We know many of you are anxiously waiting for the introduction of Seabourn Sojourn.  We can’t wait to see her either and are thrilled to share with you some photos from the shipyard.  Our blog correspondent, Staff Captain Magnus Bengtsson, is nice enough to take some time from his busy schedule to keep us posted on the progress of the yacht.

Despite rainy weather and grey skies, staff is hard at work with the latest addition to the Seabourn family. The Seabourn team is closely monitoring the progress to make sure all is done in a correct and timely manner. As you can see, the name has been affixed on the bow, and the staff is busy loading materials aboard the vessel.

Inside Sojourn, the guest suites are coming together nicely.  Here you can see one of the Wintergarden suites under construction.

And here is it will look like once completed.  These shots are from the Odyssey, sister ship to Sojourn.  The Wintergarden suite will undoubtedly be a marvelous suite to relax and watch the world sail by!

Staff and workers at the T. Mariotti shipyards in Genoa, Italy, heard a new sound today as the Main Engine Number Three on Seabourn Sojourn was started for the first time.  There is a great buzz in the air – and not just because of the sound coming from the engine – and it was a special moment to see the yacht come to life.  (You may recall Chief Engineer Neil Carney on Odyssey compared it to a heartbeat.)

A lot of progress is also being made in the engine room.  Generator sets, propulsion systems and electrical main switchboard are already installed, while piping and cabling still need to be run. The workers are striving to test run one generator set by the end of the month.

Odyssey Transiting the Panama Canal

On the morning of January 10th, Seabourn Odyssey started her maiden transit of the Panama Canal on her way from Cartagena, Colombia, to Puerto Caldera in Costa Rica as part of her inaugural World Cruise.

Despite the rain showers, many guests chose to watch from the forward deck whilst others sat in comfort in the Observation Bar and around the Sky Bar area. Hotel Manager Vitor rigged a tent on the forecastle to serve the guests tea, coffee and pastries so that they need not leave their vantage points.

There were some wonderful photo opportunities during the transit.  This photo shows us entering the first chamber of the Gatun Lock as we entered at 7 a.m. in the morning.  A Panama Canal commentator gave us a talk on the history of the canal which was most interesting. It will take us eight hours to pass from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

Captain Mark Dexter

Seabourn Odyssey

Odyssey World Cruise Guest

After spending the fall sailing in the Caribbean, Seabourn Odyssey said goodbye to Fort Lauderdale and set sail on Seabourn’s first world cruise, a 108-day voyage that departed Jan. 5, 2010, from Port Everglades.  Guests who will be making the whole round-the-world cruise enjoyed a complimentary gala pre-cruise overnight at the Ritz Carlton Fort Lauderdale on January 4th, with a festive cocktail reception enlivened by various “ports of call” featuring food and drinks inspired by the places the guests will visit during their voyage. A lavish dinner dance followed, with entertainment by a balletic contortionist, spirited Tahitian dancers, a Chinese Dragon Dance troupe and operatic arias performed by a soprano vocalist. While the weather was a bit chilly in South Florida, the temperature didn’t dampen guests’ spirits and they were eager to embark on this once-in-a-lifetime experience aboard the beautiful Odyssey.

The 450-guest vessel will visit 42 ports in 26 countries on six continents as she sails across the globe from Ft. Lauderdale to Athens, Greece.  From the wonders of the South Pacific to the exotic lands of Asia, guests will visit far-flung destinations and experience exciting and new cultures – all of which will undoubtedly create lasting memories!

Stay tuned for future posts on Odyssey as she carries her fortunate guests around the world.

When we invited our guests and the public in general to guess the name of our third new ship, we didn’t expect the type of response and enthusiasm we received.  But we received an overwhelming amount of submissions by guests eager to win.  The prize at stake?  A complimentary seven-day cruise for two aboard the yacht during her maiden year.

Many respondents put in a lot of thought and imagination to their guesses.  For example, quite a few followed a Greek theme – taken after Odyssey – and submitted such guesses as Iliad or Arete.  Others reached for the stars, listing the zodiac signs and the planets in our solar system.  And there were plenty of guesses of names that are already being used by other cruise ships.

But after three months and more than 2,100 guesses, we are pleased to introduce you to Seabourn Quest, which will be the third iteration of the sleek and widely admired design that first appeared on Seabourn Odyssey.  Quest is scheduled to debut in 2011, and there is no doubt she is going to be another magnificent addition to the fleet.

The lucky winner of our Guess-the-Name contest is Kevin Staub, who won a complimentary seven-day cruise for two aboard Seabourn Quest during the yacht’s maiden year .

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to send in their guesses!  We hope to welcome you aboard a Seabourn voyage very soon.

Here are some new pictures of the newly-refurbished Seabourn Spirit, which came out of drydock earlier this month.  She looks marvelous, and we have received many positive reviews from our guests about her new look and feel.

Guests can see changes from the moment they step on board in the Reception Lobby, which was transformed with honey-toned wood paneling, two-toned marble flooring and furnishings reupholstered in rich burgundy.  The Purser’s Desk is located in the Reception Lobby, where guests can talk to the pursers about any questions they have regarding their cruise.  Nearby is the Shore Excursions desk, which is staffed with destinations specialists ready to assist guests with their shore excursions bookings.

A few decks below is The Restaurant, where guests enjoy celebrity Chef Charlie Palmer’s cuisine in a rich, yet understated elegant atmosphere.  The Restaurant received new, handsome toffee-toned woods with creamy caramel accents, dramatic sheer curtains striped horizontally in violet and gold interspersing muted purple drapes, and flooring finished in sumptuous golden stone with sage infusions.

Stay tuned for more photos of Seabourn Spirit!

What is this country, and who are these people that, from a standing far behind in the race, and greatly helped by our Western consumerism and technology, have fought their way ever closer to the front of the pack, and now are slated to play a dominant role in every conceivable way as this century progresses?  Shouldn’t we be interested, even eager to feel its pulse and understand what drives this enormous population in their unstoppable surge for progress?  A people endowed with a certain genetic wisdom, industrious by nature, that greatly values education and discipline can only shine in competition with the West, where these values increasingly seem to lose their luster. It’s only by integrating the past and the present of this remarkable destination that we can hope to gain a better understanding. Only by breathing the air, feeling the dynamic and sharing the space can we hope to see beneath the modern veneer-clad images the media are able to convey. Though essential to attract visitors, merely depicting China’s romantic past of the Great Wall and Forbidden City doesn’t sufficiently allow us to touch its soul and feel its pulse.

Don’t we owe it to ourselves to try to better understand these people, to see beyond the external changes and the popular notion that China is merely the sweatshop of the West? Isn’t China, after all, our major competitor, not only for global natural resources but also in budding technological advancement? Wouldn’t we want to know them better? And what better way to do that than from the comfort and pampering of Seabourn Pride, without the need to schlep from crowded airport to crowded airport, hotel room to hotel room, restaurant to restaurant?

I think these are the real reasons why travelers should use the opportunity to sail with Seabourn Pride, explore China, and also Korea and Japan, both of which are in different stages of a similar (re)evolution. We all live in the age of Asia… Let’s experience it now.

Seabourn Destination Master Peter Cox gives some insight below on why a cruise to China should be in your future…

Although China has this incredible and ancient civilization that flourished when the Greeks and Romans enjoyed theirs, and there certainly remain many sites that represent this rich heritage all over China, a coastal cruise – with the exception of the pre/post Beijing stay – will hardly bring guests near those sites that filled the Beijing Olympics media travelogues. Yet, it is China’s coast that gave birth to and nourished this awakening giant, which came out of the post-Mao dark ages only a few decades ago.

While, centuries ago, the centers of civilization flourished inland, it’s the fertile flood plains of the Yangtze River delta that fed those civilizations, thanks to the Grand Canal, this amazing lifeline, over 1100 miles long and dug at the time civilization was just dawning in Europe. It is on the coast that foreign concessions flourished after the Emperor was forced to open up to foreign trade following the Opium Wars. And, in recent times, it’s again China’s coast that has absorbed the millions of workers migrating from the interior countryside to feed the needs of an exploding industrial revolution that has stunned the world. While we will enjoy Beijing for its cultural and historical significance, we especially will explore the coast, with its glossy Western veneer, in search of a better understanding of China — a nation that will somehow affect each of us personally in the decades ahead.

Peter Cox

Peter A.M. Cox is Seabourn’s Director of Itinerary Planning and Development.  He is one of the most experienced, knowledgeable and insightful destination experts in the world. Originally from The Netherlands, Peter started his travel career as an enthusiastic amateur, hitchhiking across North Africa and traveling in Asia during the off-season from his summer jobs as a tour director in Europe. His itineraries included South America and the United States as well (he once spent three and a half months driving around the U.S. in an old Ford Falcon.)

His seagoing experience began in 1974 as a tour manager on world cruises aboard Norwegian American Line’s Sagafjord, and diverse summer itineraries on Vistafjord. Peter “came ashore” in1980 to begin researching and planning itineraries and land programs for Pearl Cruises, a pioneer of year-round Asia cruises with Pearl of Scandinavia, based in Hong Kong and San Francisco. Six years later Peter moved to cutting-edge expedition cruise operator Society Expeditions in Seattle, planning itineraries for World Discoverer and Society Explorer, the leading expedition-style vessels of the time, carrying intrepid travelers on all-inclusive adventures from the Arctic to Antarctica, the Amazon to the South Pacific and beyond. Peter joined Seabourn in its San Francisco headquarters in 1993, and has been planning the cruise itineraries and land programs since then.

Peter has agreed to provide for us some expert insights into Seabourn Pride’s cruises in Asia: why you should want to visit Asia, and what to expect when you do. We will post them in two parts, Wednesday and Friday.

Seabourn’s original three sister yachts, Seabourn Pride, Spirit, and Legend, are being treated to a multi-million dollar makeover over the next year.  The look and feel of the public rooms on each vessel will be enhanced with open and airy interiors, modern embellishments, and richly colored contemporary on-deck furnishings. Spirit just came out of drydock with all the changes made, and Pride and Legend will have their turns next year.

Guests who have sailed on Spirit say she’s a real stunner, looking fresh and stylish.  We’ll post photos of Spirit’s new look in the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime, here are some renderings to give you an idea of what the yachts will look like after their refurbishment.