Seabourn Mediterranean summer cruises from Greece announced for July

Seabourn, the luxury cruise line of Carnival Corporation, has announced it will be resuming services in the Mediterranean after agreeing a plan for roundtrip cruises with the Greek government.

The Seabourn Mediterranean summer cruises will go on sale on April 12th, and will begin on July 3rd, but will only be available to guests who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

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The Seabourn Mediterranean summer cruises will be operated by Seabourn Ovation, sailing one-week alternating itineraries in the Greek Isles, these itineraries will be available for back-to-back bookings as two-week butterfly itineraries.

One set of Seabourn Mediterranean summer cruises will visit Patmos, Rhodes, Thira and Spetsai, along with a call at Paphos, Cyprus, while the other will the ports of Agios Nikolaos, Rhodes, Mykonos and Nafplion as well as Limassol, Cyprus.

“The entire Seabourn family is truly excited to provide our award-winning travel experience aboard Seabourn Ovation starting again this July in the Greek Isles,” said Josh Leibowitz, President, Seabourn.

“We’re grateful to the people of Greece for welcoming Seabourn back to the Mediterranean this summer,” he added.

The Greek Minister of Tourism, Harry Theohari, said that Seabourn was a long-running partner in the country’s cruise tourism sector, and noted that the wider tourism industry was a significant contributor to the country’s economy.

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“Seabourn has been visiting Greece for more than 30 years and we look forward to welcoming their ships back to our unique destinations this summer,” he said.

“Tourism is a vital part of our economy and our plans place a priority on health and safety to help restore traveler confidence to all,” Theohari added. “We are sure that once again all your guests will have the best experiences in Greece creating memories to last a lifetime.”

Seabourn noted in a press release that fully vaccinated means a minimum of 14 days following the final dose of the currently approved COVID-19 vaccines being administered.

Seabourn’s return to service in the Mediterranean follows several other lines that have either resumed cruises from Greece, Cyprus and Italy, or announced plans to do so.

Royal Caribbean has released summer cruise itineraries out of Cyprus, while Norwegian Cruise Line plans to cruise from Athens, alongside Celebrity Cruises, which will homeport Celebrity Apex in Greece.

While the US cruise industry remains in shut down, several cruise lines have begun planning to homeport vessels in the Caribbean instead and sell fly-cruise packages to the North America cruise market.

Similarly, almost a dozen major UK and American cruise lines have scheduled summer cruises from the UKafter the British government announced it would allow cruises to resume from May.