In 1972, Barney started his next business venture: the first Mediterranean cruise line, Royal Cruise Line. The first ship, the Golden Odyssey, went into service in 1974 and was an instant success, partly because INTRAV itself chartered it for the first year. A Russian crew once confessed to a cruise director that they didn't know how to cook the turkey for Thanksgiving. INTRAV's staff did it themselves.
Nine years later, in 1981, Barney founded Clipper Cruise Line — smaller vessels in coastal and expedition waters. The line eventually ran the Newport Clipper, the Nantucket Clipper, the Yorktown Clipper, the Clipper Adventurer, and the Clipper Odyssey. Clipper Adventurer had an ice-hardened hull and could take small-ship passengers on 15- to 23-day expeditions through Antarctic waters, bringing them close to penguin colonies that the large cruise companies couldn't reach. In winter, three of the ships ran yachtsman cruises in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands to coves big ships couldn't access, with guest lecturers — marine biologists, geologists — instead of lounge acts.
Our expedition vessel Clipper Adventurer carried people… into Antarctica. It had an ice-hardened hull that was strong enough to handle the terrain.
— On the Clipper AdventurerThe Suitcase Lawsuit
After a tragic aviation disaster, Barney was named in what was at the time the biggest lawsuit in history — a $2 billion case against Boeing, Pan Am, KLM, the Spanish government, and Royal Cruise Line. Barney had nothing to do with the crash. It still took three months for him to be released from the suit.
Selling Royal, Keeping Clipper
By November 1989, Royal Cruise Line had three ships — Golden Odyssey, Royal Odyssey, and Crown Odyssey — and the cruise industry had a new economic reality. Ships had to get much larger to stay competitive. Barney's was a boutique business. The business was becoming Las Vegas, he writes. He sold Royal Cruise Line to Norwegian Cruise Line. They closed Royal and rebranded its ships.
Clipper remained his alone until 1997, when Barney sold it to INTRAV. The ships were too small to make a great profit, he explains, but we were the only small cruise company making any money, and it all had to do with marketing. To make it in the small-ship business, you had to market like crazy. That, of course, was my specialty.
I began to realize that you had to build much larger ships to stay competitive. This wasn't the business we had started 17 years earlier. We were a “boutique” line, and the business was becoming “Las Vegas.”
— Selling Royal, 1989Key Facts from Chapter Eight
- Royal Cruise LineFounded 1972; first Mediterranean cruise line
- First shipMS Golden Odyssey, in service 1974
- Clipper Cruise LineFounded 1981; Newport / Nantucket / Yorktown / Adventurer / Odyssey
- Antarctic capacityClipper Adventurer — ice-hardened hull, 15–23-day expeditions
- Sold RoyalNovember 1989 to Norwegian Cruise Line (three ships)
- Sold Clipper1997, to INTRAV