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Seabourn Cruises : 4 Things You Need To Know
Jan 28, 2025
What are the 4 Things You Really Need To Know Before Cruising with Seabourn Cruises? I explore the ultra-luxury Seabourn Cruise Line and discuss for essential things about them to help you decide if this is the best, or right, cruise line for your cruising vacation, including what Seabourn is, what they do better and the same as other ultra-luxury cruise lines, what your fare really gets (and does not get you) and who the line is best for.
Note: I travelled as a guest of the cruise line before making this video
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Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.
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0:00
what are the four things that you
0:02
absolutely need to know about Seaborn
0:04
cruisers before cruising with them I'm
0:07
Gary beverage this is another on my
0:09
tipster chalice I'm here on board
0:10
Seabourn encore and as well it'll be a
0:12
great opportunity to share with you the
0:14
things that I think you need to know
0:15
about Seaborn cruisers starting with who
0:18
exactly is Seaborn cruisers Seaborn
0:22
cruises is part of the huge Carnival
0:24
Cruise Corporation so Carnival also have
0:26
brands like Princess Cunard
0:28
Aida coaster and Seaborn is their ultra
0:32
luxury cruise line seaboard cruises at
0:35
the time of recording either has or has
0:37
announced seven ships in their fleet
0:39
they have a classic cruising fleet and
0:42
they have now an expedition fleet so
0:44
within the classic cruising they have
0:46
three older ships which are called The
0:49
Odyssey class ships and this is Seaborn
0:52
sojourn Seaborn Odyssey and Seabourn
0:55
quest these ships hold around about 450
0:59
passengers and 90% of them have
1:01
balconies then you have the encore class
1:04
which is Seabourn encore and its sister
1:06
ship ovation and they have 300 suites
1:09
and they hold 600 guests about 30% more
1:12
guests they also have two Expedition
1:15
vessels the first of which is called
1:17
Seaborn venture and they're gonna focus
1:21
on expedition cruisers particularly in
1:23
the polar regions Arctic and Antarctica
1:25
so what is it that seabone does that's
1:27
different to the other ultra luxury
1:29
cruise lines I think there's probably
1:31
three buckets of things that they do do
1:33
very differently the first of these is
1:34
one of their big flag ships which is
1:37
Seaborn squares it's where people go and
1:39
meet us where all of the key functions
1:40
are so you have you'll get services here
1:43
you have your excursions here you have a
1:45
very nice coffee shop which is open all
1:47
the time has very snacks you have an
1:49
alive very here you have complimentary
1:51
newspapers which you're going to
1:53
download onto a device or they print out
1:55
there's also some shops nearby here it's
1:57
a really big important hub and they've
1:59
made it really integral to the whole
2:01
cruising experience the second thing is
2:04
they have a whole lot of partnerships
2:06
they brought onboard different experts
2:08
to fine-tune what they do
2:10
first of all in entertainment they have
2:11
a partnership with Sir Tim Rice
2:13
he is create a show an evening with Tim
2:15
Rice when it comes to dining they have a
2:18
partnership with an a us-based celebrity
2:20
chef called Thomas Keller they have a
2:23
very specific restaurant called the
2:24
grill with Thomas Keller which is of 50s
2:26
60s steakhouse then across the other
2:29
dining venues they have various Thomas
2:31
Keller dishes when it comes to whole
2:33
area of fitness and wellness they have a
2:35
relationship and a partnership with a
2:37
American expert called dr. Andrew Weil
2:41
and he's real expert in mindfulness
2:44
meditation and he's created a whole
2:47
program which involved lectures
2:49
meditation evolve
2:50
Yoga depending on the destination they
2:53
also might have some very specific
2:54
excursions when it comes to drink they
2:56
have a relationship with the US based
2:58
mixologist called Brian van Flandern and
3:01
what he's done is he's relook the whole
3:03
cocktail menu so they have a whole range
3:04
of cocktails which is specifically
3:06
created and trained all of our staff to
3:08
make in the cabins they have a
3:10
relationship with molten brown so all
3:12
the toiletries are molten Brown
3:13
toiletries and they have a very specific
3:16
Seabourn fragrance one of the most
3:18
significant relationships they have is
3:20
they are the official cruise partner of
3:22
UNESCO and what they've done is create a
3:25
whole series of excursions around world
3:28
heritage sites or sites of significance
3:30
related to UNESCO so you'll find on all
3:34
the different cruises you go on if
3:36
you're going to sites which are unesco
3:38
world heritage sites or sites of
3:40
interest there are unesco nominated
3:43
excursions what's very interesting for
3:44
example in the cruise I was on I went on
3:46
one of the UNESCO tours in menorca to
3:49
some of the very ancient sites there and
3:51
in addition to the normal guide we also
3:53
had an expert
3:54
ecologist who's associated one of the
3:57
universities who came along that UNESCO
3:59
tour the next area which I think they do
4:02
differently is in the whole area of
4:03
service now all ultra luxury lines have
4:06
phenomenal service I think one of the
4:08
things that's interesting about seabone
4:10
is they have a slightly more informal
4:12
approach so it's still incredibly good
4:14
service but they go out of their way to
4:15
make sure they learn your name and of
4:17
course your preferences but it's
4:18
slightly more relaxed informal chatty
4:21
kind of service so it's less stuffy less
4:23
formal that you might find on some other
4:25
lines if you like
4:27
luxury but you like it to be a little
4:28
more informal you might actually find it
4:31
on Seabourn that's slightly more relaxed
4:33
obviously very respectful and very high
4:35
quality of service is more to your taste
4:37
because it's a little bit less stuffy a
4:39
little bit less formal so those are
4:41
things that I think Seabourn do that's
4:43
slightly different it's slightly unique
4:45
the thing that I think you really
4:47
understand is what is and isn't included
4:50
in their fares ultra luxury lines tend
4:53
to be largely all inclusive but there's
4:55
always slight quirks and differences see
4:58
one is comparable with most of the ultra
5:00
luxury lines although there are some
5:02
ultra luxury lines that will include
5:03
some of the things that Seaborn don't so
5:05
let's take a look at the inclusions
5:07
first of all not surprising of course
5:08
your accommodation is included and on
5:11
the Seaboard ships you can have very
5:12
large suites through two on the Odyssey
5:15
class you have some oceanview cabins on
5:18
encore innovation it's or balcony Suites
5:23
secondly all of your food is included
5:26
and there's a very wide choice on corner
5:29
vation have slightly more choice because
5:31
it's bigger so they have more space so
5:32
let me give an example of what you can
5:34
expect you have the restaurant which is
5:36
the main dining venue you then have the
5:38
colonnade which is the more informal
5:40
dining you then have as I'd already
5:43
spoken about the grill with Thomas
5:44
Keller which is the steak house with the
5:46
girls Thomas Keller you can go once
5:48
during a week-long cruise and you have
5:51
to make reservations for that probably
5:54
one of my favorite places on board is
5:56
sushi which is on board city here on
5:59
encore you can go as often as you want
6:01
to the sushi restaurant and there's no
6:02
need for reservations in terms of more
6:04
informal dining out on the pool deck you
6:06
can have an informal lunch you know sort
6:07
of hot dogs hamburgers that kind of
6:09
stuff every afternoon at around about
6:11
four o'clock you have afternoon tea or
6:12
an encore that was up in the observation
6:14
bar and then there is 24-hour room
6:17
service so huge amounts of dining
6:19
options included within the fare also
6:22
onboard Seabourn is your drinks included
6:24
so wines beers spirits most of the
6:27
premium brands that you would love and
6:29
expect are included within your fares so
6:31
you have an in-room minibar which is
6:33
included within the fare and it had that
6:35
stocked with whatever you want also
6:37
included in the fare as you would expect
6:39
is
6:40
all the entertainment so you have an
6:42
ARCA show in the grand salon which could
6:45
include that evening with Sir Tim Rice
6:47
show it could be a guest entertainers or
6:49
the Seabourn vocalists they'll perform
6:51
different variety shows there's also
6:54
various activities on board so you'll
6:55
have a daily programme with the usual
6:57
activities you'd expect on crews you
6:59
then also have the Seabourn
7:01
conversations which is where they on
7:03
cruises will have a guest speaker or
7:04
guest speakers talking about the
7:06
destination and the history of the
7:08
culture that's all included and then
7:11
there'll be often a whole range of
7:13
different priorities with us a captain's
7:14
welcome party pool deck party sell away
7:17
party all those kind of events and
7:19
activities are included within the fair
7:21
you also get access to pretty much all
7:23
of the facilities on board with one key
7:26
exception and that is the retreats holds
7:29
up to 30 people they have a series of
7:31
cabanas you pay for you to go there and
7:34
there you will be able to relax is
7:36
required as a hot tub you can also have
7:38
a massage up there for an extra fee if
7:40
you want the other thing that is a big
7:43
plus that is included in the fare is
7:44
gratuities even if you go to the spa
7:47
gratuities are included so it's a big
7:49
plus knowing that that's all covered so
7:51
those are all the key things they're not
7:52
covered so what's not covered Wi-Fi is
7:55
not included but you can buy different
7:57
packages of Wi-Fi other cruise I was on
8:00
which was a seven-day cruise it was
8:02
about $240 for Wi-Fi unlimited Wi-Fi
8:05
across the whole cruise excursions are
8:07
also an additional cost looking at the
8:10
brochure on the cruise I was on probably
8:12
the cheapest excursion you get which was
8:14
some of them more simple walking tours
8:15
we're around about 89 dollars per person
8:18
some of the ones that I did for example
8:20
the for our UNESCO excursion that cost a
8:23
hundred and fifty nine dollars the five
8:26
our bike tour that I went on $189 in
8:30
Porton Venera there was a boat and
8:33
walking tour which was around about $200
8:36
but very much you can be spending sort
8:38
of between a hundred and two hundred
8:39
dollars per person per excursion I would
8:42
say to budget for then of course there's
8:45
things that are more discretionary so if
8:47
you buy stuff in the shops if you go to
8:48
the spa if you want to go to the casino
8:50
and Gamble then of course laundry if you
8:53
want to send laundry away
8:54
you can do your own laundry in the guest
8:57
laundries on board the ships so who in
9:01
my opinion is Seaborn most suited for
9:04
first of all the passenger you're gonna
9:06
find our board because it's an ultra
9:08
luxury line will tend to be
9:10
well-traveled and of course have the
9:11
money to be on an ultra luxury line so
9:13
you can find lots of professional people
9:15
lawyers or doctors or it run companies
9:18
or from the academic world so really
9:20
interesting group of people with lots of
9:22
interesting stories opinions in terms of
9:25
age profile you're gonna find that you
9:27
mostly seen people in their 60s and
9:31
above of course you're going to find
9:33
younger people particularly in the more
9:34
summer destinations like the Caribbean
9:36
you'll find people coming on their
9:38
honeymoons you're not going to find many
9:40
families coming on board now in the key
9:42
summer holiday months you will find some
9:44
kids on board there tend to be slightly
9:46
older kids because there aren't kids
9:48
clubs and they're on shows and
9:49
excursions and dining catering for kids
9:52
as such the whole experience is done in
9:55
English it's quite North American
9:57
focused so you'll find a lot of the
10:00
quizzes and the way things are done is
10:03
quite American because that's the real
10:05
bulk of passengers so on board you're
10:07
gonna normally find a big slug of people
10:10
from North America now I've seen over
10:12
the years that I've been involved with
10:14
or being on seabone cruises that it's
10:16
really evolving so on this cruise for
10:19
example there were probably about 50 or
10:22
60% were from North America from the US
10:24
and from Canada there were a there a big
10:27
representation as you'd often find on
10:29
cruises particularly I was in the Magic
10:31
fabula from the UK from Australia from
10:33
New Zealand but there was a big
10:36
representation of other nationalities
10:37
was something like 20 different
10:39
nationalities on board most of the
10:41
travelers on board are traveling in
10:42
couples there are some cabins which do
10:44
have space for three people but couples
10:46
is the predominantly thing you're gonna
10:48
find about so if you're a solo traveler
10:50
is Seabourn for you although there are
10:53
no solar cabins on board the ships
10:54
during the course of the year they
10:56
normally run special offers fall on
10:59
different itineraries for people
11:01
traveling alone and they basically slash
11:04
down the surcharge you pay for single
11:07
occupancy
11:07
of a double cabin also they're very good
11:10
at looking after Soto Travis because
11:11
they do get quite a few on board so at
11:13
the beginning of the cruise they will
11:15
host an event for solo travelers so you
11:18
get to meet all the sort of travelers
11:21
they can introduce set of traders to
11:22
each other and then also they host lots
11:24
of tales so the crude different members
11:26
of the crew whether it's the singers or
11:27
the cruise director or the engineers
11:30
they host tables and they will ask Sona
11:33
travelers to those so I was actually
11:34
travelling on this cruise by myself and
11:36
I was asked many nights to go to various
11:38
hosted tables so definitely is a focus
11:40
on helping solo travelers I hope you
11:43
find this helpful I have many more
11:44
videos about cruising about Seabourn so
11:47
if you enjoy this one wanted to watch
11:48
another one right now
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