Florida line to offer cruises from Port Canaveral to Key West
News Administrator
Florida line to offer cruises from Port Canaveral to Key West
[11/7/96] -- Cape Canaveral Cruise Line is about to become the first
company offering cruises from Port Canaveral to Key West, with plans to
launch the four-day journeys next February.
The fledgling company, which started in February with two-night cruises
from Port Canaveral, is to announce the new itinerary later this week.
The four-night excursions, with prices starting at $279 per person plus
$89 in taxes in port charges, will include a twist that's new to Key
West cruises: instead of the four-hour stay on the island that's the
norm on most other cruise lines, Cape Canaveral passengers can stay
ashore from 12 noon to 2 a.m.
That will give them enough time to take in Key West's famous sunset and
enjoy its night life.
That's a real itinerary highlight. "Key West is at its most fun and
lively at night, and right now cruise ship passengers don't get that.
They get just enough time to stroll around and see the T-shirt shops."
Cape Canaveral's two-night cruises to the Bahamas aboard the Dolphin IV
will continue but will be interspersed with a Key West cruise every
other Sunday. The longer cruise will include a stop in Freeport,
Bahamas; a day on Key West; and a day at sea.
"This identifies us, without question, as a true cruise line and an
emerging player in the industry," said Bruce Burner, Cape Canaveral's
chief operating officer.
The company's original intent was to provide short cruises for customers
of its sister company, then called Promotional Travel. Promotional
offers discount vacations that include tours of time share complexes
owned by its parent company.
Retail sales of the cruises took off, though, and many sailing's now
include more retail passengers than customers of the Orlando-based
Promotional, which is now called Cape Canaveral Cruise Line Tour &
Travel.
The Key West cruises, by comparison, are geared almost entirely at the
retail market.
The Port Canaveral-based line plans to add a second ship within the next
two years, and may eventually expand into the seven-night cruise market,
Burner said. But that would only happen on a ship small enough to
navigate some of the small Caribbean ports that have been abandoned by
larger liners. Those could include ports in the Dominican Republic or
the
lesser-known islands of the Bahamas.
"I want to be smart about it," he said. "I want to be able to go to
places the other cruise ships can't go."
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