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Cruise is more hostel than hotel

EasyCruise offers flexibility, not frills: Board the ship at any port and pay per night. You'll get a bed and a bath, but not much more.

By JOANN GRECO
Published December 11, 2005

GENOA, Italy - The orange color of the ship's hull really wasn't that bad. Not too garish - more of a happy, citrusy feel. Not too small a ship, either: larger than even the largest of yachts I've seen.

The ship tied up in the harbor here was EasyCruise One (even though the fleet consists of just this ship) and my husband and I were happy to have it firmly fixed in our sights.

Earlier that day, we had arrived in Genoa from Milan, dumped our luggage at the train station's "left baggage" counter and set out to explore the fascinating port city. Now, luggage back with us, we were set to step aboard this relatively unknown, "no-frills" cruise ship.

I had booked us in what was for me an atypical, how-can-we-go-wrong mood, after scanning the EasyCruise company Web site and reading the single newspaper article I could locate. Beyond this minimal information, I had no idea of what we'd find.

The cruise company was launched in May by British-based entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who made big money on his low-cost airline, EasyJet, and who has recently opened a line of hotels called - you guessed it - EasyHotel.

The ship's opening itinerary was a continuous loop in the Mediterranean. It called at famed ports of the rich (Nice, St. Tropez and Monaco, France, and Portofino, Italy) for those with not so much money and lots of independence.

Instead of such cruise standards as orchestrated entertainment, large meals and busy casinos, EasyCruise sells passengers the cabins on a per-night basis and offers room cleaning and meals for extra fees, and midnight karaoke.

Now on board, we were directed to a small reception desk and were told the ship's simple policies:

- Everything is purchased via your cabin key card.

- The ship stays in port until well into the night, and if you're not on board when the ship departs, your luggage is left on shore.

- EasyCruise One sails overnight and generally docks at the next port around noon.

Key card in hand, we made our way to deck six, where our suite awaited. The ship offers just four of these cabins, which feature more than double the space of the 82 standard cabins, plus a balcony and, most important to us, a window. EasyCruiseOne had been a gambling ship based in Singapore before EasyGroup bought and refurbished it last spring. But oddly, the ship offers no portholes in any of the standard cabins.

Walking into the room, we were dazzled by the generous amount of Italian sunlight pouring into the room - and the copious doses of orange that passed for the room's funky decor.

A king-size platform bed covered in a fluffy white duvet, with a headboard enameled in the line's signature orange, dominated the cabin. A rather pedestrian sofa, covered in a medium blue and orange speckled fabric, completed the furnishings.

The cabin had an electrical outlet, mirror, shelf and a couple of hooks. It did not have a table, chairs, radio or TV.

When I asked to see a standard cabin, I found the quarters tight - a reported 90 square feet - but not really much more so than any other mid-level cruise ship or even that of a trendy urban boutique hotel. But then, all of those rooms would have windows.

All cabins feature the same modular bathroom. The most orange and most funky thing onboard, it is a self-contained rectangle that resembles something out of Woody Allen's 1973 film Sleeper. Inside our bathroom, a perfect square of a shower bumped up against a quite nice glass sink, which in turn left just the right amount of space for the commode.

That commode seemed to be the source of another kind of funkiness, an odor that permeated the cabin. I now remembered one of the few complaints I had seen repeatedly on Web sites and news reports I had come across between booking the trip and embarking. It seemed that we, too, would be subject to the ship's plumbing difficulties.

The cabin's lack of amenities meant there was no phone, so I walked down a few decks to reception to complain. Kevin, the sunny chap on duty, acknowledged that this was a common occurrence and, he said, was easily solvable.

While I had his attention, I asked if it we could be indulged with an extra pillow or two. "No problem," he said promptly.

"Great," I replied. "What's the charge?" I added, wary of the line's everything-is-extra basis.

"A hundred pounds," Kevin responded before adding, "There is no charge."

I found this combination of friendliness and casual professionalism a trademark of the young, mostly British staff. One evening, the fellow who staffed the sundry shop even invited my husband and me to join him and other crew members for drinks at the Jolly American restaurant in Portofino.

Onboard, we toured our new home. No mirrors, no swooping central stairway, no disco, no pool.

The ship does have a few public spaces of varying allure: a hot tub and adjacent cocktail bar, a mediocre sports pub; a not-too-bad espresso lounge where we had breakfast each of our four mornings aboard, and one lightly stocked shop.

Hmmm, we hmmmed as we looked at each other. This will be just fine.

And indeed, exceeding minimal expectations seems to be what the EasyGroup is all about.

When we returned to our cabin before our portside Genovese dinner, the smell was gone and two additional plump pillows had been placed across the bed.

No turn-down service, no chocolates and certainly no champagne. But extra pillows. Not bad, not bad at all.

JoAnn Greco is a freelance writer living in Philadelphia.

"EasyCruise is attracting a young crowd who would not generally have considered cruising with a conventional cruise line," said James Rothnie, a spokesman for the parent corporation. "These 20-, 30- and 40-year-olds do not like the idea of being kept on a ship every evening, which is exactly why EasyCruise gets the young and independently minded crowd."

It is also why the DJ would keep playing songs until 5 a.m. some nights on the Med cruises. The EasyCruise One is now on its winter-season loop in the Caribbean, sailing a weeklong route through April 26. Ports of call are Barbados (the home port), St. Vincent, Martinique, the Grenadines, Grenada and St. Lucia.

Passengers may embark and disembark anywhere along the route, provided they spend at least two consecutive nights onboard. Although pegged at younger singletons (but no one under 14 is allowed to travel), passengers on the Riviera route last summer included many in their 50s and 60s.

Prices for the Caribbean originally were offered at a bargain-basement $16.20 per person per night, based on two people sharing a cabin. But word of mouth and time of year have sold many of the available berths and driven up the price.

A sample itinerary for mid January, for instance, was priced recently per person, per night, at rates varying between $70.80 and $82.80. That does not include airfare to any of the islands or any onboard expenses.

Those prices were high on our Mediterranean cruise: a breakfast of espresso, fresh orange juice and a danish cost about $7.50 each; room-cleaning charges ranged from about $11 for full cabin service to about $3.35 for a change of towels or linens.

IN PORT: In a nod to standard cruise operating procedures, a few shore excursions are offered at each port, but none seemed especially tempting. The company's Web site (www.easycruise.com) has links to tourism bureaus and attractions for each destination to allow passengers to plan before they book.

But in some ports, shops and restaurants close for a few hours in the afternoon or close for the day at 6 p.m. Also, some ports may be a long walk from the city centers or attractions, so it helps to know your transportation options.

Passengers understand that the ship stays in port during lunch and dinner hours so that they can eat those meals on shore.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: To see the itinerary and cabin costs for specific days, and to make reservations, go to easycruise.com.

- Information from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram was used in this report.

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 08:38:03]