Costa Cruises - Final Grade: "F"

Costa Cruises is an Italian cruise line based in Italy. Founded in 1854, Costa is a subsidiary of Carnival Corp., which controls almost 50 percent of the worldwide cruise ship market. Costa has a fleet of 12 cruise ships that all sail under the Italian flag.

Of Costa’s 12 ships, none have installed advanced sewage treatment systems, resulting in a grade of F for the company’s zero percent sewage treatment score. Five Costa ships have plug-in capability and scrubbers installed but only one ship actually docks at a port with shoreside power, earning Costa a D for air pollution reduction. No Costa ships traveled to Alaska between 2010 and 2014, earning Costa an ‘N/A’ in water quality compliance.

Costa Cruises - Cruise Ship Fleet

Ship Name Cruise Line Total Persons on Board Destinations Sewage Treatment Air Pollution Reduction Water Quality Compliance Final Ship Grade
Costa neoClassica Costa Cruises 2330 Mediterranean 00 00 N/A 00
Costa neoRomantica Costa Cruises 2290 Europe, Mediterranean, Arctic, Asia, India, Middle East, Southeast Asia 00 00 N/A 00
Costa Victoria Costa Cruises 3194 Asia, Southeast Asia 00 00 N/A 00
Costa Mediterranea Costa Cruises 3600 Mediterranean 00 00 N/A 00
Costa Magica Costa Cruises 4538 Mediterranean, Africa 00 00 N/A 00
Costa Pacifica Costa Cruises 4880 Europe, Mediterranean, Arctic, South America, Africa 00 00 N/A 00
Costa Favolosa Costa Cruises 4900 Europe, Arctic 00 08 N/A 02
Costa Fascinosa Costa Cruises 4880 Mediterranean 00 08 N/A 02
Costa Luminosa Costa Cruises 3747 Europe, Mediterranean, Mexico, Australia, India, Middle East, New Zealand, South America, South Pacific, Southeast Asia, U.S. West Coast 00 11 N/A 04
Costa Deliziosa Costa Cruises 3926 Caribbean, Central America, Mediterranean, Mexico, U.S. East Coast 00 08 N/A 02
Costa Diadema Costa Cruises 6200 Mediterranean 00 08 N/A 02
Costa neoRiviera Costa Cruises 2397 Mediterranean, Middle East 00 00 N/A 00
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Grading methodology for the 2016 Cruise Ship Report Card

Friends of the Earth’s Cruise Ship Report Card ranks 17 major cruise lines and 171 cruise ships -- Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Cunard Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, Fathom, Holland America Line, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Oceania Cruises, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean Int’l, Seabourn Cruise Line and Silversea Cruises -- according to four environmental criteria: Sewage Treatment, Air Pollution Reduction, Water Quality Compliance and Transparency.

  • To determine a cruise line’s Sewage Treatment grade, we compared the number of cruise ships in the cruise line that have installed advanced sewage treatment systems against the total number of ships in the cruise line.
  • To determine the Air Pollution Reduction grade for each ship in a cruise line, we graded ships on whether they had installed scrubbers or were capable of plugging into shoreside power. Cruise ships that installed both technologies and docked in ports with shore power received an A, while ships that only installed scrubbers or only installed shore power capability but did not dock at ports with shoreside power were given a C. In addition, ships were given credit if they only utilize low sulfur fuels continuously at levels lower than required by international and U.S. law.
  • To determine the Water Quality Compliance grade for ships operating in Alaska, we used notices of violation issued for individual cruise ships to each cruise line by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation from 2010 to 2014. Ships were given an ‘N/A’ if they traveled to Alaska but avoided Alaska’s strong water quality standards by discharging outside of those protected waters.
  • To determine the Transparency grade for each cruise line we graded each line based on whether it responded to our 2015 requests for information regarding their environmental practices.
  • The grades for each of the four criteria were averaged to calculate the Final Grade for each cruise line.