Downward Angle Icon An icon in the shape of a downward angle. Royal Caribbean's new Icon of the Seas cruise ship can accommodate 9,950 people. Feeding everyone is not easy. Brittany Chang/Business Insider Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings are aiming to source food more sustainably. Experts say goals like buying more food locally are a step in the right direction. This article is part of “The Future of Supply Chains.” 'Management' is a series that focuses on companies' manufacturing and distribution strategies.
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The most difficult decision on a cruise trip is what to have for dinner.
In 2023, cruise giants Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings hosted more than 10.3 million travelers.
This is a way to serve a lot of food, which is why floating hotels have 24-hour kitchens and nearly endless onboard dining options, from buffets to steakhouses.
The question is, where are companies getting all this food from? And are their promises of greener food sourcing really sustainable?
Both companies are increasing local shopping.
Both Norwegian and Royal Caribbean aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Brittany Chan/Business Insider
Norwegian reported that 37% of its food and beverage sourcing in 2022 was local from destinations around the world.
Similarly, Linken D'Souza, Royal Caribbean's senior vice president of food and beverage, told reporters in January that the company has been moving its supply chain to Europe for the past two years, adding food from the U.S. to cruises there. He said he has been reducing it.
As a result, 86% of meals on Royal Caribbean's European cruises will be locally sourced in 2023, according to that year's sustainability report. Last year, the company also stopped supplying frozen food from Florida to its Seattle- and Vancouver-based vessels, opting instead to buy locally.
Bambi Semrock, senior vice president of sustainable lands and waters at nonprofit environmental organization Conservation International, told Business Insider that increasing destination-based sourcing is a step in the right direction, especially in developing countries. If it helps stimulate the local economy and demand, he said. Food produced sustainably.
But it's not always the best choice for the environment. It depends on how the product is shipped.
Consider American wine and European wine. Ravi Anupindi, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School, says that if you're drinking a California wine while in New York City, that bottle will have a lower carbon footprint than a European wine shipped by ship because it's being delivered by truck. Point out that the quantity is high. said a business representative.
Both companies have similar animal welfare goals
Some of Royal Caribbean's largest ships have Hooked Seafood restaurants. Brittany Chan/Business Insider
By 2025, Norwegian hopes to purchase all of its seafood from suppliers certified by organizations such as the Marine Stewardship Council and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council. Royal Caribbean has set a similar deadline for a similar goal. We source 90% of our wild seafood and 75% of our farmed seafood from fisheries certified by the same nonprofit organization.
Back on land, both cruise giants aim to buy cage-free eggs, gestation-free pork and chickens exclusively from Global Animal Partnership-certified suppliers by 2025.
But switching from a trusted supplier to a new, albeit greener, supplier can be “very difficult,” Anupindi told BI.
So it's no surprise that at least one company has had to adjust its deadlines. According to Royal Caribbean's previous sustainability report, the company had to delay its cage-free egg and gestation-free pork goals by three years and its seafood goal by five years.
Royal Caribbean did not respond to inquiries regarding the delay.
Beef Sourcing Is Still the Missing Piece of the Sustainability Puzzle
Regent Seven Seas, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings' most luxurious cruise line, offers dishes such as beef tenderloin topped with seared foie gras. Brittany Chan/Business Insider
Beef emits about 8 to 10 times more greenhouse gases than chicken meat, and is attracting attention as a cause of deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.
But both companies' food procurement goals do not mention cows.
Norwegian Airlines told BI in a statement that it was “net zero.” [emissions] By 2050, the target “applies to our shipboard and shore operations (Scope 1 and 2) and value chain (Scope 3),” it said, adding that beef would also be part of Scope 3.
To address the beef issue, Semrock said cruise lines should choose beef suppliers that promote more sustainable practices or are committed to “no deforestation, no forest conversion.” said that it can be done.
Alternatively, ideally from a sustainability perspective, you could replace your steak dinner with a more plant-based dish.
One sustainability expert said he sees an opportunity for cruise ships to source sustainably produced goods from the developing countries they visit. Brittany Chan/Business Insider
Norwegian already appears to be following this advice. The company's next Norwegian Aqua ship is scheduled to debut in 2025, featuring the company's first plant-based food restaurant. Over the past few years, the cruise giant has rolled out more than 200 of her plant-based meals across its Oceania and Regent Seven Seas fleets.
Royal Caribbean did not respond to inquiries about its beef efforts or plans to expand its plant-based offerings.
Clearly, “strengthening” sustainability in food supply chains can be a complex and sensitive topic, especially for companies like Royal Caribbean and Norwegian that feed large numbers of people. Not to mention the amount of energy that cruise lines already spend operating ships that have a negative impact on the environment.
But “it's great that they're starting to think about this,” Anupindi said.