Oceania Cruises - Final Grade: "D"

Oceania Cruises was founded in 2002. Headquartered in Florida, Oceania operates five cruise ships and is a subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

Of Oceania’s five ships, three have installed advanced sewage treatment systems, resulting in a grade of C for the company’s 60 percent sewage treatment score. In total, none of Oceania’s ships are plug-in capable and none have installed scrubbers, giving the company an F for air pollution reduction. The MS Regatta, Oceania’s sole cruise ship operating in Alaska in 2011 and 2014, received eleven citations for water quality violations from Alaskan authorities, giving Oceania a 67 percent, or a C+, for water quality compliance in Alaska.

Oceania Cruises - Cruise Ship Fleet

Ship Name Cruise Line Total Persons on Board Destinations Sewage Treatment Air Pollution Reduction Water Quality Compliance Final Ship Grade
MS Regatta Oceania Cruises 1084 Alaska, Canada, Caribbean, Central America, South America, U.S. East Coast, U.S. West Coast, Mexico, Antarctic 11 00 06 05
MS Nautica Oceania Cruises 1084 Asia, Europe, Mediterranean, Africa, Arctic, India, Middle East, Southeast Asia 00 00 N/A 00
MS Marina Oceania Cruises 2050 Central America, Europe, Mediterranean, U.S. East Coast, Africa, Mexico, South America, Antarctic, Caribbean 11 00 N/A 04
MS Riviera Oceania Cruises 2050 Caribbean, Central America, Mediterranean, U.S. East Coast, Mexico, Africa, Middle East 11 00 N/A 04
MS Insignia Oceania Cruises 1084 Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Mediterranean, New Zealand, South America, U.S. East Coast, U.S. West Coast, Antarctic, Arctic, Hawaii, India, Mexico, Middle East, Southeast Asia 00 00 N/A 00
MS Sirena Oceania Cruises 1084 Africa, Australia, Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Mediterranean, Mexico, Middle East, New Zealand, South America, South Pacific, U.S. East Coast, U.S. West Coast 00 10 N/A 03
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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.