Honeymooning Tom, Katie cruise around the Maldives

COLOMBO, Nov 22 (Reuters) Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are spending their honeymoon yachting around the Maldives, a source in the idyllic Indian Ocean island chain has said, but it won't all be smooth sailing.

The couple are anchored off the island capital Male aboard luxury yacht the Arctic P and plan to visit a host of the tiny palm-fringed islands, the source told Reuters yesterday.

''The yacht they're in is anchored within sight of Male,'' said one source familiar with the couple's itinerary who declined to be named because of strict privacy policies.

''The yacht is not far from the main resorts in the Male area...

They are going to stay on board and visit various islands.'' The Maldives is a chain of 1,200 mostly uninhabited islands renowned for its luxury resorts, sun-kissed beaches and world class scuba diving.

The skies were cloudy however on Tuesday, and Website www.weather.com forecast scattered thunderstorms for the archipelago until the Cruises' departure on Nov 28.

Government officials said they were not keeping tabs on the couple during their stay.

''Is there a reason why we should be doing this? If someone wants their privacy and if there's no particular reason why we should be invading their privacy, we shouldn't,'' said Chief Government Spokesman Mohamed Shareef.

The Arctic P is a former ice-breaker rebuilt into a super-yacht by late Australian media moghul Kerry Packer. It now belongs to his son, James Packer, a close friend of Cruise who attended the couple's star-studded wedding in Italy on Saturday.

Twice-divorced Cruise belongs to the Church of Scientology and the ceremony was dubbed the ''invisible wedding'' by Italian newspapers because of the lack of public access to the event.

REUTERS SSC VA RAI0848