It wasn't the sort of publicity that Carnival's Cunard brand wanted. But there it was, as the Queen Elizabeth 2 entered Bremerhaven for a retrofit at Lloydwerft, Greenpeace activists intercepted the cruise ship and sprayed its hull with the slogan "God Save the Queen from TBT."

Eventually, Greenpeace seems to have exacted some sort of pledge that Cunard will stop using TBT by 2001.

The protest against QE2 is yet another reminder that, when it comes down to it, cruise liners are ships first and floating resorts second. That notion may not always sit too easily with the cruise industry's top management, which is dominated by bean counters, marketers and leisure industry professionals rather than salt-stained sons of the sea. Ironically, these distinctly non-salty types have proven considerably more successful than, say, tanker owners in running a maritime operation that is consistently profitable and that is characterized by a generally young, well maintained and technologically advanced fleet.

By all useful measures, cruising is the most successful sector of shipping. Maybe that's because it's not really in the business of shifting stuff from A to B at the lowest possible price, it's in the business of fulfilling fantasies.

Once in a while, though, reality has a habit of giving the cruise industry a nasty slap in the face. Take the reality of MARPOL.

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