Mobile Natural Toilets on Cruise Ships

There are mainly two types of mobile natural toilets that may exist on cruise ships: simple hanging toilets and marine portable toilets.

Simple Hanging Toilets

On some ocean-going freighters, simple "mobile natural toilets" are sometimes installed. These toilets are usually suspended from the side of the ship using chains, with the bottom directly leading to the sea. They are surrounded by green canvas for a certain degree of privacy protection. However, the usage scenarios of these simple toilets are quite limited, and they can usually only be used while the ship is sailing at sea. This is because when the ship enters port, in order to comply with port regulations and avoid impacting the port environment, these toilets have to be removed. The design of these toilets is relatively simple and straightforward, taking advantage of the special environment of the ship sailing at sea to directly discharge waste into the sea. This, to a certain extent, solves the basic physiological needs of the crew during the voyage, but it also poses a potential risk of pollution to the marine environment.

Marine Portable Toilets

Marine portable toilets can also be used on cruise ships. They have many advantages, with lightweight, easy to carry, and easy to install being their prominent features. These toilets are equipped with specialized devices for collecting and treating waste, effectively processing the waste to prevent it from being directly discharged into the ocean, thus protecting the marine environment. Compared to simple hanging toilets, marine portable toilets are more environmentally friendly and standardized, not restricted by whether the ship enters port, and can provide convenience for the crew in various situations. However, marine portable toilets are not absolutely reliable. For example, in the 2013 "Triumph" cruise ship accident, due to a power system failure, the sewage treatment system collapsed, rendering the toilets unusable and resulting in恶劣 (should be translated as 'appalling' or 'disgusting' in a more natural way, here we use 'appalling') situations such as the eruption of sewage mixed with waste. But this was a special accident scenario, not the normal operating state of marine portable toilets.