The Tribune

CARNIVAL’s Princess Cruise Lines Ltd has agreed to pay a $1m fine on top of a $20m penalty it received two years ago after pleading guilty to violating its probation for environmental related crimes.

Carnival paid a $40m fine in 2016 after admitting to dumping waste into the ocean and covering it up. As part of the settlement the company was required to serve a five-year probation and be supervised by a court-appointed monitor. The monitor’s reports for the first two years of the probation period showed Carnival ships dumped 66,000 gallons of ballast waters and hundreds of thousands of gallons of treated sewage and food waste in Bahamian waters.

Federal prosecutors ultimately accused the company of six violations of its Environmental Compliance Plan, including discharging plastic mixed with food waste into Bahamian waters. In 2019, US District Court Judge Patricia Seitz approved a settlement agreement between the cruise line and prosecutors that would see Carnival pay a $20m fine and undergo enhanced inspections because of the violations.

The Miami Herald reported this month that Princess failed to establish an independent investigative office, which was a condition of the company’s probation.

US Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida said in the statement: “Just like individual defendants, corporate defendants must also comply with court orders. They are not above the law.”

He added: “The corporate defendant here ignored the court, choosing instead to thwart the compliance plan that was put in place to protect our environment. As this probation violation proceeding demonstrates, the government will not tolerate defendant’s blatant violation of court orders.”

According to The Miami Herald, last October an independent third-party auditor and the court-appointed monitor sent a letter to a federal judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida saying Carnival’s repeated failure to abide by the rules of its probation, “reflects a deeper barrier: a culture that seeks to minimise or avoid information that is negative, uncomfortable, or threatening to the company, including to top leadership.”

A spokesperson for Carnival told the Herald the company is working in good faith through its probation to improve internal investigations.

“Our top priority is compliance, environmental protection and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, crew members, shoreside employees and the people in the communities we visit,” the spokesperson said.