THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702220045
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG RAVER-LAMPMAN, TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 118 lines
A HIGH SEAS BATTLE is abrew, the combatants familiar to any cartoon-addled kid. It's Mickey Mouse against Bugs Bunny. Donald Duck against Yosemite Sam. The stuttering, spluttering Looney Tune brigade against the somewhat more regal troops of that worldwide mythmonger Walt Disney.
The prize: the holy grail of the cruise industry, millions of dollars to be wrung out of curtain climbers on cartoon-infested cruise ships.
The battle won't be coming to the big screen. It will unfold along the concrete bulkheads in Port Canaveral, where Disney plans to launch its own 964-foot cruise ship, the Disney Magic. Disney's ship will compete head to head with its former partner, the Big Red Boat, the granddaddy of American family cruises.
Although Disney won't launch its ship for a year, the corporation has already published a slick, 45-page brochure extolling its ``family cruises.''
The Disney Magic, with 15,000 square feet dedicated exclusively to entertaining children, will be populated by Disney characters such as Mickey, Minnie and Pluto. Cruises will be packaged with three- or four-day jaunts to the Magic Kingdom.
In one dining room called the Animator's Palate, walls decorated like black-and-white coloring book drawings will fill in with brilliant primary colors during meals.
Truth be told, the Disney Mag ic's vacation packages are so similar to the Big Red Boat's that they smack of plagiarism.
The floor plan for the Disney Magic's standard inside stateroom could have been smuggled off the Big Red Boat.
To make matters worse, for years the Big Red Boat and Disney were partners, shipmates, compadres. Betrayal that might whip Daffy Duck into spit-splattering fury is being met with calm back at headquarters.
As it turns out, the Big Red Boat owners view this mutiny more as a marketing boon than as a cutlass in the gut.
``We're actually fairly excited about them coming into the market,'' said Teresa Hall, a Big Red Boat spokesperson.
``I guess the biggest compliment is to have someone like Disney copy you,'' adds Big Red Boat marketing consultant Laurel Thompson.
Huh? You're happy that Disney is practically swiping your idea?
That's right.
Truth is, cruise lines around the world expect an enormous Disney PR barrage. The government of the Bahamas, where the Disney Magic will stop, anticipates a marketing push more costly than the public relations budget of the entire island nation.
For all cruise lines, that's good news. Although cruise lines nominally compete with each other, they actually compete against ski trips, Grand Canyon hikes, dude ranch rides and any other holiday that doesn't involving walking up a gangplank. When any cruise line advertises, all cruise lines benefit.
``We all stand to benefit from Disney's marketing prowess,'' said Jennifer de la Cruz, of Carnival Cruise Lines. ``They are a household name.''
Disney's advertising, significantly, will hammer home that message that cruises are great for entire families.
That's especially good for the owners of the Big Red Boat.
The Big Red Boat became America's most successful family cruise line a decade ago when it populated its boats with Disney characters and began peddling a Magic Kingdom-Bahamas Cruise package.
On the Big Red Boat kids, supervised by counselors, staged shows, played video games, watched movies and held pizza parties, allowing parents to gamble, dance, drink, or linger in the stateroom.
The Big Red Boat even offered late night baby-sitting and shore excursions where kids could play volleyball, hunt for treasure or pet dolphins.
Packaging the cruises with visits to the Magic Kingdom was a stroke of genius, luring a steady stream of families throughout the year.
Many passengers assumed the Big Red Boat was owned by Disney. It wasn't. The marriage, in fact, was never easy. The owners of the Big Red Boat had to pay Disney for characters who would appear on each of its two ships. Disney limited the number of characters who would appear on the ship. The people inside costumes of Mickey and Minnie had to be trained by Disney. Under no circumstances were multiple characters permitted on the same ship lest a child spot two Mickey Mouses, forever shattering the illusion that Mickey was real.
The payments to Disney were more than nominal. Still, the Big Red Boat turned a handsome profit.
Mickey must have noticed. When the Big Red Boat's 10-year contract came up for renewal in 1993, Disney demanded more money. Negotiations fell apart. Mickey took his giant stuffed head back to Orlando.
After the divorce, the Big Red Boat formed an alliance with Warner Bros. Disney characters were replaced by Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote and Tweety Bird. Free from Disney, the Big Red Boat began to offer side trips not only to the Magic Kingdom but to Disney competitors such as Sea World and Universal Studios.
The announcement that Disney would launch its own ship didn't come until later.
That announcement left the owners of the Big Red Boat salivating.
Disney will spend millions promoting vacation packages almost identical to those offered by the Big Red Boat.
Disney has other cruise lines scrambling to figure out how to combine their children's programs with more adult-oriented cruises. That isn't easy. The truth is, some people take cruises to get away from children. If they go too far in accommodating kids, they can make their boats seem like huge, floating, inescapable Chuck E. Cheese pizzerias.
In marketing to Orlando theme park visitors, the Big Red Boat has targeted people predisposed to spend wads of money visiting the likes of Dumbo and Dopey.
Whether the Big Red Boat will out-Disney Disney isn't the issue. Disney, after all, will have a brand new ship, with 11 decks. The Big Red Boat's children's program may be the cruise industry's best, but it's not perfect. On a recent cruise, they had two youth counselors for 142 kids between 8 and 10. The food is good, but not great (the lobster, for instance, is frozen). Disney may well do better.
But it doesn't much matter.
Truth is, Bugs Bunny never had any intention of taking on Mickey Mouse and all his minions. Sneaky as ever, he's content to play the underdog, or underbunny, ushering aboard those who find Mickey a might too pricey. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Premier Cruise Lines
[Big Red Boat specializes in "family cruises"]
For complete copy, see microfilm
BIG RED BOAT
Children enjoy a coloring workshop aboard the Big Red Boat.