Seabourn’s 94-day Grand Pole-to-Pole journey, its first ever expedition world cruise aboard Seabourn Venture, is already seeing strong sales since its launch at the start of the month.Speaking at a media event at Sydney’s Aria on Friday, Seabourn’s Vice President of Expedition Operations and Planning Robin West shared that the initial reaction to the ground-breaking new itinerary has been overwhelmingly positive thanks to its combination of expedition-style travel with refined comfort.“We’ve released that currently only to our club members, and we already have had a great response in terms of the number of guests taking the full 94 days,” he said.
West described the itinerary as “something really quite special,” reflecting years of planning. “This has been in the making for a number of years,” he said, adding that the initial idea for the itinerary was sparked by guests.“They were asking, ‘What could we do differently?’ after sailing with us on multiple world cruises,” he shared. “So we started thinking: what if we did a world cruise, but in an expedition style?”The result is a 94-day journey beginning with a charter flight from Reykjavik to Greenland, travelling through the Canadian High Arctic, down along the coast of North and South America to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and finally Antarctica.
It’s a route that is going to allow guests to see an array of wildlife, including beluga whales, humpback whales, polar bears, brown bears, black bears, Northern Lights, Arctic fox and all the penguin species, according to West.For guests with time constraints, an 82-day version is also available. The voyage includes unique experiences like the “Image Masters” program and signature moments such as caviar on deck and polar plunges. Guests on the full itinerary will receive a custom-designed polar parka by Helly Hansen, exclusive to the Grand Pole-to-Pole journey.Seabourn’s purpose-built expedition ships, Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit, are central to the offering. These PC6-rated vessels can operate in ice up to 1.2 metres thick and feature 24 Zodiacs, two custom-built submarines, and advanced technology such as a 4K Cineplex camera capable of zooming in on polar bears from four nautical miles away. “It’s a fantastic platform to explore from,” West said.
Yet, for Seabourn, expedition cruising is about far more than simply scenery. For example, in the Kimberley region of Australia, guests explore ancient rock art with traditional owners. “We’re creating an opportunity to not just immerse our guests in the experience, but to immerse our brand in a new part of the world in a meaningful way,” said West.This cultural connection extends to Seabourn’s partnership with the Wunambal Gaambera people, the Traditional Owners of an area of the Kimberley in which Seabourn operates, who are now godparents of Seabourn Pursuit.“One of the things we tell guests quite often is every other holiday after this is going to be boring in comparison. And they all laugh—until the last night of the trip,” West shared. “Then they come up and say, ‘You were right.’”
