The Ugly Truth of the Cruising Industry
Cruise Ship:
"I love waking up in the morning not knowing what's gonna happen or, who I'm gonna meet, where I'm gonna wind up."--Jack Dawson,Titanic
Cruising is an alternative to travelling by plane, the cost is relatively lower in exchange for a royal experience. In the past, the motive of cruising was the desire to visit exotic land. Nowadays, travelling by air has fulfilled this desire, and so cruising has to brand themselves accordingly. The cruising industry has so many programs on the cruise that destinations of these cruise ships becomes secondary. Not only did the industry greatly altered the experience and expectations of the travellers, but also the the ocean environment and water channel; not to mention the social-economic structure of individual islands, harbors and cities. The article "Destination Whatever: Touring the Cruise Industry of the Caribbean" provided a well-rounded analysis of the cruising industry.
Essentially, cruisers are purchasing a quick deluxe experience at an affordable price. "The bigger the boat, the more plush the interiors; the more exotic the entertainment, the less relevant the destination." (p.15). The experience on the boat became much more exciting and significant than the destination of the cruise. Every moment is spontaneous, adventurous and entertaining. Thus, it seems to be such a good deal, because you can do any leisure activity in every minute. I personally traveled on cruise ship twice. The first time was with my family. the second time was with my family and two other families, a total of 16 people. The first journey was to Qing Dao and Vietnam, and our Home Return Permit expired, so we could not land our foot on QingDao; but we did not feel much loss or regretful, for we probably had more fun. We stayed in the air-conditioned rooms, played pokers. Then we were entertained by spontaneous clowns on board, and then, we swam in the pool, had dinner, swam more, and had desserts. On the second trip, we were older and experienced, so we purposefully chose to stay on the ship, (there was an extra fee for landing on the island). Moreover, since we knew ahead of time the entertainments schedule on the cruise, each of us prepared a semi-formal outfit to attend a specific grand performance on one evening. This exemplified that the time on the ship is actually the key selling point of the cruise. I enjoyed the experience, and the great memories we had on the cruise, but to be fair, I shall also acknowledge the unsettling issues that evolved around cruise ships.
Cruise ships produced huge amount of trash. One cruise can hold 6,300 travellers and so each ship has to provide an excessive amount of food and bottled water, hotel services (towels, soaps, laundry), electricity for lights and wifi access, fuels for the engines...They argued,
"greater economies of scale bring greater risks, with hazards on the rise: technical failures, navigational blunders, sanitation lapses, and health epidemics. For example, any given boat loads 24,000 bottles of water every week, which eventually turn into garbage. Destinations are often unable to treat the massive amount of waste, leading cruise ships to dump tons of it in international waters." (p.16)
Such enormous volume of waste was generated for the industry, and the treatment of the waste was unethical and merciless. The impact of cruising industry is short-term, but the waste is long-term and monstrous. Moreover, the economic gains on the islands are at minimum, almost to a point of exploitation. Despited a growing number of tourists on the islands, tourists' contribution to GDP is not proportional. In addition, the island has to invest with their own money in order to upgrade their ports and infrastructures to accommodate the large boats. The most distressing exploitation by these cruise tours is the lack of sympathy on islands that were hit by natural disasters. This is no different from the relationship between a drug dealer and the drug addicts-- the only option for these small islands were to accept an unequal, abusive, but also the only aid which can keep their society from dying.
What is the way out? Is there an ethical way to tourism in general? If tourism is a global economic force that is booming, a tactic that is both saving and killing the local industry, how can the big corporation work ethically? Is passing laws, regulations or UN treaties the only way to regulate wastes from the ship? What can individual travellers do to ease the social inequality between themselves and the destination? Perhaps we shall look back to the landscape--the blurry boundary between land and sea, and be inspired and enlisted by the vigorous exchange of elements and the life and death at that edge.
“Habituated means that the animals have concluded, after a long and difficult learning process, that the people they see before them are neither predators nor prey." --Dale Peterson
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Appendix I. Side thoughts.
Perception of Travel on Spaceship:
"But today's my birthday. And it's a special one, because you told me... you once told me that by the time you came back we might be the same age. And today I'm the same age you were when you left."--Murphy Cooper, Interstellar
The movie Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nolan, explicitly exemplified the relativeness of time. In one scene, the astronauts were debating, and one of them pointed out that they were wasting time--one minute in space is equivalent to a few weeks or even months on Earth. The sense of separation and abandonment were greatly played out in the narrative.
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Appendix II. Side thoughts.
Seeking Utopia
The human race is always in the pursuit of things. In the past, when we look at England's voyages to North America, we deciphered that the puritans were in the search of a new utopia. It was seen as a new landscape that would be disconnected to the old social, political, and religious system, a place for farming and joy. However, they never thought that the cultural burden were part of themselves, inseparable. Thus, inevitably, they change the landscape to fulfil their dream. Moreover, the English eventually marched in and gush in more people, thus a system is required to manage the land. At the present, when every piece of land is exploited in many ways, human race is in search of a habitable location in Space.
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Citations:
Seitz,Matt Zoller,“Interstellar”,Review, RogerEbert.com, Nov 3, 2014. http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/interstellar-2014.
Scott, A. O. "Off to the Stars, With Grief, Dread and Regret'Interstellar' Review: Christopher Nolan’s Film Starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway", nytimes.com, Nov 4, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/05/movies/interstellar-christopher-nolans-search-for-a-new-planet.html.
Interstellar. Directed by Christopher Nolan. 2014. City: Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros.Pictures, 2014. Film.
Delgado, Martin, Zuzanna Koltowske, Felix Madrazo, and Sofia Saavedra. “Destination Whatever: Touring the Cruise Industry of the Caribbean”, Harvard Design Magazine.
Wang, QingSong, "One World", wangqingsong.com/, 2014, photography. http://www.wangqingsong.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=291&Itemid=82