Ports That Call on Fantasy

Because we’ve weathered more than 200 cruises, we’re often asked for recommendations. So here are our choices for fantasy cruises for the rest of 1997 and beyond.

You might think every Caribbean port has been visited as often as St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands or Nassau in the Bahamas, but the Turks and Caicos Islands have been rarely, if ever, featured on a cruise. Cunard’s Sea Goddess I will make two visits there. On Feb. 14 and April 4, the ship sets out from St. Thomas for a seven-day sail around the diver’s paradise, calling in Providenciales, better known as Provo, and Grand Turk. Then it visits Samana in the Dominican Republic, Ponce in Puerto Rico and Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands.

Suite-like staterooms cost $4,600 per person, double occupancy, which includes all beverages, gratuities and shore excursions. Air fare is extra. Telephone (800) 221-4770.

Around the world? Canada-based Marine Expeditions promises seven continents on a recently announced 114-day Millennium Cruise on the 600-passenger Ocean Majesty, a 14,100-ton vessel.

The program begins Nov. 19, 1999, with flights from North America to Athens, and the ship sets out the next day, heading into the Aegean and the Mediterranean. Crete, Sicily, the Strait of Gibraltar and Morocco are visited before a transatlantic crossing that stops in Madeira, Portugal, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. From Cozumel, Mexico, it sails through the Panama Canal to Peru, Chile, Argentina, arriving in Buenos Aires on Dec. 31 for a special millennium celebration.

Then the ship sails to Antarctica before heading across the Pacific, where it visits Easter Island, Pitcairn Island and New Zealand. The continent of Australia is next, with a southern circumnavigation calling in Sydney, Hobart, Melbourne and Perth, before the Ocean Majesty reaches Bali in Indonesia and Singapore. It sails to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean Feb. 24, then on to Kenya, Yemen, Egypt and Israel before arriving again in Athens on March 12 for the flights home.

Fares range from $11,940 to $22,995 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Toronto, London, New York or Boston, Mass. Add $750 for port taxes. A guaranteed single-share program is also available for a same-sex roommate who is a smoker or a nonsmoker. See a travel agent or call Marine Expeditions, tel. (800) 263-9147, for details.

Dubrovnik was one of our favorite ports of call before warring factions in the former Yugoslavia stopped all tourism there for years. Now, as part of Croatia, Dubrovnik, nearby Korcula and, on some itineraries, the historic city of Split once again greet cruise ships this fall. The 300-passenger Adriana from Croatia Cruise Lines is marketed in the United States by New York-based OdessAmerica Cruise Co.; tel. (800) 221-3254. Round-trip 15-day sailings for fall depart from Venice, Italy, Sept. 29, Oct. 11 and 25, and also visit Turkey’s Turquoise Coast, Cyprus, Israel, Greece and Egypt. Fares range from $1,665 to $2,855 per person, double occupancy, plus air fare and $95 port charges for these cruises.

Slater and Basch travel as guests of the cruise lines. Cruise Views appears the first and third week of every month.