Number 1 For Small Ships

The Yachts of Seabourn has been named the #1 Small Ship Cruise Line in the world by readers of Condé Nast Traveler in the magazine’s 21st annual Readers’ Choice Awards. The ultra-luxury cruise line, which is poised to expand its fleet with the launch of Seabourn Odyssey in June 2009, and two additional new yachts in 2010 and 2011, has consistently earned the praise and the patronage of refined travelers the world over, including the discerning readership of Condé Nast Traveler.

The 21st annual Readers’ Choice Awards, which appears in Condé Nast Traveler’s November 2008 issue, is the largest independent poll of consumer preferences today with over 32,000 readers voting this year. With an overall score of 88.8, The Yachts of Seabourn were evaluated on such attributes as activities, dining, shore excursions and itineraries.

“We’re delighted to have been voted the #1 Small Ship Cruise Line by readers of Condé Nast Traveler, who are as smart and sophisticated as the travel magazine they read,” said Pamela Conover, President and CEO of The Yachts of Seabourn. “Traveler’s readership brings its own experience and preferences to the table, and we appreciate that they chose Seabourn for the top spot. The award is a great honor for all of us, but especially for the hard-working employees who make Seabourn the finest experience on the seas.”

The Readers’ Choice recognition adds to a long list of awards earned by The Yachts of Seabourn. Recently, Seabourn was named “Best Small Ship Cruise Line” at the Virtuoso Performance Awards, chosen by the industry’s leading luxury travel specialists. The cruise line was also honored as one of the “World’s Best Values” in the 2007 World’s Best Awards from Travel + Leisure, as well as the “World’s Best Small Ship Cruise Line” from T+L in 2005 and 2006. Seabourn has also appeared on Condé Nast Traveler’s coveted “Gold List” for 13 consecutive years from 1994-2007.

If Condé Nast Traveler’s readers liked what they’ve experienced on Seabourn to date, then the newest member of the fleet, Seabourn Odyssey, will not disappoint. The first ultra-luxury vessel to debut in six years, Odyssey will launch from Venice in June 2009 as the first of three “new builds” to be introduced over the next three years. The 32,000-ton yacht will accommodate 450 guests in luxurious all-suite accommodations measuring from 290 to over 1,600 square feet, more than 90 percent of them outfitted with private verandas. Onboard features will include five dining alternatives, five lounges and bars, an expansive pool and sunbathing area, and a spectacular two-deck, indoor/outdoor spa facility of more than 11,400 square feet. Additionally, passengers will delight in the same extraordinary levels of personalized service they experience on the existing vessels. With their intimate size, all Seabourn yachts call at harbors and waterways closed to larger vessels and sail to the most desirable destinations at the optimum time of year.

For more information or to make a reservation, please contact Seabourn at 1-800-929-9391 or visit www.seabourn.com.

Official Press Release Yachts of Seabourn dated 16th October 2008.

Extended Vacations For Seabourn

Can’t get enough of the luxury aboard The Yachts of Seabourn? Now guests can be pampered longer thanks to a new partnership between the ultra-luxury cruise line and Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. Beginning in summer 2009, the elegant, all-inclusive train travel experience will offer top-of-the-line transfer from London to Venice and Venice to London for the Dalmatian Gems itinerary aboard Seabourn Spirit.
 
The many pleasures of Venice Simplon-Orient-Express are unmatched on rails, especially from London to Venice, where scenery runs from the Swiss and Austrian Alps to the Italian Dolomites. Upon boarding the gleaming carriages of a British Pullman at Victoria Station, passengers will tuck into reserved seating and a three-course lunch, complete with wine and champagne, as the train travels through the Kentish countryside before entering into the Chunnel on its way to France. A personal steward will attend to all needs throughout the journey, which includes private compartment accommodations upon arrival in France, when guests switch trains and board the blue and gold carriages of Continental Wagon-Lits of Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.
 
Pre-dinner cocktails whet appetites for delicious multi-course meals prepared fresh by creative French chefs in the train’s magnificent restaurant cars. Afternoon tea arrives in time for passage through the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy. And when the train crosses the Venetian Lagoon and pulls into Santa Lucia station, a Seabourn representative will be waiting to afford passage to the legendary Hotel Cipriani for a luxurious night before departure on Seabourn Spirit.
 
The “post-cruise” rail itinerary is the same, albeit in reverse, with no shortage of elegance and overnight accommodations at the luxurious Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in the heart of London.
 
The Dalmatian Gems itinerary takes in some of the hottest spots along the Mediterranean, many of them new ports of call for 2009. The 7-night itinerary includes Opatija, Split and Triluke Bay, Croatia; Kotor, Montenegro; Koper, Slovenia; Trieste, Italy; and of course, Venice.
 
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express transfer will be available prior to Dalmatian Gems 7-day cruises departing on July 4, 2009, August 15, 2009, and September 26, 2009, as well as post-cruise following the September 5, 2009, itinerary. Cost of rail portion, one-way: $4,399 per person/double, $5,999 per person/single. Fares for the 7-day Dalmatian Gems cruise start at $4,598 per person, based on double occupancy of a 277-square foot ocean-view suite.
 
For more information or to make a reservation aboard Seabourn Spirit, please contact Seabourn at 1-800-929-9391 or visit www.seabourn.com. 

Official Press Release Yachts of Seabourn dated 30th September 2008.

Best Small Ship Cruise Line

The Yachts of Seabourn has been honored as the “Best Small Ship Cruise Line” by Virtuoso in the luxury travel network’s 2008 Virtuoso Performance Awards. Virtuoso’s member advisors voted on the peer-to-peer awards.

“We’re very gratified to be named ‘Best Small Ship Cruise Line’ by the Virtuoso network,” said Pamela Conover, Seabourn’s president & CEO. “We especially appreciate the confidence of Virtuoso advisors, who are true luxury specialists. This award is a great honor that is shared - and deserved - by all the hard-working members of the Seabourn staff.”

Virtuoso CEO, Matthew Upchurch, said: “Seabourn is noteworthy as they epitomize the best of the world’s largest service industry, travel and tourism, in their dedication to their clients. Not only do they excel in delivering life experiences, but they support everyone in the network in such a way that it elevates the entire travel profession. We are truly honored to have Seabourn as part of the Virtuoso family.”

The Yachts of Seabourn have earned international renown for unmatched style, elegance and grace on the seas. Each of the three existing yachts - Pride, Spirit and Legend - are ultra-luxury, all-suite vessels that accent voyages with extraordinary levels of personalized service, including a staff-to-guest ratio of nearly one-to-one. The same will be true on a new class of three Seabourn yachts whose anticipated launch begins with Seabourn Odyssey in June 2009.

Official Press Release Yachts of Seabourn dated 9th September 2008.

Seabourn Odyssey’s Maiden Voyage Guests to Become Godparents

One extraordinary yacht, one incredible voyage, and 450 godparents. Those are the numbers behind the highly anticipated launch of Seabourn Odyssey, the newest member of the Seabourn fleet, in June 2009. Those fortunate enough to secure one of the few remaining spots aboard Odyssey’s maiden voyage will share the unprecedented honor of being named a “godparent” of the new vessel - a distinction usually reserved for a celebrity or otherwise noteworthy personality. It’s an honor that will be recognized for the duration of the luxury yacht’s seagoing life.
 
“Everything we do at Seabourn is focused on our guests who, in a very real sense, are the reason this superb vessel is being built,” said Pamela C. Conover, president and CEO of The Yachts of Seabourn. “Those joining Odyssey’s maiden voyage will not only be treated like a celebrity, but will become a part of the vessel’s history, representing the many guests who have sailed with us in the past and those who will sail on her in the years to come.”
 
Each passenger aboard Odyssey’s maiden voyage, scheduled to depart Venice, Italy, on June 24, 2009, will have his or her name engraved on a plaque to be displayed on board the sleek yacht. An early-evening ceremony to christen the new yacht is planned to coincide with the summer sunset over the domes and steeples of Venice’s skyline - with all 450 godparents taking part in the momentous event.  Seabourn Odyssey will then make its stately way from the canals to the lagoon and beyond - a gala, 14-day voyage exploring the Dalmatian coast, the Greek Isles, and Turkey.
 
Highlights of the cruise will include sailing into the dramatic fjord of Kotor in Montenegro, a day of water sports from the yacht’s marina while anchored off the Greek Isle of Mylos, and a signature Exclusively Seabourn evening reception and concert in the torch-lit ruins of Ephesus in Turkey.
 
The cruise industry’s first ultra-luxury vessel to be launched in six years, Seabourn Odyssey is first of three “new builds” to be introduced by Seabourn. The 32,000-ton yacht will accommodate 450 guests in luxurious all-suite accommodations measuring from 290 to over 1,600 square feet, more than 90 percent of them outfitted with private verandas. The cruising yacht will offer guests five dining alternatives, five lounges and bars, an expansive pool and sunbathing area, and a spectacular two-deck, indoor/outdoor spa facility of more than 11,400 square-feet. Seabourn Odyssey’s maiden season will include voyages from the grand cities and romantic isles of the Mediterranean to the sparkling waters of the Caribbean, before embarking on Seabourn’s first-ever World Cruise in January 2010.

Official Press Release (abridged) The Yachts of Seabourn dated 17 July 2008.

Shoreside Spectaculars Set for Seabourn Odyssey’s Inaugural World Cruise

The Yachts of Seabourn has announced an exciting selection of special shoreside experiences planned to entertain and enlighten the privileged guests aboard Seabourn Odyssey’s inaugural world cruise. The ultra luxury, 450-guest Seabourn Odyssey will launch in June 2009, with its maiden world cruise visiting 42 ports between Ft. Lauderdale and Athens in a voyage of 108 days from January 5 to April 24, 2010.

Full World Odyssey guests are invited to stay overnight and attend a gala Bon Voyage Ball at the St. Regis hotel in Fort Lauderdale the night before departure. Then there will be five complimentary events reserved solely for guests who book the full world cruise. Those guests embarking in Los Angeles for 92 days will enjoy four of them. An additional seven ports will feature complimentary Exclusively Seabourn shoreside experiences to which all guests on board will be invited, regardless of the length of their voyages.

Where will Odyssey’s world cruise shoreside experiences take you? Read on:

• The full world cruise events begin on January 18, 2010, with a spectacular catamaran cruise from tiny Cabo San Lucas, at the tip of Baja California, to seek some of the six species of whales which gather each year in the Sea of Cortez. Sailing on a comfortable catamaran, guests will pass the famed natural formation of Los Arcos, the secluded golden sands of Lover’s Beach, the resident colony of sea lions, and beyond. A naturalist guide will impart details of sea and land life, and answer questions as guests toast the starkly beautiful and biologically rich environment of the Baja Peninsula.

• On February 6, full world cruise guests will be greeted by the haunting tones of a conch-shell salute and fragrant tiare flower leis as they stroll a candlelit path into a tropical garden at Papeete, Tahiti. There, under a canopy of South Pacific stars, they will enjoy an evening of cocktails, lilting Tahitian music and a sumptuous feast capped by a rousing performance of traditional Polynesian song and dance.

• In Sydney, Australia on February 24, a private sunset dinner cruise of scenic Sydney Harbor will end alongside the city’s iconic Opera House, where guests will be escorted inside to enjoy the featured performance, before returning by the same boat to Seabourn Odyssey.

• Hong Kong will be the site of the next world cruise event on March 15. The waterside Aberdeen Marina Club will be transformed into a colorful Chinese bazaar with craftsmen’s booths, traditional fortune-tellers and calligraphers, a Chinese musical ensemble and a spectacular Lion Dance. In addition to a buffet of delectable Chinese specialties fit for an emperor, the kaleidoscopic evening will include exhibitions of Chinese Opera “face-changing,” kung fu martial arts and acrobatics.

• The dramatic climax of the world cruise exclusive events will unfold in a colorful setting on the island of Phuket on March 29. Greeted by a Thai long drum troupe, Seabourn guests will enter a Phuket Thai cultural village to be regaled by women in traditional Thai costumes, gaily decorated elephants, and exhibitions of classical Thai dance, traditional boxing, floral decorations and elaborate fruit and vegetable carving. There will be demonstrations of Thai cooking, puppet carving, rubber tapping, and even chances to ride in an ox-cart or atop a decorated elephant.

The Exclusively Seabourn experiences for all guests on board will include an afternoon tour of Cultural Cartagena in Colombia’s venerable Caribbean port city, A UNESCO World Heritage Site; a rousing re-creation of the classic “Aloha Boat Days” at Honolulu’s Royal Hawaiian Hotel; a Maori cultural discovery experience at Lyttelton (Christchurch), New Zealand; an introduction to the arts and cultures of Borneo’s 32 diverse ethnic groups at Kota Kinabalu; a visit to the spectacular Sanctuary of Truth at Pattaya, Thailand from Bangkok; a spellbinding evening at an oasis near Dubai; and a sortie from Sharm el Sheikh into a sheltered valley in the mountainous Sinai desert, for tea and traditional folkloric music and dance at a Bedouin encampment.

The complimentary shoreside events are part of a generous menu of benefits included for full world cruise guests, along with a complimentary pre-cruise Bon Voyage event and luxury overnight before departing, door-to-door private car transfers, roundtrip first-class airfare or air credit, Personal Valet luggage shipping service and shipboard credits of $2,000 per suite. There will also be special gala celebrations and gifts for guests on board during the voyage.

For those not wishing to take the entire World Odyssey, segments from 16 to 69 days are available, several of which also offer value-added benefits.

Official Press release (abridged) The Yachts of Seabourn dated 09 July 9 2008.

Seabourn Celebrates Double Keel-Laying Ceremony

Twin blue-white flames in the noonday sun signaled the simultaneous welding of coins yesterday onto two steel keel blocks that will become the sleek hulls of two new, ultra luxury cruising yachts in 2010 and 2011. In an innovative variation on a traditional ceremony, The Yachts of Seabourn solicited good fortune for both of the as-yet un-named sisters and symbolically redoubled its commitment to the line’s unique formula of intimate vessels, highly personalized service and exceptional delivery of the world’s most desirable destinations.

The ceremony, which was officiated by Seabourn’s president & CEO Pamela C. Conover and Marco Bisagno, president of T. Mariotti S.p.A., marks the beginning of the next stage in a three-vessel expansion project that will increase Seabourn’s capacity of luxury cruising accommodations by over 217 percent in the next three years.

“The level of enthusiasm we have seen from luxury cruisers for our new class of Seabourn yachts has frankly got us excited,” said Conover, “and so we decided to start these next two sisters off together, with a special sort of celebration.”

The first of the three hulls, which will become Seabourn Odyssey, was delivered to Mariotti’s shipyard in Genoa, Italy at the end of May, where it will be finished and fitted out over the next year, prior to delivery in June of 2009. It will represent the first newly built capacity in the ultra luxury end of the cruise industry in over six years. Carrying just 450 guests, it will be especially notable for its intimate size, which embodies Seabourn’s commitment to yacht-style vessels at a time when most other brands are engaged in building ever-larger ships. The new yacht promises to further embellish Seabourn’s peerless reputation for superb onboard experiences with an unmatched ratio of space per guest, encompassing a wide range of sumptuous ocean-view suites measuring from 295 to over 1,600 square feet, 90 percent of which will boast private verandas. Additional features include five inviting dining alternatives, an innovative concierge lounge called Seabourn Square and an indoor/outdoor spa facility of over 11,400 square feet, spread over two decks.

Seabourn Odyssey’s maiden season, which will start in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, has been selling briskly since it became available for booking in October of 2007. The latest Seabourn yacht will also embark on a 108-day World Cruise in January, 2010 from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Athens, Greece. Reservations for that voyage are likewise available and selling well.

Official Press release (abridged) The Yachts of Seabourn dated 01 July 2008.

Berlitz Guide to Cruising, by Doug Ward, has named its top ships for 2007

1. Europa
2. Silver Cloud
3. SeaDream II
4. Silver Wind
5. SeaDream I
6. Queen Mary 2 (Grill Class)
7. Seabourn Legend
8. Sea Cloud II
9. Seabourn Pride
10. Sea Cloud
11. Seabourn Spirit
12. Crystal Serenity
13. Silver Shadow
14. Crystal Symphony
15. Silver Whisper
16. Seven Seas Mariner
17. Hanseatic
18. Seven Seas Voyager