The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is yet to cause any cancelations or delays to cruise itineraries that sail or berth in the area. Although the spill has been reported to be the size of Puerto Rico, the cruise ships have been able to sail around the affected area and avoid the complications that would arise from having to sail through it. Now, although a ‘Puerto Rico’ size spill is HUGE, cruise ships have experience sailing around ‘Puerto Rico’ sized objects, like… well, Puerto Rico. I know, I know, that wasn’t funny because there is nothing funny about this situation… except of course the extremists on both sides that respectively overstate and understate the ramifications of the spill.
Chances are, the environmental impact the spill will have is bigger than what the Rush Limbaugh’s of the world would have you believe, with such gems as: “The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It’s natural. It’s as natural as the ocean water is.” As with all good extreme points of view, parts of what Mr. Limbaugh said are true: the ocean will take care of this itself, if left alone; oil is natural and so is ocean water. Now the problems: oil and water… don’t know if you’ve heard, don’t mix. Another problem, just because things are natural doesn’t mean they can be forced together. After all, your head is natural, a rock is natural, but if you introduce your head to a rock in a violently excessive way your head may heal on its own, but at the very least it will leave a scar.
On the other hand, extremists on the other side have done their fair share of overstating the scope of the disaster and, yes, the ability of the earth to deal with such a disaster. While enormous, the oil spill has not gotten into the ports, the shipping lanes are largely unaffected and gulf cities that thrive on tourism are to this point untouched. Things certainly look bleak and they may get worse before they get better, but New Orleans, for one, may remain untouched by the spill for some time. Indications are that the rise in the Mississippi River, due to the tragic floods in Tennessee running off into the connecting rivers, will continue to force the flow out of the New Orleans port (Carnival Triumph calls New Orleans its home port.) This flushing effect will continue to provide protection to the port from the oil spill for some time. If this can continue long enough to stop the bleeding, so to speak, the New Orleans Port may be spared.
Following this oil spill story has been both frustrating and sad. Frustrating because every day it seems the news gets worse and sad because millions of people are affected and will continue to be affected for decades to come. These effects will come from both the oil itself and the media coverage of the spill. Ask a Katrina survivor how the media’s coverage of their disaster helped and hurt their cause. The media rallied relief efforts by showing the devastation, but once the story reached its satiation point no one was there to tell the story of how New Orleans was open for business. New Orleans needs its tourism dollars and perception of the oil spill being in their port (when it is not there…yet) is devastating to their ability to attract tourists. Hopefully the oil spill can be contained soon and its perceptual effect mitigated, but until then let’s keep the port open in our minds because it is open in reality.
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Tags: BP, Carnival Triumph, cruise lines, cruises, disaster, gulf, Gulf Oil Spill, Media, Mississippi River, New Orleans Port, Oil Spill, Rush Limbaugh, Tennessee Flooding
Limbaugh’s reference to the catastrophe in the Gulf as an “oil spill” is like calling Limbaugh mildly retarded when we all know he went full retard a long time ago. My favorite line is that he thinks eco-terrorists planned the explosion as a celebration of Earth Day. He says “there are too many people with something to gain by it blowing up . . . ”
Essentially he pulls a metric ton of BS straight from his ass. Now his army of sycophants have begun covering for him. “Well, it just might have happened that way . . . it’s too early to tell . . . Rush really makes you think, ya know?” No matter what he says, his serfs will defend him. Even Sarah Palin gave him a pass on multiple “retard” violations, saying “he’s doing satire.”
Anyway…it’s actually somewhat sad that the cruise industry hasn’t been affected by the oil in the Gulf. If there was oil at the ports or if ships could not avoid sailing through the oil, and the cruise industry was losing money, maybe the fight against oil drilling in the Gulf would have more proponents lobbying Congress for stricter drilling laws.
@Drake. I hear you…but, it’s still possible that the spill will impact cruise lines and ports. While the latest news shows BP having some success, plugging a leak 5000 feet below the surface of the ocean is going to take them some time. The spill might even impact the east coast depending on the current…that will definitely impact cruise lines. It’s just too early and this situation will unfortunately not be resolved anytime soon IMO.
Regarding the stricter drilling laws: won’t make a bit of a difference if regulators can’t even enforce the laws we currently have! The current regulator didn’t even bother to check BP’s permits…
I was listening to an engineer while going to work yesterday who said simply that nothing would stop this oil leak. BP really messed up here and the administration needs to focus on stopping this or the whole coastline will be lost. I doubt this top kill strategy will work but we’ll see. It has never been tried at these depths before. They’re just experimenting now.
@Kimberly And that is the scary part – “They’re just experimenting now”. Agree both the government and BP need to step up and figure this out.
The Gulf of Mexico undersea gusher has already spilled more oil than the Exxon Valdez disaster. Has anyone heard more about the underwater plumes that supposedly exist?
Just noticed some images of the oil-soaked pelicans after the spill. Makes me so sad to see this. At least there are people that care enough to help with this.
I’m just upset beyond belief by this tragedy. Where can I find an accurate assessment of the accurate size of the oil spill? The assessments are widely different from different sources. Thanks for your informative post.
Well, looks like the top kill did not work either. I’m not sure how much of this is being left to the BP engineers to figure out on their own, but I do think it is well past time that a disaster that affects so many, have more minds working to find a solution. What is really amazing to me is that this offshore drilling is dangerous business, so why aren’t there more “in case the worst thing happens” solutions ready for this eventuality? I know the movie Armageddon was ridiculous on several fronts, but the idea of a team of engineers that have previously conceived of solutions to possible “in case the worst thing happens” disasters, is a pretty good idea. These huge oil companies make sooooo much money and they can’t invest in disaster mitigation planning? Something is really wrong with that.
BTW, thanks to Drake, FarazQ, Kimberly, General, tiffya, Octavio and justin for joining the discussion.
We must keep moving in the right direction or bad things could happen, great post though!
Good share, great article, very usefull for us¡thanks.
Drake Foreverr <3
The entire oil spill is very unforunate for the ocean and with the economy in many different points. This problem could have been retricted however everyone once in a while these calamities occur. The company should be held accountable for this recent spill.
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I’m grateful to finally see today on the news that BP has stopped some of this oil thats been coming up into our gulf for almost 2 months now!! Jeez what is their thinking?? I can’t believe its been taking this long. I know what it is, its all about the dollars, they can still make profits from this oil well thats why they won’t close it up for good to stop this problem!
And the oil just keeps leaking and BP keeps on lying about the progress. Makes me so mad!
I hear you, Denise. It’s very frustrating. Hopefully there is something that can be done before it makes its way around the Keys and into the Gulfstream. Well… I can hope can’t I.
I am worried about the air quality in the gulf for the people on the cruises and the workers in the gulf. It is my understanding that benzene and other harmful chemicals are being released into the air and are headed toward the gulf.
It upsets me that this is not being talked about by the government or BP and their is a virtual “lockdown” on the information we are receiving.
Think about the information on air quality they covered-up on 911.
I meant headed toward land.