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Basic Information
 Cruise ships operating in the waters of the United States vary significantly in size and take a wide range of trips in different marine environments. Smaller vessels typically operate within coastal or inland waters on trips lasting a single day or less. Larger vessels provide overnight accommodations for 3,000 or more passengers for multiple days. These vessels often visit a number of ports and operate in both ocean and coastal waters.
In contrast to similarly-sized cargo ships, cruise ships generate a substantially larger volume of sewage and graywater due to the higher number of passengers and crew. In addition, while onboard, the cruise ship passengers have access to many amenities, such as fine dining, swimming, dry-cleaning, photo processing, copy shops, salons, spas, and medical services, which can contribute waste streams not typically present on other vessels. With capacity projected to continue to increase each year, the potential impacts of these discharges on the marine environment are greater. (However, the impacts likely depend on the characteristics of the discharge (e.g. constituents present, levels, volume, dilution, frequency of discharge) and the characteristics of the receiving waters (e.g. currents, sensitivity of the local ecosystems, and temperature.)
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