Luxury cruising: privacy on the high seas

Film stars and other luminaries can escape the public gaze at The Retreat aboard the Seabourn Encore.

The luxury rooftop Retreat on level 12 of the Seabourn Encore.

If you have to ask the price you probably can’t afford one, but former presidents and film stars are happy to fork out to spend a day in an exclusive shipboard cabana even though they already are paying thousands of dollars for their ultra-luxury cruise holiday.

Upmarket American cruise line Seabourn is attempting to cater to former public luminaries and Hollywood stars with its new concept, The Retreat, at the top level of the cruise line’s newest vessel, Seabourn Encore, which was launched in Singapore just four weeks ago.

Everything in the 15 private cabanas is ultra-private and ultra-special, including Bollinger on tap — as opposed to Seabourn’s usual champagne tipple of choice, Nicolas Feuillatte.

Designed as individual luxury living rooms with large HD flat-screen televisions, the cabanas are priced at $US349 ($462) a day on sea days, dropping to $US249 a day during port calls.

It’s not a new idea; plenty of cruise lines have adult-only areas on ships.

Few, however, have a private cabana area with its own hot tub or jacuzzi, refrigerator stocked with a personalised selection of bever­ages and massage station, at an additional cost.

Cabana amenities include personalised bathrobes, plush towels, premium sun lotions, fresh fruit baskets and Evian mist spray for the 28 guests so they can stretch out on comfortable sun loungers under the outdoor canopy or pull up a bar stool for champagne or cocktails. Or they can spend their time in the luxury of their curtained cabana.

Seabourn’s director of sales, Australia, Tony Archbold, says the reaction from guests to visiting the rooftop Retreat on level 12 of the ship has been positive in the four weeks since the 600-passenger Seabourn Encore was christened in Singapore.

“The Retreat is much more luxurious than the ship’s pool area … everything is in reach,” Archbold says.

“You have the bar, the wide-screen TV and the Bluetooth headsets so you don’t have to listen to everyone else’s TV.

“It gives you everything in one place, you don’t have people walking through it. In the pool area there’s a lot of people walking from port to aft. It’s the exclusivity of it.”

Archbold says it’s important to be able to offer the world’s elite some privacy: “We get everybody on board, the name list of the people we get is exceptional: lords and ladies, movie stars and politicians.”

He says so far reaction to The Retreat has been positive from Australian passengers.

“So far the feedback has been good.

“(But) I think once we have done a full Europe cruising season we will get an idea of what we need to tweak.”

Seabourn Encore will spend its first three months cruising the shores of the Pacific Rim including Australia and will spend the northern summer in the Mediterranean calling into exotic ports such as Barcelona, St Tropez and Monte Carlo.

Seven-night cruises start from $4899 a person.

Leaving Athens on May 6, the cruise ship visits Corfu and Amalfi before docking in Rome’s port of Civitavecchia.