The readers of Travel + Leisure have ranked Seabourn the World’s Best Small-Ship Cruise Line for the third consecutive year. The line was honored at the magazine’s annual World’s Best Awards ceremony. Seabourn achieved the highest score awarded to any cruise line, regardless of ship size category, according to the results of the Travel + Leisure World’s Best 2011 readers’ survey published in its August issue and available now on www.TravelandLeisure.com/worldsbest. It is the fourth time the line has won the award in five years.
The latest win underlines the company’s remarkably consistent record of attracting and satisfying discerning, affluent travelers in the highly competitive ultra-luxury segment of the cruise industry. Seabourn has also won Best Small-Ship Line honors from readers of Departures, and in the 2008 and 2010 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards.
“Winning for the second time in a row last year was wonderful,” said Seabourn president Richard Meadows, “and when we win for the third time in a row, you have to say ‘Now we are starting to see a pattern.’ To win the Travel + Leisure award for three consecutive years is a remarkable accomplishment anytime,” he continued. “But for Seabourn’s shipboard staff to win it in the last three years, when we added three new ships and tripled our capacity, is simply unprecedented.”
Seabourn’s win was undoubtedly aided by the tremendous response to its trio of new ships, which have been universally acclaimed as “game-changers” for the luxury segment. Seabourn Odyssey, Sojourn and Quest are the smallest new ships being introduced into the ultra-luxury fleet, but carrying just 450 guests, they provide the highest ratio of space per guest in the industry, and a complement of nearly one staff member per guest. Innovative onboard features such as Seabourn Square – the popular concierge lounge that serves as the ship’s “living room” – and the largest spa on any luxury vessel are bolstered by highly personalized service delivered by a crew that is the envy of the industry.
Seabourn, 800-929-9391, www.seabourn.com