Ships Scrambling to Find Their Place in the Sea

With so many new ships arriving, cruise lines are shuffling their older ships about like so many cards, looking for a winning combination.

The most sweeping changes come from Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, which is seeking a higher profile on the West Coast.

Through its subsidiary, Admiral Cruises, Royal Caribbean is moving the 734-passenger Azure Seas, which pioneered the lucrative three- and four-day cruise market in Los Angeles, to Port Everglades, Fla., in May for seven-day Caribbean cruises.

In place of the Azure Seas, Royal Caribbean will sail its Viking Serenade (the former Stardancer) after a massive $75-million overhaul that will add 260 cabins, raising the passenger load to 1,500 for the year-round short cruises to Ensenada and Catalina.

A third Royal Caribbean ship, the 1,022-passenger Song of Norway, will also be repositioned in Los Angeles in early May for two Mexican Riviera sailings before moving to Vancouver for the Alaska summer season. It will return to Los Angeles for fall and winter cruises to Mexico, following the same itinerary that the Viking Serenade once had.

Carnival Cruise Lines, which claims that its passengers buy its cruises as a generic product rather than opting for a particular ship, will yank the 906-passenger Mardi Gras out of Ft. Lauderdale in March and place it further north in Port Canaveral for its short cruises.

Chagrined Carnival insiders admit it was because the 28-year-old ship couldn’t handle the competition from its flashy new sister ship Fantasy in nearby Miami, which is also scheduled for three- and four-day cruises to the Bahamas at the same prices.

Holland America’s Rotterdam has announced other long cruises following its sold-out circumnavigation of South America this fall. On Jan. 8, a 16-day cruise around Hawaii departs San Diego with prices beginning at $2,975 per person, double occupancy, including air fare.

It can also be booked in an eight-day segment to or from Ensenada starting at $1,860 per person, double occupancy. A 20- to 23-day “Circle Caribbean” fall cruise departs Norfolk, New York City or Ft. Lauderdale in late November, calling at 13 ports before returning to Ft. Lauderdale.

Ocean Cruise Line’s 460-passenger Ocean Princess caused a controversy when it announced that it would be cruising Antarctica this winter with noted travel operator Lars-Eric Lindblad in charge. Environmental groups have expressed concerns about the growing numbers of tourists visiting the Antarctic, most of them aboard cruise ships.

Other companies sailing there during the short Southern Hemisphere summer are Society Expeditions with two ships, and Salen Lindblad, Travel Dynamics and Mountain Travel with one ship each. Passenger numbers on these vessels are from 40 to 164.

Ocean’s 495-passenger Ocean Pearl has added India and Africa to its exotic sailings this season. Two “Jewels of India” cruises, between Singapore and Bombay, depart Oct. 28 and Nov. 9, and two sailings between Bombay and Mombasa, Kenya, leave March 9 and 23.

All have pre- and post-cruise packages that range from a three-day safari in Kenya to a five-night tour around India, including visits to Delhi, Agra for the Taj Mahal and Jaipur.

Regency Cruises is still testing different itineraries for its three ships, including this fall’s 47-day circumnavigation of South America, leaving Ft. Lauderdale Nov. 2 (segments are available), and a new Canada/New England program introduced this past summer that will be repeated beginning next June.

In addition, the Regent Star will add Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman to its Panama Canal/Caribbean sailings in place of Cartagena and Aruba beginning Oct. 21, while the Regent Sea introduces a new “Islands in the Sun” program Jan. 6, calling at St. Bart’s, Trinidad, St. Lucia, St. Maarten and St. Thomas on its weekly cruises from San Juan.

Four Kentucky Derby cruises have been scheduled aboard the paddle-wheelers Delta Queen and Mississippi Queen that combine a cruise from Cincinnati, Louisville or Memphis with a day at the races and, on some packages, the Pegasus Parade, Grand Derby Ball and Louisville steamboat race. Departures are set for April 26 and 28 and May 2-3.

Dolphin Cruise Line’s SeaBreeze has added another cruise to the western Caribbean each month, sailing from Miami every second and fourth Sunday. The ship will also add St. Bart’s as a port of call to its twice-a-month eastern Caribbean cruises beginning March 17.

Club Med 1 has changed both its home port and its Caribbean itinerary this winter, sailing from Fort-de-France, Martinique, instead of Guadeloupe, and calling at smaller, less-visited islands than it did last winter--Bequia, Tobago Cays, Grenada, Barbados, Mayreau and Mustique.

The Wind Spirit from Windstar Sail Cruises looked out of place this summer in the cool waters of Alaska, so it’s no surprise that the ship will return next summer to the warmer seas of the Mediterranean.

Classical Cruises has added Black Sea itineraries next summer for its 140-passenger Illiria, calling in Constanta, Romania; Odessa, Yalta and Sevastopol, Soviet Union; Nessebur, Bulgaria, and several Turkish ports on 11-day itineraries departing Aug. 9, 16, 23 and 30, and Sept. 5.

When Sun Line’s Stella Solaris returns this winter to South America, it will call in Argentina for the first time en route to two cruises around the Strait of Magellan between Santiago, Chile, and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Paquet French Cruises’ Mermoz will make a 17-day Christmas cruise to Durban and Capetown, South Africa, as well as Mauritius, Madagascar, and the rarely visited island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.

A recent joint venture between Costa Cruise Lines and the Soviet Union’s Sovcomflot will put two ships from each company together to form a new line called Prestige Cruises. The new company will operate the 590-passenger Feodor Dostoyevsky, built in 1986 as the Astor II, and the 600-passenger Maxim Gorky, the former Hanseatic, which played a major role in the 1989 Malta Summit.

Also joining the fleet are Costa’s two smallest ships, the Daphne and Danae, which carry 400 passengers each. Planned itineraries will feature the Black Sea, Soviet Baltic and Europe, with the first sailings expected in early 1993.

Perhaps the most optimistic new itinerary is Epirotiki’s Red Sea cruises. The 306-passenger Orpheus has scheduled a series of cruises through the Red Sea to the Seychelles between Dec. 29 and March 16.