The “Vamps at Sea” cruise is scheduled for late June, which
is a time of near-constant daylight in the far north.
“They’ve got curtains and they can block everything out — so
it can be as dark as we want it,” said organizer Linda Wolf, president of Los
Angeles-based agency Cruises Cruises Cruises Inc, who is herself a fan of the
vampire genre.
Cruise groups have been organized around myriad interests,
with everyone from bird lovers to marathon runners getting their own boat
trips.
Still, the Vamps at Sea cruise promises to be special, said
Buckwheat Donahue, executive director of the convention and visitors bureau in
Skagway, a historic gold rush town that is on most cruise itineraries.
“This is going to be fun,” Donahue said. “I can’t imagine
what people are going to be dressed like coming off the boat.”
The group will sail on a Holland America ship, the
Zuiderdam, and will hit the usual ports of call such as Juneau, Glacier Bay and
Ketchikan.
But there will be other special features, including a
late-night costume ball, a scavenger hunt and a vampire talent show, Wolf said.
There is also a literary angle to the cruise, with vampire-genre authors
scheduled to speak, including a relative of the late “Dracula” writer Bram
Stoker, according to the cruise website.
Themed cruises and organized cruise groups are becoming
increasingly popular, Donahue said.
