Travel: And Now–the Boatel

In all the world there is no motel like the Bilu. In Naples one day last week, several hundred tourists drove in and parked their cars, carted what they wanted into their cabins, fed the kids at the cafeteria and tucked them in, downed a drink or two at the bar or lived it up a little at the nightclub. Next day they gathered around the well-bikinied pool. The unique thing about it was that they were all at sea—literally. The Bilu is a motel that makes a 62-hour, 1,200-mile voyage twice a week between Italy and Israel.

The increasingly motorized world is increasingly taken with the idea of driving itself through foreign countries in the family car, and Bilu, the boatel, makes this possible as never before. Travelers drive their cars on board and park them themselves, have complete access to them at any time they choose during the voyage. And the price is surprisingly right. A family of four, plus car, can make the trip between Naples and Haifa for little more than $350 one way. A single person can do it for as little as $120 with a car, $75 without one.

Secret of this bargain-basement luxury is, first, that all food is served buffet style and its cost is not included in the fare; a passenger may eat and drink as lightly as his budget or digestion permits. Secondly, he pays for his berth in the single-class cabins (with toilet and shower) on a sliding scale of privacy ranging from $10 (one way) in a cabin for four to $40 for a cabin all to oneself.

Bilu’s capacity is 120 cars and 528 passengers. Since the end of April, when the $6,500,000 twin-Diesel, stabilized and air-conditioned Bilu got under way, it has carried 10,000 passengers and over 1,000 cars—a success story that has set its owners to rushing the completion of a sister ship, the Nili, scheduled to be named this month. When the tourist traffic to Israel slows down in the fall, Bilu is scheduled to begin plying between Miami and Nassau, while Nili starts running between Southampton in England and Algeciras in Spain, with a stop at Le Havre.

Already on the drawing boards is a 20,000-ton transatlantic boatel with a capacity of 240 cars and 1,000 passengers, which the company hopes will be making five-day runs between Europe and the U.S. by 1967—at a basic round-trip fare of $225, including car and berth but not food. Minimum in-season price on a regular ship with car: $950.