When my General Manager wandered back to my cubicle and pitched a story on cruise ships for the fourth time, I decided for no other reason than to butter him up, I better see if the black smoke spewing from the towering ships lining our waterfront was doing more than blocking my boss’s view of Puget Sound. A quick Google search revealed some horrific stats.

In just one week a large ship generates about 210,000 gallons of human sewage (enough to overflow 5 large swimming pools). Then they must dispose of thousands of gallons of grey water, oily bilge, hazardous waste, and solid waste. With a few more clicks I came to find that a lot of the waste is simply and silently released deep under water. Basically, these large ships have been known to trail a cesspool of toxics behind them as they motor. Cruiseshipjunkie.com led me to hundreds of lawsuits that have been filed against the cruise lines.

I smelled an expose of these dirty giants.

I set up an interview with Fred Fellerman, an environmentalist for Friends of the Earth, a national organization pushing for tighter federal regulations. Fred answered my opening question in a passionate twenty minute monologue of startling facts and figures outlining some pretty shoddy practices about the cruising industry.

I was shocked to hear that these hulking luxury boats offer clients the opportunity to dry-clean their clothes and develop their photos. Are you telling me clients who can afford an all-inclusive vacation are really going to pack so lightly that they need dry-cleaning? He also talked about the heavy lobbying and deep pockets that are slowing Congress from enacting tighter regulations. In fact, marine vessels do not have to comply with the Clean Water Act.

I talked with Port Commissioner John Creighton at the Port of Seattle to get a sense of the economics at play. Apparently business is booming for these massive vessels. In 1999, there were only six trips that left from Seattle’s docks and this summer over 200 boats will head north to Alaska. Clearly all of those ships bring dollars into the local economy but, are the economics worth the environmental tradeoff?

My next interview was with Sue Joerger, the executive director of the Puget Soundkeeper. Her organization is a pollution watchdog for our waterways. She took myself and a photographer out for a Friday afternoon boat tour of Puget Sound and three departing ships filled with smiling tourists waving from the upper decks. As we jetted across the Sound, the immensity of the cruise ships stood out as they loomed hundreds of feet above passing ferries.

We still needed to hear from the cruise industry itself, so I called up locally based Holland America. The interview with an executive VP revealed that the industry recognizes the need to step up their environmental standards but to what degree is the hanging question. Right now there is not any federal legislation overseeing this business.

It will be interesting to see if the Clean Cruise Act passes through Congress this fall. In any case, if taking a cruise is a possibility in your upcoming travel plans it is worth shopping for a company that isn’t polluting the very waters you are paying to see.

Also, feel free to comment about your experiences with cruise ships in this space.