Shown below, left to right: Chef van Leeuwen, Maitre d’Hotel Antony Bernardi, Chef Wynants, Mrs. Wynants, Captain Mark Dexter and Guest Services Manager Jo Poelmans.

Just aft of the Sun Terrace is the Retreat, a multi-activity piazza that features all kinds of deck sports for those who want a little more activity. It will be a great place for early morning yoga and fitness classes in the open air.

Two classic shuffleboard courts are located there, as well as cues and pucks. Nobody really knows when shuffleboard went to sea and became the iconic deck activity for ocean voyages. It dates back over 500 years as a popular pastime, and among its many landlocked advocates was England’s King Henry VIII, who prohibited commoners from playing, and is recorded to have paid off a lost bet at the game he called “shovelboard”  from the royal petty cash account.

One of the key features of the Retreat is a contoured, nine-hole golf putting course. Far from the flat, featureless carpet that often suffices at sea, this ocean-going green has humps and hills, curves and slopes that are sure to give golfers healthy doses of  humility and the sort of  addictive fits of frustration that evidently sustain their interest in the game.

Also located there is a giant chess board, with XXL chess pieces to match, that will provide stimulating mental exercise and even some moderate physical activity for players, meanwhile turning the contest into a spectator sport.

And speaking of spectators, on evenings when the skies are clear, we plan to have stargazing sessions at the Retreat under the guidance of one of our trained celestial navigators.

Seabourn Odyssey set out to sea today for a weekend of sea trials. Marco Ghiglione was good enough to send along these dreamy pictures of our heroine as she prepares to show her stuff.  Thanks Marco and good luck and Godspeed to Seabourn Odyssey!

Seabourn Odyssey Loading Gang

One of the items Seabourn Odyssey will need on board is anchor chain. After all, she will not only be calling at major marquee ports, but, like all the Seabourn yachts, she will also call at smaller, yachting harbors where she will have to anchor. Here you see some crewmembers laying out the anchor chains to be loaded into the hold.

Seabourn Odyssey Anchor Chains

And here you can see the chains being winched up into the hold. And doesn’t Odyssey look smart with her neat black line along the shear!

Seabourn Odyssey Drydock

Seabourn Odyssey Heads to Dry Dock

The second was sent by Captain Buer, and shows Odyssey high and dry again in the drydock as they prepare to do some work below the waterline.   Captain Buer’s comment:  “As you can see, she is now a Seabourn yacht!”

Seabourn Odyssey at Dry Dock

So why make the suites bigger? Well, how about a separate tub and shower in the bathroom?  A lot of guests asked for that, and now they will have it. But we needed to keep the walk-in closet, and the bar and refrigerator, and the separate seating area. And there are some extra-size suites on Odyssey, too. There are 23 Penthouse suites that are half-again the size of the veranda-category suites. And then, like the existing yachts, there are a few that are even larger. (OK, actually, way larger!)

So now we begin to see why Odyssey was planned to be bigger than the existing yachts… and it turns out that the reasons have a lot to do with what Seabourn guests want.  Over the next few posts, we’ll explore some other differences and how and why they came to be included.

Seabourn Odyssey

Just about 11 weeks to go until the launch of Seabourn Odyssey, and the work is progressing at top speed. Just look at this new picture with both funnel hoods in place and the protective tarps stripped off the verandas along the port side. You can clearly see the sleek bloodlines of a thoroughbred Seabourn yacht. Inside, I’m told, it’s all hanging cables and dust and feverish activity—just as it should be. But the exterior reveals the relaxed, effortless grace that is her birthright. If you squint, you can imagine her set against the skyline of Venice at sunset, as she will be on June 24th. If you go ahead and close your eyes, maybe you can imagine yourself on deck that evening, listening to music and watching the sun set, getting ready to name Seabourn Odyssey and sail off to new adventures. There’s still time if you’d like that daydream to come true. But it won’t be long now…

But this is all true, I promise. Yet another enhancement has been added to Seabourn Odyssey’s profile. The distinctive vaned funnel has been mounted on the port side and the “skyline” of Seabourn Odyssey starts to look really familiar. You can also see the main mast in proportion to the rest of the yacht, so it looks different than it did in our earlier post about that being mounted.  It’s getting closer every day!