A recent visit to Western Australia’s Kimberley region has had a profound impact on the President of Seabourn, Natalya Leahy. Speaking with LATTE at Virtuoso Travel Week earlier this month, Leahy said she was mesmerised by the landscapes and Indigenous culture which has left a permanent imprint on her soul.
Leahy is talking about Seabourn Venture‘s inaugural season in the Kimberley, which has comprised a series of one-way expeditions between Darwin and Broome. The luxury cruise line’s President was aboard Seabourn Venture for the fully-booked naming ceremony at Ngula Jar Island, held on 29 June 2024.
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“Western Australia was phenomenal,” Leahy shared. “I went to the Kimberley with a business mindset and it ended up being the most transformative travel experiences for me personally.”
“After my time there I concluded it’s very difficult to tell the story of that place in words because the beauty of the Kimberley – and we’ve been marketing the destination for two years – if you don’t end up with some form of spiritual healing at that place then I don’t know where you’ll get it.”
Leahy said the overall story and ambiance of the destination is “so powerful”.
“Billions of years of nature, rock formations that you only see in that part of the world, 60,000 year old rock art, to experiencing a traditional smoking ceremony and Aboriginal culture – it’s a celebration of nature and human history and culture.
“It’s very impactful and I definitely came back a different person,” she said.
She said that senses was shared by others in her Seattle-based team after they returned to the United States.
On the business front and on a broader spectrum, Leahy told LATTE in our 5-minute catch up at Virtuoso Travel Week, that bookings for the cruise line are at an “all time high”.
“We’re offering new destinations, our expeditions are doing fantastic and we’re driving demand to more exclusive experiences.” It is those experiences that have become and will continue to be a focal point at Seabourn, she says.
“People ask me if I plan to grow the fleet and I say I plan to grow experiences. That’s very much our focus. How to deliver guests what they can’t get anywhere else.”
An example of that are the two tennis-interest voyages accompanied by tennis professionals, Tommy Haas and Sue Barker CBE, as part of ‘The Collection’ sailings in the Mediterranean on Seabourn Venture next April.
Jennifer Compton, Key Account Manager for Seabourn said Virtuoso Travel Week was an excellent opportunity to celebrate the success of Seabourn Pursuit‘s inaugural season in the Kimberley.
“Six 10-day long, sold-out voyages including the Naming Ceremony of the expedition ship by traditional owners, Wunambal Gaamber, as god parents was a resounding success story,” Compton told LATTE.
VTW also provided a fantastic platform for Compton and colleague Anastasia Kotanidis to share with Virtuoso travel advisors their personal accounts, images and footage from voyages leading up to the season around the greater South Pacific.
“Seabourn’s authentic expedition experiences through Micronesia, Polynesia and Papua New Guinea explore many remote islands, and these isolated communities are excited to celebrate our Seabourn guests as their first ever tourists,” she said.
Seabourn Pursuit is currently on her final voyage in the Kimberley region before she heads across the Pacific, via Guam, towards Chile for the 2024/25 Antarctic season. Pursuit will return to the Kimberley for a second series of departures in 2025, next year sailing via Lautoka, Fiji making it more accessible for Australian cruisers.
Compton and Kotanidis were also able to brief advisors on the latest news from Seabourn, including:
Seabourn Encore‘s revised spring 2025 itineraries (announced last month, due to the Red Sea issues) which includes a series of new voyages to Southeast Asia, Japan, Hawaii and the Mediterranean between March and May. In all, Encore‘s reworked deployment comprises 36 destinations in 18 countries; and –
Seabourn Quest‘s new program exploring Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Hawaii and the Panama Canal, between December 2025 and April 2026. Seabourn Quest will sail 22 itineraries with 46 destinations in 13 countries, with itineraries ranging from 10 to 48 days.
Meanwhile, Seabourn Odyssey has just completed her final Alaska deployment for Seabourn. The luxury ship will depart on her Farewell Voyage from Seattle to Yokohama next Monday (2 September 2024), after which she will change ownership to Mitsui Ocean Cruises.
Lead image – pictured at the Seabourn stand in the Preferred Partner Lounge at Virtuoso Travel Week, from left are Neil Robertson, MTA Travel; Natalya Leahy, President of Seabourn; Jennifer Compton, Key Account Manager, Seabourn and Mark Spurway, MTA Travel.
LATTE travelled to Virtuoso Travel Week as a guest of Virtuoso.
