A New Ship for Alaska

JUNEAU, Alaska — The newest cruise ship sailing Alaskan waters is the 960-passenger Crystal Harmony, built in Nagasaki, Japan, for Los Angeles-based Crystal Cruises at a cost of $200 million.

The vessel offers 12-day round-trip cruises from San Francisco along the Inside Passage, with calls at Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia, and Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway and Wrangell in Alaska.

Passengers can take shore excursions that include:

--Helicopter flights over glacial rivers of ice.

--Rides aboard the wooden parlor cars of a historic narrow-gauge railway that once carried supplies to the Klondike.

--Inflatable raft trips into the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve near Haines.

--Flights in a bush pilot’s floatplane over the fiords.

--Fishing trips in search of salmon off Ketchikan.

These excursions cost from $15 to $168 apiece.

The Crystal Harmony offers three dining choices. In addition to the Crystal Dining Room, which has two seatings, passengers can dine free in one of the ship’s two specialty restaurants: Prego, which serves Italian cuisine, and Kyoto, which offers a variety of dishes from many Asian countries.

The ship offers the first seagoing branch of Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace, with six blackjack tables, a craps table, a roulette table and about 75 slot machines. News-hungry passengers can receive Cable News Network by satellite throughout the day.

The highest ratio of public space per passenger, lots of private verandas, generous expanses of teak decking, a sliding glass roof over a pool and deck area, 24-hour room service and in-cabin dinners add to the voyage’s comfort and pleasure.

The ship’s decor is rich and luxurious, with marble, wood and brass used throughout. Pianists, harpists and violinists continually fill the ship with music, and 526 staff members in custom-designed uniforms seem to be everywhere.

The public room most successful is the Palm Court, an expanse of polished wood, ceiling fans, rattan chairs and potted palms arranged below conical skylights like a Victorian conservatory.

Entertainment on the ship is slick and professional, featuring musical productions and such performers as magicians and marionettes.

Largest accommodations are the 948-square-foot Crystal Penthouse suites, with private verandas, whirlpool tubs, wet bars, separate living and bedrooms, entry foyer and guest half-baths, which cost $950 to $1,200 per person, double occupancy, per day. Nineteen spacious inside cabins, meanwhile, cost $245 per person per day, double occupancy.

Deluxe outside staterooms come with or without private verandas. Since they are all comparable in size and furnishings--king-sized or twin beds, sofas, built-in desks with chairs--those without verandas seem more spacious and have somewhat larger closets. There are also four well-designed cabins for handicapped passengers.

The best buy on board appears to be the standard outside stateroom with portholes, which are somewhat larger than the deluxe outside staterooms with windows, but cost about $255 a day per person, double occupancy.

Decks No. 7 and No. 8 contain about 98 deluxe cabins with views partially or fully obstructed because of hanging lifeboats. Prices for these are about $275 to $285 a day. All cabins have bathtubs, hair dryers and safes.

After the last Alaska cruise of the season, which departs Aug. 29, the Crystal Harmony will sail south to the Mexican Riviera (from San Francisco Sept. 10 and Los Angeles Sept. 11) for a series of 10-day Panama Canal transits between Acapulco and San Juan, Puerto Rico.