NEW YORK, Feb. 2 -- Only a few weeks have passed in the new
year, and already business is booming for the cruise industry, according to
executives at several cruise lines that are members of Cruise Lines
International Association (CLIA).

Historically known as "wave week" in the industry, officials look at the
booking activity during the first three full weeks after the New Year holiday
as a barometer of activity and consumer interest for the year to come.

"Based on the activity our member lines are reporting for January, we're
expecting a solid year for 1998. In fact, CLIA is projecting that 5.5 million
North Americans will cruise this year. That's an increase of seven percent
over last year," says James G. Godsman, president of CLIA, a marketing
organization for 24 major North American cruise lines.

As an example of strong bookings, Orient Lines reports that reservations
during the second week of January were up 200 percent over the same period
last year. Executives say the line's Mediterranean cruises aboard the Marco
Polo account for the increase.

Royal Caribbean International reports a one-day record number of bookings,
21,827, on Jan. 12. The line also reports 29,000 reservations calls that day,
a 14 percent increase over the same day last year.

Carnival Cruise Lines set a single-day reservations record on Jan. 27 when
its reservations department booked 20,773 guests.

Bookings at Windstar Cruises are up 25 percent over last year, with the
reservations department taking about 300 more calls a day than last year.

And, two other cruise lines report increased phone activity in their
reservations department. Holland America Line set a record the first Monday
in January by taking more than 15,000 calls, the most in the company's
history. And Princess Cruises phone volume has increased by 40 percent.

"This increase in bookings illustrates what we've been saying all along --
that interest in cruising continues to grow at a substantial pace," says
Godsman.