Sailing From California on Seven Seas Navigator

More than half the passengers aboard the Seven Seas Navigator on its first Alaska sailing, which set out May 26 from San Francisco, were Californians, representing 235 of the 458 aboard. The rest came from 30 other states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and five foreign countries. Nearly a third of the passengers had sailed previously with the line, many of them aboard the Paul Gauguin in Tahiti.

Radisson Seven Seas Cruises’ newest luxury ship, which debuted last fall in the Mediterranean, is becoming well known among Southern California cruisers, having made two calls here earlier this year. The 490-passenger vessel visited Los Angeles on Jan. 6, heading for a Panama Canal sailing after circumnavigating South America, and made a second call in Port Hueneme (the first cruise ship to visit there in more than two decades) in late May to pick up a group of Santa Barbara- and Los Angeles-area passengers headed for Alaska. This itinerary included eight ports of call--Seattle; Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway, Haines, Juneau and Wrangell in Alaska; and Victoria, British Columbia, before arriving in Vancouver, Canada.

Almost the same itinerary (sans Sitka and excluding air fare) is available for the first Alaska sailing in 2001 aboard the brand-new Radisson Seven Seas Mariner, a 700-passenger ship with all balcony suites debuting next spring. The new ship will replace the Navigator in Alaska and offers the possibility of embarking in Los Angeles or San Francisco. Fares with early booking discounts save 50% for the second passenger sharing the suite, making the per-person double-occupancy cost for a 301-square-foot balcony suite as low as $2,921 for 12 days (plus a $700-per-person supplement for guests embarking in Los Angeles).

But the primary attraction for the Navigator passengers we interviewed was the ultra-luxurious cruise experience they had heard about (or previously experienced): high-quality food, hotel staff and accommodations with bonuses such as complimentary wines at dinner and a no-tipping policy.

All accommodations are outside cabins, 90% with private balconies. The least expensive standard window suites measure 301 square feet, and the standard balcony suites add 55 square feet outside with two lounge chairs and a table. All are furnished with twin beds that can be put together to make a European king-size bed; a sitting area with full-size sofa and two chairs; a desk/dresser; a mini-refrigerator stocked with soft drinks; walk-in closet with safe; and a marble bathroom with tub, stall shower and toilet. Robes, hair dryers, in-suite stocked bar and TV/VCR are also included.

Up one category is the 495-square-foot Navigator suite with separate bedroom, entryway, and living room with dining table and four chairs. The 739-square-foot grand suites and master suites measuring 1,173 square feet are big enough for travelers who like to have parties.

The dining room’s open seating, in which passengers may arrive when they wish and sit where and with whom they please, is supplemented by an alternative dinner nightly in the Portofino Grill, usually a Northern Italian menu. While we enjoyed the trattoria atmosphere of the Portofino, we usually succumbed to the temptations of the expansive menu in the Compass Rose, the regular dining room, with multi-course tasting menus nightly, besides an a la carte offering, a vegetarian menu, and a wellness menu with low-calorie, low-fat dishes.

Elaborate breakfast and lunch buffets are available daily in the Portofino Grill to supplement the menu service in the Compass Rose, and a casual deck grill serves hamburgers, hot dogs, salads and such from late morning into the afternoon, weather permitting.

During our 12-day cruise, the entertainment was good, with three stylish, professional production shows created by Peter Grey Terhune plus a full roster of lounge performers and lecturers. Both quality and variety were more than passengers would expect on a ship this size.

The spa and beauty salon are operated by Connecticut-based Judith Jackson Spas, making its first foray into cruise spas. Treatments are specially designed for the needs of each client. A second Judith Jackson Spa is under construction aboard the Seven Seas Mariner.

All the public areas aboard are generously proportioned, so there’s never a sense of crowding. The Portofino Grill is the best and most versatile design of its kind on any ship. It turns from a sunny breakfast room--with pale yellow linens and sunshine streaming through windows adorned with leaf-painted gauzy Austrian shades--into an intimate, candlelighted Italian restaurant each evening. At lunchtime, the whole space, plus an aft deck dining area, is open to sea or port views, with made-to-order pasta dishes, a panoply of cold shellfish and salads, a roast of the day and a variety of hot dishes and vegetables, plus a formidable array of desserts.

The ship follows traditional cruise dress codes, with formal wear requested two to three nights per cruise and the remaining evenings either informal (jacket and tie for men) or casual (elegant resort wear).

The only quibble we have with the vessel is a noticeable vibration in the stern in heavy seas and at higher speeds, but in the smooth waters of the Inside Passage, at cruising speeds that rarely exceeded 18 knots, it wasn’t a problem.

From Alaska, Seven Seas Navigator heads to Sydney, Australia, where the ship is under charter during the Olympics. A 23-day sailing departs Aug. 19 from San Francisco and calls in Hawaii at Honolulu, Maui and Kona on the Big Island; Christmas Island in Kiribati; Apia, Western Samoa; Vava’u, Tonga; and Noumea, New Caledonia.

After the Olympics, the Navigator makes a series of Pacific and Asia sailings, returning to Los Angeles Dec. 22 for a Christmas cruise to Fort Lauderdale, visiting Mexico, the Panama Canal and the Caribbean.

For more information or a free color brochure, contact a travel agent or Radisson Seven Seas Cruises, tel. (800) 285-1835, Internet https://www.rssc.com.