As Usual Carnival Is Behind The Times.....Royal Debuts Biodegradable Straws

[bgrmini]

1 minute ago, ultrafighter said:

I'm waiting until a "is FTTF worth it" debate before I claim full victory over the pandemic.  😆

Also need more posts about sharing Cheers, and the ultimate, is it worth it to get FTTF so you can get to the bar right away, buy a drink with cheers, share it with your party, while using plastic straws you brought from home and then go to guest services to complain they don't have tablecloths?

[CruizinSusan70]

13 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

 

Meanwhile Celebrity has smoke free casinos and does okay. Disney doesn't have any at all.

The clientele on Celebrity and the clientele on Carnival are two entirely different beasts.  A smoke free casino can and does survive on X, it would never fly on Carnival.  There was a major uproar over the removal of the casino bar on at least one of the ships in the fleet, there would be mutiny if the casino became 100% smoke free.

[Joebucks]

15 hours ago, cmichael1221 said:

They don't like being told what to do and thrive on complaining!  If the lack of plastic straws is the only negative in one's life, it seems like they are doing pretty well!

 

As many people's vacations revolves around sugary drinks, straws make them easier to consume and have less impact on their teeth. Paper and sugar straws change the taste of the product, for the worse.

 

Then there's some people who thrive on the "current thing". Have to be a part of whatever is the hot topic, and "doing their part." Regardless of the outcome, gotta take the moral high ground. 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

I already asked this. No reply. Why not go back to the wax covered paper straws from years ago.

[ProgRockCruiser]

10 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

I already asked this. No reply. Why not go back to the wax covered paper straws from years ago.

I think someone did respond.

 

Because they aren't considered food waste.  Just another form of paper waste, so still have to be sorted out with the napkins and other paper products.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

10 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

I think someone did respond.

 

Because they aren't considered food waste.  Just another form of paper waste, so still have to be sorted out with the napkins and other paper products.

Got it. Thanks. However far better than the paper ones they are using now. Those thick ones they are using are they considered food waste?

[BlerkOne]

9 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

The clientele on Celebrity and the clientele on Carnival are two entirely different beasts.  A smoke free casino can and does survive on X, it would never fly on Carnival.  There was a major uproar over the removal of the casino bar on at least one of the ships in the fleet, there would be mutiny if the casino became 100% smoke free.

It did fly and the casinos were smoke free for a brief covid moment on Carnival.

 

Removal of the casino bars had nothing to do with smoking while gambling.

 

These days, as long as smokers have somewhere to smoke on the ship, they will survive - only to succumb to something else.

 

But smoke free Paradise was very innovative and so your narrative that Carnival isn't innovative is false.

[ProgRockCruiser]

1 hour ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Got it. Thanks. However far better than the paper ones they are using now. Those thick ones they are using are they considered food waste?

I honestly don't know.

 

They seem to soften up and break down into something that isn't paper, but I can't quite label it.  Some sort of pasta-cellulose-based substance that is considered "food waste"? 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Smoke free is a big, big health advantage for everyone. I am 76 and started smoking at the age of 16. I quit when I was 30. So 46 years of no smoking. Only 14 years of a pack a day. Well I have lower lung emphysema. So to never smoke. Stay out of second hand smoke. Which is just about impossible to do.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

2 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

I honestly don't know.

 

They seem to soften up and break down into something that isn't paper, but I can't quite label it.  Some sort of pasta-cellulose-based substance that is considered "food waste"? 

Tend to agree. Pieces fall off of the straw. Could be thick pasta.

[UpstateCruizer]

It takes just a couple of minutes to throw some wrapped plastic straws in your suitcase. Carnival isn’t providing them but they aren’t prohibited. I’m confused why these situations are so complicated for some. Want a candy flavoured straw ask for one. Want a reusable plastic straw bring one. Want a collapsible metal straw that’s easily stored bring one. Want a “normal” type straw bring some. It’s really that easy. I like the lime straws myself and don’t usually have a drink that lasts long enough to mush it before I start eating it lol. My only complaint is that I’m not in a cruise right now! 

[chengkp75]

53 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Tend to agree. Pieces fall off of the straw. Could be thick pasta.

Sugar based.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

3 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

I think someone did respond.

 

Because they aren't considered food waste.  Just another form of paper waste, so still have to be sorted out with the napkins and other paper products.

I really see no problem with assorting them to the proper trash container. Bartenders it would not be a problem. Table cleaners not a problem either. Napkins, silverware, cups, glasses need to be separated. Just toss the straws in the proper container. Same with soda cans also.

[hapytobehr]

3 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Got it. Thanks. However far better than the paper ones they are using now. Those thick ones they are using are they considered food waste?

The straws Carnival uses now are sugar straws.  They can be thrown away with food if they don't melt first!

[Indytraveler83]

Just wanted to point out that straws weren't the only things eliminated.  They also eliminated most/all of the single use food item packaging (such as foil wrapped butter squares or packets of ketchup), the drink decorations like umbrellas, and probably much more that I can't remember.

 

Straws remain a hot button topic because it is likely the only item on the list that anyone really misses. 

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, UpstateCruizer said:

I’m confused why these situations are so complicated for some.

Not complicated at all.  I can get a regular plastic straw at my local eating establishment by simply asking for one and the alternative I recently used on the Oasis OTS with my iced coffee was substantially better than the sugar ones that they have on Carnival.  The Strawfish alternative on RCI might not be the best solution out there, but IMHO it's better than what they have on the Carnival ships at this time.

[carohs]

This problem is easily remedied by drinking wine. 

[Lane Hog]

1 hour ago, carohs said:

This problem is easily remedied by drinking wine. 

Or beer.  Nobody drinks beer thru a straw...

[Pyrate13]

Come on Pellaz, using facts? really?😉🤣

[chengkp75]

16 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

I really see no problem with assorting them to the proper trash container. Bartenders it would not be a problem. Table cleaners not a problem either. Napkins, silverware, cups, glasses need to be separated. Just toss the straws in the proper container. Same with soda cans also.

You don't see a problem with sorting the trash, because you've never done it to know how much time it would take.  Until you've seen the organized chaos of the dishwashing stations during meal operations, you don't know how much these folks hustle.  And then, everyone would start complaining about the slow service caused by the bus staff taking the time to sort out the trash.  They already do the best they can with it, but some still gets through.

14 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Don't hate Carnival at all.  Read my signature, 22 cruises in the past and currently have 7 booked, all on Excel Class.  Only nonsense to you, once again it's just another area that proves that their competition is more innovative than Carnival is.  Carnival's solution is lime and chocolate flavored sugar like straws and RCI's solution is a biodegradable plastic like straws.

And yet, Carnival and RCI are operating under vastly different environmental oversight conditions.  Note that I didn't say different regulatory conditions, because they are the same, but that Carnival, due to its failures in the past to improve on environmental compliance have third party inspectors making inspections throughout the year, and checking records for periods between these inspections, and since Carnival has been cited repeatedly for not separating plastic from food waste, they are particularly sensitive about this, and subject to more scrutiny than RCI is.  RCI is basically hoping that they don't get caught sending the occasional "biodegradable" plastic straw over the side with the food waste (because the law doesn't care how "biodegradable" the plastic is, you can't dump plastic in the ocean).

 

1 hour ago, Pellaz said:

Not only are LNG-fueled ships innovative, they are also considerably less polluting than ships powered by marine diesel or bunker fuel.  

This is true only if you disregard the 800 lb gorilla in the environmental room called methane slip.  Yes, LNG reduces SOX and NOX emissions, and reduces CO2 emissions over other marine fuels.  However, methane slip (the amount of methane released during pumping from the well, transporting in pipelines, trucks, trains, etc, at the liquifaction plants, bunkering the barge and then the ship, and then the unburned methane from incomplete combustion in the engine of the ship) releases methane into the atmosphere, and methane is 200 times more harmful as a greenhouse gas than CO2, and tends to linger in the atmosphere about 20 times longer than CO2.  LNG has its merits, but there are drawbacks as well.  And, anyone thinking that the switch to LNG was done for environmental reasons is truly naive.  It was done for cost reasons.  Why do you think that Carnival is only bringing LNG ships to the US market (disregard the other lines in the Corp)?  Why not Europe, where there is far more LNG bunkering infrastructure?  Because in the US there is a considerable price difference between LNG and bunker fuel or diesel fuel.  In Europe, that is not so much the case, so there is no incentive to switch.  And, Asia is even less attractive for LNG, as the price there is more than conventional fuels.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

You don't see a problem with sorting the trash, because you've never done it to know how much time it would take.  Until you've seen the organized chaos of the dishwashing stations during meal operations, you don't know how much these folks hustle.  And then, everyone would start complaining about the slow service caused by the bus staff taking the time to sort out the trash.  They already do the best they can with it, but some still gets through.

And yet, Carnival and RCI are operating under vastly different environmental oversight conditions.  Note that I didn't say different regulatory conditions, because they are the same, but that Carnival, due to its failures in the past to improve on environmental compliance have third party inspectors making inspections throughout the year, and checking records for periods between these inspections, and since Carnival has been cited repeatedly for not separating plastic from food waste, they are particularly sensitive about this, and subject to more scrutiny than RCI is.  RCI is basically hoping that they don't get caught sending the occasional "biodegradable" plastic straw over the side with the food waste (because the law doesn't care how "biodegradable" the plastic is, you can't dump plastic in the ocean).

 

This is true only if you disregard the 800 lb gorilla in the environmental room called methane slip.  Yes, LNG reduces SOX and NOX emissions, and reduces CO2 emissions over other marine fuels.  However, methane slip (the amount of methane released during pumping from the well, transporting in pipelines, trucks, trains, etc, at the liquifaction plants, bunkering the barge and then the ship, and then the unburned methane from incomplete combustion in the engine of the ship) releases methane into the atmosphere, and methane is 200 times more harmful as a greenhouse gas than CO2, and tends to linger in the atmosphere about 20 times longer than CO2.  LNG has its merits, but there are drawbacks as well.  And, anyone thinking that the switch to LNG was done for environmental reasons is truly naive.  It was done for cost reasons.  Why do you think that Carnival is only bringing LNG ships to the US market (disregard the other lines in the Corp)?  Why not Europe, where there is far more LNG bunkering infrastructure?  Because in the US there is a considerable price difference between LNG and bunker fuel or diesel fuel.  In Europe, that is not so much the case, so there is no incentive to switch.  And, Asia is even less attractive for LNG, as the price there is more than conventional fuels.

Replying to paper straws. Other paper products end up on the tray and are assorted into one pile before the dishes are taken to be washed. That is what I see in the buffet. I do not see a problem, I do not see any delays. On some ships the one that cleans the table tosses trash in the proper containers before the dishes are taken to be washed. 

[thunderingherd11]

On 7/16/2022 at 8:34 AM, chengkp75 said:

The major problem is that this is still a plastic straw, and the biodegradability of it has nothing to do with how it can be disposed of at sea.  It will still need to be hand sorted from the rest of the trash into "plastics only" bins and disposed of ashore.  This is US and international law.  Second, the WSJ has reported that scientists have said that the manufacturer's claims of biodegradability at sea (if you could dispose of this at sea) are greatly overstated, and could still take years to degrade.  Given Carnival Corp's past and continuing difficulties with environmental compliance, and one of the main offenses they were convicted of was not properly sorting plastic from the food waste, I doubt they will be in any hurry to look at an "alternative" plastic, that would easily be mixed with food waste.

Yes.  I love the non plastic straws served in plastic cups.  Save the earth.  

[chengkp75]

38 minutes ago, thunderingherd11 said:

Yes.  I love the non plastic straws served in plastic cups.  Save the earth.  

Are the cups disposable?  Which has more potential to get thrown into the trash and be sent over the side?  That is what it is all about, discharging plastic into the ocean, it has nothing to do with the general debate over whether or not plastics are a good thing, or are or are not biodegradable.  The maritime industry lives under a whole different set of laws than those on shore.

[2wheelin]

On 7/19/2022 at 12:52 PM, UpstateCruizer said:

It takes just a couple of minutes to throw some wrapped plastic straws in your suitcase. Carnival isn’t providing them but they aren’t prohibited. I’m confused why these situations are so complicated for some. Want a candy flavoured straw ask for one. Want a reusable plastic straw bring one. Want a collapsible metal straw that’s easily stored bring one. Want a “normal” type straw bring some. It’s really that easy. I like the lime straws myself and don’t usually have a drink that lasts long enough to mush it before I start eating it lol. My only complaint is that I’m not in a cruise right now! 

Maybe they should be prohibited since because they don’t provide them, they are not expecting them in the trash. Then when yours show up, they get missed, adding to the problem. They have a very good reason for not providing them but self important people bring their own—or do you take them home with you to dispose.

[TerReuv]

On 7/19/2022 at 10:30 PM, Lane Hog said:

Or beer.  Nobody drinks beer thru a straw...

 

I actually used to work with someone who always drank their beer thru a straw.  Strangest thing I had ever seen, but she always did it.