Seabourn review

About Seabourn review

By the ULTIMATE Cruises Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Seabourn sails five small ships, three for the ocean and two built for expedition, where every suite faces the sea, the bar is open all day and no tipping is expected. Here is who it suits, how the ships differ, and how to book it well.

Seabourn likes to compare its ships to private yachts, and the comparison holds better than most. None of them carries more than 600 guests, every suite looks onto the sea, and there is more than one crew member for every suite. Each suite has a Personal Suite Host and a Suite Attendant, who greet you with a glass of champagne and, as Seabourn puts it, may suggest drawing you a bubble bath.

Five ships carry the name (seabourn.com, Oct 2026): the ocean trio of Seabourn Encore, Seabourn Ovation and Seabourn Quest, and two expedition ships, Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit, built for the polar regions. The bar is open all day, every restaurant is in the fare, and Seabourn says no tipping is expected or required.

None of its ships carries more than 600 guests, and the crew learn your name early.

Who Seabourn suits

Seabourn suits travellers who want the intimacy of a small ship without giving up choice. It is social without being loud: evenings end with dancing under the stars or a poolside party with desserts, and guest experts from Seabourn Conversations join the life of the ship rather than staying at the lectern. Couples and friends who like a long lunch, a glass of champagne by the pool and a port every day or two will feel at home.

It also suits travellers who want a single line for both the Mediterranean and the ice. If you need constant entertainment, a big theatre or children’s clubs, a larger ship will suit you better.

The ships

Seabourn Encore and Seabourn Ovation are sisters, each carrying 600 guests and 690 ft long, with 13 categories of ocean-front veranda suites from 251 to 1,306 sq ft inside, around a central Seabourn Square. Seabourn Quest, launched in 2011, carries 458 guests, with suites from 295 to 1,182 sq ft inside. Her 2026 drydock, the most comprehensive interior update in the line’s history, brought a speakeasy-style Club, new mattresses and carpets in every suite and a redesigned spa.

The expedition pair, Seabourn Venture (2022) and Seabourn Pursuit (2023), carry 264 guests each and are built to PC6 Polar Class standards. Both carry Zodiacs and kayaks and a 19-person expedition team, and Swarovski Optik binoculars in every suite. On board, the Discovery Center hosts lectures and briefings for every guest at once.

The suites

Every Seabourn suite faces the sea. At the top of the range, the Wintergarden Suite gives you 989 sq ft (92 m²) inside plus a 197 sq ft (18 m²) veranda, with dining for six, a whirlpool bath, a guest bath, a pantry with wet bar and a glass-enclosed solarium with a tub and day bed. The Signature Suite has 859 sq ft (80 m²) inside and a generous 493 sq ft (46 m²) veranda, with forward-facing windows and dining for four to six.

Penthouse Spa Suites, with around 50 m² inside, come with entry to the Spa Serene Area and a Spa Concierge for the voyage. Guests in Owner’s, Signature and Wintergarden suites also receive a private car on embarkation and disembarkation day, to or from a location within 50 miles of the pier, and premium suites include unlimited internet.

Dining

All dining is complimentary and nearly all of it open-seating, which gives a Seabourn evening its easy rhythm. The Restaurant is the main dining room on every ship, with fine wines poured at lunch and dinner. Solis, the newest restaurant, on Encore, Ovation and Quest, is a Mediterranean concept from Master Chef and Culinary Partner Anton “Tony” Egger and Senior Corporate Chef Franck Salein, built around garden produce and fresh seafood.

Chef Egger is also behind Earth & Ocean, served poolside by candlelight at The Patio, and Sushi, which has its own restaurant on Ovation and Encore and is served made to order in The Club each evening on Quest, Venture and Pursuit; the fish is shipped from Japan. The Colonnade offers a buffet or table service, inside and out, with family-style theme nights. And Seabourn Square, the social heart of each ship, serves coffee from beans roasted on board and handmade gelato by chefs trained at Italy’s Gelato University.

The spa and The Retreat

The Spa at Seabourn offers massages, facials, wraps and newer treatments such as the Restorative Salt Stone Massage and Thai Massage, with yoga, meditation and stretch classes in the Motion Studio; the expedition ships have glass-walled saunas with ocean views. Treatments are charged. On Encore and Ovation, The Retreat sits beneath a flower-shaped canopy, ringed by 15 private cabanas, each with a refrigerator stocked to your taste, for an additional charge.

Days to remember

Seabourn’s signature is Caviar in the Surf, when uniformed staff wade into the water to serve iced champagne and caviar from a surfboard bar, followed by a barbecue lunch and music on the beach. It usually falls on Marina Day, when complimentary watersports run from the retractable Marina platform or the beach. Both run on select sailings, weather permitting, so look for them in the itinerary if they matter to you.

Evenings have their own shape. The Grand Salon hosts lectures, films, cookery demonstrations and cabaret, and the Seabourn Six, produced by Belinda King Creative Productions, perform new shows. Seabourn Conversations brings guest experts in the arts, history and science on board, and they join the daily social life of the ship as well as giving talks. A signature poolside party ends with Desserts Under the Stars.

Where Seabourn sails

The ocean ships call at more than 400 ports on every continent, from marquee cities to small harbours. Through November 2026, Seabourn Quest sails seven-day voyages between Dubrovnik, Fusina (for Venice), Istanbul and Athens, calling at yacht harbours and islands in Croatia, Greece, Montenegro and Turkey; voyages can be combined into 14- and 21-day sailings. Alaska, Japan and Asia also feature in Seabourn’s programme, and its world cruises call at Cape Town and Walvis Bay.

The expedition ships take the same service to the Arctic, Svalbard and the fjords of Norway, the Northwest Passage and the Kimberley coast of Australia, with Zodiacs and kayaks taking you ashore and along the coast.

What’s included, and what isn’t

Seabourn’s fare covers your ocean-front suite, an open bar with premium spirits, champagne and fine wines, and every dining venue, and Seabourn says no tipping is expected or required (seabourn.com, Oct 2026). Spa treatments, The Retreat and shore excursions are extra. The private-car transfers and unlimited internet come with the premium suites.

How Seabourn compares

Seabourn sits between the most inclusive and the most intimate of its rivals. Regent Seven Seas includes unlimited shore excursions, which Seabourn does not; Silversea adds a butler for every suite. Seabourn’s strengths are its scale, with ships of 600 guests or fewer, the warmth of its service and days such as Caviar in the Surf that no other line quite matches. Like Silversea, it runs purpose-built expedition ships alongside its ocean fleet. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, also small and yacht-like, includes Marina watersports in its fare.

Booking tips

Look for a voyage with a Marina Day if you want Caviar in the Surf, and choose Encore or Ovation if The Retreat appeals. Seabourn Quest’s 2026 refurbishment makes her a fine choice for the Eastern Mediterranean, and back-to-back weeks there combine into 14- and 21-day sailings. Budget for shore excursions and spa treatments, which are outside the fare.

Our advice: book a Mediterranean or Caribbean week on Seabourn Encore or Seabourn Ovation that includes a Marina Day; once you are hooked, take Seabourn Venture or Seabourn Pursuit to the ice.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Seabourn review before you go.