Floating hotels
CRUISES GEORGE STUART
Each year nowadays brings an increase in the number of people who take a winter break in the sun. This winter may see a pause: because of those damned V-forms, and because of the Mediterranean aftermath of the Middle East fracas. But there are still two ways to bask in winter sunshine and beat the travel squeeze (the travel allowance for next year starts on I November): a holiday in the sterling area, so that you have no money problems at all; or a cruise, where the price is well-nigh all-inclusive and can be paid before you go.
There has been a meteoric increase in cruis- ing popularity during recent years, and now many voyages compare very favourably in price and content with the air package tours on offer. And many faithful and regular cruise addicts will tell you there is no better winter holiday —nothing where you can relax so completely so that you regain your perspective on life.
Cruise ships, large or small, are really float- ing hotels in which you can forget your lan- guage, currency and luggage problems, but with the difference that informality is the keynote. Increasingly, too, shipping lines are devoting careful attention to family travel, with special facilities and attractions for children and teen- agers.
Cruising this winter can be divided into three sectors : the usual fourteen-days-or-so itiner- aries to the Mediterranean and/or the eastern Atlantic isles; cruises from Mediterranean ports, often now with connecting air or surface travel arrangements from the lac included in the price; and longer or round-the-world voyages to the Caribbean or other exotic parts.
Whatever your pleasure, the all-inclusive prices mean that your only extras are what you spend on yourself on board (remembering that drink and tobacco are duty-free) or during shore excursions, with something saved for those end-of-the-voyage gratuities.
This year, between November and February, there is 'a choice of some sixty liner cruises from British ports (London, Southampton, Liverpool and Harwich) to the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Isles, the West Indies and Carib- bean, at rates from as low at £6 a day, and pre- liminary inquiries indicate reasonably good bookings so far. If one includes Mediterranean cruises starting and finishing there, the number of opportunities rises to over eighty. There will be the usual round-the-world voyages by ships like Cunard's 'Caronia' and Holland-America Line's 'Rotterdam'; or you can go in Royal Mail Lines' Andes' for seventy-eight days to South Africa, the Far East, and India, and home via the Mediterranean, for £665.
Presumably, because she is ending a glorious and memorable career spanning thirty- one years, the 'Queen Mary' will be a sell-out for her last two voyages before leaving for her
new home at Long Beach, -California—two cruises to Las Palmas in October. And appli- cations have been pouring in for weeks for a berth on the great liner's farewell voyage to the us West Coast.
Christmas and New Year cruises retain their popularity and typical is that undertaken by P & O's 'Canberra' which will leave on 23 December, calling at Freetown, Las Palmas, Madeira and Lisbon; thirteen days with prices from £89 (other Christmas cruises start from £65).
British Railways have for long promoted continental cruises in the summer; but now a new type of short winter holiday is offered by ' several lines--the 'mini' cruise (one can't escape that word). For example, England Sweden Line offer a five-day round voyage between Hull and Gothenburg, with a day ashore in Sweden, for as little as £16 5s, while Swedish Lloyd operate similar round voyages from Southampton to Spain from £24 10s. For all such trips, the V-form content is very low. The ships involved are virtually miniature ocean liners, with many of the amenities found on the big cruise ships.
Finally, for the really small cruise ships, you must go to the Mediterranean, particularly Greece, where in many you can almost enjoy the illusion of being on your own private yacht. Whatever your preference, there is always a cruise to indulge it—provided you book in time.
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