All four ads involve cruise brands advertised online through third parties, with the ASA saying the judgments come as “part of a wider piece of work on environmental claims”. Brands falling foul of the ASA's scrutiny include Barrhead Travel, Sunshine Cruise Holidays (Cruise1st), Cruise Circle and Seascanner (cruise.co.uk).
The ASA ruled against Barrhead over a paid-for Google ad in March, which stated: “Celebrity Cruises. A Strong Focus on Sustainability and Eco-friendly Practices.” The ASA questioned whether the ad gave a misleading impression of the brand’s environmental impact.
Barrhead said the wording used was taken, in part, from the supplier’s website. However, the words “Strong Focus” were added by Barrhead. It admitted in mitigation that while it was aware of the measures the supplier had in place in relation to the claimed practices, these would not have been apparent to consumers.
The ASA considered consumers would interpret the claim as meaning Celebrity Cruises had sustainability and “eco-friendly” practices at the heart of its cruises. It ruled the basis of environmental claims must be clear, and absolute environmental claims “must be supported by a high level of substantiation”.
“Many consumers were increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of activities related to higher-carbon products and services, such as cruising," read its ruling, published on Wednesday (3 September). "They would be interested in seeking out cruise operators that were making a meaningful effort to reduce their environmental impact.”
The ASA ruled this meant the ad was misleading.
Another complaint concerned Cruise1st in April. Its website included a page dedicated to MSC Cruises, featuring several claims including “Powered by LNG, the world’s cleanest marine fuel” and “Uses new green technologies”.
A longer claim read: “If you’re keen on cruising but worried about the environmental impact, the MSC World Europa offers a green alternative. With sustainability and lessening the impact of cruises on marine life a key driver in the ship’s design, you can rest easy knowing you’re being powered by cleaner fuel and being propelled by blades that mitigate the worst impacts of underwater noise.”
Sunshine Cruise Holidays, trading as Cruise1st, said the content of the ad had been populated directly from the featured cruise line’s official sources.
The ASA considered the ad, which claimed MSC World Europa offered a “green alternative”, gave the impression that by choosing the ship, consumers would lessen their impact on marine life and the environment and was misleading.
'High level of substantiation' needed
MSC was involved in another ruling relating to an ad on Cruise Circle in March, which featured a photo showing MSC Euribia with hull artwork featuring marine life. Accompanying text included claims such as “showcasing the line’s commitment to environmental responsibility” and “Eco-Friendly LNG Technology, with references to LNG, “the world’s cleanest marine fuel”.
Travel Circle Ltd, trading as Cruise Circle, said its website content came from a third party, and that they could not monitor all content provided by third party feeds.
However, the ASA ruled the artwork and claim about LNG needed “a high level of substantiation demonstrating that absolute claim”. It said consumers would understand the claim “LNG, the world’s cleanest marine fuel” as meaning it was the least-polluting marine fuel.
The authority added: “We understood LNG was a fossil fuel that primarily comprised methane. It produced carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions when burned, such as sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide.”
Cruise.co.uk had a similar complaint upheld about an ad in March on its Seascanner website, which detailed MSC World Europa’s “cutting-edge environmental technology, including an advanced LNG-powered engine, making it one of the most eco-friendly cruise ships afloat”.
It contained a hyperlink to a webpage titled “Eco-Friendly Cruises”. This stated: “The cruise industry has made giant leaps over the past decade to reduce its environmental impact. Recycling, incinerating and waste processing are now the norm, not the exception. Green tech is also being installed on new ships and retrofitted on older ones... the MSC Virtuosa strives to protect marine life, reduce air emissions and optimise energy.”
Pressure group Opportunity Green complained the ad was misleading. Seascanner responded that some of the information was taken from a press release, while MSC said it had no control over wording in agents’ ads.
The ASA said the environmental impact of the ship was not adequately explained and the ad likely to mislead.
Lessons to be learnt?
The ASA’s crackdown on fanciful environmental claims began in 2023 when Intrepid Travel, one of the industry's sustainability leaders, was told not to use the term “planet friendly” in its advertising because the trip featured was only feasible using a flight.
The watchdog said the phrase “people and planet-friendly small group adventures” was “an absolute claim” that suggest “taking part in an Intrepid tour caused no environmental damage throughout its full life cycle”.
Intrepid held up its hands and pledged to review its approach to advertising as a result, with then-chief customer officer Leigh Barnes telling TTG the operator would share its experience falling foul of the rules to help others improve.
Speaking in July 2024 at TTG’s Fairer Travel Sustainability Forum, Miles Lockwood, the ASA’s director of complaints and investigations, said the main greenwashing culprits had, until then, been airlines rather than travel agencies and tour operators.
In 2023, the ASA ruled Lufthansa’s claim to be "protecting the future" by reducing CO2 emissions failed to point out the airline would not achieve carbon neutrality until 2050.
Lockwood warned agents were starting to make the same mistakes. "We are seeing some issues, and we are beginning to explore some of those." He added: “We’re carrying out some monitoring around travel agency claims, more broadly around sustainable, eco-friendly claims or absolute claims, which is potentially problematic."
Lockwood advised: “If a claim was [that you are] 'becoming more sustainable' or [are] 'on a sustainable journey', or something along those lines, we are going to have a more relaxed attitude.”
Another warning came at Abta's Travel Law seminar in 2023, where Alex Padfield, director of law firm Hextalls, urged firms not to use vague terminology like "green" and "sustainability" and ensure they verify claims.
