Silversea Cruises - Final Grade: "D-"

Silversea Cruises was founded in 1994. Headquartered in Florida, Silversea describes itself as a luxury cruise line that operates eight cruise ships worldwide. The Silversea cruise ship fleet consists of smaller ships with carrying capacities between 170 and 910 passengers and crew.

Of Silversea’s eight ships, only the Silver Shadow and the Silver Spirit have installed advanced sewage treatment systems, resulting in a grade of F for the company’s 24 percent sewage treatment score. In total, none of Silversea’s ships have scrubbers installed or shore power capability, earning the company an F in this category. Silversea operated one ship, the Silver Shadow, in Alaska from 2010 to 2014. From 2011 to 2014 Silversea chose to discharge sewage from the Silver Shadow outside of Alaskan waters, thereby avoiding Alaska’s strong water quality standards. However, the Silver Shadow did not receive any violations when it did discharge in Alaskan state waters in 2010, earning Silversea a 100 percent for water quality compliance in Alaska.

Silversea Cruises - Cruise Ship Fleet

Ship Name Cruise Line Total Persons on Board Destinations Sewage Treatment Air Pollution Reduction Water Quality Compliance Final Ship Grade
Silver Shadow Silversea Cruises 684 Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Canada, Southeast Asia 11 00 11 06
Silver Explorer Silversea Cruises 247 Antarctic, Central America, Europe, South America, Arctic, Canada, Africa, Mediterranean 00 00 N/A 00
Silver Galapagos Silversea Cruises 175 South America 00 00 N/A 00
Silver Cloud Silversea Cruises 518 Europe, Mediterranean, Africa, India, Middle East 00 00 N/A 00
Silver Spirit Silversea Cruises 916 Caribbean, Central America, Mediterranean, South America, U.S. East Coast, Africa, India, Middle East 11 00 N/A 04
Silver Whisper Silversea Cruises 684 Canada, Caribbean, Central America, Europe, South America, U.S. East Coast, Asia, Arctic, Australia, India, Mediterranean, Mexico, Middle East, New Zealand, South Pacific, Southeast Asia, U.S. West Coast 00 00 N/A 00
Silver Wind Silversea Cruises 518 Africa, Europe, Mediterranean, Arctic, Caribbean, Mexico, U.S. East Coast 00 00 N/A 00
Silver Discoverer Silversea Cruises 216 Alaska, Asia, Australia, South Pacific, Africa, Europe, New England, Southeast Asia 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.