Jaffa

Sorry Travelcat2,

ill-con·ceived and irrational thought processes at play here.

Any cursory research would have shown that the Lefebrve family and their holdings/assets have grown substantially over the past 6 years.

The company's continued successful expansion into land based investments and tourism development at the bottom of the market, has been well documented in Europe over the last 4 years. They are now perfectly positioned for the upswing.

There also has been several discussions on these boards about this several years ago. You may remember your participation in these.

The family themselves have risen 9 places on Europe's rich list and have more than most made good use of the European FC.

Being a private set of family company's gives the organization a tremendous amount of business freedom which is not always at hand for publicly listed enterprises.

Deadwood can be moved with more expediency and changes can be made without the cumbersome weight of shareholders or listed company law.

With the wealth of talent presently available to the industry due to the GFC, it is no wonder Silversea has been trying new people in roles that may or may not work. If it does not work, move them on quickly. Which is what l see the company has been doing. They are simply using their private company freedoms to their best advantage, and who wouldn't.

This is their primary advantage over their competitors, and they are one of the only worldwide cruise company's to carry this advantage in a very competitive market. This is primarily the company's number 1 asset.

And milk it they do!

The only surprise to me, is there choice in 2nd hand vessels rather than new builds for the ever expanding expedition arm.

I can only put this down to taking a two way bet on the continued luxury expedition success. Perhaps further market testing.

Silversea was the first of the luxury lines to hit this segment and it has been a hit for them from word go. You just need to look at loads and pricing to see there success here.

Of course we now see other luxury lines playing follow me and catch up due to the high yields SS has been achieving.

Perhaps SS took the quick expansion option by taking 2nd hand vessels rather than a long lead in expansion by waiting for new builds.

The next several years will soon tell.

If we see some new expedition build contracts on the drawing board as l expect, Then they will have taken what they have learn't and built it into a perfect hard product for the luxury expedition market.

One thing is certain though, Silversea is definitely the market leader in this segment now and there continued expansion and success shows no sign of slowing down. They have found a market niche which they have become very good at.

This alone should be enough to put to rest any thought of SS being in any sort of trouble.

But adding in my initial paragraphs which are very easy to research yourself shows for certain that this thread is both an ill-con·ceived and irrational thought process.

Now l will bunker down for the flaming.

Cheers

Oh l see!

A very logical, experienced, intelligent and thoughtfull contribution to this thread is pontificating. Well excuse me!

Perhaps this has more to do with the fact that l am not communicating what you want to hear. My intention was certainly not to burst your bubble

Regardless of this,

Luxury put to one side.

"There are no other ships in the 400 passenger range out there in 6 star luxury market that's why it has never been done before to answer your question"

My response

Any ship of this size and passenger load not designed for the location or conditions with all the limitations that come with it, should be viewed with some skeptisism and concern.

It has nothing to do with the 6 star luxury market at all.

No other ship full stop, with this passenger load and location rules does this type of landing cruise to this location because it is totally impractical. Thats why it has not been done before.

Making it 6 stars does not change that at all.

But if this "luxury" is so important to you, there are other equal luxury choices of landing cruises that are much more practical, sensible and value for money without having to sacrifice your perks.

"Secondly, the itrinerary will only be confirmed one year out after Seabourn bids on which islands, inlets etc. they would like to make landings. This is governed by the Antarctica Treaty for Tourism Guidelines. Once they have received the successfull bids, they will be communicatinng with each the guest the confirmed itinerary to re-confirm that the guests are still interested in going on these (3) 21 day cruises and the 24 day cruise over Christmas and New Years."

My response,

These Seabourn cruises will still be spending the same amount of time on location that the other smaller expedition cruises already do.

Except the Quest will have 400 people to land at a maximum of 100 per event.

Seabourn is not staying longer to accommodate all these extra passengers for landings.

Yet the smaller ships can in most cases land there entire passenger load at one time in one location giving maximum "on ice" time to each and every passenger for every landing.

This is something that the Quest will not be able to do, no matter how you spin it.

When you take into consideration the high cost of Seabourns plans against it's luxury compeditors for what you get. We come back to my original question.

Why would you do it Seabourns way?

It cannot be for value, or on ice/landing time.

It really does not matter when Seabourn releases or confirms or whatever.

It is the time spent at location that is important to make this work for Seabourn.

If Seabourn was spending 7 or 8 days min and the weather was perfect then l would agree with you.

But they only plan to spend the same time as other cruises already do but with far more landed passengers to satisfy for more money.

There are much better ways to do this for a far better experience for the same or less money.

One final question,

The copious no of posts you have made on this thread with glossy photo's and lots of links to Seabourn and internal conversations, begs the question are you connected to Seabourn, Carnival their agents or affiliates or marketing organisations ect.

The reality is,

That 400 people paying a minimum of $17000.00 USD per person thats $34000.00 per couple are all going to want to land on the great southern continent as often as they can.

And who would blame them!

For that sort of money you are going to want to maximise every opportunity you can.

Both times l have been, people were jumping out of their skins to land. Because of weather and sea's many were dissapointed that they did not get to land as often or for as long as they would have liked, and this was on vessels that carried less than 140 people.

I just cannot see why you would do this with this size ship, when you can take a smaller or purposefully designed vessel with a much higher chance of landing more often and for longer periods for the same or less dollars.

If you want to keep the luxury then there are vessels eg Silver Explorer and the likes that offer the perks. The size of the Quest will restrict the landing sites on offer as well, so squeezing in here and there between the ice won't be an option like on the smaller or ice designed vessels.

Itins on all vessels move and change depending on opportunitys, weather and sightings.

So there might only be one chance for a short time to see your fav seal or bird or whale or whatever.

With this amount of people l can only see dissapointment and regret of missed chances.

This is for most a real "once in a lifetime" cruise.

Why would you do it this way?

When there are far better ways for a much better experience, for in many cases less money with the same luxury.

I'm sorry, but l don't see any common sense to this at all.

If there was common sense to this, other vessels of this type and size would already be doing it.

The reality is, they are not and thats got to be telling you something.

There is no way in the wide world would l consider landing on the last frontier with 500 passengers, each wanting there $16 to $40 grands worth.

Even the 100 max cap landings are a nightmare for crew and naturalists.

The great 6th continent does not deserve nor can it cope with that level of impact.

Nor should it have to try.

Seabourn really needs to reconsider this until it gets hold of an appropriate sized and designed vessel. The Quest is totally inappropriate.

If they do go ahead with this sized vessel it will be a great enviromental insensitvity

that l know for sure Australia, NZ and Argentina will object to and protest. We have in the past and we are sure to again.

I am already preparing to write to Seabourn.

Below Is the Seatrade news release from yesterday.

SEABOURN TO CHART ANTARCTICA FOR THE FIRST TIME

Seabourn plans to visit the White Continent for the first time in its 20-year history. In November 2013, Seabourn Quest will begin a series of four 21- to 24-day voyages sailing between Valparaíso, Chile, and Buenos Aires.

‘Antarctica was the only continent that Seabourn did not feature in our itineraries. This expands our global reach to all seven continents and builds on our already impressive list of exotic destinations,’ said Seabourn president Rick Meadows.

The all-suite ship will cruise the Chilean coast, including visits to Puerto Montt for the Lake District, Castro on the huge island of Chiloé, and Puerto Chacabuco, a gateway to Torres del Paine National Park. Then Seabourn Quest will thread the glaciers, peaks and channels of the Chilean Fjords, culminating in a transit of the Beagle Channel and its Glacier Alley. Weather permitting, following a call at Ushuaia in Argentina's Tierra del Fuego, the ship will cruise by Cape Horn bound for the Southern Ocean.

Passengers will experience five days in Antarctica, including scenic cruising of highlights such as the Lemaire Channel, Paradise Bay and Gerlache Strait. Seabourn said an experienced Antarctic expedition staff will be on hand to guide landings and exploration by Zodiacs. Scientists, naturalists and other lecturers in a number of disciplines will speak on board and accompany shore visits to add their insights.

During the South Atlantic portion of the voyage, Seabourn Quest will visit Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, and Montevideo, Uruguay, en route to or from Buenos Aires.

A 24-day holiday version will include two days exploring the sub-Antarctic wildlife Eden of South Georgia Island, renowned for its rookeries of king penguins and other seabirds, as well as breeding elephant and fur seals.

Seabourn's new ‘Ultimate Antarctica & Patagonia’ sailings open for sale on Sept. 4.

................................

This is such a stupid idea

Someone at Seabourn has got rocks in their head

Here is something l was told many years ago and use as often l can.. only because its fun!

"Diplomacy, is the ability to tell a person to got to hell, in such a way that they enjoy the trip"