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Seabourn Cruise Line is a luxury cruise line headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The line operates all around the world, from short seven-day Caribbean cruises to exotic 100+ day cruises around the world. It is owned by Carnival Corporation, part of the "World's Leading Cruise Lines" marketing group, which also includes Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Carnival Cruises, Cunard Line, Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises, and AIDA Cruises. Passengers typically range in ages from the 40s to the 60s, but children are still welcome.^[1] The company refers to itself as The Yachts of Seabourn.

Seabourn operates small ships that can fit in many ports around the world. The cabins are suites and are equipped with great amenities available at sea. All have designer soaps, flat-screen televisions, DVD players, and Bose Wave sound systems.^[1]

History[link]

Seabourn was founded in 1986 by a consortium of Norwegian investors headed by industrialist Atle Brynestad under the name Signet Cruise Lines, but adopted the name Seabourn Cruise Line shortly afterward after objections from Signet Oil over trademark ownership. Its first ship, Seabourn Pride, entered service in 1988, followed by an identical sister, Seabourn Spirit, in 1989. A third vessel, originally planned for 1990, was delayed due to investors' financial constraints and was ultimately purchased by Royal Viking Line in 1992 as Royal Viking Queen. In 1994, Royal Viking Queen was transferred to a Kloster subsidiary, Royal Cruise Line, as Queen Odyssey In 1991, Carnival Corporation purchased a 25% stake in Seabourn. Carnival Corporation upped its stake to 50% in 1996, providing the company sufficient capital to purchase the Queen Odyssey, which was renamed Seabourn Legend.^[1]

In 1998, in partnership with a consortium of Norwegian businessmen, Carnival purchased the remaining 50% stake in Seabourn, as well as acquiring the venerable Cunard Line from Kvaerner ASA, and merged the two brands into an entity called Cunard Line. In 1999, three Cunard ships, Sea Goddess I, Sea Goddess II, and Royal Viking Sun were transferred into the Seabourn fleet as Seabourn Goddess I, Seabourn Goddess II, and Seabourn Sun.^[1]

In 2001, Carnival bought out the Norwegian shareholders, and Seabourn's parent company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival. That summer, Seabourn Goddess I and Seabourn Goddess II were sold to Seabourn's original founder, Atle Brynestad, for his SeaDream Yacht Club. In 2002, Seabourn Sun was transferred to the Carnival-owned Holland America Line, reducing the Seabourn fleet to its three original sister ships, and the company was demerged from Cunard Line and reorganized as a stand-alone operating brand of Carnival Corporation & plc.

On March 31, 2011 Seabourn ceased operations from Miami, Florida and the transferred operations to the Holland America Line quarters in Seattle, Washington.^[2]

Fleet[link]

The company's fleet consists of six vessels, with two sets of three sister ships.

The first set, the Seabourn Pride, Seabourn Spirit, and Seabourn Legend, were built during the late 1980s and early 1990s. They are nearly identical and each weighs in at 10,000 tons.

In October 2006, Seabourn ordered three new, 32,000-ton luxury cruise ships from Genoa's T. Mariotti shipyard. The first, named Seabourn Odyssey entered service in 2009, followed by the Seabourn Sojourn in 2010 and the Seabourn Quest in June 2011. The three ships share most features.

Ship	Built	Builder	Entered service for Seabourn	Gross Tonnage	Flag	Notes	Image
Seabourn Pride	1988	Schichau Seebeckwerft	1989–Present	10,000 tons	Bahamas	Last refurbished in 2007 [3]
Seabourn Spirit	1988	Schichau Seebeckwerft	1989–Present	10,000 tons	→  Bahamas	Last refurbished in 2007 [4]
Seabourn Legend	1990	Schichau Seebeckwerft	1996–Present	10,000 tons	Bahamas	Previously Royal Viking Queen, Last refurbished in 2008 [5]
Seabourn Odyssey	2009	T. Mariotti	2009–Present	32,000 tons	Bahamas
Seabourn Sojourn	2010	T. Mariotti	2010–Present	32,000 tons	Bahamas
Seabourn Quest	2011	T. Mariotti	2011–Present	32,000 tons	Bahamas

The Odyssey, Sojourn, and Quest have a maximum passenger capacity of 450 guests, quartered in 225 suite cabins, 90% of which have a balcony. The 650-foot (200 m) vessels cost approximately US$250 million each. The ships have 11 decks, an 11,500-square-foot (1,070 m²) indoor/outdoor spa, and four alternative dining venues.^[6][7]

Accolades[link]

The Sojourn, was awarded "Best Newcomer of the Year - Silver" from the European Cruiser Association in 2010^[8] while the Quest won the gold award in the same category in 2011.^[9] Seabourn was voted "Best Small-Ship Cruise Line in the Conde NAst Traveler Readers' Choice Poll in 2008 and 2010. The line was also voted the "World's Best Small-Ship Cruise Line" in the Travel + Leisure magazine readers' poll in 2007, 2009,2010 and 2011. In addition is has been named to Conde Nast Traveler's prestigious "Gold List" of top hospitality venues for 17 consecutive years.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Seabourn Cruise Line

• Official website

v t e Ships of the Seabourn Cruise Line fleet Current fleet Seabourn Legend · Seabourn Pride · Seabourn Spirit · Seabourn Odyssey (2009) · Seabourn Sojourn (2010) · Seabourn Quest (2011) Former ships Seabourn Sun (1988) · Seabourn Goddess 1 (1986) · Seabourn Goddess 2 (1986)

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A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships. Cruise lines have a dual character; they are partly in the transportation business, and partly in the leisure entertainment business, a duality that carries down into the ships themselves, which have both a crew headed by the ship's captain, and a hospitality staff headed by the equivalent of a hotel manager.

Among cruise lines, some are direct descendants of the traditional passenger shipping lines, while others were founded from the 1960s on specifically for cruising. The business is extremely volatile; the ships are massive capital expenditures with very high operating costs, and a slight dip in bookings can easily put a company out of business. Cruise lines frequently sell, renovate, or simply rename their ships just to keep up with travel trends.

A wave of failures and consolidation in the 1990s has led to many lines existing only as "brands" within larger corporations, much as a single automobile company produces several makes of cars. Brands exist partly because of repeat customer loyalty, and also to offer different levels of quality and service. For instance, Carnival Corporation owns both Carnival Cruise Lines, whose former image were vessels that had a reputation as "party ships" for younger travellers, but have become large, modern, and extremely elegant, yet still profitable, and Holland America Line, whose ships cultivate an image of classic elegance.

Currently the five largest cruise line operators in the world are Carnival Corporation & plc, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Star Cruises, MSC Cruises and Louis Cruise Lines.

See also[link]

• List of cruise ships
• List of cruise lines
• List of ocean liners
• Cruising (maritime)

External links[link]

• Cruise line at the Open Directory Project