by Kimberly De Casas
Have you walked down the main hallway of your favorite mall and noticed the kiosk with well-dressed people who have a welcoming smile imprinted on their face and a banner above them reading “Carnival”, “Norwegian Cruise Line” or “RoyalCarribean” cruises?
Did this banner have an image of what looks like an updated, millennial version of the Titanic? Did you happen to sit and listen to them and borderline or even get your very own tickets to the cruise getaway of your dreams?
How was your experience? Was it everything they offered and more or did it just skim the surface of the waters they so beautifully described?
Cruises are one of the only vacation attractions that can truly say they cater to all income brackets. According to the cruising giant Carnival’s website, Carnival.com, for $409 and some fees, you too can depart from Long Beach, CA to Baja, Mexico for five days with the click of a button. This is an amazing deal if you consider the ladder option of an Airbnb, where the average condominium in Baja, Mexico would run you $300 a night. But how do these cruise companies make a dime from their customers when they’re all, what we would consider, dirt cheap? There are three things to consider when investigating the world of cruises and why they’re so “successful”:
1. Employment
2. Environment
3. Laws
Employees on Cruises
Most of the employees you’ll run into on your getaway to Baja, Mexico won’t be the average American you’d see when departing from Long Beach, in fact, on any major cruise line you’re likely to notice that the crewmembers are primarily Filipino. The driving force behind this is because the government in the Philippines does not let Filipinos take legal action against foreign companies. This means the crewmembers are subject to mistreatment. This is seen in many cases. One reported by the CDC confirmed that luxury cruises have hid food inside of crew-member’s rooms to avoid health inspections. According to Business Insider, cruise line employees are subject to 70-90-hour work weeks with no overtime pay, making as little as $500 a month.
Environmental Influence of Cruises
Cruises, to no surprise, are very harmful to the environment. The three major cruise lines, Norwegian, RoyalCarribean, and Carnival have all been caught illegally polluting and dumping. They’ve been ordered to pay more than $100 million in fines according to the US Department of Justice. This is adding on to the waste they already are able to legally dump (i.e. cargo residue, cleaning agents and more). The New York Times confirms that the emissions that come per passenger are three to four times more that CO2 jets.
Maritime Law
It surprises most people when they find out that ships operate by different laws once they’re deep enough into the seas, this is known as Maritime Law. Cruise lines tend to register their ships in foreign countries, so they don’t have to abide by US regulations. The ships are to fly “Flags of Convenience”. This means that where they register their ships, they have to follow the countries tax and labor laws, as well as their safety regulations. An example of this can be seen with Carnival, they have headquarters in Miami, FL but fly a flag from Panama. When it comes to crime on the seas, when you leave the port of let’s say Long Beach, the first nine miles are under California’s jurisdiction. Once you enter waters that are within nine to twelve miles, it’s considered international waters, so the FBI handles it and after twelve miles it is considered international waters. This means that if the ship flies a Panamanian flag, the crime would be under Panamas jurisdiction. DOHSA, Death on the High Seas Act, allows people to sue cruise lines for deaths but it has its flaws since its over fifty years old. This means if you sue the cruise line, they are responsible for the funeral and any economic value the individual is presumed to have made in the remainder of their lifetime. The problem with this is that people who are minors or elderly are deemed to have little to no economic value. One of the leading causes of deaths for cruise lines is by drowning, and despite the numerous pools and sometimes water parks on the ships, they don’t have lifeguards. Back in 2017, RoyalCarribean and Norwegian started to hire on lifeguards. To this day, Carnival still does not have lifeguards. Due to the small amount of space on cruise ships, they choose a passenger who could make them money over another crewmember they deem “unnecessary”.
This begs the question, is a cheap cruise really worth it?
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