New York cruise port wants green power… two years ago

It’s been two years since Carnival Corp, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Brooklyn cruise terminal port authority agreed to enable cruise ships to plug in to green shore-side power. West coast ports are doing it already with San Diego going online just last month.

All parties agree that it’s a good idea and are ready to move forward. But an agreement on maintenance and operating costs just can’t be reached.

Environmentally angry diesel fuel burned by cruise ships idling while docked can spew a ton of pollutants into the air, about the same amount as 1000 idling cars.

Nearby neighbors of the port are angry, tired of it all and want action.

“The emissions are invisible but get in people’s lungs and cause all sorts of damage,” said activist Anthony Armstrong, who lives with his wife and two children just two blocks from the cruise terminal. “It’s a huge concern around here.” reports the New York Post.

Carnival Cruise Line is ready to go and knows what they need to do. Sister-lines Princess Cruises and Holland America Line already have ships outfitted with the new green power technology and are plugging in on the West coast. They know how to do it.

The EPA and port authority have set aside $15 million to make it happen. All that remains is an agreement on who will pay ongoing costs of maintaining and operating the system.

“We need a comprehensive shore power agreement now,” Councilman Brad Lander told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. “We’ve had two years of idling ships and idling negotiations. We have a tremendous opportunity to make a real difference in the health of our communities, and the sustainability of our port.”

Here we have the cruise industry, sometimes criticized for its polluting ways, stepping up to do the right thing. The cruise port wants green power. Neighbors are all over it and no one can figure out how to make that happen.

Wouldn’t it kind of make sense that whoever uses the power from the new system would pay for it?

I’m just sayin’

Flickr photo by postopp1

Cruise industry sails into social waters

Not all that long ago major cruise lines, like many other industries, did not have much time for social media. They gave Facebook, Twitter, bloggers and other social platforms half a look then settled back into their comfy traditional marketing chairs, content with business as usual.

They didn’t get it.

Lately though, the tide has turned and cruise lines are getting on board for what looks to be a wild ride.

Today we see major campaigns aimed at engaging us in a conversation. This is the stuff that brought terror into the hearts of cruise line executives not all that long ago. They did not understand what to do with social media.

Today we see lines like Carnival Cruise Lines diving in head first on several fronts. That’s important because Carnival Corp, parent of Carnival Cruise Lines (@CarnivalCruise) and many others including Princess Cruises (@PrincessCruises) and Holland America Line (@HalCruises) often sets the pace other lines will follow in all sorts of stuff.

Most recently, Gadling told you about Carnival sailing to Times Square for New Years Eve where the line will drop a ton of confetti on the crowd at midnight. Carnival will cross the line into social engagement in a big way that night. Much of that confetti will come from visitors to New York’s Times Square who stopped by the line’s “wishing wall”. There, they will hand-write their hopes and dreams for 2011 on red, white and blue slips of paper to be included in the drop on to party-goers at Midnight. It doesn’t get a whole lot more engaging than that.

But that event is just the most recent social effort by Carnival. The line’s senior cruise director John Heald has a popular long-running blog, the company’s twitter handle (@CCLSupport) answers questions issues swiftly and the line’s website promotes more interactivity than ever before.

Carnival gets it.

They are not the only ones either. Princess Cruises has thoughtfully entered the social arena with their Twitter #FollowMeAtSea trips where travel bloggers and writers were invited along for an actual cruise to write and blog about. They shared their experiences with loyal followers on Twitter and Facebook, bringing them along for the ride. I was on the last one, a 12-day cruise tour through Alaska in June.

On that Twitter press trip, Princess defined just how globally penetrating active social engagement can be for cruise lines.

Along for the ride were a wide, diverse variety of bloggers and photographers from around the planet including Emmy award-winning JD Andrews (@earthXplorer), funny-man Rick Griffin (@MidLifeRoadTrip), Canadian adventure-couple Debra Corbeil and Dave Bouskill (@theplanetd) and Gadling’s Catherine Bodry. Homespun mid-westerner Beth Blair (@BethBlair) was there alongside Germany’s Emlyn Boecher from international travel icon @Traveldudes and Liz Wright (@Travelogged) along with luxury travel expert Carrie Finley-Bajak (@Cruisebuzz) to round out the group.

Communicating with followers from all corners of the world, Princess began a conversation that continues today and has expanded to include more than simply promoting the line’s products, raising awareness on global topics like environmental concerns down to micro-interests like dog sled racing.

Princess gets it. Industry-wide, it’s an evolving effort as cruise lines work on opening and maintaining an ongoing conversation with us.

Royal Caribbean tried and failed on Twitter by posting last-minute discount pricing without the engagement factor. The whole idea of using social media outlets as just another place to paste advertising has not been well-received by a public looking for transparency and engagement. Still, Royal Caribbean is evolving too with old-school efforts like giving away a free cruise to the audience on Oprah’s My Favorite Things while working a very active Facebook page and a popular Presidents Blog where President and CEO Adam Goldstein posts regularly.

In the lead for executive participation though is Norwegian Cruise lines with Executive Vice-President Andy Stuart (@NCLAndy) the first and only cruise line executive on Twitter. The line successfully integrated the launch of new mega-ship Norwegian Epic in a very social way by inviting along an A-list of cruise and travel bloggers like Vegas red-carpet brother team Bill Cody (@VegasBill) and Chris Rauschnot (@24K) along with TV’s Stewart Chiron (@CruiseGuy) and Radio’s Doug Parker and Matt Bassford (@CruiseRadio). Like Royal Caribbean, Norwegian has not turned its back on traditional media either though as President and CEO Kevin Sheehan takes to the airwaves this week on an episode of CBS’s reality show Undercover Boss.

Look for more social efforts by cruise lines in the near future too as more lines “get it”, realize the benefits of engaging existing and would-be passengers and move forward into social arenas. It should be a wild ride.

Flickr photo by Port of San Diego

San Diego helps cruise ships go green

The Port of San Diego has now joined a small group of ports throughout the world in offering cruise ships the ability to plug in to shoreside electrical power. Environmental groups, strong critics of the cruise industry, like this. The new system lets cruise ships turn off their highly-polluting engines while in port.

Providing up to 12 megawatts of much cleaner grid electricity, enough to power a college campus, the Port of San Diego joins Seattle, Vancouver and San Francisco in reducing emissions from cruise ships, the largest single source of harmful emissions.

Holland America Line’s Oosterdam was the first to plug in to “Shore Power”, a system designed to help cruise ships go green. Initially the system can handle one ship but plans are to take on more in the future. Plugging in keeps over a ton of pollutants out of the air.

Earlier this year, Princess Cruises Island Princess plugged in at the Port of San Francisco to a system that was built as a cooperative effort by the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the Environmental Protection Agency, Holland America Line and Princess.

Princess’ shore power program made history debuting in environmentally extra-sensitive Juneau, Alaska in 2001, expanded to Seattle in 2005, and then to Vancouver in 2009. Currently nine of the line’s ships have the capability to “plug in” to a shoreside power source, representing an investment for Princess of nearly $7 million in equipment.

Cruise like a rock star

The recent announcement of a four-day cruise with a rock star musician and reality TV star Bret Michaels is a good example of what to expect when you cruise like a rock star.

Themed cruise vacations have been around for a long time but are gaining new popularity. Gathering like-minded passengers from around the world, promoters feature sailings with a focus on a common interest. Ranging from writers workshops to cruising with a favorite celebrity, guests pay a premium price to be included.

Sailing from Miami on November 10, 2011, the Carnival Destiny will be home to fans of Michaels paying up to $3500 per person for a luxurious Grand Suite package that includes a private party with the rock star.

Those accommodations have already sold out leaving standard staterooms starting at $939 per person. Those feature admission to a performance by Michaels and a farewell cocktail party.

Regular non-themed 4-night sailings of Carnival Destiny start at $239 per person with luxury suites starting at $1029.

Did you catch the math on that?

It looks to be about $700 and $2400 more than a normally priced sailing at that time of the year to be part of the action. $700 more for a ticket to the show and a cocktail party, $2400 more for groupie status and a private party with the rock star.

Other upcoming theme cruises include a cruise with Taylor Swift on Royal Caribbean, A Progressive Voices Cruise or a cruise for runners on Holland America and many more. All have a premium price to cover onboard events.

Most theme cruises are sponsored by travel agencies chartering part or all of a ship on a given sailing. Others are sponsored by cruise lines themselves and feature more mainstream interests.

Flickr photo: Jamiecat