The "smokeless" turbine passenger ships burn a marine distillate oil (MDO) grade "DMA," which contains up to 3,000-ppm sulfur. In contrast, heavy bunker fuel burned in large marine diesel engines on conventional-powered ships can contain up to 45,000-ppm sulfur. Royal Caribbean now has three gas-turbine cruise ships with two more on order, the company said. Passenger cruise lines are under increasing regulatory pressure to cut emissions, especially in the most environmentally sensitive ports. In the U.S., that especially applies to Alaska and California. Gas turbines are one way to reduce those emissions.

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