Buoyed by Time-Share Programs

While the recent recession is far from the dark days of the Depression, when movie theaters gave out free dishes to encourage patronage, cruise lines, which compete in an ever-expanding market, must come up with fresh ideas to draw new passengers--although nobody’s giving out a set of china yet.

One innovative wrinkle is a time-share plan aboard the posh Seabourn Cruise Line, the first such plan to be implemented in the industry, although the time-share idea was first promoted in 1979 by a Seattle company which then owned the liner United States.

Seabourn president Larry Pimentel compares the program, called WorldFare, to buying a box at the opera or a season ticket for a favorite sports team, except that this plan is good for three years and passengers can pre-purchase tickets for 45, 60, 90 or 120 days at sea.

Because the least-expensive WorldFare purchase is 45 days at $29,500 per person, the program will mainly attract upscale travelers who have already sampled Seabourn’s lavish service. The passenger will pay $656 per day on WorldFare, compared to an average of $831 per person, double occupancy, per day for the standard shipboard suite.

Pimentel says that although the number of individual WorldFare

participants is small so far, “we’re seeing $100,000 checks coming in” since the program began in early April. The per-diem prices get lower as the number of participating days goes up, culminating in a 120-day program for $66,500, which averages $554 a day per person.

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Cunard Line has just started a new Cruise Miles program similar to airline frequent flyer plans, the first frequent traveler awards plan for a cruise line. Here’s how it works: Passengers who sail on any Cunard cruise that departs after May 31, 1994, accrue mileage good for future upgrades or free cruises. The accrued mileage is good for up to seven years and is awarded on a per person, per day accumulation according to ship, lodging category and cruise length. Passengers can redeem their awards through travel agents.

Examples of accrued mileage awards include seven free days aboard a Sea Goddess sailing for passengers who book a full world cruise aboard Queen Elizabeth 2 or Sagafjord, while passengers who buy an 11-day Sea Goddess sailing can cash in those miles for a seven-day cruise on any Cunard Crown vessel.

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Nonsmoking passenger cabins and dining rooms, introduced several years ago by the Miami-based Majesty Cruise Line, have proliferated, with the newest announcements from Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line. Carnival’s Los Angeles-based Jubilee and new Sensation, which sails from Miami, have banned smoking in all their dining rooms as of mid-May, while NCL has dedicated half its fleet to nonsmoking cabins. NCL’s casinos will also feature designated nonsmoking blackjack tables. On the four NCL ships with more than one restaurant (the Norway, Seaward, Windward and Dreamward), an entire dining room will be set aside for nonsmokers.

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Carnival Cruise Line has announced it will begin three- and four-day sailings from Los Angeles beginning in spring, 1995, aboard the 1,452-passenger Holiday, a sister ship to the Jubilee, which will continue its itinerary of seven-day sailings to the Mexican Riviera.

The Holiday’s three-day cruises will depart Friday afternoons and return Monday mornings, while the four-day cruises will depart Monday afternoons and return Friday mornings. Carnival president Bob Dickinson says the company decided to take advantage of the void created when Norwegian Cruise Line announced their sale of the Southward, expected to make its last sailing from Los Angeles next January.

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Los Angeles-based Princess Cruises announced that it will build the world’s first 100,000-ton cruise ship, capable of carrying 2,600 passengers, to be delivered in 1997. Princess had announced last February that the new ship would be in the 90,000-ton class, but revised that estimate in April. In the meantime, Carnival announced that it has ordered a 95,000-ton ship for delivery in 1996 to carry 3,300 passengers.

The previous record-holder for passenger ships was Cunard’s 83,673-ton Queen Elizabeth, launched in 1938 and sunk in Hong Kong Harbor after a fire in 1972.

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NCL is also making an appeal to the growing number of families cruising with small children by guaranteeing baby-sitting service between noon and 2 a.m. for an hourly fee of $8 for the first child, $1.50 for each sibling, for a four-hour minimum. Reservations for sitters can be made on board at least 24 hours in advance, but may not be booked before embarkation.

For spa aficionados, Cunard’s QE2 will offer complete spa vacations, featuring their new two-deck spa, on all transatlantic crossings between July 13 and Oct. 30. Three different packages are available, each offering massages, seaweed wraps, facials, a health and fitness consultation, personalized fitness program, spa cuisine and unlimited use of the steam room, sauna and thalasso-therapy (seawater therapy) pool. Nutrition, stress reduction and behavioral health lectures are also scheduled.

Spa packages, available for first-class Columbia dining room passengers only, cost an additional $599 per passenger on top of the regular first-class cruise fare, which starts at $3,200 per person, double occupancy, including return air fare on British Airways.

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A new Walt Disney Co. cruise line headed by Art Rodney, former president of Los Angeles-based Crystal Cruises, hopes to introduce the first of two new 2,400-passenger megaships as early as 1998. Rodney says the first ship will tie a three- or four-day cruise into a seven-day package at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., and targeted passengers will be families with children, honeymooners and seniors. The second ship is expected to be based in Florida, Rodney says, with a potential third ship likely to be positioned in Los Angeles.

Former Princess Cruises and Royal Viking Line president Joseph Watters has been named as Crystal’s new president.