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at $19/share, actually $1/ share above the range anticipated by bankers. In early trading, it rose as high as $26/share, be- fore backing down. By late in the year, passengers on both newly delivering ships (including those that will call at Mi- ami) and existing vessels will all be beneÞ tting from the new SOLAS rules (even in advance of when they ofÞ cially enter into force), likely with little thought of the terrible disaster which spawned them. As this edition of MarPro went to print, all manners of me-dia outlets were all abuzz with reports of another mishap, this time involving a Carnival vessel. The travails of passengers aboard Carnival Triumph, graphically depicted with smart- phone videos (sewage and all), were absolutely front page ma- terial. Carnival itself seemed to be in full PR damage control mode against an onslaught of social media reporting and the possible lawsuits that could soon follow. Nevertheless and at the end of the day, cruise ship bookings were doing Þ ne, more than one year after Costa Concordia Ð a true maritime Òdisas-terÓ and far worse than Carnival Triumph. In the most recent incident, nobody was killed. A year from now, in early 2014, itÕs likely that the business will be riding further upward on its growth trend. For the cruise industry itself, it has been a time of lessons learned and later applied, which in part have made the rebound possible. Com- bined with a slowly improving economy and the positioning of new and existing assets in the right markets, Cruise Lines are conÞ dently moving forward on all fronts; full speed ahead. The Author Barry Parker , bdp1 Consulting Ltd provides strategic and tactical support, including analytics and communications, to businesses across the maritime spectrum. The company can be found online at www.conconnect.com MP #1 1-17.indd 15MP #1 1-17.indd 152/25/2013 12:00:41 PM2/25/2013 12:00:41 PM