Most lawyers have some contact with apparently esoteric areas of the law, although often without being conscious of it. And so it is with carriage of passengers by sea, for it was an accident sustained by Mrs Rose Adler whilst on a Mediterranean cruise on the Himalaya that provoked litigation1 which gave the description Himalaya clause to clauses whereby employers endeavour to extend contractual protection to third parties. The well-known subsequent history of such clauses has been mainly a feature of carriage of goods by sea, the law on which can easily be assumed to be synonymous with the law of carriage by sea. However, despite the decline of sea carriage as the principal means of people getting from one country to another when this cannot be easily achieved by land, there is no denying that carriage of passengers, in particular for leisure purposes, remains a significant maritime commercial activity. Given its peculiarities, in particular its “consumer” dimension, it obviously deserves dedicated coverage.