CRUISE LINES' NEW BREED OF MEGASHIPS HEADS FOR HIGH SEAS.

Byline: Susanne Hopkins Daily News Travel Editor

Cruise lines are building new ships in a big way these days.

Literally. A new breed of ocean liner - variously dubbed mega-ship, grand ship or giant of the sea - debuted in December with Princess Cruises' 77,000-ton, 1,950-passenger Sun Princess. At 14 stories high and three football fields in length, it is the biggest passenger ship afloat.

The behemoth, which has garnered glowing reviews for being intimate despite its size, was followed by Celebrity Cruises' Century, a 70,000-ton, 1,750-passenger ship outfitted with a vast variety of state-of-the-art, on-board entertainment systems.

And the Sun Princess and the Century are only the beginning. Several cruise lines have ordered mostly bigger - and better - ocean liners for delivery.

"The days of ships with small, little portholes are long gone," said James Lida, manager of corporate communications for Royal Caribbean.

Why this trend to larger ships? It's true that cruising is a popular mode of travel. Until 1994, the cruise industry was growing at a rate of about 10 percent a year, largely because of new ships entering service, said representatives of the Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA). Since then, however, growth has been about 3.4 percent a year.

Princess Cruises' Rick James, senior vice president of sales and corporate relations and CLIA board member, said the trend to larger ships is not so much because of a demand for cruises, but in answer to passengers' wants.

"As we looked toward the future, what we saw was, the passengers of the future - and of today - wanted more options," he said. "We designed the ship from the inside out. We didn't decide to build a big ship."

To give passengers more choices in dining, entertainment and activity - two theaters rather than one, for example, two smaller dining rooms rather than one larger hall - the space had to increase, James said.

Voila! The birth of the mega-ship.

Through 1999, 20 ships are expected to be launched - and only a few are in the midsize category. The lineup for 1996 includes:

Carnival Cruise Lines' Inspiration - 70,000 tons, 2,040 passengers (March).

Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas - 69,000 tons, 1,804 passengers (March).

Holland America Line's Veendam - 55,000 tons, 1,266 passengers (May).

Costa Cruises' CostaVictoria - 75,000 tons, 1,950 passengers (June).

Carnival Cruise Lines' Destiny - 100,000 tons, 2,600 passengers (fall).

Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas - 74,000 tons, 1,950 passengers (November).

Celebrity Cruises' Galaxy - sister ship to the Century with an equivalent tonnage and passenger load (December).

Next year promises to be just as busy, with Princess Cruises scheduled to launch its Dawn Princess, a sister ship to the Sun Princess with the same tonnage and passenger load, and the Grand Princess - a whopping 104,000 tons that will accommodate 2,600 passengers. Celebrity's as yet unnamed sister ship to the Century and the Galaxy will debut. Royal Caribbean will launch two ships, the Enchantment of the Seas at 74,000 tons with a passenger load of 1,950, and the 75,000-ton, 2,000-passenger Rhapsody of the Seas.

And both Costa Cruises and Holland America Line will premiere ships which are yet to be named. Costa's ship will weigh in at 78,000 tons and carry 2,100 passengers; Holland America's will weigh 62,000 tons and carry 1,320 passengers.

"The type of ships that we are building today is enhancing the cruise experience," said Royal Caribbean's Lida. "It (the larger ship) appeals to a greater variety of people with a greater variety of interests."

And the new ships are not only bigger, they are faster, thus allowing longer stops in ports, he said. Legend of the Seas, for example, cruises at more than 24 knots (nearly 28 mph), 25 percent faster than the regular cruise ship's 18 knots, Lida noted.

While the mega-ship seems the wave of the future, there will always be room for the smaller ships, said James, whose Princess company also owns the 624-passenger, 20,000-ton Island Princess. "Smaller ships allow you to go into some of the boutique type of ports," he said. "So you can create some interesting itineraries."

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Photo Princess Cruises' Sun Princess is the world's largest cruise ship. J. Albert Diaz/Miami Herald