Take a typical Alaska cruise and see the damage in its wake. Waste-water disposal to on board garbage piles up leaking into the natural environment and local waste sites. Noise pollution from the ships impact whales and other species that rely on sounds for communication. Total visitors from the industry impact on small communities has pros and cons. The evidence is clear: the industry needs an overhaul.

“Our shipping monitors clocked another cruise ship going at excessive speed near Pond Inlet,” posted Baffinland Iron Mines on their Twitter account Sept. 22. While the maximum speed was agreed at nine knots in some passages used by the cruise ships, one ship in particular, The Hanseatic from Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, was clocked at almost 16 knots, nearly twice the velocity. It’s the second time this month the cruise line has been clocked in excess of the speed limit agreement.

A small landslide has closed the White Pass Railroad Dock to vehicular and pedestrian traffic in Skagway. “No one was injured during the occurrence,” Marketing Manager Jacqueline Taylor-Rose wrote. “The cruise ships scheduled for the pier have made alternative plans for the day.

For the fourth year in a row, weekly summer water quality tests show that most Ketchikan beaches have elevated levels of bacteria that could make people sick. That happened this year even without dozens of cruise ships sailing through the Inside Passage and discharging wastewater.

Exhaust emissions from a Norwegian Cruise Line vessel docking in Juneau prompted at least 10 complaints to an Alaska regulatory agency.