Faith-based Cruising

The LA DAILY recently covered the fast-growing segment of Christian and faith-based cruising:
http://www.dailynews.com/business/ci_5514668

Holy seas
Christians convert cruise ships
BARBARA CORREA, Staff writerLA Daily News
Article Last Updated:03/24/2007 05:44:29 PM PDT
Imagine a cruise to Alaska where the casino is converted into a Christian bookstore, the bars serve orange juice but no vodka, and the Vegas-style entertainers are replaced with G-rated comedians and preachers.
Forget the Love Boat. Think Love Thy Neighbor.
Special interests have long taken to the high seas to pursue their passions with like-minded travelers. There are cruises for chocolate lovers, clothing-optional groups, Trekkies, craft enthusiasts and gays and lesbians.
But Christian cruises change the traditional cruise experience more fundamentally than any other niche.
Dry and dark
Responding to demand, cruise promoters are increasingly chartering entire 3,000-bed cruise ships for Christian passengers so they can control the environment onboard. That means more ships are sailing with "darkened" casinos and the bars serve nonalcoholic beverages.
"The great thing with the Christian market is the ability to take a typical Carnival cruise and change that to a Christian theme," said Cherie Weinstein, vice president of group sales and administration at Miami-based Carnival Corp., the world's largest cruise operator.
"They will shut down the casinos, remove all liquor from the bars, or at least move it from display."
They can also make sure showgirls cover up racy outfits and swap out naughty comedians for clean comics. Weinstein said full-ship charters cost more because of lost revenue from the casinos and bars.
But Carnival works with the cruise promoters to make up the losses elsewhere, with sales of books and audio tapes, for example. Full-ship charters still represent a small slice of the overall cruise business, but it's a desirable slice.
"It's a very important portion because it's volume business," said Weinstein.
Most Christian cruises sail out of ports in Florida or the Gulf Coast. But rising demand in California and the Southwest is prompting cruise companies to consider more excursions to Mexico from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, said Lisa Mann of All Christian Cruises, based in Roswell, Ga.
Even when Christian cruise promoters share the ship with other groups or individuals, they tend to do things in a way that stands out. Premier Christian Cruises' Girl's Get-A-Way weekend trip to Cozumel, Mexico, offers morning worship services and a fashion show by Christi's Pure Fashion, a Glendale, Ohio, company that makes modest clothing that encourages women to celebrate their "authentic beauty."
Pilgrimage to leisure
Historically, religious travel has fallen under the category of either educational tours to the Holy Land or mission trips to evangelize and do outreach in disadvantaged areas. But the rise of Christian marketing has resulted in busy religious families looking for a way to relax and maybe worship at the same time.
"There has been a generational change," said David Meier, a Baptist minister in Texas who started International Travel & Tour Consultants 38 years ago.
The company still arranges educational trips to Israel, Egypt and Greece, following in the footsteps of St. Paul. But not as many as it used to.
"There was a time when there was a very heavy demand. There aren't as many people traveling now for that; it's more for leisure and relaxation."
Kevin Wright, a religious market consultant and co-founder of the World Religious Travel Association, said that in the past decade, the religious travel model has shifted from groups traveling to a religious destination with a religious intent to religious people looking for fun and friendship.
The Christian cruise offers a tempting package. For about $599 for a four-night, five-day cruise, travelers of faith can take a real vacation along with some religious enrichment.
Tours to the Holy Land start at about $1,300, not including airfare, said Honnie Korngold, president of Christian Travel Finder, an agency in Sunset Beach.
"It's one thing to fly your family down to Florida and go to the Bahamas and back," said John Sanders, a co-founder of Premier Christian Cruises and vocalist for the Christian band, Brother's Keeper. "It's another thing to take them through other countries and through a dangerous environment."
In the same boat
Family-themed cruises like Premier's "VeggieTales & Friends Cruise" and singles trips are popular subsets of the Christian cruise niche.
Tom Harris, a 52-year-old minister from San Diego, just finished a one-week singles cruise out of Fort Lauderdale to Key West, Cozumel and Belize.
"It's lonely to travel if you're single," he said. "I've been on trips with two or three friends, but it sounded thrilling to be with a group in my age bracket that I might have faith in common with."
He said he didn't meet a significant other on the trip, but he did make some great friends and is already planning his next Christian cruise. Harris' cruise was not a full-ship charter, so he was rubbing shoulders with plenty of non-Christians and made friends with a Jewish couple.
In a show of brotherly love, most tour operators say sharing the whole ship with the larger cruise population - gambling, alcohol, and all - is no problem.
Lorilee Scott's Matter of the Heart Ministries organizes cruises for Christian singles who share space with non-Christians.
"If people say they can't be where there's alcohol, I say this is not the cruise for you. I'm a Southern Baptist, but I know that Jesus drank wine, not grape juice."
She said she wouldn't serve drinks at a Christian-related seminar, and if someone showed up in a bikini, she might ask them to cover up. But there's never a problem, she said.
Her travelers get along great with everyone, she said, because they are not judgmental.
Not just the religion
Indeed, most Christian cruises are organized along secular lines with plenty of music, sporting contests, dancing and other features of standard cruises.
Some of the most popular are floating music festivals, headlined by superstars from the contemporary Christian music world. Christian illusionists and even Christian wrestlers are onboard as well.
Retired Army veteran Ken Bachini and his wife, Michelle, have been on two cruises with artists from K-Love, a contemporary Christian radio network, and they have already signed up for their third this year.
Bachini said he likes being surrounded by music he is already familiar with, and that the Christian environment makes him feel more comfortable traveling with his children.
"The people are so friendly. There's not a lot of vulgar language going on, \ you feel fine having your kids on the boat," said Bachini, who has done both Christian and secular cruises. "You tend to see more rudeness on the non-Christian cruises. The way people are treating one another, it is night and day."
Travel agents and cruise operators say they are girding for even more growth. Effective Jan. 1, 2008, all cruise passengers will be required to have passports to travel to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. (Similar passport rules went into effect for air travelers in January.)
"Travel is a very new frontier for Christians," said Honnie Korngold. "I would say 75 percent of our Mexico cruise had never been on a cruise before. ... With the new passport laws, it will be easier for them to think about traveling abroad."
Skeptic's view
Not everyone is convinced, however, about the new religious travel model. Ronen Paldi, president of Ya'lla Tours, a Portland, Ore., agency that specializes in tours to biblical lands, agrees that the demographic of faith-based travel is changing.
But he doesn't think Christian cruises are where the growth will continue to be. "The cruise is very interesting," he said. "But I think we are reaching its peak right now. What will continue to grow is people going for the real thing and seeing the real sites."
barbara.correa@dailynews.com
(818) 713-3662