It was easy to identify the full-cruise passengers on the Royal Viking Sun’s world cruise-they were the ones who brought their favorite coffee mugs from home to the breakfast buffet. Those of us sailing for less than 102 days used the ship’s cups and saucers. The full-cruise passengers also wore windbreakers with the world cruise logo and date, an annual gift to those circumnavigating the globe. The older the jacket, the higher its status.
For a select group of regulars-about 100 on the Sun-world cruises are their winter home. One couple has made 15 world cruises; quite a few have made a dozen. The world cruisers spend the first few days settling in, perhaps adding a clothing rack or closet hooks in the cabins. One Royal Viking regular keeps a trunk of conveniences-a toaster, a makeup mirror, cotton balls-onboard for her annual world cruise. Friendships are renewed, often over dinner at a table reserved a year ago.
As the cruise progresses, these passengers throw ever more cleverly themed cocktail parties for each other. They invite their good buddies to join them in their cabins for breakfast. Ashore, they visit their tailors in Hong Kong and jewelers in Rio, take overnight excursions to visit wonders such as the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall.
Naturally, cruise lines go to great lengths to please and entertain these cherished passengers. The lines add upscale activities, events and entertainment that maintain the interest of world cruise passengers and are selling points for the cruise.
Therein lies a secret for those of us who have neither the time nor the money to sail for three months. You don’t have to be a full world cruise passenger to reap great benefits. The four ships-Royal Viking Sun, Queen Elizabeth 2, Sagafjord and Statendam-that will circle the globe this winter offer segments of these cruises, ranging from 10 to 87 days. Book one or more of those, and you, too, can enjoy perks such as special parties, some extraordinary meals, in-depth lectures and shore excursions.
During our 16-day Mediterranean segment of the Sun’s world cruise, all passengers were invited to two lavish dinner parties ashore, compliments of the cruise line.
The first was at the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. The evening was a colorful, exciting mix of costumed street sellers, belly dancers, folk dancers and musicians in an elaborate Ottoman Empire setting.
The second gave us the rare opportunity to see the inside of one of the opulent palaces that line Venice’s canals. The elegant 15th Century Pisani-Moretti Palace was the setting for a baroque-themed evening, complete with liveried valets, a string quartet and a soloist. The main ballroom featured a ceiling by the Italian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
Those booking 50 or more nights on the Sagafjord or QE2 world cruises become members of the Samuel Cunard Key Program, which includes special services, mementos and amenities, private events and parties and on-board credits of $2,000 per double cabin, $1,750 per single cabin. Members on the QE2 have use of a private lounge.
Big name entertainment is a staple of world cruises. The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, the Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Jack Parr and Marvin Hamlisch are to appear on the Statendam. Margaret Whiting and Larry Elgart and The Manhattan Swing Orchestra are booked on an early segment of the QE2’s cruise.
Carole Klein, the Royal Viking Sun’s hostess, who has made six world cruises, says the ship takes on a different ambience during these long voyages. Passengers get to know each other, and the staff, much better. They settle into a routine, even into favorite chairs, and become more consistent in their daily activities, whether it be participating in Klein’s morning walkathon, picking up with a bridge foursome or participating in a special interest group or lecture series.
Lectures give passengers insights of the ports they visit. The QE2 will feature a World Affairs Symposium on the Hong Kong to Singapore segment. As the Sagafjord approaches Antarctica, a Natural Wonders program will include experts from organizations such as the Nature Conservancy. The Royal Viking Sun’s World Affairs Program, operated with the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, will feature authorities covering a wide range of subjects.
Warren and Norma Boin have run the Royal Viking Sun’s arts and crafts program for several world cruises. They came aboard with hundreds of individual kits, each with the materials needed for projects from woven leather belts to detailed models of the Sun. Those attending the afternoon needlework corner were given intricate needlepoint kits-the type found in fine shops, not the usual quicky project shipboard logo items.
The QE2 and the Sagafjord’s 1994 world cruises will feature bridge directors from the Travel With Goren program.
Last year, French chef Paul Bocuse joined the Sun in Bordeaux to oversee preparation of the Captain’s gala farewell dinner. The New York to Los Angeles segment of the QE2’s 1994 world cruise will feature members of the Club des Chefs, who are chefs to monarchs and heads of state.
Because these cruises draw many repeat passengers, the lines make great efforts to provide new and different shore tours. Excursions range from half-day city tours to elaborate overnight trips, such as Kenyan safaris from the port of Mombasa.
Passengers on the Statendam’s 1994 world cruise can fly from Hong Kong to Vietnam for a one-week tour, spend four days on a China tour and take a three-day overland tour in India, with a trip to the Taj Mahal.
The Royal Viking Sun will offer such special interest tours as exploring the financial future of Hong Kong with visits to the stock exchange and a meeting with a bank director. The Sun’s passengers also may participate in overland excursions in Patagonia, Vietnam, Cambodia and an Outback tour in Australia featuring a visit to opal mines and a stay in an underground hotel.
Many passengers make private shore arrangements. One Australian couple from the Royal Viking Sun arranged through a local priest to visit a child they sponsor in Kenya. At the other extreme, a “VIP party,” who booked the Sun’s owner’s suite and two penthouses, entertained 200 fellow passengers in top floor suites at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong and chartered a private helicopter in Alexandria for visiting the pyramids. This, notes the ship’s shore excursion manager, Robert Wilson, was the third year in a row with such arrangements.
Segments of the world cruises often offer a combination of ports that are unavailable on regular cruise itineraries. The Statendam’s 16-day segment from Singapore to Mombasa and the 18-day segment from Mombasa to Rome are not routine itineraries.
Another unusual, intriguing combination of ports is on the Royal Viking Sun’s 27-day Buenos Aires to Auckland segment, which includes cruising Cape Horn and the Strait of Magellan, calls in Chile and at Easter Island, Pitcairn Island, then on to the islands of the South Pacific.
Consecutive segments may be combined for longer voyages. And the lines may sell unpublished segments if space is available; they are priced on a per day basis.
The Royal Viking Sun’s 1994 world cruise, Voyage to the World’s Treasures, is a 108-day cruise, calling at 35 ports on the eastern shores of four continents. It will depart Ft. Lauderdale on Jan. 7, travel down the east coast of South America, through the Strait of Magellan to the Chilean Fiords, then to Easter and Pitcairn Islands. The South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia will be next, followed by Southeast Asia and three full days in Hong Kong.
After spending a week visiting China, the 750-passenger Sun will travel to Korea, Japan and Hawaii. The cruise will end in San Francisco. There will be 11 overnight calls and 10 late evening departures, allowing time for theater, dinner or opera. In addition to the full cruise, there will be nine segments of 10 to 76 days.
The QE2’s Six-Continent Circumnavigation will call at 33 ports. It’s a 100-day cruise from either New York (Jan. 3) or Ft. Lauderdale (Jan. 5), 87 days from Los Angeles (Jan. 16). The 1,850-passenger ship will sail the Caribbean, transit the Panama Canal, stop in Los Angeles, then proceed to Hawaii and the South Pacific. After 10 days in New Zealand and Australia, the QE2 will go to the Orient, Southeast Asia, East and South Africa, England, across the Atlantic, returning to New York and Florida. The itinerary will feature a maiden call at Ho Chi Minh City, eight overnight calls and four days in Hong Kong. There will be 16 segments of 10 to 87 days.
The 589-passenger Sagafjord’s Voyage Through the Southern Sphere, the only eastbound world cruise, is an unusual itinerary featuring an in-depth visit to South America and highlighted by the ship’s first visit to Antarctica. The ship then will sail from the Falklands to Tristan da Cunha and on to Cape Town. It will spend 13 days in Africa, call at the Seychelles, at Madras, then head to Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Shanghai, South Korea, Tokyo and Honolulu. There will be overnight calls in Mombasa, Bangkok and three days in Hong Kong. The 107-day, 34-port, five-continent cruise will depart Ft. Lauderdale on Jan. 4. There will be 17 segments, from 14 to 69 days.
Holland America’s 1,266-passenger Statendam is the newest ship on the global run. The Statendam will begin its first circumnavigation from Los Angeles on Jan. 20, crossing the Equator six times, traveling the Suez Canal and visiting 30 ports on five continents. The 98-day 1994 Grand World Cruise will head south and west, to Hawaii, the South Pacific and Australia. Then it will be on to the Orient, Southeast Asia, India, Africa, the Mediterranean, Funchal and Madeira, across the Atlantic Ocean to Ft. Lauderdale and New York. The cruise will have 13 segments, from 14 to 34 days.
A WEALTH OF ITINERARIES ON 4 SHIPS
Here are the ships circumnavigating the globe in 1994. Sample segments are given for each ship. For a complete schedule and more information, contact a travel agent or the cruise line. Fares are per-person, double-occupancy.
Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2)
Full world cruise, 100 days, Jan. 3 to April 13 from New York or Jan. 5 to April 15 from Ft. Lauderdale to Southampton. $23,040 to $144,875 a person for double rooms.
Fourteen segments range from 10 to 87 days. Sydney to Hong Kong, Feb. 7, 21 days; $8,680 to $36,020. Hong Kong to Mombasa, March 1, 17 days; $6,910 to $27,625. Madras to Cape Town, March 11, 13 days; $5,935 to $21,775.
Full-cruise passengers get free round-trip, first-class air fare. Those booking 50 to 86 contiguous days get round-trip business-class air. Other segments include round-trip economy air fare. Cunard Line: 800-221-4770.
Royal Viking Sun
Full cruise, 108 days, from Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco, departing Jan. 7; $41,455 to $129,475.
Nine segments range from 10 to 76 days. Segments: Ft. Lauderdale to Buenos Aires, Jan. 7, 18 days; $7,975 to $22,735. Buenos Aires to Sydney, Jan. 25, 37 days; $17,110 to $50,780. Auckland to Sydney, Feb. 22, 10 days; $5,495 to $12,545.
Passengers who opt for the full cruise receive free first-class air fare roundtrip from all of Royal Viking Line’s gateway cities. Passengers on segments longer than 35 days receive free air fare from all Royal Viking Line gateway cities. Air add-ons for other segments are by zone, ranging from free to $300, depending on the cruise route.
Royal Viking Line: 800-422-8000.
Sagafjord
Full cruise, 107 days round-trip from Ft. Lauderdale, departing Jan. 4; $34,780 to $140,590. Seventeen segments range from 14 to 69 days. Sample segments: Ft. Lauderdale to Mombasa, Jan. 4, 47 days; $17,960 to $57,440. Buenos Aires to Cape Town, Jan. 22, 21 days; $9,810 to $44,800. Mombasa to Hong Kong, Feb. 20, 24 days; $10,420 to $35,120. Hong Kong to Ft. Lauderdale, March 16, 37 days; $11,710 to $44,340.
Passengers sailing the full cruise receive free round-trip, first-class air fare. Those booking 50 to 86 contiguous days receive round-trip business-class air fare. Other segments include round-trip economy air fare.
Cunard Line: 800-221-4770.
Statendam
Full cruise, from Los Angeles, Jan. 20, to Ft. Lauderdale (95 days) or New York (98 days), $22,800 to $71,820.
Thirteen segments range from 14 to 34 days. Sample segments: Los Angeles to Cairns, Jan. 20, 21 days; $5,545 to $17,465. Honolulu to Hong Kong, Jan. 26, 27 days; $7,455 to $23,475. Hong Kong to Singapore, Feb. 22, 14 days; $3,700 to $11,645. Singapore to Haifa, March 8, 26 days; $6,865 to $21,625.
Passengers booking the full cruise receive round-trip, first-class air transportation from major U.S. gateway cities. Segment fares include economy air fare.
Holland America Cruises: 800-426-0327.
