Award-winning, small-ship cruise specialist The Yachts of Seabourn took more bookings in October, 2010 than in any other month in the company’s history. Net bookings exceeded the same month last year by 166 percent.
Seabourn President and CEO Pamela Conover said that reviews and reports on the company’s two newest vessels are helping fuel the demand. “Seabourn Odyssey was called ‘a game-changer’ when she was launched in 2009,” said Conover. “And she and Seabourn Sojourn have certainly changed the game for us.”
As a result of the increasing demand, the company has been able to introduce a new pricing strategy for 2011 aimed at restoring the advantage to those who book early. The first step in the initiative was to announce fare increases of between $200 and $800 per couple on nineteen 2011 cruises effective November 1st. The company said that additional fare increases will be implemented on January 1, 2011.
Seabourn is entering the final months of an assertive expansion of over 200 percent capacity increase in three years. The first two vessels, Seabourn Odyssey and Seabourn Sojourn, are already in service and a third, Seabourn Quest, will debut in June. Throughout the expansion, the company has managed to maintain the exceptional quality of its onboard product, on which its reputation is based. In 2010, Seabourn swept the best-small-ship categories of the two largest travel consumer surveys—the Condé Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice and Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best awards.
“In the past two years, our new yachts have attracted the attention of hundreds of new travel agent partners,” explained Conover. “And tens of thousands of their clients have had their first Seabourn experience. Now those guests are coming back,” she continued. “And they are bringing their friends and families with them.”
The Yachts of Seabourn operates cruises worldwide. With the addition of the new yachts, the six-yacht Seabourn fleet will comprise the largest luxury cruise presence in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe in 2011. The expansion likewise allows the company to expand its range of seasonal cruising options in more exotic destinations such as Southeast Asia, South America, India, Arabia, the South Pacific, and even sail extended, round-the-world cruises.
