The feature they are famous for is gone
There is no graceful way to open this page, so we will be direct. If you have read about Seabourn's expedition ships in the last four years, you have read about the submarines: a pair of U-Boat Worx craft, six guests and a pilot in twin acrylic spheres, certified to three hundred meters. They were the headline in every launch story, and in 2024 one of them found a shipwreck that had been missing for over a century.
On 20 February 2026 Seabourn announced it was ending the program. Operations stopped at the close of the 2025–26 Antarctic season and the boats were off both ships within about six weeks. The line named three causes: fewer guests were using them than expected, keeping them maintained and recertified required a very particular kind of expertise, and the rules governing where a private submersible may be operated kept tightening. Nothing has replaced them. Seabourn said it would put its weight behind Zodiac cruising, kayaking, snorkeling and guided hikes instead.
We are leading with this because the internet has not caught up. Reviews still describe the dive. Videos still show it. Seabourn's own marketing pages were still describing submarines aboard after the program had ended. If a guide sells you a submarine on these ships, that guide is wrong, and it does not matter how confidently it is written.
The submarine was the headline. The Zodiacs were always the reason.
Twenty-four boats, and why that number is the one to know
Every expedition ship advertises Zodiacs. Very few carry enough of them. Venture and Pursuit each have twenty-four, which for 264 guests means the whole manifest can be on the water in a single lift. That sounds like a logistics detail and it is actually the difference between two kinds of day. Where the boats can only take part of the ship, the landings run in waves, and a meaningful share of your morning in a place you crossed the world for is spent in a lounge waiting for your group number. Where they can take everybody, the day belongs to you.
There are also eight double sea kayaks, plus mountain bikes and e-bikes. Worth knowing which way the money runs: Zodiac tours and landings, guided walks and hikes, and snorkeling are all included in the fare, while kayaking is an optional extra. In warm water, certified divers can dive.
The hulls are rated PC6 Polar Class — published by Seabourn for both ships and stated in both delivery releases. Note that this is a real, verifiable rating, which is not something you can say of every "ice-strengthened" claim in this category. Seabourn Quest, for instance, was genuinely outfitted for polar work in 2013 and ran Antarctic seasons for years, but no source anywhere publishes an ice notation for her, so we do not print one.
The inventory, after the submarines came off
These ships were reviewed, filmed and sold on a feature they no longer carry, so it is worth going through what is genuinely aboard rather than what the archive says. Four things, in order of how much they matter to a voyage.
The two of them, and how differently they arrived
Venture slipped three times. She was originally due in mid-2021 for a Norwegian winter season; the debut moved to April 2022, then to July 2022, back another two weeks, and she was finally delivered on 29 June 2022. Pursuit slipped twice, from May 2022 to February 2023 to an eventual 31 July 2023. In every case Seabourn pointed to pandemic disruption and supply-chain problems at T. Mariotti in Genoa, and at one point said the extra time would ensure it entered service with the ship it had envisioned.
Why it matters now: the delays are the reason a 2022 and a 2023 ship are treated as a pair rather than as separate generations. They were meant to arrive a year apart and effectively arrived together, which is part of why nothing meaningful separates them.
Where they go, and one door that is closing
Venture is the northern ship. Arctic, Greenland, Iceland and the British Isles through the boreal summer, with the Northwest Passage as her signature run — twenty-four days from Reykjavik to Anchorage, departing 5 August and 29 August 2026, with a fifteen-day Labrador coast voyage to Halifax on 20 September. Then Antarctica from Ushuaia through the austral summer. In 2027 she takes on a ninety-four day Grand Expedition: Pole to Pole, and a second one of ninety-six days leaves Reykjavik on 17 August 2028 for Ushuaia, crossing 147 degrees of latitude.
Pursuit has been the southern ship: the South Pacific, the Kimberley, and an eighty-two day passage from Broome to Ushuaia leaving 2 September 2026. From 2028 she moves north for the first time, with Svalbard round-trips out of Reykjavik on 26 June and 24 July 2028.
Which brings us to the deadline. Pursuit's 2027 Kimberley season is Seabourn's last. Four ten-day departures between May and August 2027, three distinct itineraries, and then the line leaves the region after four seasons and sends her to the Arctic instead. Seabourn's stated reason is sustained demand for Arctic voyages. There is no 2028 Kimberley deployment for either ship. If a Seabourn ship in the Kimberley is something you want, 2027 is the year it stops being possible.
Who should book these ships
- Want the smallest polar ships in ultra-luxury — 264 guests against Silversea's larger expedition hulls
- Care that there are enough Zodiacs for everyone to land at once, which is the specification that shapes the day
- Want a genuine, published PC6 rating rather than a vague ice-strengthened claim
- Like the idea of a mudroom, a lecture theater and a lounge with a chart on the wall instead of a casino as the ship's heart
- Are chasing the Northwest Passage, a pole-to-pole crossing, or the final Kimberley season
- Were booking for the submarine — it is gone from both ships and nothing has replaced it
- Want an Observation Bar or a sushi restaurant as its own room; both are Encore-class only
- Would rather fly over the Drake Passage than sail it — that is Silversea's program, not Seabourn's
- Want the Kimberley after 2027, which will not be available on any Seabourn ship
If you asked us to pick
Questions worth asking before you book the ice
Do Seabourn Venture and Pursuit still have submarines?
No. Seabourn announced on 20 February 2026 that it was ending the submarine program. Operations stopped at the end of the 2025–26 Antarctic season and the craft were removed from both ships within about six weeks. Seabourn cited lower guest participation than expected, the specialized expertise needed for maintenance and recertification, and tightening regulation on where submersibles may be operated. Nothing has replaced them, and a good deal of published material still describes them as aboard.
How many Zodiacs do the Seabourn expedition ships carry?
Twenty-four each, which is enough to take all 264 guests onto the water at the same time. There are also eight double sea kayaks, plus mountain bikes and e-bikes. Zodiac tours and landings, guided walks and hikes, and snorkeling are included in the fare; kayaking is an optional extra.
What is PC6 polar class, and do both ships have it?
Polar Class 6 is an ice classification for summer and fall operation in medium first-year ice. Seabourn publishes it for both Venture and Pursuit, and it appears in both delivery releases, so it is a verifiable rating rather than a marketing phrase. Worth contrasting with Seabourn Quest, which was genuinely outfitted for polar work in 2013 but for which no published ice notation exists.
Is 2027 really the last Kimberley season on Seabourn?
Yes. Pursuit runs four ten-day Kimberley departures between May and August 2027 across three itineraries, and Seabourn is then leaving the region after four seasons, redeploying her to the Arctic and Europe from 2028. The line cited sustained demand for Arctic expedition voyages. Seabourn's 2028–29 expedition announcement contains no Kimberley deployment for either ship.
What do the expedition ships not have that the ocean ships do?
Two things Seabourn confirms on its own venue pages. There is no Observation Bar on Venture or Pursuit, and there is no standalone sushi restaurant — sushi is served in The Club instead, exactly as on Quest. The dedicated sushi room and The Retreat cabana deck are both exclusive to Encore and Ovation. In exchange these ships get the Expedition Lounge, the Constellation Lounge, the Bow Lounge, the Discovery Center and the Landing Zone.
Ask us about Venture or Pursuit
Tell us which latitude you are aiming for.
Antarctica, the Arctic, the Northwest Passage or the last Kimberley season. We will tell you which of the two ships is on that route, and whether Seabourn or Silversea suits you better for it.
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.
A ship that can put every guest in a boat at once was always the better story. It just was not the one on the poster.
Ask us about an expedition voyage