Ultra-luxury cruise line, Seabourn, will provide luxury travel planners with increased certainty on future sailings when it expands its booking window from 24 to 36 months, LATTE can exclusively reveal.
In Australia last week to announce the new expedition partnership between Seabourn and APT, Natalya Leahy, President of Seabourn flagged the impending change, saying the extended horizon would launch “very soon”.
“As we all know, the longer the horizon, the more opportunity we have to drive growth and help with forward planning of luxury travel,” Leahy said of the extra year’s access to firm inventory on Seabourn’s ships.
That will mean travel advisors will be able to make reservations for their clients through to 2027, once the change is adopted this year.
“That is the furthest horizon in Seabourn’s history,” she said with enthusiasm.
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The Collection
During Leahy’s in-depth brand presentation to travel partners and select media (including LATTE) aboard Seabourn Odyssey at White Bay in Sydney, she confirmed a new program on an expedition ship in the Mediterranean available exclusively to past passengers.
That program aims to build on the success of Seabourn’s recently released 2026 World Cruise in which 48% of capacity was booked by past passengers before going on sale publically. That two-week early booking window enabled Seabourn Club members to select specific cabin and suite numbers.
‘The Collection’ is a new program that will build on the series of Mediterranean and transAtlantic voyages that were made available when Seabourn Pursuit was launched in August 2023. That curated program was offered in advance of ‘true expedition’ sailings, to give past guests a taste of what the polar class ship had to offer. Such was its popularity, the limited departures sold out in 24 hours, Leahy said.
LATTE can reveal that in 2025 Seabourn Venture will offer a similar program in the Med, which Leahy says offers “an opportunity for guests to sail on a highly curated customised experience on an expedition ship”.
Instead of expedition experiences, itineraries in ‘The Collection’ will include “very private events, shoreside events, events onboard, exclusive access to different experiences” and more.
She said The Collection would be by ‘invitation only”, available just to loyal club members.
“They are short cruises with very unique destinations as well.”
Online Seabourn lists seven itineraries in ‘The Collection’ in 2025, ranging from 7 to 18-days duration, including a 7-day Mediterranean Marvels & Matches from Rome (Civitavecchia) to Barcelona journey on 13 April; and a 10-day Andalusian Nights: Spotlight on Seville sailing from Barcelona to Lisbon on 20 April.
Further, Leahy flagged the future launch of a group incentive program, saying it will be a “significant improvement” on the current offering.
“Many of you have the opportunity to plan group travel which is especially important as we expand to Grand Voyages, to expedition markets, and more unique destinations, as more and more people enjoy travelling in groups of family and friends,” she said.
Leahy told travel partners that Seabourn is open for charter programs, with the launch of Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit in 2022 and 2023 presenting new opportunities aboard “small intimately sized vessels, that are a highly sought after product.” As LATTE revealed last week, APT has chartered six sailings in the Kimberley of Seabourn Pursuit for the 2025 season.
New-to-brand, new-to-cruise
The Seattle-based cruise head honcho said Australia is now Seabourn’s “fastest growing expedition market in the world today” and is excited for the deployment of Seabourn Pursuit in the warm waters of the Kimberley this year. (Australia is also Seabourn’s third largest source market for ocean and expedition, and “most loyal”).
Leahy said Seabourn’s research has identified that expedition cruising is a gateway to attracting new-to-cruise guests to the brand.
“Over half of our expedition guests are new-to-brand,” she said, with Leahy suspecting most of those are new-to-cruise as well.
“What we know is after a guest has completed their first expedition cruise, in the next two months, on average they book two to three cruises.”
“Once they’ve started an expedition, including those who had previously never thought of cruising as a means of travel before, do consider expedition because of the bucket list destinations it opens up, and that they do actually love cruising.”
“They not only book another expedition cruise, they book ocean as well.”
Leahy said that was part of the strategy for Seabourn to enter the expedition market in the first place.
Culinary advancements
On the culinary front, Seabourn has expanded its ‘Sushi in the Club’ culinary offering, launched aboard Seabourn Venture first in 2022, across its entire fleet after being “so well received”.
And also recently adopted is in-suite dining. Seabourn’s “best kept secret,” according to Leahy – and her personal favourite dining experience – has been rolled out fleetwide. “Served course by course, the menu is outstanding.”
Leahy also provided an overview of Seabourn’s “most important and the largest innovation” in Seabourn’s culinary space, the recent introduction of the new fine-dining experience, Solis.
Launched first aboard Seabourn Odyssey, Solis will be progressively introduced across Seabourn Ovation, Seabourn Encore and Seabourn Sojourn by the northern Spring 2024.
Why Seabourn?
So why should a guest consider sailing with Seabourn? In the words of Leahy, “Many brands have fantastic modern ships. Many brands have sophisticated culinary experiences.”
“What we do well that is really hard to replicate, is how we make guests feel the minute they step onboard.
“Because when you step on board Seabourn, we don’t just serve the guest. We connect with every single individual so that you feel pampered, you feel showered by attention, details and delight while being surrounded by like-minded people.
“You feel as though it is your home away from home.
“Crew is the pride of every cruise line. I do think for us that it is the secret sauce.”
“We are very, very intentional in how we hire and spend a tremendous amount of time, hiring the best individuals from over 90 countries around the world. We don’t only hire the highest hospitality professionals, we hire people with the highest emotional intelligence. Then we train them, and then we empower them to have the liberty to connect with every individual guest onboard the ship in a very personalised way,” Leahy surmised.
Wrapping up, she said relationships with agency groups “are the most important partnerships that we have.”
“We play in the ultra-luxury market so our guests rely on a trusted advisor, and that will continue to be the case,” Leahy concluded.
Lead image: Seabourn’s expedition sister-ships, Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit, meet bow-to-bow in Antarctica in November 2023.
