New Adventures in Cruise Market : Some expedition lines go broke; one tries to liven up tradition.

For years, well-heeled travelers, many past retirement age, have paid $300 to $600 or more a day to heed the call of the wild in distant places such as the Antarctic, the Falklands and Easter Island.

The pattern of such cruises has followed in the tradition set down by pioneer expedition director Lars-Eric Lindblad two decades ago. Basically, it’s a no-frills cruise with small but decent cabins; lectures on subjects such as the migratory patterns of sea birds; inflatable rubber landing craft to take passengers ashore, and no-nonsense dinners, briskly served and sometimes taken without changing clothes from the last expedition of the afternoon.

But now only one of the traditional expedition cruise lines from the 1980s is still in operation--Special Expeditions, headed up by Lars-Eric Lindblad’s son, Sven-Olof Lindblad. Special Expeditions operates three small vessels: the 81-passenger Polaris and two 70-passenger ships, Sea Lion and Sea Bird. What became of the others?

Last January, Seattle-based Society Expeditions became the third expedition company to founder in the last four years when it announced that it was declaring a Chapter 11 reorganization, at the same time giving up its two ships. The 18-year-old company is leasing its 138-passenger World Discoverer to Clipper Adventure Cruises, a new offshoot of Clipper Cruise Line, and selling its 96-passenger Society Explorer to Abercrombie & Kent, its marketing partner for the past year.

Another expedition company, Salen Lindblad Cruising, was taken over in January by Frontier Cruises, a consortium of Asian and European owners of the newest expedition ship in service, the Frontier Spirit. Frontier then set up SeaQuest Cruises as the marketing arm for both its 164-passenger Frontier Spirit and the 134-passenger Caledonian Star.

Now SeaQuest’s president, David Gevanthor, has taken steps to offer a more lively travel experience.

“We’re putting on board each of our vessels a three-piece combo to provide music and dancing in the evenings,” Gevanthor said. “How can you charge $400 to $600 a day and not offer VCRs, room service and some evening entertainment other than lectures?”

Gevanthor says his ships will attract what he calls “the new explorers”--passengers who have experienced more travel at an earlier age and who want to explore remote areas “without having to make like Robinson Crusoe . . .” We see no contradictions in loving nature and wanting to dance.”

Cruises will also make the dining experience the highlight of the evening, with ship’s officers hosting passengers at dinner tables.

Paul Duynhouwer, president of Clipper Adventure Cruises, disagrees with Gevanthor’s approach.

“I have found through the years that the people we attract couldn’t care less about the kind of entertainment he’s referring to,” Duynhouwer said. “People who go adventure cruising are driven by the destination, the unknown, a place they haven’t been before. Recaps (recapitulations of the day’s activities) over cocktails with the naturalists, a good film like a National Geographic documentary or a serious art film, that’s just about all these people are interested in.”

But Duynhouwer’s company is also changing tradition. Instead of all shore excursions being included in the base fare, his company will offer free Zodiac excursions in natural environments, but will charge for optional trips to towns.

Another new element entering the expedition field is the nuclear-powered icebreaker Sovetskiy Soyuz, scheduled for several transpolar voyages this summer. And Quark Expeditions will repeat its maiden voyage of last summer to the North Pole Aug. 11. TCS Expeditions, headed by T.C. Swartz, the founder of Society Expeditions, is also booking a July 5 North Pole voyage aboard the Sovetskiy Soyuz.

Odessa America Cruise Co.’s new Finnish-built polar ice ship Columbus Caravelle, will make six cruises in the Russian Arctic this summer,

while Alaska expeditions are planned by Special Expeditions’ Sea Bird and Clipper’s World Discoverer. SeaQuest’s Caledonian Star and Frontier Spirit both sail the British Isles, and Special Expeditions’ Polaris will cruise Russia and the Baltics.

For details on expedition ship itineraries, call the cruise companies direct; numbers are listed on page L26.