Doing Away with Water Bottles

[SinbadThePorter]

24 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

They told us we were saving the trees.  Use a plastic bag and save a tree.  

 

 

Maybe, just maybe, they might be using trees grown for the purpose. That are replaced as they are harvested.

 

Just a wild guess.

[richsea]

2 hours ago, The Mikado said:

And yet the demographics of the cruise we just got off of don't really support your statement. In other words, we weren't overrun with Gen Xers.

 

And no one I can imagine goes on a cruise to save the planet.

I think the point is that the oldies are going to die off, & be replaced by new oldies, who have grown up trying to save the planet, &with technology other than paper and pens.

[SinbadThePorter]

37 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Didn't we have scientists back then that could test out the decomposition rates of plastic.

 

Yes, but they worked for plastics corporations. Do you think scientists just study things at random and provide their own funding?

 

It also took a long time to work out that cigarettes are bad for you.

[Potstech]

4 hours ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

Are you suggesting the end of the world is near????

Some are saying in the next 11 years it will.

[SinbadThePorter]

3 minutes ago, Potstech said:

Some are saying in the next 11 years it will.

 

Who? If you mean the IPCC, they are not saying the world will end. They are saying it will likely change irrevocably.

 

That things will no longer be what we have been used to for several thousand years and it won't be possible to get back to that condition.

 

That's not the world ending, just the world we are used to will be ending.

[JimmyVWine]

2 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

So now should I feel bad about killing the trees?  Paper straws.

Nope. Trees are an easily renewable resource. 

[Cafedumonde]

Blah blah blah.  Such balony.  I’m sure the plastic bottles from princess ships end up in the sea.  It’s all about control.  Total propaganda.

[SinbadThePorter]

9 minutes ago, Cafedumonde said:

I’m sure the plastic bottles from princess ships end up in the sea.

 

You mean the ones they will no longer have on board?

 

They will manifest themselves on board and then spontaneously jump overboard.

Edited October 2, 2019 by SinbadThePorter

[caribill]

On 9/30/2019 at 4:56 PM, cruzsnooze said:

So another perk for suites will be eliminated, 2 bottles of water every night.

 

They might give two waters in whatever type of non-plastic packaging they come up with.

[caribill]

17 hours ago, MotownVoice said:

I don't mind having to turn that two ton cold water tap to rinse out my straw in order to avoid throwing more plastic straws into the Earth's water system.

 

There are a number of posts like this that seem to assume Princess collects all the used plastic straws onboard and throws them into the ocean. That does not happen. They recycle the plastic straws along with other plastics they recycle.

 

Princess eliminating plastic straws is a "feel-good" environmental marketing tool.

[MotownVoice]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

There are a number of posts like this that seem to assume Princess collects all the used plastic straws onboard and throws them into the ocean. That does not happen. They recycle the plastic straws along with other plastics they recycle.

 

Princess eliminating plastic straws is a "feel-good" environmental marketing tool.

On my Greek Isles cruise we were awake to watch Sicily float by, it was very early in the morning, like 2 AM.

The Grand Princess.

We were standing on the balcony and heard some crew working below, spraying down the deck chairs, cleaning off the deck and so forth.

Suddenly a small group of crew appears with gloves and about 10 plastic bags, presumably filled with garbage, I couldn't be sure and be honest.  Nonetheless they proceeded to toss each bag overboard in to the drink one by one and watch them submerge, as the bags had obviously been punctured and weighted to sink quickly.

Plastic in the ocean can be the result of systematic abuse, that is absolutely true, and it is also true that because one cruise line does it doesn't mean another does.

But there is also the abuse that happens based on the decisions of one officer, one crew, one night in the Straits of Sicily, and god knows how many other times and where else.

So much for your "feel good" marketing.

[JimmyVWine]

4 hours ago, caribill said:

They recycle the plastic straws along with other plastics they recycle.

 

And this is what folks need to gain a greater understanding of.  Someone might ask you: "Do you recycle at your home?" and you might honestly answer: "Yes".  But you don't, really.  What you do at home is separate and collect recyclable materials and pass them on to the next step down the chain with both the hope and expectation that they will, in the end, be recycled.  But you have no way of knowing what happens to your recyclables once someone comes and picks them up from your blue bin, or you drop them off at a recycling center.  But you feel good that you did your part.  The same applies to Princess (or any cruise line.)  Princess does not have a plastic recycling facility.  They don't recycle.  And they don't have a contract with an outside vendor who actually recycles.  What they do, at best, is "separate and collect for recycling" and pass their recyclables down the chain through  transshipment, same as you.  Whether that material actually ever gets recycled is another matter entirely.  Odds are, it is not. The percentage of U.S. generated plastic that actually got recycled, at its peak, was about 15%, and almost none of that was done domestically.  And that was before the China crackdown. We are now down below 10%.  (Statistics are actually much more encouraging for paper and glass.  This is really all about plastic.) 

 

Yes, we (and Princess) are separating it and collecting it.  But it isn't going through the last and most crucial step of the process.  Domestic plastic recycling facilities are few and far between. They haven't been profitable. And while there is plenty great about a capitalist economy, the one bad is that if a business cannot be run profitably, it will cease to exist even if it serves a common good.  And this is exactly what has happened with plastic recycling.  Check out your town's or city's fiscal report.  Odds are you will find that over time, recycling went from a small profit center (where the city was paid for recyclables), to a fiscal drain where it now has to pay to get rid of recyclables. And with city budgets in crisis, things that cost money get cut.  Many towns and cities are simply giving up and have stopped paying.  The end result is land-filling.  Take 5-10 minutes to read through the following short articles.  The bottom line is that we cannot rely on our own good acts of "recycling", as none of us actually transform old plastic into new products.  Instead, our focus needs to be a reduction of what we otherwise assume to be recyclable.

 

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/18/18271470/us-cities-stop-recycling-china-ban-on-recycles

https://www.gq.com/story/american-plastic-recycling-dump

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/china-has-stopped-accepting-our-trash/584131/

https://www.wired.com/story/since-chinas-ban-recycling-in-the-us-has-gone-up-in-flames/

 

[golfb4cruzing]

On 9/29/2019 at 6:23 PM, pms4104 said:

And if Princess won't be providing water in single-use plastic bottles, they surely will not permit pax to bring onboard beverages of any type in single-use plastic ... wait for the Princess announcement ... any day now 

That was going to be my question because we leave at the end of the month end always bring a case of our own Spring Water.

[Iamcruzin]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

There are a number of posts like this that seem to assume Princess collects all the used plastic straws onboard and throws them into the ocean. That does not happen. They recycle the plastic straws along with other plastics they recycle.

 

Princess eliminating plastic straws is a "feel-good" environmental marketing tool.

I agree. Personally I don't use a straw in my daily life. I drink straight from the glass. Some restaurants have stopped supplying straws and it took me a few visits to notice. They serve soft drinks in a glass with a stem so perhaps psychologically it took me a few visits to notice. I don't drink those high glucose low alcohol frozen drinks so I don't need a straw for beer, Martini's or Manhattan's. Perhaps the olives and  cherry garnish will be the next to go. I do drink bottled water at home and at sea. I'm not afraid of the tap water but I refuse to drag around a refillable water bottle and have to go to my room of buffet to refill it.  At home I drink La Croix sparkling water out of the can and I have no problem with  a can of water. I wish the cruise lines would serve a version of this on the ship. 

 

I refuse to carry a straw of any type on board and will make do with whatever is provided if I have a frozen drink. Royal Caribbean used paper straws and It took 2 to 3 straws to finish a frozen blended coffee.  It was to the point that I just asked for 2 straws each time I ordered.  When others start doing the same and it starts to become  an expense, see how fast they go back to plastic straws with the spin on how they listened to their  loyal customers. I hate the fake "We are saving the planet" campaign,  especially coming from a company that willingly dumped waste in a preserved area. 

 

It's amazing how people used the airlines as an excuse for not bringing formal wear due to weight restrictions but are willing go out of their way to pack metal water bottles, metal straws and now chairs .  Someone should start a thread, "What you need to pack for  a Princess cruise". 

[Thrak]

I've seen several comments about plastic "picks" or whatever for drink garnishes. I always get them on a wooden pick - not plastic. I don't know that I've ever gotten a plastic one in a Princess bar.  Maybe they used to use plastic but I really don't recall getting one of those in a drink.

Edited October 2, 2019 by Thrak

[Jeter02]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

I've seen several comments about plastic "picks" or whatever for drink garnishes. I always get them on a wooden pick - not plastic. I don't know that I've ever gotten a plastic one in a Princess bar.  Maybe they used to use plastic but I really don't recall getting one of those in a drink.

Same here. Wooden picks only I recall every getting. Shhh. If we speak too much those might be going next. 😂

[SinbadThePorter]

2 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

Unfortunately, this is very true.  All of the claims about recycling of plastics is a con job that business AND gov't is pulling on us.

 

Then the problem is not whether or not recycling is a good idea, but how to hold those businesses and governments to account.

 

The failure is not in the concept it's in the enforcement. For that you need to hold governments accountable at the ballot box. If you want to corporations to get serious about this, you need governments that are serious about it.

 

8 hours ago, MotownVoice said:

Suddenly a small group of crew appears with gloves and about 10 plastic bags, presumably filled with garbage, I couldn't be sure and be honest.  Nonetheless they proceeded to toss each bag overboard in to the drink one by one and watch them submerge, as the bags had obviously been punctured and weighted to sink quickly.

 

Why didn't you report it? Carnival Corp is currently on a 5 year probation after a $20 million fine for ocean dumping. I assume you would complain about bad food in the MDR, why not this? Why not report it to the US Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division? They can't prosecute what they don't know about.

 

Anyway, the current move against non-reusable plastic onboard Princess ships is an undertaking Carnival made as part of the agreement with the US Justice Department over the dumping episode. If they fail in this undertaking they can be liable for a fine of up to $10 million per day. So get used to it.

[MotownVoice]

15 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

Why didn't you report it?

Who says I didn't?  My little story wasn't about anything that happened subsequently to what I saw.  It was about seeing it.  It was about the fact that dumping garbage including plastic is not a one-off by a single cruise line, and that cruise lines pulling plastic straws from their inventory is no demonstration that Princess Cruise Lines never dumped plastic in to the sea, so it's not "just a feel good environmental marketing tool" as the person to whom I was responding claimed.

[suspaul]

15 hours ago, Jeter02 said:

Same here. Wooden picks only I recall every getting. Shhh. If we speak too much those might be going next. 😂

 

We returned last week from the Caribbean Princess and there are no type of stir sticks for drinks nor picks for olives, fruit, etc in drinks.  Can’t speak for the bars but this was when I ordered a drink with dinner nightly.  I asked for something to stir my vodka/tonic with and was given a coffee spoon, also the lime was floating in the drink.  These may have already been phased out.

 

**an aside....if your mixer is tonic I found they use the tonic from the gun, whatever you call the soda dispensers, it was really sweet and tasted like Sprite so I went to a grocery, bought small cans of tonic water and left them with our dinner waitstaff to mix my own drink at dinner.

[satxdiver]

It was in our paper today that Donald and Arison, Carnival Corporate leaders, were in federal court in Miami to address the issue of pollution.   The federal judge was not amused and hit Carnival Corp with a $20 million fine with admonishment to do better.  Carnival Corp had been convicted of pollution mainly in AK and fined $40 million and put on 5 year probation prior so this was a probation review.  They were in court because the federal judge was not convinced Carnival was complying with the verdict.  One of the items brought up was the amount of plastic bottles used and the lack of true recycling.  The 9 Carnival companies turn the recycled trash over to different port vendors in their home ports and Carnival could not answer what happened to it to the judge's satisfaction according to the article.  Carnival was told to do better or face the wrath of the court.  I expect all 9 Carnival cruiselines to do away with plastic single use bottles in the near future.  On our most recent cruise one had to ask for a straws.  I look for more changes in the future onboard.  

[HappyCruiserettu]

On 9/29/2019 at 7:10 PM, waltd said:

I hope not.   I have so many plastic logo water bottles that I have been given to me over the years.   I don't know what to do with all of them.  Can't recycle as in our area recycle centers are closing up.   It's a problem.

Donate them to a homeless shelter, or some such.

 

[billco]

On 10/2/2019 at 5:44 AM, MotownVoice said:

Suddenly a small group of crew appears with gloves and about 10 plastic bags, presumably filled with garbage, I couldn't be sure and be honest.  Nonetheless they proceeded to toss each bag overboard in to the drink one by one and watch them submerge, as the bags had obviously been punctured and weighted to sink quickly.

Are you sure the bags were plastic? Submarines dispose of their trash in biodegradable bags that are stuffed in metal perforated cylinders that are ejected from a trash disposal unit where they sink to the bottom of the ocean.

[Ride-The-Waves]

Bottom Line:  ship's tap water is better and cleaner than bottled water you bring on board.  Dasani is Coke's bottled water and Aquafina is Pepsi's.  Both are bottled from tap water in 6 or 7 locations around the USA, and also overseas.  

[MotownVoice]

2 minutes ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Bottom Line:  ship's tap water is better and cleaner than bottled water you bring on board.  Dasani is Coke's bottled water and Aquafina is Pepsi's.  Both are bottled from tap water in 6 or 7 locations around the USA, and also overseas.  

And even if you don't trust a ship's tap water, you can easily filter it.

The topic of the quality of ship water is kind of not central to this discussion, which is the inevitable jettisoning of the scourge on our culture of the packaging of products in plastics, specifically water bottles.

[RoperDK]

3 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Bottom Line:  ship's tap water is better and cleaner than bottled water you bring on board.  Dasani is Coke's bottled water and Aquafina is Pepsi's.  Both are bottled from tap water in 6 or 7 locations around the USA, and also overseas.  

I don't mind the taste of the onboard water. I know it is filtered and clean, but it does have sodium in it and I avoid it because my feet swell so badly on a cruise.  Bottled water helps that problem for me.