The new ships have it all.
Towering atriums with sweeping staircases, fancy health spas, state-of-the-art show lounges, mini-shopping malls, luxurious cabins with verandas, and more.Here's a look at the new ships being built by various cruise lines that will debut this year.
- The ship everyone's been waiting for - Carnival Cruise Lines' Fantasy - is scheduled to debut in March after a two-month delay caused by financial problems of the Helsinki ship-building company.
The 2,600-passenger, 70,000-ton superliner will feature a six-story, glass-domed atrium plaza, $2 million worth of paintings and sculpture, a 12,000-square-foot health complex with 35 exercise machines, and double-decked, 1,300-seat show lounge. The ship will make three- and four-day Bahamas sailings year-round from Miami.
The Fantasy is one of a trio of superliners Carnival is having built. The Ecstasy is expected to be ready in 1991 and the Sensation in 1992, although it has not been started. The cruise line also has completed a $10 million refurbishing of its "Fun Ship" Carnivale.
- Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's 1,610-passenger Nordic Empress will make its maiden voyage May 14 with three- and four-night cruises to the Bahamas. Among the ship's innovations: a nine-level central atrium with multi-level fountain and skylight; two-tiered main dining room in the aft section and two-tiered indoor-outdoor cafe in the forward section, both with walls of glass; two-level show lounge; two-level disco, and three-level casino.
Of the ship's 805 staterooms, 60 percent will be outside cabins with large picture windows. There also will be 72 deluxe staterooms with private balconies. The Nordic Empress will leave Miami every Friday on three-night cruises with calls at Nassau and Little Stirrup Cay, the line's private out-island. Four-night cruises will leave every Monday with the same itinerary plus Freeport.
Royal Caribbean also is building a sister ship to its 2,282-passenger Sovereign of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship that debuted in 1988. The new ship, Sovereign II, to debut in 1991, will be slightly larger (3,000 passengers) and also will sail the Caribbean from San Juan.
- Costa Cruise Line's new Costa Marina will make its maiden voyage July 15, with a seven-day Spain/Tunisia cruise. The ship will sail the Mediterranean until November and then switch to the eastern Caribbean until April 1991. Another new ship for the Caribbean is planned to debut in 1991.
The 25,000-ton Costa Marina actually is a $123 million conversion of a 1969 freighter hull. The 770-passenger Italian ship will feature a three-deck atrium, extensive glass throughout, a health/fitness spa and two poolside whirlpool baths.
- Six inaugural cruises in the Mediterranean and Black Sea will be made by Princess Cruises' latest "Love Boat," the Crown Princess, starting July 8. Renzo Piano, architect for Paris' controversial Pompidou Center, designed this 70,000-ton, 1,596-passenger ship to resemble a dolphin skimming through the water.
The ship's features include a three-story atrium with shopping arcade, domed observation lounge, a $1 million art collection, and larger staterooms and more verandas than any ship its size. The ship will leave Sept. 13 on an eight-day, non-stop trans-Atlantic sailing from London to New York and will begin Caribbean sailings Oct. 6 from Fort Lauderdale. A sister ship is scheduled to debut in 1991.
- The 960-passenger Crystal Harmony, being built by a Japanese company for $200 million, begins its inaugural season July 24 with 12-day round-trip sailings from San Francisco to Alaska/Canada. Other inaugural-year itineraries include trans-canal sailings and Europe. The luxury ship claims to be the most spacious ship afloat in its class, and boasts the largest luxury penthouses and the highest ratio of stateroom and penthouse verandas.
It also has a specially designed refrigeration system, two alternative-dining restaurants (Oriental and Italian) at no additional cost and Caesars Palace of Las Vegas' first casino at sea. Another first from Crystal Cruises: continuous in-room news and sports coverage via Cable News Network.
- Chandris Celebrity Cruises already has unveiled the 1,106-passenger Meridian, a $45 million reconstruction of the line's Galileo, which began seven-night preview cruises Feb. 4 from Fort Lauderdale to Antigua, St. Thomas and Nassau. In May, the ship will join the company's new Horizon for seven-night Bermuda cruises. The Horizon will go to San Juan in the winter for Caribbean cruises, and the Meridian will return to Fort Lauderdale.
Chandris also plans another new ship, the Zenith, which will be almost identical to the Horizon in configuration and size with 1,354 lower beds. It will be built by the same shipyard constructing the Horizon.
- Another reconstruction is Holland America Line's Westerdam, which will inaugurate service from New York to Bermuda and the Caribbean on March 25. The ship has undergone a $65 million redesign that will increase capacity from 1,000 to 1,476 passengers and add nearly 130 feet for a total length of 798 feet. Its gross tonnage also will increase from 42,000 to 53,000.
- Even Club Med, which has been in the resort vacation business 40 years, is getting into the cruise business. It launched seven-day cruises from Guadeloupe on Feb. 10 on its new $100 million, 425-passenger Club Med 1, a 617-foot sailing ship. The ship has 197 cabins, nearly all outside, and six larger suites. It will visit Antigua, St. Maarten, Virgin Gorda, San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Barthelemy. The ship will switch to the Mediterranean on May 19, sailing from Cannes to Corsica, Sardinia, Portofino, Porto Ercole, Porquerolles and St. Tropez.
Not everything new is big.
- The 4,500-ton, 100-passenger Renaissance I - the first of eight ships under construction in La Spezia, Italy - will began regular cruises in the Far East in January.
Four of the other ships will enter service this year (in March, July, September and October), two in January and November of 1991 and the last in January 1992.
The Norwegian-owned Renaissance Cruises will emphasize destination and luxury. The staterooms are all suites of 220 and 290 square feet, with large bathrooms, and living room and seating area. When the eight ships are afloat, they will blanket the globe, dropping anchor in 180 ports in the Far East, Mediterranean, Europe, Scandinavia, Black Sea/Red Sea, Africa, South America and the Caribbean.
- Salen Lindblad Cruising's new expedition ship, Frontier Spirit, weighs 6,700 tons, is 365 feet long and carries 164 passengers. Its maiden voyage will be Nov. 7 from Palau to the Caroline Islands in Micronesia. This is the first expedition ship to be built since 1974.
- Commodore Cruise Line plans two new 800-passenger ships, one in 1992 and the other in 1993. Effjohn International, parent company of Commodore, says it wants to have the ambience, quality of service and cruise programs that the new, 2,000-plus mega-liners don't fulfill.