Time - Man of the Year/Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso/moy/021792/0217206.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 11KB | 221 lines

                                                                                BUSINESS, Page 54

TRAVEL

Against the Tide


Boasting an armada of sleek new ships, costs you can count on
and all the comforts, cruise lines are filling cabins and defying
the recession

By CATHY BOOTH/LITTLE STIRRUP CAY -- With reporting by Jane Van
Tassel/New York


    The Bahamian sun slides into the aquamarine sea as the
last passengers of the cruise ship Nordic Empress return from
a hard day of sunbathing, shell hunting and rum drinking on Coco
Cay's white sand beach. "Bring me another Bahama Mama," yells
Danny Rivero, 23, from amid 102 degrees hot-tub bubbles high up
on the ship's sun deck. Fellow passenger Renato Deoliveira, 19,
obediently passes along a lethal concoction of 151-proof
Myers's rum, apricot brandy, coconut rum and fruit punch, while
Ted and Kay LaTour, a Milwaukee couple in their 60s, laugh
indulgently and sink lower in the froth. "Supposedly we're in
a recession," says Ted. "But you look around this cruise and
wonder."

    Everywhere you look around the Nordic Empress, people like
Ted LaTour are defying the dismal economic news back home.
Across the teak sun deck, Nancy and Bruce Brentlinger of Terre
Haute, Ind., are sipping their own Bahama Mamas and playing
cards. Down on Deck 4, Tim and Ann Swan of San Antonio are
dressing for the '50s rock-'n'-roll night. On Deck 5, Liz
Scheetz from Chapel Hill, N.C., is slamming quarters into a
Dynamite Jackpot slot machine, while around the corner in the
Carousel Pub Mary Ann Brower of Pleasantville, N.J., is
celebrating with a bottle of Freixenet champagne. In the dining
room, with its two-deck-high wall of windows, the crew is
getting ready to serve a dinner of lobster tail and prime
sirloin to a sequined and tuxedoed crowd of 1,323.

    Whoa, what's going on here? Consumer confidence sank to a
12-year low in January. Airlines are estimating a $2 billion
loss for 1991. Hotels are struggling along with occupancy rates
barely above 60%. Yet cruise ships are leaving ports from Miami
to Los Angeles, New York City to Seattle, with their cabins
more than 90% full. Despite the Persian Gulf war and the
recession, the cruise industry posted a 10% gain in 1991. A
record 4 million Americans took cruises last year, up from a
mere half a million in 1970. Carnival Cruise Lines, the world's
largest, and No. 2 Royal Caribbean Cruises report record-setting
sales this year. In January alone, the two Miami-based companies
took bookings from more than 615,000 passengers. "The tide is
rising for the cruise industry," exults Carnival's senior vice
president of sales and marketing, Bob Dickinson, chairman of the
34-member Cruise Lines International Association. "Cruising is
hot."

    Until the mid-1980s, the cruise-ship industry was a
doddering old lady. TV's long-running Love Boat went a long way
toward changing perceptions, as did heavy network advertising.
Flashy new ships like Carnival's Fantasy and Royal Caribbean's
Nordic Empress now lure passengers with soaring Hyatt-style
atriums, neon-lit discos and casinos with low table limits. The
elderly can still take a constitutional around the deck, of
course, but the trend is toward state-of-the-art fitness spas
and sports platforms for water skiers. Princess and Royal
Caribbean lines have even bought islands for private beaches.

    "In the past 20 years we've created a more mass-market,
Las Vegas-style appeal, where you get all the amenities of a
resort at a reasonable price," says Carnival president Micky
Arison. Boring these ships aren't. At Carnival, waiters will
twirl trays on their heads to entertain. "My husband sent me
with my mom to force me to relax after two babies," laughs a
flushed Liz Scheetz aboard the Nordic Empress. "Little does he
know I've been going to the shows, the casino, the midnight
buffets. I haven't slept at all."

    There's a cruise ship for virtually every taste and
pocketbook -- 122 based in North America alone -- from
megaliners with more than 2,600 passengers to small
exploration-type vessels for fewer than 100. The 250 passengers
now taking the full round-the-world cruise on Cunard's QE2 paid
as much as $126,900 for their staterooms and luxurious
life-style, but the rich aren't alone on the high seas. About
40% of today's cruise passengers earn $20,000 to $39,000 a year.
A three-day cruise in the Bahamas can cost as little as $500 to
$800 for two, without airfare. Heavy discounting in the past
year has driven prices down even further, especially in the
Caribbean, where two-for-one deals were rampant in 1991 and will
continue to a lesser extent this year.

    What makes cruises particularly popular in these
recessionary times is the all-inclusive nature of the ticket.
Cruise trips booked through travel agents typically include
airfare, room, entertainment and food (six times a day, if not
continuously). Book a cruise, and 85% to 90% of the vacation is
paid for, vs. 40% to 45% for the typical land-based trip. The
only real extras are gambling, shopping and alcohol, which is
often priced well below resort levels. "It's a great value. You
can pay up front and not spend another nickel," says Mary Ann
Brower, an operating engineer at an Atlantic City casino, who
saved up all year for a three-night cruise to Nassau last week.

    As the cost of cruises has dropped, so has the age of
cruise travelers. "They used to say cruises were for the
newlywed and nearly dead," laughs Carnival's Dickinson. Now the
fastest-growing passenger segment is between the ages of 25 and
40. The median age has dropped from 58 years in 1985 to just
under 43 today. Families with children book 28% of all cruise
vacations, and there are lines catering to kids, with youth
counselors to supervise activities ranging from treasure hunts
to computer classes. Premier, the official cruise line of Walt
Disney World, sails with Mickey Mouse and other Disney
characters on board.

    The most popular destination remains the Caribbean, with
55% of American passengers heading for the balmy isles from
Florida ports. Mexico and Alaska rank second and third.
Barcelona, Spain, is a big draw this year because of the Summer
Olympics. Two ships will embark on tours retracing the voyage
of Christopher Columbus. For the adventurous, several previously
closed ports in eastern Russia, including Vladivostok, are being
added to cruise itineraries. For the active, Windjammer Barefoot
Cruises sails on tall ships once owned by the likes of Aristotle
Onassis and the Duke of Westminster.

    Classic lines such as Cunard, now 150 years old, continue
to cater to the older, more affluent customers seeking highly
personalized service. Besides its regular transatlantic and
international cruises, Cunard has two luxury yachts, the Sea
Goddess I and II, with only 116 berths each for cruises costing
$10,000 for a week's holiday for two. "On the Sea Goddess, it's
like being an invited guest on a yacht," says Ronald Santangelo,
senior vice president. "If you get up at 3 a.m. and wander out
to the hot tub and would like to have caviar and a bottle of
champagne, somebody will be there in two minutes with it. No
questions asked." And no additions to the bill.

    Only 11% of cruise passengers can afford trips of a week
or more, however. The overall trend to shorter vacations has
turned cruises of two to five days into a hot ticket. "We needed
total relaxation, but we couldn't be away for long because we
have three children at home," says Nancy Brentlinger, who chose
a three-night Bahamas tour for a quick getaway. For those with
less time, there are "cruises to nowhere" with one or two days
at sea.

    Taking a cruise remains the dream of 58% of all adults,
according to the cruise association, yet only 5% to 6% of the
U.S. population has ever cruised. By the year 2000, the
association predicts, 10 million people will cruise annually.
The satisfaction rating for cruises is the highest in the travel
business: over 85% are "extremely" or "very satisfied." The ease
and safety of cruise traveling has taken on more importance as
Americans tire of frenzied, pricey European tours. "I like the
days at sea best. There are so many things to do without packing
and unpacking, taking taxis and getting places," says Rene
Newman, a Chicago resident and veteran cruiser. Last week she
sailed from Los Angeles bound for Mexico on the Princess Dawn
with a new convert, her daughter Elissa.

    In a feverish bid to expand, U.S. cruise lines are adding
13 new ships and more than 11,000 berths this year. James
Godsman, president of the Cruise Lines International
Association, predicts that by 1995 the number of berths will
rise to 120,000, from the current 89,000. Companies such as
Carnival and Royal Caribbean are driving the weak out of the
business. Half a dozen lines sank in the past five years because
of insufficient capital or poor marketing. Even successful lines
had to discount heavily last year to fill ships. Lines with
older ships, like Norwegian Cruise Line, are frantically
updating to meet the changing demand. NCL's Norway, for
instance, was renovated with a huge Roman spa and a first for
cruise liners -- two hydrotherapy baths. Record revenues at
Carnival are attracting the interest of hoteliers: in May,
Radisson Hotels International will introduce the world's first
luxury cruise ship with a dual-hull catamaran, designed with
corporate groups of 354 in mind. Besides the latest in
telecommunications, it has a helicopter pad up top for the
late-arriving executive.

    Travel agents are sold on cruises. "Last year the cruise
industry was the only segment of the U.S. travel industry to
show increases in both number of passengers and volume of
sales," says travel agent Philip Davidoff of Bowie, Md.,
president of the American Society of Travel Agents. Cruise
specialists like Miami's Cruise Line Inc., however, warn that
discounts change daily and ships differ radically. King-size
beds are not the norm, nor are tubs. Some ships have more kids
than the Good Ship Lollipop, while others go for full silver
service. Some have TVs and ship-to-shore phone; others consider
shuffleboard a big amenity.

    There is a definite economy-be-damned attitude among
travelers. "People are tightening up, but they haven't stopped
taking vacations. Cruises give them value," says Rod McLeod,
Royal Caribbean's executive vice president. Travelers like San
Antonio real estate man Tim Swan, who paid $1,940 for a
three-night Bahamas cruise, including airfare, with his wife,
agree that the economy is giving them serious second thoughts.
"So what do you do?" he asks, grinning as the sun sets over the
Nordic Empress. "You go on a cruise!" Lately, anyhow, Swan's got
plenty of company.