7 Top Reasons to Never Go on a Cruise

The Costa Concordia running aground drew attention to the devastating effect cruise ships are having on Italian cities, particularly Venice. The city currently sees about 60,000 tourists a day, about twice the number it can sustain environmentally. Ships erode the mud banks the city is built on, endangering centuries-old palaces and other buildings. Cruise ships also have a worse effect on the environment than other vessels because of the gray water they dump into the ocean for each passenger, and because they tend to congregate in the same small areas of the oceans.