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Theme cruises are among the most popular attractions. The Seattle-based Holland America line offers a voyage for fans of Big Band music, which last year featured concerts by Patty Andrews of the Andrews Sisters and Nanette Fabray. Norwegian Cruise Line has organized a magic-act voyage and several sports cruises in which passengers mingle with star athletes. Other trips have been designed specifically for chocolate lovers, wine tasters, backgammon players and country-music fans.
Some lines still deliver the old-fashioned, ultra-posh service reminiscent of the 1920s. Aboard the three ships of the San Francisco-based Royal Viking Line, which are among the few that still make extravagant, 100-day round-the- world cruises, passengers frequently don tuxedoes and evening gowns. Perhaps the most luxurious ships of all are Cunard's Sea Goddess I and Sea Goddess II, on which a crew of 79 attends to just 116 passengers (daily rate: $600 a person).
Though the majority of today's cruise-line companies are U.S.-based, their profits do little to ease Washington's foreign trade deficit, since few of their ships fly the American flag. Carnival's ships, for example, are registered in Panama and Liberia. Most liners carry such flags of convenience for economic reasons: the companies can avoid U.S. corporate taxes and hire low-paid foreign crews. That strategy has its drawbacks. Under an 1886 federal law, foreign vessels are not permitted to transport people between ports in the U.S. A foreign ship that sails from New York City, for example, cannot pick up passengers in Miami en route to the Caribbean. This regulation has kept most foreign-flag firms out of Hawaii, where U.S.-registered lines are just beginning to take greater advantage of their unique ability to offer island-hopping excursions.
With the number of passengers up an estimated 11% in 1987 alone, the cruise industry has embarked on a shipbuilding binge that is likely to increase competition and may result in even more variety and better prices. All told, the number of available passenger berths on cruise ships is expected to jump from today's figure of 61,000 to some 77,000 by 1991. Carnival intends to launch three 2,000-passenger superliners, starting with the Fantasy next year. FairMajesty, the first of three 1,400-passenger ships ordered by Sitmar < Cruises of Los Angeles, is scheduled to be delivered in January 1989.
The veritable armada of giant ships due to follow in the wake of Sovereign of the Seas could produce overcapacity in the industry and a shake-out sometime in the next few years. Already, many cruise lines offer discounts of up to 25% to keep their berths full. But the industry's leaders point out that only about 5% of the U.S. population has ever taken a cruise. They figure that there are enough potential cruise converts among the remaining 95% to pack the new megaliners, especially if those landlubbers keep watching Love Boat reruns.