Carnival Elation inadvertently spilled something it wasn’t supposed to at Port Canaveral on Thursday.
Carnival Cruise Line released a statement that the ship dumped what is known as “gray water,” or the plumbing water from showers and sinks, for a short period while it was at port. An updated statement Friday said it was due to a valve failure.
“Yesterday at Port Canaveral, while Carnival Elation was discharging water from its ballast systems which helps stabilize the ship for navigational purposes, a gray water valve failed and unintentionally discharged gray water from nonsewage waste water systems,” according to the statement. “No sewage was discharged.”
Port officials said the cruise line reported the accidental spill just after 9 a.m. to the Coast Guard Response Center. It also said no cleanup of the spill would be necessary.
While it’s not human wastewater, gray water is still not allowed to be discharged into the ocean, and Carnival Cruise Line and its sister cruise lines under Carnival Corp. were under fire in 2019 for past incidents.
Company Chairman Micky Arison, who also owns the Miami Heat, and CEO Arnold Donald stood in front of a federal judge in October and were admonished to fix its ocean pollution issues quicker than it had been doing. U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz had threatened to temporarily block all ships run by Carnival Corp. from docking at U.S. ports in the wake of court filings about the company’s alleged actions during a probation period for illegally dumping oil in the ocean.
Before the October hearing, prosecutors had claimed ships from the company’s various cruise lines had falsified records, prepped ships ahead of the audits against a judge’s orders, dumped plastic garbage overboard and discharged gray water in some instances.
The probation stems from a $40 million settlement the company made because of actions by Princess Cruises, one of the company’s nine cruise lines that also includes Carnival Cruise Line and Holland America.
The 2016 ruling had Princess Cruises Lines Ltd. pleading guilty to seven felony charges, paying the largest criminal penalty for deliberate vessel pollution, because of dumping oil-contaminated waste from the Caribbean Princess cruise ship over several years.
As part of the agreement, all eight of Carnival Corp.’s cruise lines are subject to five years of a court-supervised Environmental Compliance Program that requires independent audits by an outside entity and a court-appointed monitor.
“Preserving and protecting the environment is our highest priority,” the cruise line released in a statement after the Carnival Elation incident. “We take our responsibility very seriously and are actively engaged in making enhancements across the company as part of our long-term commitment to environmental stewardship.”
