Seabourn Encore - Shore excursions and activities

Our guests travel with us because they want to see, hear, learn and discover new places and experiences. To ensure that our guests have memorable and enriching experiences in the over 450 ports of call we offer annually, we contract the best local agents to create and operate some 12,000 carefully curated shore experiences, offering our guests a range of choices in duration, content and the type of activity involved to fully satisfy their wishes. To assist our guests in choosing among these numerous excursion options, we are categorizing our overall Shore Experiences by Seabourn into seven ‘Collections,’ according to the general interests they are designed to captivate.

The Cultural Collection
The Cultural Collection explores the arts, ideas and legacy of places, including access to UNESCO World Heritage sites around the world.

The Bespoke Collection
The Bespoke Collection affords guests opportunities to customize their shore experiences by arranging private cars and drivers, guides, yachts, reservations and other services in ports of call

The Adventure Collection
The Adventure Collection is an array of excursions offering guests active and participatory experiences in ports, including Ventures by Seabourn™ and expedition excursions on our Expedition ships.

The Mindful Living Collection
The Mindful Living Collection consists of guided shoreside experiences in Mindful Living, designed in partnership with world-renowned integrative medicine pioneer.

The Epicurean Collection
The Epicurean Collection invites guests to explore the unique flavors of a destination by indulging their passion for tasting both traditional and contemporary foods and drinks.

The Essential Collection
The Essential Collection offers shorter-duration introductory experiences such as guided walking tours, allowing guests with general interest to learn the highlights about a port.

The Journeys Collection
The Journeys Collection offers escorted pre-, post- and mid-cruise overland experiences of two to 13 days, exploring iconic landmarks impossible to visit during a scheduled port call.

More and more of our guests relish the opportunity to engage with The Last Frontier in a more interactive, experiential, and participatory way.

We created Ventures by Seabourn® to provide Alaska travelers with exciting, adventurous optional activities that are expertly planned, professionally operated, and escorted by skilled expert guides. Optional Ventures by Seabourn excursions let you experience nature up close in a way that is unique, exciting, and designed to accommodate a wide variety of abilities.

• Exclusively on Alaska cruises*, we augment our onboard staff with a veteran Expedition Team of naturalists, scientists, photographers, and other experts to enhance and broaden your destination experiences.
• Complimentary onboard lectures, seminars, and presentations by our team of experts add insights into regional wildlife, natural and cultural history, geography, and other topics. During scenic cruising, Expedition Team members circulate on deck and in observation lounges, highlighting the sights with top-of-the-line Swarovski® binoculars.
• Optional excursions launch directly from the ship, where you can kayak with Expedition Team guides through tranquil fjords and watch for wildlife along forested shores.
• In most ports, if you prefer to simply ride instead of paddle, our Expedition Team can take you on a scenic Zodiac tour. These marvelous boats are great for scenic eye-level cruising in fjords and along rivers.
• During Alaskan voyages, we take advantage of the insider knowledge and relationships of our Expedition Team members to gain access to exclusive sites and experiences. It’s all part of our Ventures by Seabourn mission to enhance and extend the way you experience destinations. Our Ventures by Seabourn expedition-style adventures are also a great opportunity to take a first step into expedition cruising if you have been curious about trying a voyage on our purpose-built expedition ships.

Enhance..

On select sailings featuring Ventures by Seabourn® excursions, share your voyage with a knowledgeable, experienced expedition team of scientists, scholars, naturalists and more. These fascinating, accomplished experts will be part of our complimentary Seabourn Conversations program, providing you an in-depth understanding of the history, ecology and culture of the places you visit. On board, their valuable insights are offered both in formal presentations and in more casual conversations over meals or at leisure.

Extend

In select ports of call and destinations, optional Ventures by Seabourn® excursions, guided by our Expedition Team, invite you to explore spectacular destinations on exhilarating sea-level adventures. Launching from your ship on board our fleet of sturdy, Zodiac® boats or paddling in double sea kayaks, these adventures will vary depending on your itinerary, but include thrills such as cruising picturesque fjords and waterways, trekking on scenic islands, viewing birds, seals, whales and other wildlife up-close, and surveying massive, white-blue icebergs.

Ventures by Seabourn vs Excursions: What's the Difference?

First launched in 2013, Ventures by Seabourn was introduced for guests who have dreamed of experiencing a Seabourn expedition, but are unable to sail on one of our expedition ships.

Unlike traditional shore excursions, the expedition team is placed aboard select sailings to offer knowledge, commentary, education on the destinations, and to lead hikes, Zodiac cruises, and kayaking in remote areas. It allows Seabourn guests to experience expedition-style encounters with the landscapes, but do it on the traditional Seabourn ships that our guests know and love.

Shopping with the Chef — at local food markets. Shop a bustling Sicilian market, gather spices in Istanbul or explore the local wines of Tuscany and Provence. Wherever you are in the world, you'll enjoy an insider's look at unique regional markets with an expert Seabourn chef as your guide.

The art of conversation has always been central to the Seabourn experience.

Our voyages attract interesting, interested people –people who enjoy talking together, sharing their interests, their adventures and discoveries, and their life stories with longtime and newfound friends. Their enthusiasms and curiosity are far-ranging, and these are what spark their desire to travel the world. To encourage and enhance this satisfying aspect of your Seabourn voyage, we invite luminaries of particular interest and accomplishment to join our guests on board – and bring fascinating insights, expert opinions and delightfully entertaining diversions to the conversation. 

Daring explorers, heralded chefs, learned scholars, celebrated performers and renowned experts from every arena of the arts, sciences, politics and the humanities share your journey on our intimate ships. They each bring skilled presentations of their expertise for guests to enjoy. But just as importantly, they participate in the daily social scene, sharing meals, adventures ashore and casual chats throughout the voyage. On some ships, they lecture. On Seabourn, they join the conversation.

For meetings and gatherings, our ships offer meeting rooms that can accommodate up to 40 guests. The meeting rooms can be arranged to guests’ specifications including theatre-style or with tables; and each of the rooms have large-screen TVs for presentations. Guests may also reserve the Card Room when available. Our crew members are happy to assist guests with meeting room reservations and setup.

Caviar in the Surf® is available on select sailings, weather and conditions permitting. One of Seabourn’s most popular events is our signature “Caviar in the Surf” beach barbecue. Our uniformed staff members plunge into the water and invite guests to wade in and get iced champagne and caviar at a surfboard bar. The event includes a lavish barbecue lunch, watersports, music and ample time to soak up the sun on a white-sandy beach.