TAKE A CRUISE TO TALK TO HOME

Take a cruise to escape it all? No. A survey commissioned by Communications Satellite Corporation found that 85 percent of cruise travelers today have left or would leave instructions on how to be reached on board ship.

Satellite communications have been available to seagoing vessels since 1976. Nowadays, passengers aboard more than 90 cruise ships can communicate with shore locations via telephone, facsimile, or telex, either from their staterooms or from public credit-card telephones elsewhere on the ship, the company says.