With the negative impact of humans on the environment impossible to ignore nowadays, people are looking at changing the way they travel and that includes cruising.

It doesn’t matter how you holiday, from staycations to long haul flights and from cruising to taking the train- everything has an impact, but some are of course better than others.

The line has long been a pioneering line when it comes to all aspects of the industry and that has continued when it comes to sustainability.

There modern expedition ships, including the Roald Amundsen, use hybrid-power, green technology and innovation hull design to use 20% less carbon emission than other similar sized ships.

They also became the first expedition line to ban single-use plastics and they are even looking to develop fuel from organic waste.

It can often be best to learn from the past as to what is best for the future and that what happens with the Star Clipper line who operate a fleet of sailing ships that mostly utilise wind power so burn no fuel.

They have won many awards around the world for their green credentials and offer a great alternative to large fuel burning ships.

Whilst the onboard experience of the line is proving to be hit or miss, there commitment to moving towards sustainable cruising should be commended.

There ships purify wastewater and turn it into drinking water, heat from their ships engines is turned into clean energy, use catalytic reduction systems to decrease nitrogen oxide emissions and they clean their exhaust gases to decrease sulphur oxide emissions.

Onboard, single use plastics are banned and with no buffet, food waste is reduced.

Aurora Expeditions promote themselves as been 100% climate neutral and whilst claims such as that are always difficult to prove true or false, their commitment to sustainable cruising cannot be challenged.

Their ships use advanced water and waste management systems, they only use energy efficient appliances and maximise the use of eco-friendly products and locally sourced food onboard.

By using a special bow design, the line not only reduce their fuel usage but also their vibrations, which is great for a line usually sailing in the remote water of the Arctic and Antarctica.

The onboard experience also includes reduced singles use plastics, naming their decks after famous ocean preservationists and having 1 day on each sailing when no seafood is served.

The luxury French lines latest expeditions cruise ships are run on a hybrid of LNG and battery power and they utilise things such as ship to shore power, no single use plastics and they design itinerary’s around impact studies on where they will sail.

MSC have create a new luxury exploration line that is called Explora Journeys and from the off, they are creating eco-friendly cruise ships.

That started with the design of the ships that include an innovative hull design whilst things such as smart heating and air con systems, advanced wastewater treatment, ship to shore power and utilising high-efficiency appliances and lighting.

They also have no single use plastics, use hybrid power alongside catalytic reduction technology and they work with the MSC Foundation to promote sustainable travel.

Their next generation of Explora ships are also set to be hydrogen powered.

Seabourn is another luxury cruise line who are investing in new technology and cutting-edge design to improve their emissions, but they are taking a more sustainable cruise experience to all parts of their service.

Amongst the measure the line is taking are no single use plastic bottles, minimising paper waste, fixed pitch propellers on bow thrusters to reduce energy consumption, “ultra-low friction” coating to hull, reusing coffee mugs and desalinated water by using reverse osmosis.

Silversea is a luxury cruise line, but they have shown that luxury doesn’t have to come at the cost of sustainability as their new ships, part of Project Evolution, will become the first ships to use hydrogen fuel cells to power 100% of the ships whilst in port.

They will also use LNG and batteries for power at sea and will incorporate advance waste processing systems onboard.

This is one where you will need to ignore much of the line and focus on their latest ships, but the efforts the Swiss headquartered, Italian based line have gone to with their latest ships is well worth a place on this list.

Newer ships, such as the MSC Euribia are powered by LNG, use onboard power saving technology, have oxide fuel cells, operate an advanced wastewater system, separate materials for recycling onboard and use a hull design to lower drag.

The Carnival Corporation is the owner of the Carnival Cruise Line, but they also own numerous other cruise lines around the world.

Whilst not a cruise line themselves, we have added them to this list because of their new Excellence class of ships which have been put into service for lines such as AIDA, P&O, Costa and the Carnival cruise line.

Starting with the AIDAnova when she became the first LNG powered cruise ship in 2018, this new class of ship has proven that even the biggest ships in the world can adapt and use more sustainable fuel.