Daily Gambling Cruises Folded by Tribe, Ship Owner

SAN DIEGO — After only six weeks, the partnership between a cruise line and an Indian tribe to provide daily gambling cruises from San Diego to Rosarito in Baja California has gone bust.

The 433-foot-long Enchanted Sun has set sail for Asia and a possible sale by its owner, Commodore Holdings Ltd. of Hollywood, Fla.

The cruises were meant to provide gamblers with the chance to play games that had been banned at Indian casinos in California: craps, roulette and Las Vegas-style slot machines.

But by the ship’s maiden cruise in mid-April, California voters had approved a ballot measure largely eliminating that ban, and reservation casinos up and down the state are preparing to introduce Vegas-style gambling.

Lou Phillips, chief executive officer of Viejas Enterprises, said the ship failed to attract enough patrons interested in a six-hour excursion of dining, dancing and gambling.

The ship had a capacity of 850 passengers but ridership averaged only 250. One problem was that Rosarito lacked adequate facilities to allow Enchanted Sun patrons to disembark easily there. There were also complaints about food service and bad television reception in the sports bar.

“Rather than disappoint our guests with a cruise and entertainment experience that is less than that which we wish to provide,” Phillips said, “we decided to suspend the cruises of the Enchanted Sun.”

Although it became apparent that the venture was off to a slow start, the end came unexpectedly. Four security guards hired by the Viejas tribe left the ship in Ensenada on Friday and returned to San Diego as the ship sailed west to be put up for sale.

On Monday, Viejas established a hotline for patrons to receive refunds.

To conform with state law, the ship kept its slot machines, crap tables and roulette wheels locked while inside the 3-mile limit that marks international waters. A bid by the tribe to get Gov. Gray Davis’ support to change a law that prohibits slot machines within state waters had failed.

Along with being a disappointment to the two partners, the flop of the gambling ship is also a blow to struggling Rosarito, where tourism has dropped 25% in the past year because of concerns about rising crime and uncertainty over the Mexican government’s attempts to impose a tourism fee.