| Regardless of the size of the Cruise companies and their political and economic influence, it is the time to say NO to the cruise industry and force them to change if they want to survive. The reasons are well known for anyone who is not short-sighted:
– Cruises are not a mean of transportation, like buses, trains and planes. They do not provide an essential service, it is just entertainment.
– Cruises are terribly polluting, they have been contaminating the seas for decades.
– The Cruise Industry is a tax and compliance evader. Most of their ships are flagged in third world countries to avoid prosecution from developed countries in terms of taxation and compliance with all the strict regulations related to pollution, labour rules, security, etc..
– Cruises provoke touristification in most of the destinations they visit. The cities are not prepared to receive the same day thousands of people disembarking from several ships and visiting in a few hours the same places. The number of people allowed to disembark every day should be strictly limited not to affect the normal life of the destinations, as cities are not Thematics Parks but places where real people make their lives.
– Cruises are a source of illness. The agglomeration of people, all concentrated in a confined space like a ship for days, all behaving as a herd, is the breeding ground for the contagious of virus and bacteria, as we have seen for years and very specially in the last months. |
