Water Everywhere--and Plenty to Drink

Magazine publishers have landed a new way to shore up revenue: send the writers on vacation, and get people to pay to go with them. Inspired in part by the conservative National Review, which has dabbled in marketing vacations at sea since 1994, both the leftist Nation and the bookish New Yorker recently christened cruise-and-lecture ventures. Cosmopolitan and Town & Country are also thinking about casting off. Here's a quick guide to the seafaring 'zines.

MAGAZINE THE NATION

SHIP M.S. Veendam

ROUTE Florida-Caribbean

DURATION 7 days (12/6 to 12/13/98)

SPOKESMAN'S DESCRIPTION "All the lefties in one place"

BIG-NAME SPEAKERS INCLUDE... Alex Cockburn, Jim Hightower, Christopher Hitchens, Molly Ivins, George McGovern, Katha Pollitt, Calvin Trillin

PUNDITS TO PASSENGERS 1 to 30

ENTERTAINMENT Impeachment hearings on CNN; Guy Lombardo tunes at midnight

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS A seminar on 1998 election results

COST $1,800 to $2,900

[MAGAZINE] NATIONAL REVIEW

[SHIP] M.S. Rotterdam VI

[ROUTE] London-St. Petersburg-Copenhagen

[DURATION] 12 days (7/18 to 7/30/99)

[SPOKESMAN'S DESCRIPTION] "Bill Buckley and a host of cold war heroes"

[BIG-NAME SPEAKERS INCLUDE...] Richard Allen, Bill Buckley, Alexander Haig, Edwin Meese, Sam Nunn, Caspar Weinberger

[PUNDITS TO PASSENGERS] 1 to 30

[ENTERTAINMENT] Cognac and cigars by the pool; side trip to Checkpoint Charlie

[OTHER HIGHLIGHTS] A cake shaped like the Berlin Wall

[COST] $4,999 to $17,999

[MAGAZINE] THE NEW YORKER

[SHIP] Crystal Symphony

[ROUTE] Los Angeles-Lisbon

[DURATION] 99 days (1/18 to 4/28/99)

[SPOKESMAN'S DESCRIPTION] "The Four Seasons of cruises meets the Four Seasons of magazines"

[BIG-NAME SPEAKERS INCLUDE...] Kurt Andersen, John Lahr, Susan Orlean, Lillian Ross

[PUNDITS TO PASSENGERS] 1 to 900

[ENTERTAINMENT] Bridge lessons; Bally's Casino

[OTHER HIGHLIGHTS] A seminar on the basics of using a computer

[COST] $42,000 to $146,000