In a bold move Oceania Cruises have committed to removing plastic water bottles from their ships. They are the first premium or luxury cruise line to do so.
Plastic water bottles pollute our beaches and oceans.
The Oceania plastic water bottle initiative is important in an industry that makes a lot of noise about minimising its impact on the oceans. Especially when you consider a 2016 study revealed 480-billion plastic bottles were sold worldwide and fewer than half those were collected for recycling. So the remainder risked becoming a major sourced of pollution. Indeed, 13-million tons of plastic ends up in our oceans each year.
Bob Binder, President & CEO of Oceania Cruises is understandably proud of the plastic water bottle initiative. “We are not only taking a quantum leap forward environmentally, we are providing our guests with the gold-standard of still and sparkling water”, he said.
Still and sparkling water around the Oceania pools will be supplied by Vero Water, a leading purveyor to luxury hotels.
Oceania Cruises will replace the plastic water bottles with dishwasher-safe glass bottles and distilled water from Vero Water, a leading purveyor of water to luxury hospitality brands like Ritz Carlton and Hyatt Hotels. The ground-breaking sustainability initiative will eliminate 3-million plastic water bottles per year.
Oceania have told The Luxury Cruise Review that the Vero Water service will be implemented in two phases this year. Phase One will introduce the water service in suites, staterooms, restaurants, lounges and bars. Phase Two will extend the Vero Water service to the guest experience ashore. All guests will be provided with their own re-useable Vero Water bottle which will be theirs to keep and to take home with them.
This commendable initiative will be rolled out across the fleet starting in April 2019 with the largest ships in the fleet, Marina and Riviera. Nautica, Regatta and Sirena will follow in May and Vero Water will be available onboard Insignia from June.
About the Author: Jason Kerr
