I agree the GB permits should be revoked. What is infuriating is that Princess, which is pretty much the top dog in Alaska for cruising, started this whole mess. They received the initial fine a couple of years ago for illegally dumping contaminated water into the ocean and then deliberately covering it up. This was no, oops - we made a mistake and promise to do better thing. It was an intentional act.
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ises-given-record-fine-for-dumping-oil-at-sea
And while no cruise ship is exactly environmentally friendly, this goes above and beyond that, IMHO. I was pretty shocked when the NPS issued their new 10 year permits this year and Princess was still in the mix. I had hoped that maybe it was sign that they had taken the initial fine to heart and changed their ways. Apparently that's not the case, as proven by the continued violations not only by Princess, but throughout the entire Carnival Corporation. To me, at least, it's pretty telling when a corporation that
knows it's under additional scrutiny still doesn't take the necessary steps to come into compliance.
Reading the part about the Carnival ship discharging plastic particularly hits home to me. My husband and I took a Carnival cruise for our honeymoon back in 1985. It was wonderful except for one very disturbing incident that put us off of cruising for a very long time. One night we were out on one of the upper decks, all alone enjoying the moonlit night. Romantic, right? It was, right up until the moment we noticed this enormous discharge of trash being released off of the back of the ship. I'm talking mounds of trash shooting out into the ocean. We were horrified and swore off cruising for a very long time. We didn't take another cruise until we tried
DCL in 2009, under the impression that the industry had wised up and was at least trying to reduce their harmful impact on the environment.
Sorry for the long winded rant, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that the NPS which should be protecting these fragile places is apparently turning a blind eye to these violations. I guess the almighty $$$ prevails.