Seabourn Cruise Line

Seabourn Cruise Line

File:Seabourn.jpg
Company type	Subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc
Industry	Transportation
Founded	1986
Headquarters	Miami, Florida, USA
Area served	Cruise Lines
Key people	Pamela C. Conover CEO President and CEO
Products	Cruises
Website	http://www.seabourn.com/

Seabourn Cruise Line is an ultra luxury cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida. 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 kids are still welcome.

Their ships are known as the Yachts of Seabourn and are small enough to fit in many exotic ports around the world that large cruise ships can't reach. All cabins are suites and are well equipped with some of the best amenities available at sea. All have designer soaps, flat screen televisions, DVD players, and Bose Wave sound systems.

Seabourn was founded in 1986 as a subsidiary of the Norwegian cruise ship giant Kloster Cruise 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 financial constraints at Kloster and was ultimately delivered in 1992 as Royal Viking Queen for Royal Viking Line, another Kloster company. In 1994, Royal Viking Queen was transferred to another Kloster subsidiary, Royal Cruise Line, as Queen Odyssey, before finally joining the Seabourn fleet in 1995 as Seabourn Legend.

Following Kloster Cruise's bankruptcy in 1996, Carnival Corporation, in partnership with a consortium of Norwegian businessmen, acquired a controlling interest in Seabourn. In 1998, Carnival bought the remaining 50% of Seabourn from NCL Holdings Ltd. (the reorganized Kloster) and merged the brand into Cunard Line Ltd. 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.

In 2001, Carnival bought out Cunard's 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 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.

The Fleet

Seabourn Spirit

The Fleet consist of three identical vessels. Each weigh in at 10,000 tons, and all were built during the late 1980s and early 1990s

• Seabourn Pride
• Seabourn Spirit
• Seabourn Legend
• Seabourn Odyssey-to be delivered in June 2009
• Seabourn Sojourn-to be delivered in Spring 2010
• A third duplicate of Seabourn Odyssey to be delivered in Summer 2011

In late October 2006, Seabourn announced that they had ordered three 32,000 ton luxury cruise ships from Genoa's T. Mariotti S.p.A. shipyard. The two ships, one named Seabourn Odyssey and the other are predicted to enter service in 2009 and 2010 respectively, will have a maximum passenger capacity of 450 guests, quartered in 255 suite cabins, 90% of which will have a balcony. The two 650-foot (200 m) vessels are predicted to cost US$250 million each. The ships also are expected to have about 9 decks, which is more than any of Seabourn's previous ships, an 11,500-square-foot (1,070 m²) indoor/outdoor spa, and four alternative dining venues.

External links

• Seabourn official site