Illustration by Dash Dixon

"The Ovation of the Seas alone burns through a bathtubs’ worth of diesel roughly every six minutes. Without moving an inch, every hour the ship is in port it spews out the equivalent of eight tonnes of carbon dioxide."

Victoria’s Cruise Ship Conundrum

As it positions itself as one of Canada’s greenest cities, Victoria has simultaneously been boosting an industry condemned around the world for its pollution

BY THE CAPITAL STAFF
NOTE: PLEASE READ THE FULL ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY THE CAPITAL:

It’s a typical summer afternoon in the Salish Sea, and three of the largest moving objects on the Canadian west coast are scheduled to tie up in Victoria.

Already in port is Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas. Tied for ninth-largest cruise ship in the world, it has 11 restaurants, a climbing wall, a skydiving simulator and an “observation capsule” that can be dangled off the vessel’s side with a massive robotic arm. With a capacity of more than 4,000 people, it could carry 4.5 per cent of the city it is visiting. And at three and a half football fields long, it’s about the size of a skyscraper placed on its side.

Tied up at the next pier, the Regatta carries a relatively slight 600 passengers, but it still dwarfs the passing M/V Coho. Later in the day, the 315-metre Celebrity Solstice will spill another 3000 people into the city. 

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