Cruising With The Stars On This Celebrity-Themed Adventure, Everyone Is In The Same Boat

“Oh my goodness, it’s Moses!” squeals a passenger as she sees actor/icon Charlton Heston in the ship’s restaurant.

Like most of the other passengers on Professor Richard Brown’s theme cruise, “Salute to the Silver Screen,” her reaction was delighted disbelief to discover that she is sailing with film stars (and Academy Award winners) Charlton Heston (“BenHur”), Richard Dreyfuss (“The Goodbye Girl”), Rita Moreno (“West Side Story”), and Cliff Robertson (“Charly”), as well as Tony Award winners Jerry Orbach (“Promises, Promises”), and Barnard Hughes (“Da).

“Mr. Heston, I’m such a fan; may I take a photo with you?” asks a golden-haired grandmother.

“Of course,” comes Heston’s smiling reply; after all, how challenging is a respectful fan when you’ve already painted the Sistine Chapel, created France, rescued Khartoum, and parted the Red Sea?

Professor Brown - whose “Reflections on the Silver Screen” television interviews are favorites on the American Movie Classics Network - chose this ship to celebrate the 100th anniversary of American film. He also invited the participating stars, in a selection process that is trickier than you’d suspect.

Brown explains: “The most important single element - if you put aside celebrity, stardom, and how gifted they are - none of them count for anything if you don’t find someone who is comfortable in the cruise environment.” In other words, we’re all in the same boat, and - though Silver Cloud carried us in ultra-luxurious comfort for 11 days from Portugal to Spain, Italy, and Greece - how compatible is the mix of celebrities and regular cruisers?

In most respects, it all works well. Perhaps it is the intimacy of the 296-passenger Silver Cloud that gradually transforms guests’ initial intimidation (awe? shyness?) around stars into a more casual and congenial camaraderie.

Richard Dreyfuss observes: “People are not intrusive, they’re quite respectful and kind.” Jerry Orbach admits to some early reservations: “I was a little nervous … I thought everyone would be running after us for autographs … but these people are elegant, fun to talk to, charming, and respectful.”

And so are the stars. Dreyfuss enters the Panorama Lounge for his meet-the-guests interview wearing a patch behind his ear - presumably hoping to forestall a close encounter of the seasick kind. When a guest asks what Dreyfuss would do if he were not an actor, he confesses that ever since he was a kid, he had three ambitions: “to be an actor/movie star, to be a senator from California or New York, or to teach history … preferably someplace that allows me to make millions of dollars teaching.”

Dreyfuss is smart, funny, and (on the subject of an actor’s life) unexpectedly revealing - so much so that fellow cruisemate Cliff Robertson stands after Dreyfuss’ interview and applauds “one of the quickest hours I’ve heard … with firstclass insight and great articulation.”

Jerry Orbach, who appears in the TV series “Law & Order,” jokes during his interview about learning his craft and the long years he spent “paying his dues.” (Rita Moreno calls out: “Ladies and gentlemen, you’re witnessing the end of an era … here’s a song-and-dance man who’s a great actor … a dying breed, a dinosaur.” Jerry laughs and says “and that’s coming from another dinosaur.” Suddenly Silver Cloud has become “Jurassic Park.”)

The stars attend each other’s interviews showing, perhaps, that they are fans, too. Orbach says: “I’m getting to know movie stars as people.” And, in fact, that is the essential appeal for the rest of us cruisers.

Marge, the delightful guest who greeted Charlton Heston as “Moses,” relishes each easy encounter with the sailing stars. After she secures Heston’s autograph in the special program book provided for each guest, Heston later spots her at the Captain’s cocktail party with some of her new shipmates.

“Do you know,” Marge says, “he came over to my table and said hello to my friends … it was nice … he didn’t need to do that.”

Most of the stars are accompanied by family members. Rita Moreno, for example, is traveling with her husband, daughter, and son-in-law-to-be. Moreno thinks that the Film Festival at Sea idea is “inspired,” adding: “Here the passengers shake hands, are enthused, and don’t treat you like an object … and I never get to catch up with my colleagues and that’s fun, too.” In fact, the stars spend as much time schmoozing with each other as they do with other guests.

Virtually none of the guests with whom I spoke knew that this sailing was a special theme cruise.

Marge did, though, and that’s a major reason she wanted to be on board. “Think about it,” she says. “I got to work out in the gym with Rita Moreno, and I talked to the other stars and their families, and I took lots of pictures with them.

“Last year I went to Spain and Portugal and I can’t even remember that trip … but with this cruise my friends at home will be sick of hearing me talk about it.”

No wonder. In addition to the interviews and question-and-answer sessions hosted by Brown, there are several “performance pieces.”

Charlton Heston tells a biblical story about Moses in a reading that is stirring and spellbinding. To an appreciative audience that gives him a standing ovation, he calls out: “You can’t beat good writing.” There is also a mini-cabaret set of sophisticated songs from an electrifying Rita Moreno. Spontaneous, but equally enjoyable, performances come from Cliff Robertson, who reads his own emotional essay on the death of a dog named Bingo. And Jerry Orbach casually takes the microphone, in the ship’s late-night nook, and sings his haunting signature song, “Try to Remember.” For many onboard, these moments might be hard to forget.

As an enhancement to the live onboard program, Silver Cloud’s closed-circuit, four-channel TV system is programmed by Brown with: “25 of the best feature films ever made”; 31 interviews with film stars and directors culled from Brown’s TV series; three different feature films that illustrate and illuminate the work of the respective stars on board (you think it isn’t a thrill to see “Ben-Hur” and then chat with “him” in the library?); and a marathon 60-hour block of programming which helps chronicle the history of American film.

All of this plus splendid food, attentive service, elegant stateroom-suites (most with verandas), terrific international buffets on deck, inviting ports and aerobics!

It probably helps that all of this glitter, show biz and banter “with more stars than there are in heaven” is presented on the ultra-luxurious, all-suite Silver Cloud which, in its own right, might be considered a showstopper.

Rita: “This ship is wonderful … the food is really first cabin … I don’t want to get off …”

Interviews and in-suite programming notwithstanding, there were casual and perhaps even more enduring memories of the stars on Silver Cloud. Personally, I’ll remember Rita, Cliff and Jerry (after 11 days of cruising together, we’re on a first-name basis) jumping up to join a folkloric group from Malaga in a spirited flamenco … and Barnard Hughes acknowledging that he had gotten to know several passengers as well in a few weeks as he had some of his apartment building neighbors in 25 years … and Charlton Heston, walking amid Agrigento’s ancient “Valley of the Temples” and being asked by his young grandson, Jack, “Pa, are these as old as Egypt?”

“No, Jack,” came the reply, “Egypt is older.”

But, of course, “Moses” should know.

ILLUSTRATION: Staff illustration by A. Heitner; Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SAILING WITH THE STARS With or without movie stars, Silver Cloud is a very nice place to be - particularly inasmuch as cruise fare includes: round-trip economy air transportation, pre-cruise hotel stay (if applicable), free alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, all gratuities, port charges, transfers, porterage and a special “Silversea Experience” shore excursion. The cost per person for our 11-day Mediterranean cruise began at $6,200 per person, based on double occupancy. For information, contact any travel agent. For information on future film cruises organized by Professor Brown, contact: The International Center for Film and Television, 575 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10011. Sail with the Stars Inc., is organizing a two-week cruise of Broadway stars next month that leaves Jan. 2 from Florida and sails 1,000 miles up the Amazon River through the Brazilian rain forest. Scheduled guests include Sandy Duncan and Jean Stapleton. Prices begin at $3,950 per person, based on double occupancy. For information, call (800) 752-9732.