Seabourn Ovation

Seabourn Ovation is the second Encore-class ship, delivered by Fincantieri in April 2018 and in service from that May, when she sailed from Valletta. At roughly 40,000 tons and 600 guests she is about a sixth the tonnage of the largest ships on this site and carries a tenth of the people, and almost everything worth knowing about her follows from that.

The arithmetic that matters

Six hundred guests, about 330 crew. That is a little under two guests per crew member, and it is the reason the service on board is different in kind rather than degree; nobody waits in line, the bar staff learn your drink on the first evening, and the dining rooms take you when you arrive rather than at a seating.

The fare is the other half of the arithmetic. Seabourn’s is genuinely all-inclusive: wines and spirits throughout the ship, gratuities, and in-suite dining from the restaurant menu at no charge. A quoted Seabourn fare and a quoted mainstream fare are not measuring the same thing, and the gap narrows a great deal once drinks packages and tips are added to the second.

The marina

The single most distinctive thing about her is a platform that folds out of the stern in calm water to make a swimming deck at sea level, with kayaks, paddleboards and a netted swimming enclosure. Seabourn has been building this into its ships since the 1980s and very few other lines bother. It is weather-dependent, so it opens perhaps a handful of times on a two-week sailing, but it is the thing people remember.

Ashore, her size does similar work. The Caribbean itineraries she sails from Bridgetown and Philipsburg between November and March are named for yacht harbors rather than cruise ports, and that is accurate: she calls at anchorages where the only other vessels are private. The rest of the year is Europe, and much the larger part of it, Mediterranean seasons out of Piraeus, Dubrovnik, Civitavecchia and Barcelona, generally in one- to three-week blocks that can be strung together into much longer voyages. Between the two she runs transatlantic crossings in both directions, and a handful of Canada and New England sailings turn up on the North American side.

Accommodation

All-suite and all-veranda, each with a separate sitting area, a walk-in closet and a stocked bar replenished to your preferences. There is no cheapest cabin to avoid, which removes the usual question of how far up to trade.

Dining is five rooms rather than twenty-five: The Restaurant, the more casual Colonnade, the poolside Patio, a small sushi restaurant, and Solis, the Mediterranean room that Seabourn finished rolling out across this ship and three sisters in May 2024. None of them costs extra.

Who she suits

Couples and solo travelers who want space, quiet and a fare with nothing left to add, and who would rather see six small harbors than one large one.

She is a poor fit for families with children, who will find almost nothing laid on for them; for anyone who wants a show every night, since the entertainment is a small ensemble and a lecturer rather than a cast; and for anyone booking on headline price, because she will never be the cheapest way to spend a week at sea. What she is competing on is what happens once you are aboard.