What are the four things that you absolutely need to know about Seabourn
Cruises before cruising with them? I'm Gary Bembridge, and this is another of my
tips for travellers. I'm here on board Seabourn Encore and I thought it was a
great opportunity to share with you the things that I think you need to know
about Seabourn Cruises starting with who exactly is Seabourn Cruises? Seabourn
is part of the huge Carnival Cruise Corporation. Carnival also own
lines like Princess, Cunard Aida and Holland America. Seabourn is their ultra-
luxury cruise line. Seabourn, at the time of recording, either has or has
announced seven ships in their fleet. They have a classic cruising fleet, and
they have now an expedition fleet. Within classic cruising, they have
three older ships which are called the Odyssey class ships, and these are Seabourn
Sojourn, Seaborn Odyssey and Seabourn Quest. These ships hold around about 450
458 passengers and 90% of them have balconies. Then they have the Encore class,
which is Seabourn Encore and its sister ship Ovation. They have 300 suites
and hold 600 guests, so about 30% more guests. They also have two Expedition
vessels, the first of which is called Seabourn Venture, and they're going to focus
on expedition cruises, particularly in the polar regions: Arctic and Antarctica.
What is it that Seabourn does that's different to the other ultra-luxury
cruise lines? I think there's probably three buckets of things that they do
very differently. The first of these is one of their big flagships, which is
Seabourn Square. It's where people go and meet us and where all of the key functions
are. You have Guest Services, Future Sales, Excursions, a
very nice coffee shop, which is open most of the day and has snacks, and you have a small
Library and complimentary newspapers which they print out of can be
downloaded onto a device. There's also some shops nearby here. It's
an important hub and they've made it really integral to the whole
cruising experience. The second thing is they have a whole lot of partnerships.
They brought on board different experts to fine-tune what they do.
First of all, in entertainment they have a partnership with Sir Tim Rice.
He created a show "An evening with Tim Rice". When it comes to dining, they have a
partnership with an a USA-based celebrity chef called Thomas Keller. They have a
specific restaurant called The Grill with Thomas Keller which is based on a 1950s/
1960s steakhouse. Across the other dining venues they have various Thomas
Keller dishes. When it comes to the area of fitness and wellness, they have a
relationship and a partnership with a American expert called Dr. Andrew Weil.
He's an expert in mindfulness and meditation, and he's created a
program which involved lectures, meditation,
Yoga and, depending on the destination, there might have specific
excursions. When it comes to drink, they have a relationship with the US based
mixologist called Brian van Flandern, and what he's done is he's relook the whole
cocktail menu. They have a range of cocktails which he specifically
created and trained all of the staff to make. In the cabins they have a
relationship with Molton Brown and all the toiletries are Molton Brown
toiletries, and they have a very specific Seabourn fragrance. One of the most
significant relationships they have is they are the official cruise partner of
UNESCO, and what they've done is create a whole series of excursions around world
heritage sites or sites of significance related to UNESCO. You'll find on
the different cruises you go on, if you're going to sites which are unesco
world heritage sites or sites of interest, there are UNESCO nominated
excursions. What's interesting for example on the cruise I was on I went on
one of the UNESCO tours in Menorca to some of the ancient sites there, and
in addition to the normal guide we also had an expert
archeologist associated one of the universities who came along that UNESCO
tour. The next area which I think they do differently is in the whole area of
service. All ultra-luxury lines have phenomenal service but I think one of the
things that's interesting about Seabourn is they have a more informal
approach.It's still incredibly good service, and they still go out of their way to
make sure they learn your name and, of course, your preferences, but it's
slightly more relaxed, informal and chatty service. iIt's less stuffy and less
formal than you might find on some other lines. If you like
luxury but you like it to be a little more informal, you might find it
on Seabourn. It's slightly more relaxed, obviously respectful and high
quality of service, may be more to your taste because it's a less stuffy and
less formal. Those are things that I think Seabourn do that's
slightly different or slightly unique. The next thing that I think you really need to
understand is what is and isn't included in their fares? Ultra-luxury lines tend
to be largely all inclusive, but there's always slight quirks and differences. Seabourn
is comparable with most of the ultra- luxury lines, although there are some
ultra-luxury lines that will include some of the things that Seabourn don't. So,
let's take a look at the inclusions. First of all, not surprising of course,
your accommodation is included. On Seabourn ships you can have very
large suites through to, on the Odyssey class, Oceanview cabins. On
Encore and Ovation it's all balcony Suites. Secondly, all of your food is included
and there's a wide choice. Encore and Ovation have slightly more choice because
they are bigger and have more space. Let me give an example of what you can
expect. You have The Restaurant, which is the main dining venue. You then have the
Colonnade which is the more informal dining. You then have, as I'd already
spoken about, The Grill with Thomas Keller which is the steak house, with The
Grill by Thomas Keller you can go once during a week-long cruise and you have
to make reservations for that. Probably one of my favorite places on board is
Sushi, and you can go as often as you want
to the Sushi restaurant, and there's no need for reservations. In terms of more
informal dining, out on the pool deck you can have an informal lunch of things like
hot dogs, hamburgers and that kind of stuff. Every afternoon at around about
four o'clock you have afternoon tea which on Encore that was up in the Observation
Bar, and then there is 24-hour room service. So, huge amounts of dining
options included within the fare. Also onboard Seabourn, your drinks are included:
wines, beers, spirits and most of the premium brands that you would love and
expect are included within your fare. You have an in-room minibar which is
included within the fare, and it will be stocked with whatever you want. Also
included in the fare, as you would expect, is
all the entertainment. You have shows in the Grand Salon which could
include that "Evening with Tim Rice" show, it could be a guest entertainers or
the Seabourn vocalists performing different variety shows. There's also
various activities on board. You will have a daily programme with the usual
activities you'd expect on a cruise. You then also have the Seabourn
Conversations, which are guest speakers
talking about the destination, the history or
culture. There will also be a range of
different parties included, like the Captain's Welcome party, pool deck party and sail away
parties. All these kind of events and activities are included within the fare.
You also get access to pretty much all of the facilities on board, with one key
exception and that is The Retreat. It holds up to 30 people ,they have 15
cabanas and you pay to go there. In there you will be able to relax, use
the hot tub and you can also have a massage up there for an extra fee if
you want one. The other thing that is a big plus that is included in the fare is
gratuities, even if you go to the spa gratuities are included. It's a big
plus knowing that that's all covered . Those are all the key things that are
covered, so what's not covered? Wi-Fi is not included, and you can buy different
packages of Wi-Fi. On the cruise I was on, which was a seven-day cruise, it was
about $240 for Wi-Fi unlimited across the whole cruise. Excursions are
also an additional cost. Looking at the brochure on the cruise I was on, probably
the cheapest excursion you could get, which was some of the more simple walking tours.
were around $89 dollars per person. Some of the ones that I did, for example,
the four-hour UNESCO excursion cost $159,
the five-hour bike tour I went was $189n and in Porto Venere, there was a boat and
walking tour which was around $200. You could be spending
of between a$100 and $200 per person per excursion. I would
say to budget for that amount. Then, of course, there's things that are more discretionary like if
you buy stuff in the shops, go to the spa or the casino, also
laundry. If you want to send laundry away you pay, but
you can do your own laundry in the guest laundries on board the ships. Who in
my opinion is Seabourn most suited for? First of all, the passengers you're going to
find on board, because it's an ultra luxury line, will tend to be
well-traveled and of course have the money to be on an ultra luxury line.
You will find lots of professional people like lawyers, doctors, run companies
or are from the academic world. A really interesting group of people with lots of
interesting stories and opinions. In terms of age profile, you're going to find that you
mostly see people in their 60s and above. You are going to find
younger people , particularly in summer in destinations like the Caribbean and
you'll find people coming on their honeymoons. You're not going to find many
families coming on board. In the key summer holiday months, you will find some
kids on board but they tend to be slightly older kids because there aren't kids
clubs and the shows, excursions and dining do not cater specifically for kids
as such. The whole experience is done in English. it's quite North American
focused, so you'll find a lot of the quizzes and the way things are done is
quite American and that's the real bulk of passengers on board. You'll
normally find a majority of people from North America. I've seen over
the years that I've been involved with, or been on Seabourn cruises that it is
evolving, and on this cruise for example there were probably about 50% or
60% from North America (USA and Canada), there was a big
representation as you'd often find on Mediterranean cruises
from the UK, Australia and New Zealand ,but there was a big
representation of other nationalities with something like 20 different
nationalities on board. Most of the travellers on board are traveling in
couples. There are some cabins which do have space for three people, but couples
is the predominantly thing you're going to find. If you're a solo traveler,
is Seabourn for you? Although there are no solo cabins on board the ships,
during the course of the year they normally run special offers on
different itineraries for people travelling alone where they slash
down the surcharge you pay for single occupancy
of a double cabin. They're very good at looking after solo travellers and
they do get quite a few on board. At the beginning of the cruise they
host an event for solo travellers to get to meet each other,
they also they host lots
of tables at dinner. Different members of the crew, including the singers ,
cruise director and the engineers, they host tables and they ask solo
travellers to those. I was travelling on this cruise by myself, and
I was asked many nights to go to various hosted tables. So, definitely it is a focus
on helping solo travellers. I hope you find this helpful, I have many more
videos about cruising and about Seabourn, so if you enjoy this one why not watch
another one right now?