`TITANIC' TIDE LIFTS CRUISE LINES; CRUISES SAIL ON TO HIGH TIDE.

Byline: Edwin McDowell The New York Times

Colleen Murphy of New York and John Brady of Parlin, N.J., were planning a honeymoon in Fiji or Paris after a wedding in September. But about six weeks ago the couple - she is 27, he 32 - saw ``Titanic.'' They quickly changed their minds and booked their first cruise, a 12-day Mediterranean trip aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line's venerable Norway.

``It was such a romantic movie,'' Murphy said. ``It made the idea of a cruise irresistible.''

Romantic? Well, yes. But at a certain point, movie fans might recall, formal dinners and ballroom dancing gave way to a cinematic Armageddon of crashing chandeliers, flooded cabins and passengers plunging into the freezing water. And of the 2,200 passengers having that grand romantic time, more than 1,500 died.

No matter. For potential cruise passengers, the fictional love story is outshining the factual 1912 tragedy. Most big cruise lines report stronger-than-usual bookings this year. While other factors are at play - such as the strong economy and eight new cruise ships scheduled to ply the seas this year - ``Titanic'' has clearly given the industry a lift.

Holland America's bookings are running 15 percent ahead of last year, and the Cruise Lines International Association, the marketing arm for most North American cruise lines, is projecting a 7 percent increase for 1998.

``Friends and neighbors who never, ever asked me how the industry was doing now want to know all about cruising,'' said Arthur Sbarsky, executive vice president of Norwegian Cruise Line.

The average age of cruise passengers has been falling steadily - it is now 44, down from 56 a decade ago - but because of the movie, there is a surge of interest from travelers in their 20s.

Heather Costa, 25, a student at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., was undecided about where to spend spring break this year until she saw ``Titanic.'' Then she took a five-day Caribbean tour from Miami aboard the Carnival Ecstasy.

``About six of us,'' she said, ``wanted to get to the front of the ship so we could `fly' '' - mimicking actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. ``We never could get to it,'' a disappointed Costa said. On most cruise ships, passengers are not permitted at the bow, an area laden with ropes, winches and cranes.

Not that cruise fans are oblivious to safety. ``Are there enough lifeboats?'' said Diane Hockensmith, identifying the question she most frequently hears while she handles bookings at the Cruise Shop in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Gerry O'Brien of Cherry Hill, N.J., who with her husband, Mike, will be taking her maiden voyage this summer, made no bones about her plans to inspect the lifeboats before she leaves the harbor aboard Princess Cruises' Sun Princess, bound for Alaska. ``The first thing I'm going to do when I get aboard is count the lifeboats,'' she said. But she also saw and enjoyed the movie.

Not everybody enjoyed the movie. ``As I was sitting in the theater watching the Titanic go down, I was thinking I will never, ever take a cruise as long as I live,'' said Jessica Miller, 27, of Philadelphia, who works for a travel management company.

While many bookings inspired by ``Titanic'' are to warm-weather climes, passengers seem to have no apprehension about crossing the North Atlantic, where the supposedly unsinkable Titanic had its fateful encounter with the iceberg. On the contrary, the QE2's first three crossings of the North Atlantic this year, beginning April 15, are sold out, and bookings are strong for 16 others. Peter Bates, a spokesman for Cunard, said the movie undoubtedly enhanced the popularity of the QE2's crossings. Cunard bought the White Star Line, which owned the Titanic, in 1934.

``The cruise industry was very concerned about the movie at first,'' said Coast Guard Capt. James Garrett. ``But they found it very effective PR.''

Today's cruise ships cannot match the opulence of the Titanic, making some industry officials worry that newcomers might be disappointed. New, ultramodern ships have soaring atriums, deluxe spas and theaters bigger than some on Broadway - but not the exquisite crystal, fine china and well-appointed drawing rooms of Hollywood's version.

That opulence was costly: a first-class ticket on the Titanic cost $4,350, equivalent to $87,000 in today's dollars, according to the American Society of Travel Agents. Third-class passengers, the ones who found gates between them and the lifeboats, paid $30, or about $600 in 1998 dollars.

But the surprise factor is cruising's unexpected lift from a movie that ends with a veritable sea of floating bodies and the ``unsinkable'' pride of the White Star Line at the bottom of the ocean, broken in two.

``I don't think anybody in the industry anticipated the movie would be this great for the cruise business,'' said Tom Jackson, owner of the World Travel Bureau in Santa Ana, Calif. ``In fact, a lot of people were holding their breath, expecting the worst. But because it romanticized cruising, people are not hung up on the tragedy.''

Garrett, a safety official for the Coast Guard, ticked off a half-dozen safety features that did not exist 86 years ago. They include radar, fire alarms, sprinklers and land-based computers that can detect water leaks aboard ships at sea. Crews are required to get more safety training.

And icebergs are of scant concern - not because those mountains of ice have been rendered harmless, but because they are detectable by radar, and the few cruise ships that venture anywhere near them give them wide berth.

Only after the Titanic disaster were cruise ships required to carry enough lifeboats and inflatable life rafts for every passenger on board. The Sun Princess, for example, which can accommodate 3,196, including the crew, carries lifeboats and life rafts for 3,996 people. Life rafts aboard cruise ships, incidentally, can each hold up to 100 people. They also carry food, beverages and a radio, and they are supposedly impervious to tipping over in high seas.

Some things, however, have not changed since 1912. In keeping with tradition that women and children be evacuated first, some cruise lines - including Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line - request that the men stand behind the women and children during drills.

But tradition is apparently all that prompts the request. ``We've looked to see where it says women and children first,'' Garrett said, ``and we can't find it anywhere in maritime law.''

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Photo

PHOTO After seeing the movie ``Titanic,'' Colleen Murphy of New York and John Brady of Parlin, N.J., are planning a honeymoon cruise.

Don Hogan Charles/New York Times