Cruising back to those tuneful days of yesteryear

Does time travel to your glorious youth sound like fun?

Philadelphia-based party planner Alan Rubens could have your tickets to ride for a hop back to Rydell High maybe, or an amble down country roads. A groovy trip through the psychedelic '60s, or a multiday haul on the "Soul Train."

Instead of rail or DeLorean, most of the journey will take place on the high seas, on a nostalgia-packed music cruise featuring some durable stars of those bygone, but not forgotten, eras.

"The music cruise business is going great," Rubens said recently from his home office in Wynnewood. "There's a cruise out there for almost any type of music fan, from Americana to metal, and most are doing very well. You get all the pleasures of a traditional boat cruise plus an onboard music festival with more acts than you could possibly see in a year."

Rubens masterminds these fests for StarVista Live, a division of the company that sells Time/Life music collections. Its tune-tour competition includes packagers such as Sixthman, Cloud 9 Adventures, Flying Dutchman Travel, and Jenkintown-based Rose Tours & Travel.

Collectively, "themed cruise" promoters now grab a "$150 million to $200 million and growing" slice of the $17.8 billion global cruise business, a recent StarVista Live study found.

"We like to think our period-themed cruises are different, because we add a lot of special parties that also take you back into the era," said Rubens, whose cruises sail from Florida to the Caribbean. "You wouldn't believe all the suitcases full of vintage clothing that people haul on board."

Four of the five oldies-but-goodies music cruises he has plotted for the winter 2016-17 season are at or near the sellout mark, he said. The first "Rock and Romance" boat ride is "off to a good start."

A seasoned local music man and chair of the Philadelphia Music Alliance, Rubens first scored here in the 1970s as cofounder of the R&B- and disco-focused WMOT record label.

Later, he became a master merchandiser for teen pop stars, then a record packager for QVC and Time/Life's "exclusively available through this TV offer" classic hits collections, steering the latter as vice president and executive producer for Fairfax, Va.-based parent company Direct Holdings Global.

But it's no secret that the CD business has been steadily unwinding for several years. So at an off-site DHG strategy session, Rubens threw out the idea of evolving one of his biggest-selling bundles - the 1950s- and '60s-themed "Malt Shop Memories" - into a sea adventure.

"To me, music is about memories," he said. "When you listen, you remember where you were, what you were doing. So why not translate that into a life experience on the boat, with great performances by acts of the era and also lots of special events, from hula hoop and trivia contests to a sock hop?"

Rubens knew he was on to something big during the first "Malt Shop Memories" cruise seven years ago, when participants "literally broke into tears" at their second senior prom, and then when half of the 2,000-plus guests immediately signed up for the next year's cruise and the same cabins because they had bonded with their neighbors.

"These things are like a family reunion," said singer Bobby Rydell, a "Malt Shop Memories" cruise regular. (An already-sold-out cruise Oct. 30 to Nov. 6 will include Frankie Valli, Dionne Warwick, Ronnie Spector, the Lettermen, and a couple dozen more.)

"It's fun for the artists, too," Rydell said. "You only have to do a show or two a couple days. Otherwise, you relax, hang out with other performers, and mingle with the fans at autograph, photo, and Q&A sessions led by cruise emcee Jerry Blavat."

The second annual "Flower Power Cruise," scheduled for Feb. 27 to March 4 (almost sold out) will present Micky Dolenz, Spencer Davis, Vanilla Fudge, the Zombies, the Yardbirds, Three Dog Night, the Family Stone (sans Sly), Rare Earth, the Lovin' Spoonful, and Eric Burdon, a special Rubens score.

Also on the company's schedule: that "Rock and Romance" cruise March 11-16 with Peter Frampton, America, Little River Band, and Christopher Cross; the sold-out "Country Music Cruise" Jan. 27 to Feb. 3, with Vince Gill, Charley Pride, and the Oak Ridge Boys headlining; and a "Soul Train Cruise" March 4-11 with Kool & the Gang, Chaka Khan, the Commodores, Chic featuring Nile Rodgers, and Peabo Bryson (87 percent booked).

Some cruises - take the electronic dance music-themed Holy Ship! - pull a pumped, up-all-night crowd, but the audience for music voyages is "mostly mature, because they're expensive endeavors," said Sean Mscisz, event coordinator for Rose Tours & Travels.

The Jenkintown tour packager puts together short cruises and "resort takeovers" with the likes of New Kids on the Block, Rick Springfield, Matchbox 20, and Weezer.

"There's no longer a stigma among performers that you only play cruise ships at the end of your career," Mscisz said.

Two-to-a-cabin travelers pay $1,300 to $3,000 each (including fees/taxes) for ship travel, entertainment, and food, and are likely to rack up a daily bar tab of $100 to $200 - a big profit zone for the ship and sometimes the headliner talents, Billboard magazine says.

takiffj@phillynews.com

215-854-5960 @JTakiff