On the Waterfront: Representative of Seabourn sisters calls on trip round the world

<i>Seabourn Sojourn </i>in Port Chalmers yesterday. Photo by Jane Dawber.
<i>Seabourn Sojourn </i>in Port Chalmers yesterday. Photo by Jane Dawber.
After an absence of almost five years, the Seabourn Cruise Line returned to Otago yesterday in the shape of Seabourn Sojourn.

One of the two largest units of this fleet, the vessel is also the latest to be added to it.

Seabourn Sojourn was ordered in November 2008 as the second of three sister ships. The contract for their construction was awarded to the T. Mariotti SpA shipyard at Genoa, a yard that has built smaller cruise ships that have called here.

The first of the trio, Seabourn Odyssey, was delivered in June 2009, and is booked to visit Port Chalmers in February 2013. The third ship, Seabourn Quest, is due for delivery in four months.

These three ships will increase the capacity of the line, often referred to as the "Yachts of Seabourn", by 200%.

Registered at Nassau, the vessels are classed with the Italian classification society, Registro Italiano Navale, and were designed by Yran Storbratten Architects A/S Oslo. Each carries a crew of 335 and provides accommodation for 450 passengers in 225 luxury suites.

Their 11 decks also contain four dining venues, six bars and lounges plus all the other amenities that are often linked more with smaller top-of-the-range luxury cruise ships.

Seabourn Sojourn is a 32,346gt vessel with an overall length of 198m, a breadth of 25.4m and a loaded draught of 6.4m. A twin-screw vessel, it has a maximum speed of 22.3 knots and a cruising speed of 21.6 knots. A feature of each ship's elegant profile is the twin athwartship funnels.

After being completed last May, the ship proceeded to London, where during a gala charity event on June 4, it was named at a ceremony by British model Twiggy. Two days later, it departed from London on a 14-day cruise to northern Europe, the Norwegian fjords and Iceland.

The ship is currently on a 111-day round-the-world cruise from Los Angeles to Southampton.

The Seabourn Cruise Line has had quite an interesting history. It was founded in 1986 by a consortium of Norwegian investors headed by industrialist Atle Brynstad. As the Signet Cruise Line, it was to be a small and exclusive Norwegian venture focused on creating a fleet of smaller, yacht-like cruise ships. But within a short period of commencing operations, the present name was adopted.

In 1991, the Carnival Corporation acquired a 25% stake in Seabourn, which was lifted to 50% in 1996. Two years later, Carnival, with Norwegian partners, acquired the remaining 50% in the line. Then, in 2001, Carnival bought them out and it became a wholly owned subsidiary of the world's largest cruise ship group.

The other three much smaller, units of the fleet are the Seabourn Pride and Spirit (both 9975gt) and the 9961gt Seabourn Legend. Each has accommodation for 212 passengers.

The three 16-knot ships were ordered from the Schichau Seebeckwerft yard at Bremerhaven. While Pride entered service in November 1988, and Spirit 12 months later, the third ship, originally planned for delivery in 1990, was sold and completed in February 1992 as Royal Viking Queen.

Two years later, it was sold again and renamed Queen Odyssey. It finally joined the Seabourn fleet as Seabourn Legend in 1996, and on January 3, 1998, made a one-off visit to Port Chalmers.

The only other unit of the fleet to call, Seabourn Spirit, made three visits, in January and February 2004, and February 2006, all to Dunedin.

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