New Royal Viking Heads Upscale : Ship emphasizes ‘non-conspicuous consumption.’

Three California ports will get a look at the new Royal Viking Queen on maiden calls during early April. The deluxe 212-passenger ship, which made its inaugural sailing from Ft. Lauderdale last week, is due to call in San Diego April 9 to salute the America’s Cup races, arriving at 8 a.m. and departing at midnight.

Then it sails into San Francisco to rendezvous April 11 with its 740-passenger sister ship, the Royal Viking Sun. Following a two-night call there, the Queen will make an all-day visit to Los Angeles April 14 on its way south to Mexico and the Panama Canal, after which it sets sail for Europe for the summer season.

But at fares of $777 a day (and up) per person, double occupancy, one wonders how many members of the traveling public are likely to rush down to sign up for a cruise.

The latest in a series of upscale, expensive cruise ships, the Queen is to be followed in May by the twin-hulled Radisson Diamond, which plans to carry 354 passengers at an average daily rate of $600 apiece. Seabourn Cruise Line, with two 200-passenger ships, and Cunard’s Sea Goddess, with two 116-passenger ships, are also priced in this league.

Some 80,000 people a year are “at this price point,” according to Spencer Frazier, Royal Viking’s vice president of sales and marketing. These passengers are each paying $600 to $1,000 a day, or even more, for luxury cruises aboard both small, deluxe vessels and premium penthouse suites on larger ships.

Not all luxury passengers are from the United States and Canada, of course. Cruises are growing in popularity in Germany, Italy, Latin America and Japan.

The $86-million ship represents the highest investment per cabin or per berth in the cruise industry, according to Hans Golteus, president and chief operating officer of Kloster Cruises Limited, parent company of Royal Viking Line, Royal Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line.

The average Royal Viking passenger, Frazier says, earns about $200,000 a year, has a net worth of half a million, and is about 65 years old. Lately, he says, the line has also been attracting some new, slightly younger passengers with an average age of 55.

Frazier says his passengers could be called “non-conspicuous” consumers. “They don’t want flash, they want a substantive value statement, the sort of understated elegance a person gets walking into Tiffany’s.”

And what will the Queen’s passengers get for their $777 a day?

Based on a short pre-inaugural cruise for the media and travel industry in mid-March, the answer would seem to be a lot of understated luxury, an excellent lecture program, good food and, at least during the shakedown sailing, slow, uneven and sometimes brusque service in the dining room and self-service cafe.

Entering the ship is an exercise in deja vu for anyone who has been aboard the Seabourn Pride and Seabourn Spirit, because the same architect, Oslo-based Bjorn Storbraaten, designed all three and the Germany’s Schichau Seebeckwerft Shipyard built them.

More important are the differences in the shipboard programs. Royal Viking has produced a new series with lecturers from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, films and tape lectures from the Cousteau Society, guest chefs and wine-tasting sessions, and guest celebrities and art experts. Everything will be keyed to particular itineraries so passengers will get a deeper sense of the ports they visit.

RVL passengers have requested more ports of call and more “quality time in port,” according to Frazier. “It’s not just a cruise any more, it’s a travel experience.”

Entertainment, too, is more ambitious than on the other small luxury vessels, with two full musical production shows and a cast of six performing deftly on the modest dance floor/stage in the ship’s King Olav Lounge. A comedian, a concert pianist and a piano stylist round out the bill with after-dinner and midnight shows.

The Royal Viking Queen is a handsome ship that should be popular with the loyal Royal Viking repeaters, a group Frazier estimates as two-thirds of the company’s passengers.

Four murals in the reception lobby depict shipboard life on transatlantic sailings in the 1920s, and a large hand-painted globe decorates the stairwell outside the dining room.

A glass-walled observation lounge high atop the ship and forward serves as the venue for a lavish afternoon tea, and a sophisticated beige piano bar is a late-night gathering spot next to the small casino.

A push-button apparatus in the heated saltwater pool on deck can create a wave action similar to swimming against a current.

As on the Seabourn ships, a floating marina can be unfolded from the stern when the ship is at anchor, allowing passengers to swim in a steel mesh swimming pool enclosure surrounded by teak decking or to set out water-skiing or sailing from the marina itself. A health and fitness center with steam, sauna, massage, aerobics and gymnasium equipment is adjacent to a beauty shop with a wide range of treatments and services.

All accommodations on board are suites, with most measuring 277 square feet. Each has a queen-sized bed, five-foot picture window, large sitting area with sofa, two chairs, table and two hassocks, stocked bar and minirefrigerator, color TV and VCR, in-room safe, walk-in closet, hair dryer and spacious marble bathroom with tub and shower combination.

The average fare includes air fare, but air add-ons are necessary from the Midwest and West on European sailings this summer. And on some cruises, such as the very popular African sailing safaris next winter, the per-diem price goes up to $1,133 per person, double occupancy.

Penthouse suites and owner’s suites with private verandas are also available, as are 10 pairs of adjoining suites that can be converted into a separate sitting room and bedroom with two baths and two walk-in closets.

Prices include a stocked in-cabin bar, but do not include drinks in the lounges or wine with meals. Shore excursions are extra.

For a free color brochure describing the Royal Viking Queen and her worldwide sailing schedules, call (800) 422-8000.