The trend to the tiny Caribbean cruise ship

Saturday, October 11, 2003

REDMOND, WA: According to MSNBC, increasing numbers of Caribbean vacationers are opting for intimate vessels able to take them to secluded places 

In a backlash from current cruise-ship trends (one line is contemplating construction of a 5,000-passenger behemoth), a market is growing for a wholly different seagoing experience, on a "tiny" ship - one that accommodates 60 to 150 passengers and goes to quiet ports or secluded beaches.

Their customers often are an affluent but unpretentious lot who relax on board in shorts and sandals, follow no schedules at all, and attend no ship "events" - there aren't any. Ashore, they dine quietly in the fresh-fish restaurant of a backwater town, or lie reading a paperback novel in a rope hammock, hearing nothing but sea gulls and waves.

Among the "tiny" ships that bring you that form of paradise are:

WINDJAMMER CRUISES
Like that cabin boy in Two Years Before the Mast, you'll stumble in dazed excitement onto the teakwood decks of an actual ocean schooner with sails-as sleek as a greyhound, but with the tiny, cot-equipped cabins you'd expect on so narrow a vessel.

You have the run of the entire ship: bowsprit, even crow's nest and at the wheel-and are actually encouraged to help the professional crew with steering the ship. 

You live throughout in shorts and sandals, in sheer relaxation or happy camaraderie with like-minded, unpretentious, adventure-seeking people from all over the world 

Each day you anchor off a quiet beach or tiny port, to which your lunch is brought by kitchen crew wading through the surf. You live throughout in shorts and sandals, in sheer relaxation or happy camaraderie with like-minded, unpretentious, adventure-seeking people from all over the world who have heard of these renowned ships. They range in size from the "giant" S/V Legacy (122 passengers) and S/V Polynesia (126 passengers) down to the S/V Mandalay (72 passengers), S/V Flying Cloud (66 passengers) and M/S Yankee Clipper (64 passengers, a former scientific survey ship equipped with two large sails). You sail through the Grenadines, the exotic Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, the ABC Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and to other highlights of the West Indies. 

And you pay only $700 to $1,300 for a six-day cruise in most cabins, plus airfare from the U.S. ($399 from the East Coast, $600 from the West Coast. Persons staying aboard for 12 consecutive nights get (a) a $50 discount, and (b) free lodgings on board for the intermediate Saturday and Sunday when the ship is in port. Since the ships vary their itineraries each week, never repeating an island in succession, numerous passengers opt for the two-week pattern and spend their two intermediate nights exploring the port of embarkation on foot, returning each night to the ship for meals and bed.

For details, contact Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, P.O. Box 120, Miami Beach, FL 33119 (phone toll free 800/327-26021 for reservations or information, 800/327-2602 for brochures or visit its Web site at www.windjammer.com ), and ask them also about their monthly singles' cruises with guaranteed ratios of 50/50 for men and women.

AMERICAN-CANADIAN CARIBBEAN LINE
Budget-priced cruises of Central and South America in winter, the inland waterways of New York State, Rhode Island, Montreal, Quebec, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi and "Intercoastal" in summer, on yacht-like ships carrying as few as 84 passengers apiece. Rates average $180 per person per day, not including airfare to embarkation cities. On each ship, "bow ramps" allow passengers to walk, not climb, from the ship to the most isolated and inviting beaches. For literature, contact American-Canadian Caribbean Line, Inc., P.O. Box 368, Warren, RI 02885 (phone 401/247-0955, or toll free 800/ 556-7450). Or visit the Web site at www.accl-smallships.com 

WINDSTAR CRUISES
The newest (1990), longest (617 feet), tallest (masts 20 stories tall), and maybe largest of the world's sailing ships is the Wind Surf, berthed in the Mediterranean most of the year, it winters in Florida for short hops to the Caribbean Refurbished in April 1998, it places its passengers in cabins 185 square feet in size or in suites of 376 square feet, and plies them with every luxury (like impulsively buying 300 pounds of lobster at a native market for consumption at a beach barbecue that day). 

The total passenger complement is 312, on ships whose sails are directed by computer; the mood is casual elegance, the charge about $540 per person per day-which is not as high as you'd expect for an experience as exclusive as this. Two sister ships, the Wind Spirit and the Wind Star sail from Costa Rica or St. Thomas in the winter. For details, contact Windstar Cruises, Ltd., 300 Elliot Ave. West, Seattle, WA 98119 (phone 206/ 281-3535 or 800/258-7245 for information, 877/827-7245 for brochures). Or visit the Web site at www.windstarcruises.com.

BLACKBEARD'S CRUISES
Operates three 65-foot tall masted sloops, housing 22 passengers and six crewmembers apiece, that make seven-day/six-night cruises from Miami to the Bahamas, primarily for diving. Boats leave Miami on Saturday afternoons throughout the year, return the following Friday morning, charge $789 per person for the entire week, take you for three to four dives a day off the boat, then spend the nights in calm anchorages on the placid "lee" side of Bimini, Freeport or the Berry Islands. Can you go if you're not a diver? Absolutely, says the small firm (in business for 20 years), provided you're not expecting a "shuffleboard (activity filled) cruise". Rather, the non-diver will pass the time snorkeling off the beach, shell-hunting on deserted islands…staying up late for conversation under the stars…or simply sleeping in." Blackbeard's address is: PO Box 661091, Miami, FL 33266 (phone 305/888-1226 or 800/327-9600, Web: www.blackbeard-cruises.com ).

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