Seasonality of cruise ship activityin neighboring regions

The continuous growth of the cruise industry has brought with it a series of threats. Among them is the management of the seasonality of cruise activity in order to address its negative effects. This study examines the monthly cruise passenger movement distribution among a group of harbors located in the northeast sector of the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea with the aim of determining the existence of seasonality patterns in cruise traffic and their relationship between different regions. A database of cruise passenger movements during the period from 2007 to 2019 among 24 harbors forms the backbone of the empirical analysis. First, the seasonal variation index of each harbor was calculated to determine the seasonality pattern. Second, a cluster analysis was performed to classify harbors into clusters with analogous seasonality patterns. The results reveal that seasonality of cruise activity in a consolidated region is explained by own factors of the region, but also by an induced seasonality imported from neighboring cruise regions.

Unique Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in the Second Large Cruise Ship Cluster in Japan

In the initial phase of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a large-scale cluster on the cruise ship Diamond Princess (DP) emerged in Japan. Genetic analysis of the DP strains has provided important information for elucidating the possible transmission process of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on a cruise ship. However, genome-based analyses of SARS-CoV-2 detected in large-scale cruise ship clusters other than the DP cluster have rarely been reported. In the present study, whole-genome sequences of 94 SARS-CoV-2 strains detected in the second large cruise ship cluster, which emerged on the Costa Atlantica (CA) in Japan, were characterized to understand the evolution of the virus in a crowded and confined place. Phylogenetic and haplotype network analysis indicated that the CA strains were derived from a common ancestral strain introduced on the CA cruise ship and spread in a superspreading event-like manner, resulting in several mutations that might have affected viral characteristics, including the P681H substitution in the spike protein. Moreover, there were significant genetic distances between CA strains and other strains isolated in different environments, such as cities under lockdown. These results provide new insights into the unique evolution patterns of SARS-CoV-2 in the CA cruise ship cluster.

Resisting the Tourist Gaze. Art Activism Against Cruise Ship Extractivism in the Venice Lagoon

The essay situates Venice’s struggles against the cruise ship industry within a larger framework of resistance against planetary extractive capitalism, emphasising the role of local art-activist initiatives in denouncing the social and the ecological degradation caused by the cruise ship presence in Venice. In the first part, the concept of extractive tourism is introduced and analysed in relation to the case of Venice and the cruise companies’ economic model. The operations and infrastructure of cruise tourism produce extractive relations that entangle and exploit tourists, local communities and the natural environment. The Author examines how mass tourism has aggravated the environmental and social issues of the city of Venice and its lagoon. In the second part, the essay presents a number of artistic projects, specifically by visual artists Eleonora Sovrani, Gli Impresari, Banksy, and Elena Mazzi. These artworks can help us visualise the failures of the current urban development model of the tourist economy, while also exposing the nefarious effects of extractive capitalism on the well-being of the lagoon ecosystem and the human and non-human subjects cohabiting in it.

Techno-Economic Evaluation of Co-Removal of NOx and SOx Species from Flue Gases via Enhanced Oxidation of NO by ClO2—Case Studies of Implementation at a Pulp and Paper Mill, Waste-to-Heat Plant and a Cruise Ship

Co-absorption of NO2 and SO2 from flue gases, in combination with the enhanced oxidation of NO by ClO2(g), is studied for three different flue gas sources: a medium sized waste-to-heat plant; the kraft recovery boiler of a pulp and paper mill; and a cruise ship. Process modeling results are used to present the technical potential for each site together with cost estimation and optimization using a bottom-up approach. A process set-up is proposed for each site together with equipment sizing and resulting flows of process fluids. The simulation results, supported by experimental results, show that removal rates equal to or greater than current best available technologies are achievable with more than 90% of NOx and 99% of SO2 removed from the flue gas. The resulting cost of removing both NOx and SO2 from the flue gases is 2100 €/ton for the waste-to-heat plant, 800 €/ton for the cruise ship and 3900 €/ton for the recovery boiler. The cost estimation show that the consumption and cost of chemical additives will play a decisive role in the economic feasibility of the investigated concept, between 50% and 90% of the total cost per ton acid gas removed.

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR POWER GENERATION MANAGEMENT FOR AN 110000+ GRT CRUISE SHIP

The aim of this work is to provide a methodology for the power generation optimization on large cruise ships in order to improve their operating efficiency, fuel saving and, consequently, to reduce exhaust gas emissions. The electrical load analysis is compared to the machinery reports of actual data in order to investigate if the estimated required power is appropriately close to the real power demand. Relevance is given to the average load of the diesel-generators, which expresses an indication of how the generators work. The model of the ship electric distribution system represents one of the main objectives of this work along with the power system simulations. These were developed through the definition of load profiles, both by the onboard recordings and by machinery reports data. Therefore, the same cruise profile is analyzed under different scenarios, the real and the optimized one, in order to highlight the critical state of the system and any possible margin for improvement.

A pioneering cruising enterprise: The North of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Steam Navigation Company, 1886–1908

Commercial cruising began around 1880. Underlying factors were the iron steamship that enabled scheduled sailings and larger, more comfortable vessels and growing incomes in industrialising countries that increased the potential market for tourism. Britain took the lead in cruising development. This article examines a pioneering enterprise, The North of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Steamship Navigation Company – the name reflects its sphere of operation. In 1886, the company began providing cruise voyages out of Aberdeen and Leith. It offered a new product, cheap and short cruises to the Norwegian fjords. The success of the first season led to the ordering of a new vessel, the St Sunniva, specifically designed for cruising and arguably the first cruise ship. The Company operated cruises chiefly to the fjords, but also to the Baltic and the Mediterranean, completing a total of 224 cruises between 1886 and 1908. Such sustained participation was due to imaginative and efficient organisation. Press advertising, the employment of travel agents, block bookings and private charters were used to gain business. The Company's vessels employed local pilots and from early on carried ‘conductors’, who were forerunners of the ‘cruise director’. The Company's success and innovations encouraged other firms to enter the cruising market, notably large liner companies such as P&O, Union Castle and Royal Mail after 1900. These used much larger vessels with better, more luxurious facilities. The North of Scotland Company, with its smaller and older vessels, could not compete and it withdrew from cruising in 1908.

Cruising Through School: General Equilibrium Effects of Cruise Ship Arrivals on Employment and Education

Cruise tourism is the fastest-growing branch of the tourism sector, and many have turned to it as a development strategy despite little systematic evidence of its equilibrium effects. I match 10.6 million automatic identification system (AIS) locations from 517 cruise ships arriving in 265 port destinations to 355,463 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) women’s surveys in 23 countries to estimate cruise tourism’s relationship with women’s labor market participation and educational attainment. Using fixed effects to identify changes in tourism over time, I estimate that doubling cruise ship arrivals is associated with a 4.9-percentage point increase in labor participation and one-quarter more years of education. These results would be consistent with port cities offering more job opportunities for older women and increased opportunity and available income for education, possibly in anticipation of improved employment prospects.

Exploring Cruise Tourists’ Preferences and Satisfaction: The Case of Taiwan

In this study, the product attributes of cruise tours are distinguished into on-board activities, leisure space, cabin comfort, Michelin restaurant, and refund mechanism, and the multi-attribute utility model of cruise tours is constructed using the choice experiment (CE) method. Of the 575 questionnaires distributed, 439 were valid, with an effective recovery rate of 76.3%. The results revealed the following: (1) when cruisers travel, what they value the most is the quality of service on board, followed by the facilities on board; (2) passengers’ preferences for comfortable pool space and more activities on board are negatively significant, indicating that they do not prefer to add these amenities and experiences to the cruise ship; (3) passengers are willing to pay extra to upgrade the interior cabin to one with a view and to experience the Michelin restaurant; and (4) influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, cruisers are more willing to manage their own health. Moreover, the pandemic does not reduce their willingness to travel by cruise.

Cultural Politics and Conquest Culture

In this article, the authors explore recent developments in urban regeneration in Istanbul, and specifically in the important historic district of Beyoğlu. In one respect, these developments, which are linked to the promotion of cruise ship tourism, are on the same predictable lines as neoliberal projects in other cities across the world. Significantly, in the Istanbul context, local agency is being sidelined, and projects are being financed and managed through the intervention of the central state. In this Turkish version of urban transformation, however, there is a locally distinctive aspect that merits attention. Istanbul is a city that was conquered by the Ottomans in 1453, and the discourse of conquest has remained significant within the urban imaginary. And at the present time, it is being mobilized by the state and its cultural ministry, in the cause of creating a new urban image conforming to its Islamist principles. The key project involves the establishment of what is called the Beyoğlu Cultural Route, which is essentially a touristic itinerary. The authors argue that the state's initiatives, and the route project in particular, involve an erasure—a conquest—of Beyoğlu's legacy of cosmopolitan values. This discussion explores what has been of civic and cultural value in the lifeworld of Beyoğlu, past and present. Resistance to the state's control of resources and institutions, and to its conquest ideology, needs to be grounded in civic principles open to diversity and difference in the city.