Awful smell from Celebrity Equinox Smoke Stacks

[sheffield]

For the second time this week we are tied up next to the Celebrity Equinox. The smell of the smoke coming out of the smoke stacks is awful. We have been driven inside off our balcony both times. Does anyone know why the smell would be so toxic smelling?

[wolfie11]

https://www.stand.earth/sites/default/files/2019-an-investigation-of-air-pollution-on-the-decks-of-4-cruise-ships.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1qwgnrhT0JIoFIvPvmXXd8c9UhvBeXP_3LH6ehXai2dS_XmG6ETWtj5_s

[Cruise Gopher]

I’m currently on the Equinox in Nassau today and I had assumed it was the MSC Seaside or NCL Bliss next to us that were stinking things up. I wanted to sit on the balcony this afternoon but the smell is so bad it’s not possible to sit out there. 

[sheffield]

I only noticed the smell the two days we were tied up next to the Equinox so presumed it was her. 

[cruising cockroach]

Unpopular hypothesis on CC but maybe it's high sulphur bunker fuel (or diesel) being burned.

 

Next cruise I'm on, all the ships of the fleet are claimed to burn ultra-low sulphur (<0.15) marine diesel, effective since the new year.  No bunker fuel.

[wolfie11]

5 hours ago, cruising cockroach said:

Unpopular hypothesis on CC but maybe it's high sulphur bunker fuel (or diesel) being burned.

 

Next cruise I'm on, all the ships of the fleet are claimed to burn ultra-low sulphur (<0.15) marine diesel, effective since the new year.  No bunker fuel.

Which fleet is this?  Most ships are using scrubbers, which runs the exhaust thru water before it is emitted and strips the sulpher out.  Low sulphur fuel is much more expensive than bunker fuel.  The only problem is that they then still have to get rid of the sulphur.  In an open loop system the water (plus sulphur) goes over the side.  In a closed loop system it is retained and disposed of elsewhere.

Edited January 26, 2019 by wolfie11

[chengkp75]

6 hours ago, cruising cockroach said:

Unpopular hypothesis on CC but maybe it's high sulphur bunker fuel (or diesel) being burned.

 

Next cruise I'm on, all the ships of the fleet are claimed to burn ultra-low sulphur (<0.15) marine diesel, effective since the new year.  No bunker fuel.

 

1 hour ago, wolfie11 said:

Which fleet is this?  Most ships are using scrubbers, which runs the exhaust thru water before it is emitted and strips the sulpher out.  Low sulphur fuel is much more expensive than bunker fuel.  The only problem is that they then still have to get rid of the sulphur.  In an open loop system the water (plus sulphur) goes over the side.  In a closed loop system it is retained and disposed of elsewhere.

While I will agree that "most" cruise ships are moving to install scrubbers, not all have completely outfitted their fleets with them, and the vast majority of cargo ships still switch to diesel fuel for the time they are in the North American ECA.  Haven''t done the math to see what concentration of sulfur would be in the exhaust gas even if burning 3.5% sulfur fuel, but I don't remember smelling the typical "burnt match" smell of sulfur dioxide back in the day when no one cared about sulfur content.  Without knowing what the "smell" was, hard to say what caused it, and smell is highly subjective.

 

As for the Bahamas, I would doubt that the ships are burning residual fuel (which they can without the scrubber) in the Bahamas, especially if they just came from Florida, as the logistics of switching fuels is not as easy as throwing a switch or opening a valve.  Some ships, if actually switching fuels, will require a few hours to ensure that the fuel is completely switched, and you can't start this until across the ECA demarcation line leaving the ECA, and must be started before crossing the ECA line to ensure complete switch when entering the ECA, so for a quick port stop like Nassau, there would be very little savings.  Even with a scrubber, the change back and forth is not quick, and all of these changes, whether fuel switching or scrubber bypassing must be documented with the ship's position at the time of starting and completing the switch.

[Formerly known as Seabee]

Exhaust from ship engine “may be the cause of tens of thousands of deaths... annually”.  ???  Are you kidding me?  If this is accurate the cruise industry should be and probably would be shut down!  The problem with these types of studies is that a lot of “may be’s” are assumed to be “settled science”.  So if you read the study referenced by Wolfie11are you brave enough to cruise again?  Wonder why they didn’t take samples from inside staterooms and on balconies?😲

[K12Guy]

It may be the nasty odor you are smelling has nothing to do with a ship's exhaust. When in port the ships transfer human waste from the holding tanks to the land sewer system and there is pretty much nothing that can be done to eliminate the smell of human waste, even though it's minimized. We have smelled this many times in many ports on many ships. Sometimes when our ship is the only one in port, or as we arrive and another ship is being emptied.

 

Another thought. If the ship you think is emitting nasty exhaust and the wind is blowing the exhaust away from where you are, then there must be another source for that stink. Just saying... 🙂

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, K12Guy said:

It may be the nasty odor you are smelling has nothing to do with a ship's exhaust. When in port the ships transfer human waste from the holding tanks to the land sewer system and there is pretty much nothing that can be done to eliminate the smell of human waste, even though it's minimized. We have smelled this many times in many ports on many ships. Sometimes when our ship is the only one in port, or as we arrive and another ship is being emptied.

 

Another thought. If the ship you think is emitting nasty exhaust and the wind is blowing the exhaust away from where you are, then there must be another source for that stink. Just saying... 🙂

I know of no cruise ship that empties their sewage tanks to shore (though maybe some very small (couple hundred pax) ships might.  A cruise ship is not an RV.  Given that a cruise ship with 2200 pax and 900 crew will generate about 1000 metric tons of waste water per day, there is no way that the ship could hold all this waste and no way it could pump that much ashore in the time given to a port call.  All ships, whether cruise ships or not, are required to have sewage treatment plants capable of handling the waste water generated by the maximum number of people onboard.  For cargo ships, and some smaller cruise ships, this is a simple MSD (Marine Sanitation Device), much like a septic tank system on land.  Most large cruise ships have AWWTP (Advanced Waste Water Treatment Plants), that treat all the waste water to near fresh, drinking water standards before it is pumped overboard.  Some ports do not allow this treated waste water to be pumped out while in port, so the ship will have a small holding tank for while in port, which gets emptied when back at sea.

 

Besides, unless the ship has just stuck its sewage discharge hose into a sewer manhole and started pumping away, there would be no smell involved, since it is all enclosed in pipes and hoses.

 

What I suggest you are smelling is something I've smelled in many ports over many years, and that is the stink of the mud on the harbor bottom being stirred up by the ship's propellers and thrusters.  Even in clean harbors, marine life decays on the bottom, and when you bring that silt to the surface it can get pretty ripe.

Edited January 26, 2019 by chengkp75

[twincheryl]

Just returned from Equinox cruise last week.  We sat on our balcony many times while we were in port and never smelled anything out of the ordinary.  That would have been uncomfortable having to deal with a nasty smell!

[cruising cockroach]

7 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

Which fleet is this?  

 

Ponant.  Though none of their ships carry more than 300 pax.

 

https://en.ponant.com/ponant-convert-to-100-ls-mgo/

 

I think I can distinguish exhaust of burnt high sulphur fuels, raw sewage (HAL's Prinsendam had an issue with this, stench emanating from midship port side, even when underway), and rotting organic mud at low tide.  I will see if the Ponant ship emits noxious emissions in a couple of months.  Hopingit doesn't but I do have a forward cabin, as all cabins are on the ship.

[K12Guy]

7 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

I know of no cruise ship that empties their sewage tanks to shore (though maybe some very small (couple hundred pax) ships might.  A cruise ship is not an RV.  Given that a cruise ship with 2200 pax and 900 crew will generate about 1000 metric tons of waste water per day, there is no way that the ship could hold all this waste and no way it could pump that much ashore in the time given to a port call.  All ships, whether cruise ships or not, are required to have sewage treatment plants capable of handling the waste water generated by the maximum number of people onboard.  For cargo ships, and some smaller cruise ships, this is a simple MSD (Marine Sanitation Device), much like a septic tank system on land.  Most large cruise ships have AWWTP (Advanced Waste Water Treatment Plants), that treat all the waste water to near fresh, drinking water standards before it is pumped overboard.  Some ports do not allow this treated waste water to be pumped out while in port, so the ship will have a small holding tank for while in port, which gets emptied when back at sea.

 

Besides, unless the ship has just stuck its sewage discharge hose into a sewer manhole and started pumping away, there would be no smell involved, since it is all enclosed in pipes and hoses.

 

What I suggest you are smelling is something I've smelled in many ports over many years, and that is the stink of the mud on the harbor bottom being stirred up by the ship's propellers and thrusters.  Even in clean harbors, marine life decays on the bottom, and when you bring that silt to the surface it can get pretty ripe.

Apparently my sense of smell was off at times. Smelled just like the sewage at the RV dump, with no ship in sight. 🙂 I would imagine it was the nastiness from the harbor floor... Thanks for your feedback!