Ships Trying to Get Everybody on Board

A conga line of 130 crew members snaked from a dock in San Pedro and up the gangplank of the cruise ship Monarch of the Seas.

The crew chatted in Danish, Spanish and Italian as they hurriedly moved 1,150 chairs, hand to hand, into the belly of the ocean liner, past yet-to-be installed rolls of teal carpeting, up a curved stairway and into the main dining room.

Workers elsewhere on the ship were unpacking elliptical trainers in the aerobics studio, laying floor tiles in the spa and polishing countertops in the updated food court. The crew had been working for three weeks and had just 48 hours left to finish renovating the 12-year-old Monarch before it started sailing June 6 on weekend cruises to Mexico.

For Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., completing the Monarch’s makeover on time was more than a directive from the accounting department. As the $13-billion North American cruise industry grapples with fickle demand, operators are eager to broaden their appeal beyond the middle-aged and retired couples who have been the bread and butter of the trade.

An oversupply of luxury vessels and steady price-cutting have left cruise lines with too much capacity and too little room to raise prices. In Southern California, the two biggest cruise companies, Royal Caribbean and Carnival Corp., are betting on those who live within driving distance of Long Beach and Los Angeles harbors and wooing them with short-hop luxury cruises to Mexico.

As one advertisement for the Monarch puts it: “Go away for a few days. Come back looking younger. Typical L.A.”

Planning a cruise isn’t what it used to be. Just a few years ago, people typically booked 90 days or more before departing. Now, 45 days is about as far in advance as anyone will reserve. “People wait until the last minute now because they think they will get a better deal,” said Fred Wengert, a travel executive at Automobile Club of Southern California.

That has created a game of economic chicken. So far, consumers are winning.

Cruise prices are at their lowest level since the mid-1990s, said Robert Simonson, an industry analyst with William Blair & Co. in Chicago. And fares, even for the same dates and on the same ship, change almost daily as the cruise lines try to match prices with demand.

“If you don’t sell that berth scheduled to go out Aug. 10, you are not like an airline or hotel with the ability to sell it on Aug. 11 or 12,” said Jay Lewis, a cruise industry consultant in Miami. “You are going to have to wait until the ship gets back to port to sell it.”

To regain control, the cruise lines are spreading out -- demographically and geographically. As recently as two years ago, there were just six major cruise ports: Miami; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Cape Canaveral, Fla.; Seattle; New York; and Los Angeles. Today, there are at least 17, including San Francisco, Houston and Boston, and more than half of the nation’s population lives within a five-hour drive of one of them.

To entice more locals, companies are adding short-haul cruises and billing them as convenient weekend getaways for working couples and busy families. More than 600,000 travelers sailed on cruises of five days or less last year, a 16% increase from the previous year, according to industry trade group Cruise Lines International Assn.

An Untapped Market

Royal Caribbean has pegged Los Angeles as crucial to its quick-turnaround strategy. In radio ads and billboards, the company is pitching the Monarch as a trendy venture for Angelenos looking for a new travel experience.

After taking the 2,390-passenger Monarch off its Caribbean route, the company spent $25 million to redesign the ship. A 30-foot outdoor rock-climbing wall, enhanced spa and gym services and a sushi bar were added, all with Southern Californians in mind.

Alan Goldstein, Royal Caribbean’s executive vice president, said he sees plenty of room for growth in Southern California, where the cruise line’s target market of parents in their early 40s with a household income of more than $50,000 has gone largely untapped.

Although only a dozen years old, the Monarch is an aging asset in an industry that by the end of the year will have seen 27 new ships launched since the beginning of 2002, according to the Cruise Lines International Assn.

That’s why the Monarch has suffered a series of demotions over the years. First it was transferred from the high-profit seven-day Caribbean routes, which sail from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to make shorter cruises out of Fort Lauderdale. Now it’s relegated to three- and four-day sailings along the West Coast, a market that has alternated between the sedate senior crowd and raucous party cruises.

“It’s all a question of how you arrange 19 ships around the world in the most profitable manner,” Goldstein said. “We are placing ships in markets that are an easy drive as alternatives to the existing quick getaways that are already in the market.”

To work the California market effectively, Royal Caribbean officials decided the Monarch needed a younger, hipper persona.

The Monarch’s spa was expanded by about a third. Now there are 11 treatment rooms -- including one for couples -- and the beauty salon has been moved to the same deck. Spa services, which range from a $99 massage to a $173 “aroma ocean float,” have become a good way for cruise lines to get travelers to spend more on board. Pairing the spa and salon together opens wallets even wider, Goldstein said.

On-board spending, which traditionally has gone to alcohol and gambling, is increasingly important to cruise lines and makes up an estimated 40% of profit, said Robin Farley, an analyst at UBS Warburg in New York.

Adding Fees

Although the cruise line still charges an all-inclusive price for room and board, ships are starting to add fees for specialty food items. On the Monarch, in addition to two formal dining rooms and a jam-packed food court featuring free entrees such as gourmet pizzas, guests will have the option of paying $10 for once-frozen sushi. Cruisers also have to plunk down cash if they want Ben & Jerry’s ice cream or Seattle’s Best coffee.

The Monarch is competing with two Carnival ships on quick-turnaround cruises to Mexico. The lowest-priced berths on three-day trips are selling in the mid-$200-to-$300 range. If the cruise lines detect softness in the market, they might further discount prices.

On the Monarch, the list price for a standard cabin with an Aug. 1 departure for three days of cruising is $415, plus $110 in taxes and port fees, according to the Automobile Club.

A similar Aug.1 cruise from Long Beach on Carnival’s Ecstasy ship sells for $350, plus $112 in taxes and fees.

Although the Monarch has sailed just a few times, it already is starting to change the way the Los Angeles market for short cruises operates.

Carnival, the only line to have sailed continuously from Southern California since the 1980s, moved out of the worn San Pedro port facility to a new multimillion-dollar terminal in Long Beach in April.

Its three-day cruises to Ensenada, Mexico, used to be known for their party atmosphere and occasional bawdiness. Young men and women looking for a last adventure before tying the knot made the weekend voyages a popular venue for bachelor and bachelorette parties.

‘Family Friendly’ Theme

These days, Carnival touts its weekend cruises using the same “family friendly” theme that Royal Caribbean employs to market the Monarch. Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz said the company offers a “mainstream, relaxed and casual cruise experience.”

The cruise lines’ attempts to attract a younger crowd by “adding bells and whistles” has yielded only mixed results, said Wengert of the Automobile Club.

They have made the best inroads with families in which grandparents are taking grandchildren or hosting their children and grandchildren, he said. Couples in their early 40s and younger are for the most part picking other vacations, with the exception of honeymoons and special anniversaries.

One such family is the Abuelhawas of El Monte. Sundy Abuelhawa took a 4-day cruise to Ensenada last November and had so much fun she booked a berth on the Monarch for September.

“Initially, I thought we would be young,” said Abuelhawa, 33, “but there were a lot of other people in their 30s and 40s.”

The family’s September cruise will be a multi-generational affair that will include Abuelhawa’s husband, Mohammed, her parents, a sister and nephew.

Times staff writer John Corrigan contributed to this report.