Lately it seems everyone is getting into the “sampler cruise” act, offering short introductory sailings that let you test the cruising waters. Such programs first were introduced on the Seabourn Legend and then on Cunard’s Sea Goddess I. Now American Hawaii has introduced three-and four-day cruise segments on the Independence. Three-day cruises sail from Honolulu to Kauai for an overnight stay and conclude in Maui; the four-day itinerary sails from Maui to the Big Island of Hawaii and concludes in Honolulu. For more information, call 800-765-7000.
– In January, Carnival Cruise Lines for the first time ever began listing its published rates as “cruise only” instead of air-inclusive.”When a cruise-line brochure contains air-inclusive pricing vs. the resort vacation that doesn’t, the cruise is immediately placed at a perceived disadvantage,” said Carnival’s Bob Dickinson, president of the world’s largest cruise line, in explaining the new strategy. So if you’re trying to choose between a cruise and a resort, you now can compare apples to apples — or a seven-day cruise with a seven-day resort stay — without the air fare making it look as if the cruise is more expensive than it really is.
Dickinson admitted that the volume of Carnival’s air/sea business has substantially decreased in recent years, because so many passengers arrange lower-cost air travel independent of the cruise line. You still have the option of purchasing air travel through the line, however. For more information, call 800-327-9501.
– Staunch fans of tradition are anxiously awaiting the debut this fall of the new 1,320-passenger Rotterdam VI, the sixth in a line of namesakes. Holland America is offering 50 percent off the second-person fare on any of the ship’s four inaugural cruises, the first of which is a 12-day cruise departing from Venice Oct. 6. With early booking savings (which are subject to change), double-occupancy, cruise-only fares for the inaugural start at $2,666. For more information, consult a travel agent.
– Interested in navigating your own boat? Crown Blue Line, a fleet of more than 450 self-skippered cabin-cruisers on some of Europe’s most intimate waterways, is adding two new destinations this year — Ireland’s Shannon River and the Erie Canal in upper New York State. The Erie Canal cruises are Crown Blue’s first venture on this side of the Atlantic. For more than 30 years, the line has offered self-drive boats on the waterways of France and Holland between April and October.
Crown Blue cabin cruisers come in 26 styles. The line says that Americans in Europe most often opt for the spacious Crown Class and the top-end Classique Class, which accommodates eight people.
Weekly prices on the Shannon River range from $1,660 to $3,750, depending on boat size and season. On the Erie Canal, fares range from $3,120 to $3,670. For more information, call 800-355-9394.
– Passengers on Crystal Cruises may be the first to ever leave a ship’s theater humming Rodgers and Hammerstein show tunes. Crystal has nabbed the license to perform songs and lyrics written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It marks the first time this permission has ever been granted to a cruise line. The elaborate hourlong production (with more than $100,000 worth of costumes) includes about 45 songs from a variety of shows churned out by the world famous musical pair, including “The Sound of Music,” “Carousel,” “The King and I,” “Oklahoma!” and “South Pacific.” The show debuted on Symphony in January and on the Harmony in March.
– Last year Celebrity Cruises offered complimentary round-trip motorcoach transportation to Ft. Lauderdale from 14 Florida cities for passengers who were cruising on the Century. Now the line is extending the offer through ’97 and is expanding it to include passengers who also sail on the just-debuted Galaxy and the Mercury, which will debut in November and also will sail from Ft. Lauderdale.
Celebrity also is offering bus service to passengers in the northeast who sail on Zenith and Meridian out of New York. Transportation to the Manhattan cruise terminal will be provided from 15 northeast cities, including Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C.
The coach transportation is available only on days of embarkation and disembarkation and should be reserved no later than two weeks prior to departure. For more information, call 800-437-3111.
