Actually identical, which is rarer than it sounds
The word "class" gets used loosely in this business. Ships two years and two shipyards apart get filed together because they look similar in a brochure, and a guide that repeats the label without checking is not much use to anyone. So it is worth saying clearly: Encore and Ovation really are the same ship, twice.
Encore was delivered from Fincantieri at Marghera on 30 November 2016 and christened in Singapore that January with Sarah Brightman as godmother. Ovation followed from Fincantieri at Sestri Ponente on 27 April 2018, christened in Valletta with Elaine Paige. Different yards, eighteen months apart — and yet the published dimensions match to the meter, the registered tonnage matches, the deck plans list the same ten guest decks with the same rooms on each, and both carry 600 guests at double occupancy in roughly three hundred veranda suites. We went looking for a divergence and did not find one.
Adam D. Tihany was art director for both, covering the dining rooms, the spa, the showroom, the casino, the lounges, the outdoor decks and Seabourn Square. The brief was to find an aesthetic that expressed the brand rather than to import a hotel look, and the result reads more like a yacht than the Nordic sleekness of the older ships. His Grand Salon on deck six is the clearest example: sculptural ceiling panels with linear lighting, and cabaret chairs near the stage that pivot, so the room can be a theater at nine and a party at eleven.
The design question was settled in 2016. The booking question is a calendar.
The deck they added, and what they spent it on
Against the Odyssey class these ships are about a quarter larger and carry about a third more guests — 600 against 458, roughly 40,000 gross tons against roughly 32,000, 690 feet against 650. The important part is not the length. It is that Seabourn added a whole deck, and then declined to fill it with cabins.
What went up there instead is The Retreat, on deck twelve: fifteen private cabanas plus a spa treatment cabana, arranged around a central whirlpool under a canopy shaped like a flower, for up to twenty-eight guests at a time. It exists on these two ships and nowhere else in the fleet. The same logic gave this class the only standalone sushi restaurant Seabourn operates — about thirty seats, a room of its own. Quest, Venture and Pursuit all serve sushi, but they serve it in The Club, which is a different proposition.
The Observation Bar on deck eleven, with its 270-degree windows, is an ocean-ship room: Seabourn states plainly that it is not aboard Venture or Pursuit. And the dining lineup now runs through Solis, the Mediterranean restaurant that replaced The Grill by Thomas Keller in spring 2024 and ended an eight-year partnership. If a review or a gallery still shows you a Keller menu on these ships, it is out of date — Seabourn's own dining pages no longer mention him.
The only thing separating them is the calendar
We could find no source anywhere that identifies a difference between these two hulls. Same tonnage, same deck plan, same venues. So the question of which one to book comes down to something nobody puts in a brochure: which one was refurbished last.
The two of them, on paper
Encore made her maiden Alaska season in 2026 — eighteen sailings from May to September, alternating Vancouver and Juneau, with multiple Glacier Bay calls — and she runs Alaska again from May to September 2027. Otherwise she is a Japan and Southeast Asia ship: cherry blossom in spring, red maples in October.
Ovation is the Europe and Caribbean ship. Northern Europe in August 2026, including a fourteen-day solar eclipse voyage from Dover to Reykjavik departing 8 August; Canada and New England in the fall; then the Caribbean through March 2027. Her 2027 Mediterranean season covers 77 ports in 17 countries and includes another eclipse voyage, Monte Carlo to Dubrovnik, from 23 July to 6 August.
Neither of them gets the world cruise. The 2028 Cape to Cape belongs to Quest, and the poles belong to Venture and Pursuit.
Who should book this class
- Are new to Seabourn and want the fullest version of the product before deciding whether you prefer it smaller
- Want The Retreat, or a sushi restaurant that is a room rather than a corner of the bar
- Are going to Alaska or the high-summer Mediterranean, which these two anchor
- Like the volume of a newer hull — taller public rooms, wider circulation, the extra deck
- Think 600 guests is still a small ship, which by any reasonable standard it is
- Want the smallest classic Seabourn — that is Quest, at 458, and she has the newer interior right now
- Want ice, Zodiacs or a mudroom; Venture and Pursuit are the polar ships and these two are not
- Are set on the world cruise, which Quest carries
- Are booking Encore for late 2026 without checking whether your date falls before or after her drydock
If you asked us to pick
Questions we get about Encore and Ovation
Is there any real difference between Seabourn Encore and Seabourn Ovation?
Not in the hardware. They were built at different Fincantieri yards eighteen months apart, but the published dimensions, registered tonnage, deck plans, venue lists and 600-guest capacity all match, and we could find no source identifying a divergence. The difference that does exist right now is condition: Ovation was refreshed in 2026, while Encore has never had a major interior overhaul and is due only a light drydock in late 2026.
How much bigger is the Encore class than Seabourn Quest?
About a quarter larger by tonnage and about a third more guests. Encore and Ovation are 40,350 gross tons as published by Seabourn — 41,865 as registered — carrying 600 guests in roughly 300 suites over 690 feet. Quest is approximately 32,000 gross tons with 458 guests over 650 feet. The Encore class also has one more deck, and that deck is where The Retreat is.
What is The Retreat on Seabourn?
A private cabana deck on deck twelve, exclusive to Encore and Ovation. Fifteen cabanas plus a spa treatment cabana surround a central whirlpool beneath a flower-shaped canopy, accommodating up to twenty-eight guests. It is the clearest single thing the extra deck bought, and no other Seabourn ship has it.
Is The Grill by Thomas Keller still on Seabourn?
No. Solis, a Mediterranean restaurant, replaced it in spring 2024, ending an eight-year partnership. Solis appeared first on Quest in January 2024 and rolled out to Encore and Ovation that spring. Seabourn's current dining pages list Solis on Quest, Encore and Ovation and no longer mention Thomas Keller, so any review showing a Keller venue is out of date.
Does Seabourn have any new ocean ships on order?
No. Seabourn does not appear in the industry orderbooks, which run out to 2039, and in February 2026 president Mark Tamis said the fleet is right-sized for the next couple of years. With Odyssey and Sojourn both sold to Mitsui, the ocean fleet is Encore, Ovation and Quest, and that is what it will be for the foreseeable future.
Ask us about Encore or Ovation
Two ships, one specification, and a drydock calendar.
Give us your dates and region and we will tell you which of the two is the better buy for that week — including whether an Encore sailing lands before or after her refresh.
An independent advisory · not affiliated with or endorsed by Seabourn Cruise Line. Answers draw on this guide and are checked against current information before any booking.
When two ships are genuinely the same ship, the only honest tiebreaker left is which one was refurbished last.
Ask which sister to book