Seabourn Odyssey at Port Everglades

Seabourn Odyssey has made it to the USA!  It was a beautiful morning in South Florida as the new luxury ship breezed into Port Everglades at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on the morning of November 10, carrying more than 400 guests who sailed in her maiden transatlantic cruise. The ship and guests received a warm welcome from the port with the display of colored spray arching from a port-sponsored fireboat, as well as from Broward County’s very own Nova High School Titan Band, which assembled on the dock in their green and black uniforms and greeted them with lively, energetic music.  It was the first coastline the pampered guests had seen since they left the Portuguese island of Madeira on November 2.

Seabourn Odyssey’s maiden call in the U.S. will begin with inspections by the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Public Health Service.  That will be followed by a two-day open house. The first, on November 11, is for the proud staff who work at Seabourn’s Miami headquarters, and the next day is for travel agents eager to see the vessel USA Today called “…quite simply a game-changer for the luxury segment.”

On November 13, Seabourn is sponsoring “Arts Odyssey,” a gala overnight cruise benefiting the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and three of its resident companies: The New World Symphony, Florida Grand Opera and the Miami City Ballet.  The gala will also feature a performance by Broadway star Bernadette Peters.

Raoul Jack has forwarded some new pictures of Seabourn Sojourn in the Mariotti shipyard at Genoa, Italy.

The first picture is a shot from directly astern with Sojourn in the drydock. You may recall from Odyssey’s construction that this is where they complete the work that is below the waterline when the vessel is afloat. Including bottom paint and mechanical things like the bow thrusters, seen in the second picture. Then there’s a picture of Deck 6 forward, showing the signature Seabourn single whirlpool that’s a favorite with so many guests. It looks like they’re having great fall weather in Genoa, too!

More pictures later this week.

Here are some visa requirements  for most nationalities:

• United States: Non-US citizens or residents must follow the regulations to acquire a visa to enter the United States. Those vary by nationality.
• Australia requires a visa to be acquired in advance for entry.
• India requires an individual visa to be acquired in advance for entry.
• Guests who are taking an Overland Journey in China (from the port of Hong Kong) are required to acquire a visa in advance of arrival. Those just sailing to Hong Kong do not require a visa in advance.
• Visas are also required for entry into Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Oman and Egypt, but these can be purchased on board for your convenience.

Seabourn Pride, meanwhile, will be in Asia for the full year, and in the autumn will be sailing in China, Thailand and Vietnam, with land extensions to Beijing, Guilin, Cambodia & Laos and the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

Seabourn Odyssey will make a maiden circumnavigation of South America in early 2011, encompassing the Peruvian and Chilean coasts, the Chilean fjords and Patagonia, Cape Horn, the Falkland Islands, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and the Amazon.

Seabourn Legend’s voyages in the Caribbean are designed to take advantage of her intimate size, and features such as the fold-out watersports marina that can be deployed for a “Champagne and Caviar in the Surf” beach barbecue. Activities ashore range from snorkeling, yacht-racing, kayaking, hiking, horseback riding and zip-line adventures to visiting artists’ studios, tony boutiques or relaxing on world-class beaches. On board, deck barbecues and al fresco dining options make the most of the bucolic climate, as do Dancing and Movies Under the Stars.

Raoul Jack sent along a few more shots of Seabourn Sojourn alongside the fitting-out dock at the shipyard in Genoa. It was obviously a rather gray day, but we can get a good look at her sleek shape, which is looking lovely already, even without her coat of paint. A lot of the work going on now is inside, so the outer form doesn’t show radical changes from day to day. But there’s a lot going on.  I especially like the shot from astern, which gives a good view of those great terraces of open deck down the aft end—a great place to have a glass of Champagne and watch the harbor lights of another great port of call fade,  as you sail away to enjoy a delightful night at sea.

Use your imagination, your intuition – even your Ouija Board – to win a free week-long cruise aboard the next generation of ultra luxury cruising vessel. Like our other Seabourn yachts, their new sister will have the first name Seabourn. It’s the second half that you need to divine in order to win.

Take as many guesses as you want, and submit your guesses by e-mail to names@seabourn.com. Don’t forget to include your name and contact information.

Entries must be received by December 4, 2009. In case of identical correct guesses, the winner will be drawn at random from among all correct guesses.

The award is a complimentary 7-day cruise in a minimum category suite anywhere the new ship sails between her second scheduled cruise in 2011 and June of 2012, and is subject to space availability. Prize cruise does not include airfare, ground transfers or onboard purchases. All expenses not specifically stated are the sole responsibility of the winner. The award is not transferable and non-refundable. All terms and conditions of Seabourn Cruise Line’s standard Ticket Contract of Passage, as well as those stated in the General Information section of Seabourn’s brochure, shall be applicable to the cruise.

In case the winner is unable to utilize available space during the maiden year, a 7-day cruise on another Seabourn yacht may be substituted.

In January, Odyssey will set off around the world,  providing a lot of interesting topics for us to discuss including special shoreside events along the way, guest celebrities and chefs and much more.  So we have decided to expand the focus of this blog to encompass all the Seabourn yachts– their staffs, their guests, their itineraries and the new yachts a-building.

This will be a process, rather than a “presto.” We have already begun…you’ll notice that the countdown clock in the upper right corner is now tallying days ‘til the Sojourn debut.

So we invite you to check back often, and watch as we expand our focus beyond Odyssey to the broader Seabourn world. As always, we welcome your comments, suggestions and questions, and we appreciate your interest.

Seabourn also tallies guests’ “votes” by means of a questionnaire filled out at the end of each cruise. The questionnaires ask for numeric ratings and verbatim comments, and are read by onboard management and headquarters executives as well. Then, the results are discussed in meetings of department heads on board and by the department heads with their staffs. That way, any issues are quickly addressed so they don’t continue from cruise to cruise. Seabourn takes a lot of pride in the awards it has received. They mean a lot to everyone involved. It’s just one more way of knowing our guests are happy. And that is the key to everything.