Seabourn

Who it suits

Six ships, all of them small, all of them run with the manner of a private yacht. Every suite is ocean-front and most have a veranda. The bar is open and stocked with premium spirits and proper wine at no extra charge, every dining room is included, you sit where and when and with whom you like, and tipping is neither required nor expected. Caviar arrives through the voyage without being ordered. On the right day it is served to you standing in the surf.

The point of an ultra-luxury line is that the questions stop: no bill at dinner, no drinks package to weigh up, no envelope at the end of the week. Wi-Fi is in the fare too, unlimited, over Starlink. The interiors are all by Tihany Design, which is why the ships look like each other and like nothing else.

It suits travellers who want a small ship and have stopped wanting to be entertained. If there are children in the party, say so. Royal Caribbean is built for that week and this is not.

Ocean or expedition

The fleet splits in two, and choosing between the halves matters more than choosing a ship.

Four ocean ships, Ovation, Encore, Quest and Sojourn, sail the conventional map: Seabourn reaches more than 400 ports on every continent, from the Amazon to the coasts of Northern Europe to the South Pacific.

Two expedition ships, Venture and Pursuit, are purpose-built for the cold and the remote, Pursuit to PC6 polar class, both carrying submarines. Their published expedition regions are the British Isles, the Arctic, Iceland, South America and Antarctica. Shore work runs on foot, on the water and under it.

Seabourn is one of the lines bookable straight through our own cruise site: the fleet, the expedition seasons and live sailings sit at cruises.co.ke/seabourn-cruises. Our cruise team’s advice, whichever line you land on, is to book 12 to 24 months out, while the itineraries and the cabin grades are still open.