Luxury leader Seabourn plans big expansion in Asia

mercedes · February 4, 2009

One of the biggest players in the luxury cruise market, The Yachts of Seabourn, is planning a major expansion in Asia starting in 2010.

The small ship cruise operator today announced it will launch year-round cruising in the region -- a first for the line -- during the year and also begin calling at a laundry list of new Asian ports including Dalian, China; Busan and Inchon, Korea; and Nagasaki and Kagoshima, Japan.

Seabourn also will return to Indonesia in 2010 after years away from the sprawling archipelagic state with calls scheduled for such hotspots as Bali, Borneo, Komodo Island and the Karimoenjawa archipelago.

The expansion in Asia is timed to coincide with a major buildout of the three-ship line that begins this summer with the addition of a fourth vessel, the 450-passenger Seabourn Odyssey. A second new ship, the 450-passenger Seabourn Sojourn, is scheduled to debut in June 2010. Both ships are significantly bigger than the line's current vessels.

“One of the many benefits of our newbuilding program is the ability to add exotic new itineraries in 2010 and 2011,” said Seabourn president and CEO Pamela Conover. “We are very excited about them, and we think our guests will be, too."

Conover says the arrival of the new ships will allow the line to offer its most diverse array of cruises not just in Asia but in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and Africa. The line, she notes, will call at a record number of ports throughout 2010-2011, including 44 destinations that are either entirely new for the cruise line or haven't been visited in years.

Other new destinations for 2010-2011, announced today: Antseranana, Madagascar; Busan; Djupivogur, Iceland; Doha, Qatar; Kuching, Malaysia; Fremantle, Australia; Mayotte, Comoros; Sir Bani Yas, U.A.E.; Manama, Bahrain; Mangalore, India; Muara Port, Brunei; Port Stanley, Falkland Islands; Sibenik, Croatia; Rarotonga, Cook Islands; Sihanoukville, Cambodia; Szczencin, Poland; and Torshavn, Faroe Islands, Denmark.

Seabourn will published a full 2010-2011 cruise catalog in April, but the new itineraries already are available for viewing and booking online as of today at seabourn.com.