Where Does Poo Go On A Cruise Ship?

Cruise ships have a water-treatment system onboard, similar to your hometown. With over 7,000 passengers and crew, Symphony of the Seas generates 210,000 gallons of black water and one million gallons of water from toilets, clinics, and animals. In 2013, a fire broke out in the engine room of Carnival Triumph (renamed Carnival Sunrise), leading to the event being dubbed the “black water crisis.” The poop deck is a raised part at the back of a ship where the captain and officers can stand to steer the ship. Cruise ships dispose of waste in a sustainable manner, using airtight holding tanks and specialized ventilation systems to eliminate unpleasant odors from human waste.

Cruise ships like Symphony have a designated waste and recycling center, with separate teams dealing with each incoming recyclable: glass, aluminum, and plastic. Airplanes do not dump waste in the air; it is stored in tanks and emptied into the regular sewer at the airport. Cruise ships can dump waste into the ocean as long as the ships are more than three and a half miles offshore.

The water either stays on board and is discharged into tanks in port or is pumped out at sea at a certain distance from land to meet the needs of the ships. In port, the water is held in storage tanks, then released off shore, or treated into the local sewage system at the port.