“Holidays are a respite from the inconvenience [de la vie], […] It may then seem strange that the ultimate dream of Americans in terms of holidays is to find themselves immersed in a huge death and decomposition machine. ” In 1997, in A so-called great thing that I will not be taken over, Classic of the cruise story, the writer David Foster Wallace was already wondering about this special tourism. However, we were in prehistoric times: that year, there were not 5 million tourists to climb on a cruise ship. In 2024, according to Cruise Lines International Association, the main lobby in the sector, they were 34.6 million people. A historical record.
This undeniable success, however, faces multiple criticisms: air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions; Surprising in port cities that want to ban them; Social model of its workers … The sector also sometimes has the image of rich tourism, even if a couple can easily get away for less than 1,500 euros per week, meal included.
To absorb this growing demand, the world leader in container transportation cruises, MSC, inaugurated with great fanfare at the end of March the second ship in its World class, which should count up to six giant ships. This MSC World America has since joined the Caribbean, a region which alone concentrates 43 % of global cruise lines. His older brother, the MSC World Euro
