Southland's two cruise lines are having swell time.

Business is shipshape and they're building new boats

While most of the nation's tourism industry has been struggling, Los Angeles County's two cruise lines have been doing well enough to announce expansion plans.

Princess Cruises and Crystal Cruises, both of which are based in Century City, are both building new ships and, according to industry experts, have weathered the recession in good shape.

Princess, the better known of the two lines because of its "Love Boat" commercial connection, is building a mega-ship with a capacity of about 2,000 passengers. Most cruise ships have a passenger capacity of about 1,000.

The new Princess mega-ship, scheduled to be launched in 1995, would be one of the largest in the business. By way of comparison, the Queen Elizabeth 2, a Cunard ship, has a passenger capacity of 1,740.

On the other hand, Crystal, an operator of luxury "five-star" cruises, is building a 960-passenger ship -- also scheduled to be launched in 1995.

Crystal, a company that started in the cruise business in 1990, currently operates only one ship, while Princess has nine.

"The fact that they have both ordered new ships tells you something about their operations," said John Clayton, a cruise line consultant based in Rancho Palos Verdes. "If they weren't doing well, they wouldn't have ordered new ships, or they would have canceled the order."

Both Crystal and Princess are private companies owned by huge foreign-based corporations with large reservoirs of capital.

Crystal, whose president is Art Rodney, is owned by NYK Shipping Co. of Japan, a cargo line operator. Princess, whose Century City-based president is Peter Ratcliffe, is owned by Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., a historic shipping line based in England.

Because they are private companies, the cruise lines are not required to reveal financial figures. But industry experts said both companies are probably profitable.

A spokeswoman for the New York-based Cruise Lines International Association, a trade group representing cruise lines in Canada and the United States, said most cruise lines have been immune to the economic downturn that over the last three years has resulted in close to $10 billion in losses for the nation's domestic airlines.

"The (cruise) industry has been averaging a yearly growth rate in passengers of about 10 percent. Only about 7 percent of the population has taken a cruise, but 60 percent say they want to. So, you can see there is a tremendous market out there," said Barbara Weiner, a spokeswoman for the trade group.

Company executives at Princess did not return phone calls for comment. But Rodney, in an interview, said occupancy on Crystal's ship, the Crystal Harmony, has been averaging 90 percent per cruise. In 1992, the Harmony's occupancy was about 85 percent for cruises, which range from a week to 88 days and cost between $2,800 and $13,000 per person.

"We have been growing steadily since 1990, and I can tell you that we made money for the first time last year," he said.

Rodney, a 52-year-old certified public accountant who previously worked for the Big Six accounting firm Price Waterhouse, said the cruise line has gross annual revenue of more than $100 million. He declined to be more specific.

Rodney said the new ship, called the Crystal Symphony, is being built in Finland at a cost of at least $200 million. It is slated to continue the company's position as an operator of luxury itineraries, he said.

Crystal Cruises offers itineraries to destinations around the world.

Industry experts said Princess offers cruise routes and ships that are a peg or two under Crystal's in terms of amenities and service, but above such mass-market operators as Carnival Cruise Lines. Carnival, based in Florida, is considered the "blue-collar" line of the industry, said one industry expert.

With its new Sun Princess ship, Princess will enter the era of the "megaliners" that have a capacity of 2,000 or more passengers.

The Sun Princess will also easily be the biggest Princess ship. The passenger capacity of the company's existing nine ships range from 640 to 1,590. Among those nine ships is the Golden Princess, which the line acquired earlier this year for an undisclosed amount.

Princess was formed in 1965 and was acquired by P&O in 1974. P&O was incorporated in 1840 and has played a continuing role in Britain's power-packed seafaring history.

An industry source estimated that this year Princess will carry about 450,000 passengers, which would make it one of the largest lines in terms of passenger volume. In 1993, cruise lines in Canada and the U.S. will carry about 4.4 million passengers, according to Cruise Lines International Association.

Princess offers cruise itineraries around the world, but specializes in Caribbean, Alaskan and trans-Panama Canal programs.

The company continues to market itself as the "Love Boat" line, after the 1970s television show by that same name. The show was shot aboard Princess ships and one of its stars, Gavin MacLeod, continues to act as a company spokesman.