In a few lines, Howard Frank, the vice-president of the board of directors of Carnival Corp & Plc, gives the of the land: “The major manoeuvres have already taken place. Nothing else very significant will happen after our fusion with P&O Princess, aside from one or two mergers between smaller companies that want to attain a critical size”. By swallowing up P&O Princess, the number 4 of the cruise line industry, after a ferocious battle, to become the incontestable world leader, has Carnival written the final great chapter in the history of the cruise industry? Those protagonists that are still afloat and likely to regroup look insufficient in number to even hope to surpass this group in the mid- or even long term. All the more so since some of the major predators are either still digesting their latest acquisitions such as Norwegian Cruise Line for Star Cruises, or give prefer sustained organic growth of their fleet as is the case for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL). The world’s oceans will – for some time now – be dominated by the mastodon Carnival. With profits that today surpass a billion dollars per annum and revenues nearly that double those of its closest follower, RCCL, it is the first “global” cruise line. The company’s fleet may be broken down among 12 different brands, covering all market segments and with an implantation on both sides of the Atlantic. To the point of being the number two corporation worldwide in the leisure sector just behind Walt Disney Corp.Always innovative, in Spring 2005, the group Easy will launch EasyCruise, the low-cost cruise. With no activities on board, nor attractive package: the boat goes from city to city in the Mediterranean with the option to stop at just one port for 50 euros, not including...