Royal Caribbean
Flagged · AvoidOne of the world's two largest cruise companies, operating Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea, with a criminal record for dumping waste at sea and a long history of pollution and tax avoidance.
Last updated July 6, 2026
↓ Skip to 6 ethical alternativesReasons to avoid
Issues span:EnvironmentTaxPrivacyProperty Rights
- Royal Caribbean paid an $18 million criminal fine in 1999, the largest ever for a cruise line at the time, after pleading guilty to deliberately dumping oil and hazardous chemicals at sea and falsifying records to hide it from the Coast Guard. The pattern continued into recent years, with the EPA fining the company $470,000 in 2024 for failing to properly document and report hazardous waste offloaded from eight of its ships between 2017 and 2024.
- Royal Caribbean is the world's second-largest cruise operator, and analysis by the campaign group Transport and Environment found its ships emit roughly four times more sulphur oxides around Europe than all of the continent's cars combined. These pollutants form fine particles linked to respiratory and heart disease in the port cities where its ships dock.
- Royal Caribbean spent years pushing a 90-hectare water park called Perfect Day Mexico beside the Mesoamerican Reef, the world's second-largest coral reef system, over warnings that construction would destroy mangroves and release reef-damaging wastewater. In 2026 Mexico's federal environmental regulator blocked the project after local fishers and more than four million petition signers opposed it.
- Royal Caribbean is run from Miami but incorporated in Liberia, a structure that lets it pay almost no US federal income tax on its cruise earnings while registering its ships under foreign flags. The arrangement drew scrutiny in 2020 when the company sought billions in financing during the pandemic despite contributing little to the public funds behind the ports and agencies it relies on.
- A former Royal Caribbean stateroom attendant secretly installed hidden cameras in passenger bathrooms aboard Symphony of the Seas between December 2023 and February 2024, recording nearly 1,000 passengers including children before being sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. Royal Caribbean now faces multiple class action lawsuits alleging it failed to screen the employee properly and never notified up to 960 potentially affected passengers.
- Royal Caribbean used docks in Havana that Cuba's government had confiscated from a US company in 1960, paying the Cuban government tens of millions of dollars to operate there between 2016 and 2019. The US Supreme Court ruled in May 2026 that the original owner can pursue over 400 million dollars in damages, reviving the case after Royal Caribbean spent years trying to get it thrown out on appeal.
Ethical alternatives
Small-Group Adventures
Slow & Flight-Free Holidays
Byway
Plans entire holidays by train and boat with no flights, so the slow journey becomes part of the trip.
✅ B-Corp
Visit →Responsible Small-Ship Voyages
UnCruise Adventures
US-flagged small ships carrying 22 to 86 guests on conservation-minded voyages, paying US wages and taxes instead of using flags of convenience.
Visit →Ethically Vetted Holidays & Resorts
Common Questions
- Is Royal Caribbean ethical?
- Royal Caribbean has a criminal record for deliberately dumping oil and falsifying records, paying an $18 million fine in 1999 and a further EPA penalty in 2024 over waste violations. Its ships are also among the largest air polluters in Europe's port cities, and the company is incorporated in Liberia so it pays almost no US federal income tax.
- Why are people boycotting Royal Caribbean?
- People avoid Royal Caribbean over its long pollution record, from criminal ocean dumping to air pollution that rivals entire national car fleets. More recently, the company drew global opposition for a water park it planned beside Mexico's Mesoamerican Reef, which a petition against it drew more than four million signatures before regulators blocked it in 2026.
- What are the best ethical alternatives to Royal Caribbean?
- Strong alternatives include Intrepid Travel and G Adventures for small-group trips, and Byway for flight-free rail and boat holidays. If you want to stay on the water, UnCruise Adventures runs small US-flagged ships that pay US wages, and Responsible Travel books vetted ethical holidays in one place.