Special Cruise Issue : Best Boats : Here Are the Ships (and Itineraries) That Our Well-Sailed Readers Voted Their Favorites

The votes are in from more than 1,000 Times Travel section readers: All in all, they’d rather be cruising on the good ship Crystal Harmony.

They would prefer to do that cruising in the Caribbean.

And on their cruises, these readers prize service and food above all other shipboard features, valuing them far above such runners-up as entertainment and cabin layout.

So went the responses to the Travel section’s first cruise survey, an admittedly unscientific inquiry that asked readers to name their favorite ship, its most appealing aspects and their favorite itineraries. Filling out forms published in these pages on March 1 and 8, respondents also disclosed their age bracket and the number of cruises they had taken.

They turned out to be a seasoned group; 53% said they had taken seven or more cruises.

Kathleen Bryant, a 69-year-old travel consultant in Laguna Hills, was the hardiest, claiming more than 100 cruises since her first in 1948.

“I do about five or seven a year,” said Bryant. “I’m a national account all by myself.” On her questionnaire, she named the Golden Odyssey her favorite ship, but since then, she said, she has shifted allegiances to the newer Crown Odyssey.

In that preference, Bryant had plenty of company. The Crown Odyssey finished a close second in the questionnaire results, substantially ahead of the third-place Noordam.

In all, 1,081 readers responded to the questionnaire, though not everyone answered every question. Some readers, like the man who mailed his answers in using the stationery of his favorite cruise line, were suspiciously enthusiastic. Others, like the reader who theorized that the whole enterprise was an excuse “to formulate a junk mail list you can sell,” were just plain suspicious. Most fell in between. (And no, the list of respondents is not for sale.)

As a few readers noted, the questionnaire inherently favored larger ships with longer histories, since they had more former passengers in the pool of potential voters. Yet the winning ship is less than 2 years old, and, with 960 berths, is outsized by more than two dozen of its rivals.

On the whole, travel professionals said, the questionnaire results fit in with trends noted elsewhere, particularly the enduring attractiveness of the Caribbean, where ships are within reach of many islands, each with its own cultural identity. A recent survey by the Cruise Lines International Assn. found that 56% of American cruise customers last year followed Caribbean itineraries.

Another widely reported cruise business trend--the rapidly falling median age of cruise customers--didn’t show up in the stacks of responses around this office. Though cruise industry surveys found that half of last year’s cruise customers were age 45 or younger, more than 80% of this questionnaire’s respondents were over 50.

That could be because many short-itinerary, youth-oriented cruises originate in Miami, a couple of thousand miles beyond The Times’ prime circulation area. Or it could be that those young travelers, who say they cruise to save time and energy, don’t have any of either left over for clipping newspaper questionnaires.

At any rate, there are plenty of cruise customers out there. The Cruise LinesInternational Assn. recently calculated that about 3.98 million Americans took cruises in 1991--a 9.4% increase for the industry over 1990, in spite of the Gulf War and a recession that has cut deeply into the business of many airlines and resort hotels.

Back to the winners. Of 1,081 readers who named favorite ships, 102, or 9.4%, chose the Crystal Harmony, which is the lone vessel of Los Angeles-based Crystal Cruises and should be somewhere off the southern coast of Spain right now. The ship began service in July, 1990.

“Total comfort & indulgence,” wrote one reader, explaining her preference for the ship and its crew. “Not stuffy,” wrote another. A third noted that even the casino dealers were friendly, and a fourth cited a memorable shipboard criminology lecture by Cecil Saxby, formerly of Scotland Yard. But even happy cruisers find fault occasionally: Two respondents complained that the Crystal Harmony’s bathrooms were too small.

Arthur Sbarsky, senior vice president for marketing at Crystal Cruises, said he was gratified by the company’s showing in the questionnaire and estimated that 25% of the ship’s passengers come from the six counties of Southern California. The company plans to expand, Sbarsky added, but has not settled on a timetable.

Despite their popularity, Crystal Harmony’s cruises aren’t cheap. Last year they ranged from a low of about $2,100 per person for 10 days on the Mexican Riviera to $19,000 for a 23-day Panama Canal passage from San Francisco to New York--or between $210 and $826 per person per day.

Those who filled out questionnaires ranked the Crown Odyssey (built in 1988 with 1,000 berths) as No. 2. It won over 93 readers, or 8.6%. The Noordam, a 1984 ship with 1,214 berths, came in third with 59 votes, or 5.5%.

Following closely was the Golden Odyssey with 54 votes; the Royal Viking Sun, with 48; the Rotterdam, 45; Royal Princess, also with 45, which made it a tie for sixth place; Sovereign of the Seas, 34; Song of Norway, 27; the Norway, 26, and Sagafjord, which tied for 10th place at 26.

The top 10 were followed by: Song of America, 25; Star Princess, 25; Nieuw Amsterdam, 24; Viking Serenade, 24; Sun Viking, 23; Island Princess, 21; Ocean Pearl, 21; Westerdam, 20, and Queen Elizabeth II, 19. From there, the vote totals dropped off to 17 or fewer.

Among cruise companies, several names popped up frequently.

The Seattle-based Holland America Line, which operates four ships, placed all of them among the 20 most-named ships (the Noordam, the Rotterdam, the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Westerdam).

The Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, which operated eight ships last year and will inaugurate a ninth on April 26, placed five in the top 20 (the Sovereign of the Seas, Song of Norway, Song of America, Viking Serenade and Sun Viking).

The San Francisco-based Royal Cruise Line, which operates three ships, placed two of them (the Crown Odyssey and the Golden Odyssey) in the questionnaire’s top four. (In a Conde Nast Traveler readers poll last October, Royal came out on top among cruise lines.)

Los Angeles-based Princess Cruises, which operates nine ships, placed three of them in the top 20 (the Royal Princess, Star Princess and Island Princess).

The New York-based Cunard Line, which operates seven ships, placed two in the top 20 (the Sagafjord and Queen Elizabeth II).

But not all the questionnaire responses were easily categorized.

Ralph Hamer, 72, of Rancho Palos Verdes, wrote to nominate the Royal Princess as “worst cruise ship,” complaining about food and a “cold, unresponsive and unemotional” crew. Forty-five other respondents, alert readers will recall, nominated the same ship as their favorite.

Similarly, while nine respondents were heaping their praises upon the Dawn Princess, Sarah Donahue of Brentwood was recalling her 1991 winter cruise as “horrible,” and describing the crew as inflexible and rude.

“It was our first cruise,” Donahue said. “Maybe our expectations were too high, but when you spend $3,000 of your in-laws’ money, you expect quality.”

William Schnell, 55, of Arcadia, merits a category of his own. His nominee for favorite ship was the U.S.S. Barrett, a Navy transport vessel that took him from Oakland to the port of Vung Tau, South Vietnam, in the fall of 1965. It was the only cruise of his life. He liked the food, and recalled that most of those on board were unaware of their destination because of an information blackout.

“It was quite a sight,” he wrote, “to glide beneath the Golden Gate Bridge toward an unkown future.”

Further gleanings from the questionnaire responses:

--Of 1,043 readers who named favorite itineraries, 302 picked the Caribbean. It was followed by Alaska with 157 votes; the Panama Canal, 131; the Greek Islands, 111; the Mediterranean, 104; Asia, 43; the Mexican Riviera, 39; the South Pacific, 35; the Baltics, 31, and Scandinavia, 29. Other itineraries drew 13 votes or fewer.

--Of 1,073 readers who volunteered favorite attributes of their favorite ships, 214 said the service or the crew; 206 said food; 195 said excellence overall; 138 said ship’s style or ambience; 101 said the ship’s size; 69 said the cabin layout; 52 said entertainment; 39 said comfort, and 28 said cleanliness or health standards. And another was most pleased by his ship’s “no tipping” policy. (Hundreds of readers offered second and third reasons for their choices, again placing service and food above all else.)

--Of 1,059 readers who reported the number of cruises they had taken, 558 had taken more than six, and 866--or nearly 82%--had taken more than three.

--Of 1,077 readers who reported their age bracket, 535--nearly 50%--were 65 or older; 341 were aged 50 to 64; 154 were aged 35-49, and 47 were under 35.

* Spring-Summer ’92 Cruise Guide, See L17 * Compare Their Favorites With Our Experts’ Choices, See L11

Top 10 Ships

Ship % of vote** 1. Crystal Harmony 9.4 2. Crown Odyssey 8.6 3. Noordam 5.5 4. Golden Odyssey 5.0 5. Royal Viking Sun 4.4 6. Rotterdam* 4.2 7. Royal Princess* 4.2 8. Sovereign of the Seas 3.1 9. Song of Norway 2.5 10. Norway* 2.4 Sagafjord* 2.4 Total** 51.7

* tied

** % of 1,081 votes counted

Top 10 Itineraries

Geographical Area % of vote 1. Caribbean 29.0 2. Alaska 15.1 3. Panama Canal 12.6 4. Greek Islands 10.6 5. Mediterranean 10.0 6. Asia (or China) 4.1 7. Mexican Riviera 3.7 8. South Pacific 3.4 9. Baltics 3.0 10. Scandinavia 2.8 Total 94.3