TRAVELER'S ADVISORY BUSINESS SINKING IN TRAGEDY'S WAKE TRAVELERS HAVE FOUND DEEP DISCOUNTS OFFERED BY PROVIDERS DESPERATE TO FILL AIRLINE SEATS, HOTEL BEDS AND CRUISE SHIP CABINS.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

The tourism industry continued to shudder this past week as droves of travelers opted to stay put in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the East.

For consumers willing to venture out, that has meant a bonanza, as plunging demand resulted in drastically reduced rates for air travel, hotel rooms, cruises and tours.

The cruise industry absorbed fresh hits as troubled Renaissance Cruises shut down, Royal Caribbean Cruises planned layoffs and Princess Cruises docked its oldest ship for six months.

Without warning, Renaissance ordered all 10 ships into the nearest ports overseas within a week of the attacks, arranged to fly passengers home, canceled flights for the next wave of passengers, and said it planned to file for bankruptcy protection.

While the demise of the debt-ridden line was no surprise to analysts, the moves by Royal Caribbean and Princess were the first significant cutbacks announced by industry leaders since the terrorists' onslaught.

Ships with the major cruise lines have been sailing at 90-plus percent capacity since the attacks, which sounds impressive compared to the 50 percent capacity many airlines are experiencing. But cruise rates commonly climb above 100 percent when passengers occupy bunk-bed-style upper berths.

Valencia-based Princess decided to dock its Pacific Princess rather than sail Middle Eastern routes from November through April. The line also scrubbed its annual world cruise and rerouted 10 sailings of its Royal Princess from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean and the Panama Canal.

For now, several lines are canceling European cruises next summer and shifting ships to North America, counting on higher demand closer to home. Still, destinations near New York have also been hurt, as the closing of the port of New York has caused many cruise lines to cancel nearby stops.

Trouble in the cruise industry is expected to last as long as travelers are jittery about air travel, because about half of all cruise passengers fly from home to reach their ships.

Travelers who weren't uneasy about getting out and about have found deep discounts offered by providers desperate to fill airline seats, hotel beds and cruise ship cabins.

``It's just a beginning. There are going to be all kinds of specials,'' said Doc Klotz, spokesman for the Cruises Only travel agency.

Analysts are predicting a rise in air-travel rates as the airlines prepare to shoulder higher costs for security, war-risk insurance and possibly jet fuel, but currently the bargains are stacking up. At mid-week, some coast-to-coast air fares were running as low as $100 round trip, with many of the advance purchase and Saturday night stay-over restrictions waived.

Cruise lines such as Carnival are offering seven-day Caribbean trips for as low as $400 rather than the usual $900.

There are even bargains to be had for those still uncomfortable with the idea of getting in the air again. Amtrak extended a summertime 30-percent-off promotion through mid-December. Dollar Rent A Car, which started offering cars for as little as $20 a day to help travelers stranded when the airlines were grounded, said it will continue its discounts through Dec. 21. When a recent caller to Budget balked at the quoted rate for a three-day rental out of the Los Angeles area, the reservations agent immediately knocked 15 percent off.

Those who are still uneasy about traveling and want to seek refunds for travel booked before Sept 11 will find that many airlines, cruise lines and tour operators temporarily altered their normal cancellation restrictions, but most have returned to their customary policies. Many offered credit for future trips, provided the trips were taken within a certain window of time.

Even travelers who purchased travel-insurance policies may not be covered. Policies offer refunds under specific conditions; they may not apply in the case of terrorist attacks ... or cold feet in the wake of them.

In other developments in the travel industry:

Las Vegas: Occupancy and room rates appear to be inching back up after two consecutive ghost-town weekends on the Strip. Occupancy, which had plummeted to about half of normal two weeks ago, climbed to an estimated 73 percent last weekend. (Normal at this time of year is 95 percent.)

Room rates are also starting to creep up, according to an informal survey of 11 properties conducted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The newspaper found that the average rate for 11 randomly selected properties was $117 for this weekend, up from the $111 average of the previous weekend. The normal range for this time of year would be $145 to $150, according to Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor, a casino industry watchdog publication.

San Francisco: Hotel occupancy was running between 30 percent and 40 percent this past week, according to Gary Carr of PKF Consulting, which tracks hotel occupancy worldwide. Last September, the city's occupancy level was 88.5 percent. Tourism, San Francisco's no. 1 industry, had already been suffering as a result of the dot-com bust and a weakened business-travel market related to the struggling economy.

Canada: Passage across the 5,525-mile land border that Canada shares with the United States has been affected as all motorists and passengers are now routinely checked for identities at crossing points. Truckers have been subjected to the most delays. Canada's airports, meanwhile, have adopted many of the same security restrictions instituted at American airports.

Great Britain: The British Tourism Authority predicts that the country, a major destination for U.S. tourists, could lose some $1.7 billion because of fallout from the attacks combined with a slump stemming from the recent foot-and-mouth outbreak. British Airways late last week announced major cuts in services, axing 190 of its weekly flights.