Seabourn Cruise Line Sojourn

Observation Bar

This soothing space offers a broad, near-180 degree forward panorama from just above the bridge. During the day the venue was untended, but afternoon tea was served from 4 to 5 p.m. An excellent pianist played here during afternoon tea, and from 6:30 nightly, on a gleaming white piano. The acoustics in the room were superb—the music perfectly audible but unobtrusive from any seat.

Note the starboard side of this enclosed room was open to smoking, though we found very few engaged.

The Spa at Seabourn

This is one of the most attractive and elegant spa facilities we’ve seen at sea, with quite a generous amount of space allotted (considering there are only 450 passengers on the ship). The facilities were cast in cream tones, with lovely wood and stone accents throughout. The spa was managed by Steiner Leisure, which handles spa services on most cruise lines; Elemis was the primary product line in use. The spa included a fin sauna, changing rooms for men and women with lockers and showers, and a private aft deck with its own whirlpool tub and sunning area amid billowing white curtains.

Massage treatments included the usual services—Thai herbal poultice, aroma stone therapy, bamboo and a couples massage; prices started at $132 for the 50-minute Swedish massage. Body therapies started at $85 for the 40-minute Ionithermie Revitalizing Leg Therapy and also included a lime and ginger salt glow, and a seaweed wrap and massage. There was an array of facials, starting at $124 for the 50-minute Elemis Skin IQ for Men, and there was one we hadn’t encountered before—the Seabourn 24-Karat Gold Facial, a 75-minute treatment involving a gold leaf mask, for $325. The boss said no.

At the salon, the roster of services included hair treatments (style, coloring), nails and waxing.

Also here was a Thermal Suite Lounge, a mild sauna experience with heated loungers and the Kneipp Walk, a water therapy through basins of cold and warm water with reflexology massage features. A day pass was $30, or it was $180 for the length of the cruise.

One small quibble: We found the plastic succulents and papyrus ornamenting the spa to be a bit tacky—do real succulents really need that much care and feeding that they can’t be maintained on a ship?

Other Activites

There was also a private spa villa on the starboard side of the spa that could be rented for a few hours. There was a soaking tub for two, daybed, private shower, and many spa treatments could be conducted here as well. Prices for two start at $650 for 2.5 hours, including the Elemis Aroma Stone Therapy massage and a bathing ritual.

Seabourn Square

This multi-purpose venue acted as the lobby, the library, the computer station and provided the guest services, shore excursions and future cruise desks. It was the nerve center of the ship, and we could get a good cup of coffee, too.

The selection of books in the library wasn’t expensive, but we were impressed with the relatively up-to-date collection of travel guides for the area we found ourselves cruising. There was also a collection of full newspapers (to supplement the daily news digest that arrived in our room each morning)—this included the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today, plus tantalizing exotic fare such as The Globe and Mail and the Australian. There was also a solid array of recent magazines to peruse, ranging from Vogue and Esquire to Time and The New Yorker.

Other Activites

There were eight Dell computers available for use, and WiFi was accessible throughout the ship. Internet rates were .40 cents a minute, which is the lowest we’ve seen on cruise ships in the last year. Packages brought the price down further—two hours for $19.95, etc. (i.e., less than .17 cents per minute). We also appreciated that the first minute was free, in the event of connectivity issues (also not typical of other cruise lines). There was also a seven-day unlimited-access package that provided access throughout the cruise and worked out to less than $35 a day. Documents could be printed from the computers in Seabourn Square for .50 cents per page.

Card Room

Little-used during our cruise, this was the spot where players could meet for un-hosted games of Bridge, Scrabble and Mah-Jong, times announced in the daily newsletter. The venue could also be used for social functions of groups on-board.