Seabourn is aggressively gutting not only the value of the Seabourn Club loyalty program, but its membership.

Seabourn Cruise Line has had what was probably the richest loyalty program among the cruise lines. While some benefits have lost their luster as the overall industry-wide cruise product has improved (such as including internet), the “big” benefit are/were the (1) Milestone Awards: A complimentary seven-day cruise in the category you most sailed in after sailing 140 days, and a two-week cruise if you held off until 250 days and (2) Lifetime credits toward them. With this, coupled with a requirement that you (1) sail at least once every three years and affirmatively sign up for the “New” Club program, Seabourn is about to change significant loyalty perks in both dramatic and draconian ways. 

It not only raises serious concerns, but questions…lots of questions!

Some Background

While my focus is on the Milestone Awards and Lifetime retention of credits toward them; not the small perks, a quick digression before getting to the meat. In other words, a quick analysis of the “other stuff” and why I am not taking the bait about how much quicker you might…might…achieve higher status. In short, that’s because there is only minimal economic impact.

As a result of things such as the internet being included in premium, no less luxury, products, the economic value of the loyalty programs has become a bit dubious. When you are spending $20,000+ on your cruise, many of the benefits are more of a “token” (as opposed to earning them on a $5,000 cruise).

While status level originally was based solely on number of days sailed, some years ago, Seabourn, like the airlines, began to require not only the number of days sailed (miles flown) to earn award travel – the Milestone Awards- but also earn status (Silver – Diamond Elite) based upon the days sailed (segments flown) plus the amount of money spent on premium suites and onboard services. 

Seriously, what is the value of a complimentary bag of laundry (a $50 per bag promotion is ubiquitous), priority boarding (when advanced computer systems eliminate waits for most everybody), or a visit to a small portion of the spa area, ($100). If you are a premium wine drinker, your 10-15% discount might save you $20 a bottle, or about $150 on a seven-day cruise, and 10-15% on shore excursions might save you another $200.  And, of course, you really needed to be in the top tier to be given complimentary transfers (worth maybe $100 each way). Adding them up, you are looking at $400-$500 or so…if you spend significant additional amounts on wines and tours. 

Looking at it economically, and ignoring the cruise line’s onboard credit promotions that offset all of those costs, the total value of those hard-earned amenities amounts to something like 1-2% of the cost of the cruise. Note: I almost never hear that the value is worth the emotion, but rather something along the lines of, “I’ve gone on X cruises and spent Y money, so I’ve earned it and am entitled.”   

Now, from a marketing standpoint, the cruise lines see these little perks as a “hook”, not unlike the airlines, which seek to gain your loyalty for every trip so that you can maintain or improve your status, regardless if the jump in status from Gold to Platinum gets you a mere 5% additional discount on wines and tours (or Boarding Group 1 vs 2). In other words, little more than bragging rights earns loyalty, with a few exceptions.

The Suspicious “New” Program Requirements and Milestone Award Devaluation!

Leaving the “token” benefits and the way to accrue or keep status, I want to focus on the two big issues:

• Why is there a New program rather than modification of the old one?, and,
• Why the truly significant devalution of the Milestone Award Program?

Seabourn is not modifying the old program or automatically enrolling Seabourn Club members in the new program. Heck, if you do not enroll in the new program, you will lose all your benefits and status as of October 20, 2025.

Regardless of what is transferred or its value, the reality is that many Seabourn Club members will not join the new program due to factors such as not reading their emails, forgetting to do so, or not understanding the requirements. Hold that thought!

The New Club also has a requirement that you must sail at least once every three (3) years or you will lose both your Club (sailed) Days and accruals towards a Milestone Award. Hold that thought!

The Milestone Award program has two prongs, the first one being that rather than you being awarded a complimentary V5 or Penthouse Suite that you mostly sailed in, you are awarded a V1 suite (the lowest category), but you do have the option of paying Seabourn the price difference for the upgrade to your normal category suite. Complimentary ain’t so complimentary anymore, is it? Hold that thought!

The second Milestone Award program prong is the number of days you must sail to obtain the complimentary cruise. 

• Rather than 140 days for a one-week cruise, it is now 350 days
• Rather than 250 days for a two-week cruise, it is now 460 days,
• An additional 110 days will garner you an additional seven-day cruise.

So, your loyalty of five years, with 28-day sailings, now requires twelve years…and in an obstructed view suite unless you pay to upgrade. Hold that thought!

It also appears that if you are vested in a 140-day Milestone Award, you must redeem it by October 19, 2025, and that if you have vested in a 250-day Milestone Award, you have two years to redeem it. (It seems as though Seabourn wants to be sure there are no further accruals on the 140 days.) . Hold that thought!

By signing up for the new program, you are affirmatively agreeing that you are no longer a member of the old program and you accept the terms of the new program. That means you can’t go back to Seabourn and say, “Wait! That’s not fair”, or “I thought I vested in x or y”. It expressly eliminates any of those issues. Hold that thought.

Now, let’s put those thoughts together!

Thought One: 

These Changes Reduce the Long-Term Liabilities and Obligations of Seabourn

While I am not an accountant, my background is more than just being a travel writer and travel agent, so I have questions.

• “Why would Seabourn undertake an approach that will necessarily purge a large portion of its loyalty program?” 
• “Why would Seabourn institute a program that will, eventually on an annual basis, eliminate accruals for its most value amenity?”
• “Why institute the first two and then wildly reduce the value of the Milestone Award program, rendering it of the most value to those who sail in the lowest categories and on a regular basis?”

The fact that these questions are being asked points to the vivid impression that Seabourn, unlike the other cruise lines (and airlines), is focused on aggressively shrinking its loyalty program and shifting far away from using it as a customer retention device.

More specifically, by requiring a new signup, rather than a change in program terms, it appears to me that Seabourn is affirmatively seeking to immediately “cull the herd” and “clear the decks” by eliminating all but the most attentive and engaged customers from its “loyalty” program, and combining it with its seemingly overt willingness to anger and alienate now-former Club members. Again, to me it seems like Seabourn has deemed them to be of less value and unworthy of Seabourn keeping the liabilities of possible Milestone Awards and amenities on the books. 

The extreme devaluation of the Milestone Award program seems to be an aggressive way to clear its books of the liabilities and potential liabilities associated with the earned free cruises. For example, if I may owe you $30,000 for a complimentary Penthouse cruise if you sail 10 more days, I have to consider it a very real possibility, even highly probable, cost. Well, if I reduce that probable cost by (1) reducing the Penthouse to a V1 Suite at $20,000, (2) reducing the probable cost to a very unlikely one by increasing the number of required days to vest, and (3) eliminate the number of days sailed if a person doesn’t sail with Seabourn for three years, I’m looking much stronger financially.

And then there are the Club Status Amenities. As discussed, they are of value, but not significantly so.  To my mind, Seabourn bumping someone’s status from Platinum to Diamond (which increases internet to streaming, pressing of clothes, and an additional 5% discount on tours and wines) is hardly an economically viable offset.

Thought Two

Is Seabourn’s Clearing the Decks of Club Members and Benefits a Sign of “Lean & Mean” or Something Else?

Seabourn has sold off the Seabourn Odyssey and Seabourn Sojourn, and with rumors abounding that the Seabourn Quest may leave the fleet by 2027 (rumors!), one has to seriously wonder why Seabourn hasn’t come out with any announcements  I mean any announcements – as to Seabourn’s future or even upgrades to the ships (other than tweaking one restaurant and some culinary options); noting that Seabourn’s parent company, Carnival Corp., has made it clear that no new Seabourn ships are in the foreseeable future.

In my discussions within the industry and with other travel advisors, Seabourn’s silence, rather than even just a “check-in” after the sale of Seabourn Sojourn, is considered curious, if not noteworthy. 

I can make an argument that, with Seabourn’s capacity drastically reduced and there being a prospect of further capacity reduction, Seabourn wants to focus on its more loyal, and therefore most economically important, customers. Further, while Seabourn is not usually selling out its sailings, and it has partially chartered off Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit, with lower capacity, the economics of marketing via free cruises and focusing funds on the less-than-likely customers doesn’t make much sense. However, I think we both know there are a lot of flaws in that argument. (Marketing via emails is incredibly inexpensive and if it can get 5% of the “haven’t sailed in a few years” to book, the ships would be closer to being filled to capacity.)

So, if that isn’t it, then: Why would Seabourn be so aggressively gutting its Seabourn Club rolls (wiping out so many accrued Club Days), foreclose customers nearing their 7 or 14 Day Milestone Cruises on extremely short notice, while also diluting the Milestone Award program, which has clearly been its most valuable guest-retention program? 

While I will state that it seems painfully obvious, do you really think I’m going to answer that question here?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Send me an email, drop me a text, WhatsApp or Facebook message, or give me a call!