Don’t Look for Subtle Decor on Fantasy Ship

MIAMI, Fla. — If you think “fifteen miles of neon tubing” is the title of a country song, as well as a description of the Caribbean’s newest cruise ship, then you’re half right.

Boarding Carnival Cruise Lines’ 2,600-passenger Fantasy is like walking into a giant jukebox. The miles of neon that stretch through the public rooms are computer activated at 4 o’clock each afternoon, turning alternately red, blue, lime green and mauve.

Carnival is counting on attracting the sort of passenger who wants frenetic, nonstop action, with lots of flash and dazzle, on its year-round, three- and four-day voyages from Miami to the Bahamas.

Once in Nassau, passengers will be offered free shuttle service to the new Crystal Palace Resort & Casino, owned, not coincidentally, by Carnival.

The decor aboard the the Fantasy is neither subtle nor understated. In the center of the six-deck Grand Spectrum, for example, roofed with a clear glass skylight, is a 20-foot-high kinetic sculpture in bright colors and geometric patterns by Israeli artist Yaacov Agam.

Gliding up and down beside the massive Carrara marble staircase are two glass elevators outlined in red neon. The midnight blue carpet is covered with large white comets streaking rainbow trails.

Lightning-flash neon dances off the mirrored floor and walls of the Electricity Disco. Alongside the 21st Century Bar, flashing with a running electronic billboard like something out of Times Square, is the largest casino afloat.

Designer Joe Farcus’ favorite, Cleopatra’s Bar, is a replica of an Egyptian tomb, with sarcophagi, hieroglyphics and Egyptian gods and goddesses gathered around a glossy black piano bar.

In Cats Lounge, patterned after the stage setting from the musical “Cats,” the ceiling twinkles with fiber optics. Passengers enter through a giant Pet Milk can, table tops are replicas of bottle caps and jar lids, the bandstand is a huge black rubber tire, and arranged around the walls are Andy Warhol-like outsize cereal and soap boxes.

“It’s entertainment--that’s what this kind of room is all about,” Farcus said.

The stage in the show lounge is the most sophisticated aboard any ship, with space to raise and lower six backdrops and a large turntable in the center to revolve singers and scenery.

The stage reverts to a dance floor by closing off the stage opening with a wall of beveled gold mirrors, covering the ceiling with a panel of mirrored Tivoli lights and raising the orchestra pit, sunken during the show, to the dancers’ eye level.

The ship also has a 1,200-square-foot spa with saunas, steam rooms, whirlpools, massage, luffa scrubs, aerobics and a gym with 35 exercise machines. A 500-foot banked and padded jogging track circles the topmost deck.

Meals are capably prepared and served, but in hotel banquet rather than restaurant style.

A raised wooden stage alongside the pool brings the midday beer-drinking contests and knobby knees competitions front and center for sunbathers, while the teen center and children’s playroom, deck area and pool are thoughtfully isolated from the rest of the ship.

Throughout, surfaces are cold and hard, featuring tile, marble, onyx and aluminum, and the carpeting is dark, durable-looking and short-napped. The message it sends is that it can take a lot of wear and tear, which it is likely to get on these short cruises.

Carnival executives believe the mini-vacation will be the big trend in the 1990s, not taking the place of longer cruises but in addition to them. On the Fantasy, as on the line’s other three- and four-day ships, 90% of the passengers are first-timers testing the water before signing up for longer cruises.

Cabins in the middle and upper price ranges are fairly spacious, most with two lower beds that can be put together, but the less expensive cabins are small and have upper and lower berths. Standard cabins have showers only. Suites feature Jacuzzi bathtubs and private balconies.

Prices for inside (windowless) cabins range from $445 to $915 per person, double occupancy, depending on season and cabin location, for the three- and four-day cruises, including round-trip air fare from 150 cities. For outside cabins and suites the range runs from $695 to $1,135 per person, with air fare.

Carnival’s 1,500-passenger Jubilee, launched in 1986, is heading for Los Angeles to begin seven-day, round-trip sailings to Puerto Vallarta on a year-round basis. The first cruise sets sail April 8. Prices range from $995 to $2,395 per person, double occupancy, depending on cabin and season. Those fares include round-trip air fare, so Los Angeles-area residents can deduct an additional $200 per person for getting themselves to and from San Pedro.

While not as glitzy as the Fantasy, the Jubilee has plenty of razzle-dazzle of its own, from an Oz Disco in shades of Emerald City green to a casino ceiling of stained-glass face cards and a weathered, corrugated tin warehouse from Sweden reassembled inside one of the bars.