A Bargain for Port-Loving Travelers

If you really want to go places, making a lot of interesting ports on a relatively short cruise, Ocean Cruise Lines’ Ocean Princess and Ocean Islander might well be the ships for you.

The Ocean Princess, carrying a maximum of 500 passengers, offers a definite plus to any first-time or port-oriented cruise passenger looking for an imaginative itinerary and a good buy. Most seven-day cruises are priced from $895 to $1,975, making this clean, prettily decorated, friendly ship a bargain in today’s market.

The ship’s moderate size means that you get to know many of the passengers by midweek, either in the dining room at open meal sittings, on deck or on shore excursions. On our Caribbean cruise, there were a large number of British passengers on board, including England’s Lord and Lady Cubitt, as well as a number of Canadians and some alumni from several Midwestern universities who didn’t know each other before but who took the sailing “because we saw it listed in the alumni news, and it seemed like an interesting vacation idea.”

Emphasis on Ports

While shipboard life includes all the usual diversions--shopping, casino, movies, trapshooting, bingo, exercise and cooking classes--the emphasis is on ports of call, and some excellent printed material and maps are distributed on board to supplement cruise director Van Elliott’s lectures on shore excursions and exploring each port on your own.

The food, catered by a Miami-based company, is quite good for this price category. The daily buffet lunches, in particular, were popular, with one spread featuring hot and cold dishes arranged indoors in the informal Cafe de Paris, the other a cold buffet with hot dogs and hamburgers grilled to order out on deck near the swimming pool.

Dividing the points of service eliminated long lines and allowed passengers in bathing suits to stay outdoors for lunch in the sunshine. Two talented sous chefs created lush bouquets out of carved and colored vegetables to decorate the buffets (and even gave a demonstration one afternoon on how to make them).

Tea is a bountiful self-service spread of sandwiches, cookies and pastry. Dinner is scheduled for two sittings in the bright and airy pink Four Seasons restaurant, with tables spaced well apart (most of them for six to eight people) and booths and banquettes lining the window walls on both sides.

If you’re a breakfast-in-bed fan, you’ll be disappointed; only coffee and tea are served in the cabins, although both dining room and buffet breakfasts are available from 7 to 10 a.m.

Time for Exercise

A small health club and sauna can be found adjacent to the pool and sun-deck area, with walkathons, aerobics and yoga scheduled frequently. The almost-daily port calls mean even the most dedicated joggers won’t lose any running time.

Sleek but subtle contemporary decor is used throughout the public rooms, with plenty of live plants, big windows and mirrors. A modest card room and library share one corner, the popular Harry’s Bar (with live entertainment before and after dinner) fills another. The casino contains a roulette wheel, two blackjack tables and 25 or so slot machines. Two shops sell sportswear with the ship’s logo, duty-free items including perfume, jewelry, cigarettes and liquor, and various European-made fashions and accessories.

Cabins are divided into eight price categories that range from insides with upper and lower berths and shower (category H, from around $113 to $128 per person, double occupancy, per day) to deluxe outside staterooms with sofa, two lower beds or one double bed, and bathroom with tub or shower (category A, from $186 to $270 per person, double occupancy, per day).

The decor in each is more functional than glamorous, although they are comfortable; bathrooms are tiled, with good mirror and makeup light and a wall-mounted hand shower. Since there was only one chair and no separate desk or table area (except for an unsteady pullout shelf in the dresser) in our category D cabin, we spent most of our waking hours on deck.

Variety, Game Shows

The cruise staff doubles as entertainers (or vice versa), offering a low-key series of variety and game shows supplemented by an occasional folkloric group from a port of call.

The Ocean Princess is British-owned with Greek and Italian officers and crew. Previously Costa’s Italia, the ship underwent a $10-million refurbishing before its 1984 debut. This season Ocean Princess will offer a 15-day cruise from Nice to Copenhagen departing May 18 ($1,695 to $2,795 including round-trip air fare from New York), followed by a series of seven-day sailings round-trip out of Copenhagen between June 1 and Sept. 28.

Two itineraries, on alternate Sundays, let you choose between Scandinavian and Russian ports (Stockholm, Leningrad, Helsinki and Visby), and Norway and the fiords (Storfjord, Geiranger, Bergen, Hardanger and Grenaa). Rates for the Russian sailings range from $975 to $1,975; for the fiords $895 to $1,895.

The 250-passenger Ocean Islander reentered service in March in the Caribbean, and will spend the summer cruising between Nice and Venice.