Princess Cruises

Mike Matthews of Rancho Palos Verdes checks out a brochure for the new 116,000-gross-ton Diamond Princess, the largest cruise ship based at the Port of Los Angeles, Princess Cruises says. The 2,670-passenger vessel, shown above, last weekend began weeklong Mexican Riviera cruises. It shifts to Seattle in May for Alaska voyages, returning to L.A. in the fall. (800) 774-6237, www.princess.com.

Don't look now, but an armada of ever-bigger cruise ships is steaming over the horizon. And there are bigger ones just behind them. Passengers, don your walking shoes. Cunard Line's record-breaking Queen Mary 2 -- all 150,000 gross tons of it, 147 feet longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall -- will hit the water in January with a capacity of 2,620 passengers and 1,253 crew.

Shareholders of P&O Princess Cruises overwhelmingly approved the company's $5.5-billion agreement to be acquired by Carnival Corp. Starting today, P&O and Carnival will operate as a dual-listed company. Its shares will trade on the London Stock Exchange as Carnival PLC, and on the NYSE as Carnival Corp.

Carnival Corp. agreed to buy P&O Princess Cruises Ltd. for $7.3 billion in stock and assumed debt, extending its lead as the largest cruise line operator and capping an almost yearlong, three-way battle for the British company. In buying P&O Princess, Miami-based Carnival tops hometown rival Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., the No. 2 cruise line company, gaining more ships offering mid-priced vacations to complement its lower-end Carnival Cruise ships and upscale Holland America line.

Call it the Princess' prerogative. After spurning Carnival Corp.'s aggressive courting for more than a year in favor of another, P&O Princess Cruises may now want to change its mind. On Friday, U.S. regulators cleared the way for both Carnival, the world's biggest cruise line, and No. 2 Royal Caribbean Cruises to pursue their respective bids for the No. 3 company, and the sought-after Princess quickly considered making the most of either deal, saying Carnival's didn't look so bad after all.

TRAVEL * P&O Princess Cruises said Carnival Corp.'s hostile $4.1-billion bid is now more attractive than a proposed merger with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. after both transactions were cleared earlier in the day by U.S. antitrust enforcers. The announcement came after the Federal Trade Commission said it had cleared both proposed combinations on a 3-2 vote. Either deal would combine two of the world's top three cruise lines. Carnival is the largest operator in the U.S.

Antitrust staff at the Federal Trade Commission recommended that the agency not oppose the acquisition of P&O Princess Cruises by either Carnival Corp. or Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., sources said. Even though either deal would reduce the number of competitors in the cruise business, the FTC's competition bureau told the agency's five commissioners that the companies would be unable to raise prices as a result, one source said. The final decision requires a vote by the commission.

Two consumer advocacy groups urged antitrust enforcers to challenge merger plans involving the three leading cruise lines. P&O Princess Cruises' proposal to combine with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., and Royal Caribbean's hostile bid to acquire Princess would reduce competition and particularly harm retirees on fixed incomes, the groups said. The American Antitrust Institute raised its opposition in a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy Muris.

Princess Cruises is dipping its toes into waters both warm and cold with two new destinations in its 2003-04 season. The line will begin its first regular round-trip Hawaiian cruises, sailing out of Los Angeles on a 15-day itinerary that will call on Honolulu; Hilo and Kona on the Big Island; Lahaina on Maui; and Nawiliwili on Kauai. There will be seven departures of the Regal Princess between Nov. 22, 2003, and March 21, 2004, including a Dec. 22 holiday voyage.

Striding up the gangway, I knew I was boarding the original Love Boat of television fame--the Pacific Princess, that gently aging, exceedingly diminutive (at least by today's standards) ship that had been instrumental in popularizing cruising a quarter-century ago. On the other hand, I knew I wasn't doing any such thing. I knew Capt. Merrill Stubing (played by Gavin MacLeod, who remains a Princess Cruises spokesman) wouldn't be at the gangway to greet me as I boarded.