Carbon Offset for Cruising. Please help remind me how to.

[plettza]

Sorry if this is in the wrong category but I couldn't find a more appropriate area.  

 

I remember a few years ago I stumbled across a website that would calculate one's CO2 emissions from a particular voyage.  On the site, you'd enter the number of nights, cruise ship I believe, and some other details.  It would work out the amount of CO2 generated and allow you buy an offset.  I remember I did this for an 8 night cruise aboard Legend or Spirit here in Australia and it was cheap.  It was under $100AUD or something if memory serves me.  I don't recall the website and Bing searches have not yielded anything useful.  Cruise Critic hasn't either.  Maybe I'm using the wrong terminology but if anyone can perhaps refresh my memory, I'd appreciate it.  This wasn't cruise line specific...  It was a global initiative from an NGO or something like that.

 

With cruising starting here in Australia, I want to offset my impact as much as I can.  The sooner cruising becomes cleaner, the better a reputation the industry will earn.  I still read uninformed comments about how bad cruise ships are but at least I can do something.

[IslandHppy]

The impact of burning a barge load of heavy fuel oil on every voyage is not good.  CO2 is now runaway and is poisoning the oceans via carbonic acid.  What i did was buy some acres of fallow ⁹tax forfeit land and will protect it from being cleared and paved.  The groups that buy rainforest land seem best.  The best thing to do imho is to not fly far away to cruises - lifting people to 30,000 feet burns fuel and advocating for the lines to retire old ships and make new ones efficient.  As the oceans die the growing dead zones emit poison hydrogen sulfide gas.  For the moment if I buy an empty cabin on a ship that is leaving anyway my personal new CO2 usage seems minimal.  

[sergel02]

On 4/23/2022 at 1:40 AM, plettza said:

Sorry if this is in the wrong category but I couldn't find a more appropriate area.  

 

I remember a few years ago I stumbled across a website that would calculate one's CO2 emissions from a particular voyage.  On the site, you'd enter the number of nights, cruise ship I believe, and some other details.  It would work out the amount of CO2 generated and allow you buy an offset.  I remember I did this for an 8 night cruise aboard Legend or Spirit here in Australia and it was cheap.  It was under $100AUD or something if memory serves me.  I don't recall the website and Bing searches have not yielded anything useful.  Cruise Critic hasn't either.  Maybe I'm using the wrong terminology but if anyone can perhaps refresh my memory, I'd appreciate it.  This wasn't cruise line specific...  It was a global initiative from an NGO or something like that.

 

With cruising starting here in Australia, I want to offset my impact as much as I can.  The sooner cruising becomes cleaner, the better a reputation the industry will earn.  I still read uninformed comments about how bad cruise ships are but at least I can do something.

 

On 5/10/2022 at 1:20 PM, IslandHppy said:

The impact of burning a barge load of heavy fuel oil on every voyage is not good.  CO2 is now runaway and is poisoning the oceans via carbonic acid.  What i did was buy some acres of fallow ⁹tax forfeit land and will protect it from being cleared and paved.  The groups that buy rainforest land seem best.  The best thing to do imho is to not fly far away to cruises - lifting people to 30,000 feet burns fuel and advocating for the lines to retire old ships and make new ones efficient.  As the oceans die the growing dead zones emit poison hydrogen sulfide gas.  For the moment if I buy an empty cabin on a ship that is leaving anyway my personal new CO2 usage seems minimal.  

I do recall a calculator like that but the it was a larger amount due to cruises ships offering more than just transportation, as it’s a hotel stay and food and entertainment as well. 
 

I definitely agree with you OP about trying to make cruising greener though and there is some misinformation (along with accurate info that’s not discussed) out there. 
 

I sometimes will buy carbon offsets or donate to specific charities that help with eco initiatives like creating renewable energy. Carbon offsets have their own issues so it takes a lot of research into charities and practices though. 
 

I do try to do better on ships though. I leave specific feedback if there is something good or bad I see, and little minor things I do like rescuing towels, using elevators, eating less meat, etc. It’s pretty small but little changes do eventually go into big ones. 

[plettza]

On 5/10/2022 at 9:20 PM, IslandHppy said:

 For the moment if I buy an empty cabin on a ship that is leaving anyway my personal new CO2 usage seems minimal.  

True. The ship will sail whether or not I'm on it but with a small offset, I can at least play a small part.  I might just find an airline carbon offset that looks legitimate. Hopefully it'll buy a square metre of rainforest somewhere