Good sign? Seabourn starts construction on new ship

[cruiseej]

I was a bit surprised to read that Seabourn began construction last week on a new ship, the not-yet-named sister ship of the upcoming Venture expedition ship. When they originally announced the new expedition ships, the plans were for a second ship about a year behind the first. But with the pandemic, nearly all the cruise lines have put new shipbuilding, and even major refurbishments, on hold in order to conserve cash until there is more revenue coming in. So I find it surprising -- but I suppose a good sign of optimism by Seabourn and parent Carnival -- that they haven't put off the ship for an additional 6 or 12 months. The new ship isn't scheduled to enter service until late 2022, so the powers that be have to be looking at what they expect the state of cruising to be years ahead, but this certainly seems to reflect optimism (a) that there will be demand for small-ship expedition cruising and (b) that they can afford the cash outlay at a time Carnival is losing hundreds of millions of dollars per month and is selling off half a dozen older ships.

[Kayak lk]

I agree this is an excellent sign for the future of SB. We hope to be able to start cruising again some time next year. 

[rkacruiser]

Optimistic as well is my thinking.  I think Aida and Costa have resumed sailing on a ship for each in Europe.  If so, CCL has some "booked revenue" for the first time in months and that may have made a difference in the decision to continue with the Seabourn newbuild.