an obligation not to take at face value cruise industry claims such as those put forward by Wagner. We should closely examine attempts to expand large cruise ship traffic in our waters with an eye toward negative environmental and cultural impacts as well as tax and labor issues. Under such scrutiny, we think the scale will tip toward utmost protection of our fragile ecosystems and coastal communities.

Angier Brock, Robert Hodson, Jacques van Montfrans and Elizabeth Wilkins, all of Yorktown, are members of the Protect Virginia Steering Committee. They wrote this on behalf of the organization.