Passenger Lines Getting Shipshape for the ‘90s

Gearing up for what they hope will be a decade of unprecedented growth, cruise lines have added more than 11,000 berths this year, most of them aboard new ships, some on refurbished and remodeled vessels.

Along with this increase in accommodation comes a move toward specialization, with more lines catering to passengers seeking a specific experience--adventure travel, nature expeditions, luxury cruises and the like.

Renaissance Cruises, for example, plans to launch five 100-passenger ships this year, each targeted to a specific area of the world and each promising new and seldom-visited ports of call.

For those seeking a seagoing version of the Club Med vacation concept, there is the Club Med I, a 442-passenger ship with computer-operated sails.

Then there are the extravagant ships, those built on the premise that “more is more.” Some examples: Carnival Cruise Lines’ 2,600-passenger Fantasy, which boasts 12 miles of neon tubing in its walls enabling the rooms to continually change color; the Italian-designed Crown Princess from Princess Cruises, carrying 1,596 passengers in a streamlined vessel with a dolphin-like profile; Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s Nordic Empress, with a nine-deck atrium and lobby waterfall.

In the end, though, it’s not how you go, it’s where you go, and destinations continue to be the key to passenger choices.

Alaska

Several new ships are heading into Alaskan waters this summer, including the Crystal Harmony, which makes its maiden voyage from San Francisco on July 24. Prices for the 12-day round-trip cruises range from $2,940 per person, double occupancy, for an inside cabin with separate sitting area, to $11,400 per person, double, for a suite with veranda, living room, dining room, bedroom and round spa tub.

As an alternative to the ship’s restaurant, passengers can dine at no extra charge on Italian food in the Prego restaurant or Oriental cuisine in the Kyoto restaurant. Crystal also offers the first seagoing casino operated by Caesars Palace of Las Vegas, plus 24-hour CNN television news in each stateroom.

Another newcomer to northern waters is Windstar Sail Cruises’ 148-passenger Wind Spirit, an elegant ship with computer-operated sails. It will make seven-day sailings between Juneau and Prince Rupert June 2 to Sept. 8 for $2,095 to $2,495 per person, double occupancy.

Clipper Cruises’ 138-passenger Yorktown Clipper will also head north for the first time, cruising between Juneau and Ketchikan on seven-day itineraries priced from $1,750 to $2,650 per person, double occupancy.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s new 976-passenger Viking Serenade will sail Alaska again this season, but passengers no longer will be able to take along a car or recreational vehicle. Prices start at $995 per person, double occupancy, not including air fare to Alaska.

Sven-Olof Lindblad’s Special Expeditions has added a second small expedition ship, the 70-passenger Sea Bird, to join the 70-passenger Sea Lion on Alaska adventure sailings this summer. Lindblad had previously operated both vessels under charter from Exploration Cruise Line, when the ships were respectively the Majestic Explorer and Great Rivers Explorer.

Cunard Line won the highly contested new permits to enter Glacier Bay National Park from the National Park Service for their Sagafjord, and will add cruises into the popular wilderness area without substantially altering existing itineraries.

Mediterranean and Northern Europe

Northern Europe and the Mediterranean are major cruise destinations again this spring and summer. Princess’ new Crown Princess, which will make a series of 5- 12- and 14-day cruises there starting July 8 before sailing from Southampton to New York in September for her christening. Her sister ship, the Royal Princess, also will cruise the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Scandinavia and the Soviet Union for a second summer season.

Royal Caribbean will base the 728-passenger Sun Viking in Europe this summer, a first for this formerly all-Caribbean company. The ship will offer 12-night sailings in the Mediterranean, the Baltic and Northern Europe at prices that average about $300 per person, double occupancy, per day.

Costa Cruises’ 1,000-passenger Costa Marina, converted from an existing container ship, will make the first of a series of seven-day sailings from Genoa to Spain, North Africa, and other Italian ports on July 15. In late October it will reposition to South America for the winter season.

The Cunard Princess continues its first year in European waters with summer sailings into the eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea from Venice, Alexandria, Athens and Istanbul.

Prices are moderate aboard this informal 805-passenger ship, with seven-day sailings prices from $2,065 to $2,425 and 14-day itineraries from $2,925 to $4,650 per person, double occupancy, including free round-trip air from New York. Upscale sister ships Sea Goddess I and II and Vistafjord will also be sailing in Europe this summer.

Four new Renaissance vessels are scheduled for Europe and the Mediterranean this summer and fall with 13-day programs that include a pre- or post-cruise stopover. With this company’s identical 100-passenger vessels, you choose your ports of call and sign up for the ship heading there.

Prices for the suite-cabins, standard aboard each vessel, start at $3,890 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from designated departure gateways; prices vary depending on the area cruised.

A new company called Classical Cruises will be sailing the newly renovated 140-passenger Illiria, a ship previously under charter to alumni and museum groups, from Istanbul to destinations in Greece and Turkey beginning May 7.

Prices for the cruise range from $1,295 to $2,795 per person, double occupancy; longer programs that include the cruise, land tours and round-trip air fare from New York begin at $2,795.

In France, French Country Waterways is a new name in luxury canal cruises, operating five hotel barges that previously were under the Horizon Cruises banner; call them at (800) 222-1236 for information.

Another small company, French Cruise Line, sails the Seine, Rhone and Saone rivers this summer aboard two 100-passenger vessels--Normandie and Arlene; details are available by calling toll-free (800 222-8664.

Caribbean, Bermuda, Bahamas and Panama Canal

In the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Panama, several cruise lines report passengers once again eager to book canal transits, which should be a bonus for all those ships repositioning from the Caribbean, to and from Alaska this spring and fall.

Carnival’s Fantasy is making year-round three- and four-day cruises to the Bahamas from Miami.

Meanwhile, Carnival’s Tropicale, formerly based in Los Angeles, has been moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for seven-day sailings in the southern Caribbean; the Jubilee will replace the Tropicale for Mexican Riviera cruises beginning April 8. The newly renovated Carnivale has been repositioned to Port Canaveral for cruise-and-land packages that include Walt Disney World holidays.

Royal Caribbean’s Nordic Empress will begin three- and four-day cruises to the Bahamas from Miami in late June.

Holland America’s enlarged Westerdam, accommodating 390 more passengers, is set for a series of sailings from New York to Bermuda March 25 through April 24, before cruising through the Panama Canal to Alaska. The Bermuda sailings have been sold out for months, but check in case of late cancellations.

Chandris Celebrity Cruises introduces two new vessels this year. The 1,106-passenger Meridian, a dramatic reconstruction of the former Galileo, sails from Fort Lauderdale to the Caribbean beginning March 18, a few weeks later than originally expected, and repositions to New York in late April for Bermuda cruises. The 1,354-passenger Horizon is scheduled to begin service from New York to Bermuda May 26.

Prices range from $895 to $2,195 per person, double occupancy, for the Meridian; $995 to $2,595 for the Horizon. Bermuda Sar Line’s Queen of Bermuda will be based in New York beginning June 10 for 10-day round-trip cruises to the Caribbean at fares ranging from $1,295 to $1,995 per person, double occupancy.

Pacific and Orient

Some of the cruise ships that stopped calling at Chinese ports in the wake of last summer’s Tian An Men Square massacre of pro-democracy students by the Chinese government are returning this spring and summer, notably the Royal Viking Sea, Sea Goddess II and Pearl Cruises’ Ocean Pearl.

Pacific-based Sea Princess from Princess Cruises and Oceanic Cruises’ Oceanic Grace have not rescheduled any China visits this season.

Renaissance I will cruise Japan and Southeast Asia this spring before repositioning to the Mediterranean at the end of June. Suite prices average $331 a day per person double occupancy, including land stopovers and round-trip air fare from designated gateways.

Salen Lindblad’s new Caledonia Star, the former North Star from the now-defunct Exploration Cruise Lines, has introduced a series of Indonesian, Indian Ocean and Red Sea sailings through mid-April, followed by a season in the Mediterranean and Baltic.

Salen Lindblad’s new Frontier Spirit, the first expedition ship to be built in more than a decade, is scheduled to sail in Micronesia, the South Pacific and New Zealand beginning Nov. 5. Prices begin at $4,200 per person, double occupancy, for a 12-day Solomon Islands-to-Fiji itinerary.

The new 60-passenger Aranui II, a German-built passenger-cargo ship, has begun sailings from Papeete to remote islands in the Marquesas, Tuomotos and Society Islands. A working cargo ship, it delivers medicine, food, lumber and other necessities to the remote islands it visits, but can provide offbeat shore excursions for passengers as well.

Fares range from $2,550 to $3,449 for the 17-day sailings. Call the San Francisco office of Copagnie Polynesian de Transport Maritime at (415) 777-2760 for details.

Singapore-based Seven Seas Cruises, a Japanese-Norwegian partnership, will operate Song of Flower, the former Starship Explorer, this spring in the Far East before moving to Alaska for the summer.

North America

Los Angeles-based Stardancer, redecorated and renamed Viking Serenade, continues sailings to the Mexican Riviera through mid-May for the Royal Caribbean Line. The ship will no longer carry cars and RVs, and the line intends to replace the car ferry deck with additional passenger cabins.

Ontario-based St. Lawrence Cruise Lines will add the 98-passenger Victorian Empress, the former Colonial Explorer from Exploration Cruise Lines, to their St. Lawrence Seaway/Thousand Islands itineraries this summer.

The new ship joins the 64-passenger Canadian Empress for low-key, moderately priced cruises. Call (800) 267-7968 for schedules.