Harboring a Taste for a Quick Cruise

Mature travelers are making waves in the Port of Los Angeles.

The port’s newest harbor cruise vessel, the gleaming Spirit of Los Angeles, is drawing them down in droves with attractive midweek package tour and group rates, or a 10% individual senior discount at any time for those age 65 and over.

The Spirit of Los Angeles, which started service in April, is not just for mature travelers. Dinner and moonlight cruises offer live bands and dancing, more aimed at a younger crowd. And there’s a big, open sun deck for youngsters who might want to skip the show below.

The 200-foot-long harbor cruiser can seat--and feed--up to 600 passengers on three climate-controlled enclosed decks. It also provides a triple tour treat: an enjoyable narrated cruise of the world’s busiest harbor, a fine buffet meal and a rousing “Salute to Broadway” review by singing and dancing waiters and waitresses.

Cruise Menu

A typical two-hour lunch cruise menu includes roast chicken with lemon and herbs, salmon in a dill sauce, three fine pasta salads, vegetables, rolls and dessert. Three-hour dinner cruises have much the same fare, plus carved roast beef. There’s also an excellent Sunday brunch featuring carved smoked turkey, eggs Benedict and huevos machaco.

Meals are served buffet style, and everyone is served before the entertainment begins.

Midweek lunch cruises (noon to 2 p.m.) cost $19.95. Saturday brunch (noon-2 p.m.) and Sunday brunch (1-3 p.m.) are $24.95.

Nightly dinner cruises (7-10 p.m.) are $35.95 Sunday through Thursday, $39.95 Friday-Saturday. On Friday and Saturday, Moonlight Party cruises (11:30 p.m.-2 a.m.) offer dancing to live bands and light snacks (but no show) for $14. The Spirit has three full-service bars, with beer, wine and cocktails.

Individual seniors age 65 and over get a straight 10% discount off cruise rates at any time. Reservations are essential.

There are further savings for groups of 20 or more (again, not limited to mature travelers).

Best in Midweek

But the best deals, for seniors especially, are the package tour prices for midweek lunch cruises. Most tour-planner members of the Senior Travel and Recreation Activities Council offer regular, all-inclusive cruise-tours. Or they can custom tailor a tour-cruise to meet special requests.

Main Street Tours, one of the biggest volume day- and short-tour operators in the area and a longtime STRAC member, has a midweek package tour for groups featuring the Spirit of Los Angeles lunch cruise and a post-cruise visit to Ports O’ Call Village in San Pedro for shopping or browsing.

It costs $30 per person, and includes round-trip transportation by motor coach right to dockside from any area location.

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The Spirit of Los Angeles, the newest and one of the largest in the nine-vessel fleet of harbor cruisers operated by Cruise International of Norfolk, Va., is docked at the World Cruise Terminal, Berth 94, in San Pedro.

There’s a large, moderate-fee parking area. Passenger boarding begins a half-hour before departure. Personal checks, along with major credit cards, are accepted for individual reservations.

Steady She Goes

Exact sailing routes may vary from cruise to cruise, but the Spirit can roam as far south as Long Beach and as far north as Palos Verdes Hills. The 37-foot-wide vessel is very steady, and sails within the protected harbor. There is no elevator, but handicapped passengers are given every assistance and are preboarded.

The line’s eight other Spirit cruisers are in Boston, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Norfolk, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

For reservations and more general information, call the Spirit of Los Angeles toll-free at (800) 848-7797 or (213) 514-2999. (If age 65 or older, make sure you ask for the senior rate.) For group tour information and rates, call Sandi Montague at (800) 848-7797 or (213) 831-0064.

For details on Main Street Tours’ Sun ‘N’ Fun Cruises for groups, or a free catalogue of more than 150 day-trips and cruises for groups (plus overnighters and longer tours), write to Main Street Tours, 3997 Pacific Coast Highway, Torrance 90505, or call (800) 231-7412 or (213) 375-1969.