Cruise ship “Icon of the Seas”: “It’s a step in the wrong direction”

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She is 365 meters long, has 20 decks and can accommodate 8,000 passengers. Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas is officially the largest cruise ship in the world. At the weekend she set out on her maiden voyage - a seven-day trip

Island hopping trip to the Caribbean. A ship of superlatives in times when the entire cruise industry is under constant criticism for environmental reasons - how does that fit together? The operating company is at least trying to paint it green.

Stig Eriksen, engineer:

»Sustainability is an important part of our journey towards our goal of achieving net zero (emissions) in the future, and LNG is part of this progress on this journey. So as we move towards new alternative fuel sources, LNG is a step towards that, and so are we. We work with manufacturers to further develop their technology for the future. So every step takes you one step closer to the ultimate goal of achieving net zero goals in the future.«

The ship is built to run on liquefied natural gas, which actually burns cleaner than traditional marine fuel. So will cruises be possible in the future without a guilty conscience? Not really.

Cruise ships like the Icon of the Seas use low-pressure dual-fuel engines that release methane into the atmosphere during the combustion process, known as "methane slip," according to industry experts. Not a good sign from environmental experts, as methane is considered to be 80 times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide.

Bryan Comer, International Council of Clean Transport:

»The use of LNG is one way to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of your ships. But when you look at the impact on the climate, it’s actually a step in the wrong direction.”

According to the Cruise Line International Association, of the 54 new cruise ships ordered between January 2024 and December 2028, 63 percent are expected to run on LNG. In total, around 6 percent of the approximately 300 cruise ships worldwide are powered by LNG. The environmental problem of pleasure trips at sea remains.