| IMO | 9417086 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 32,477 GT |
| Length | 198.12 m |
| Beam | 25.6 m |
| Passenger capacity (max) | 450 |
| Hull number | 62 |
| Launched | 2009 |
| Maiden voyage | 2009 |
| Operator | Mitsui Ocean Cruises |
| Status | Active |
| All names | Mitsui Ocean Fuji; Seabourn Odyssey |
Overview
Seabourn Odyssey is the ship that remade Seabourn. When she entered service in 2009 she was the line's first newbuild and the first vessel in a three-ship class that more than doubled the capacity of the fleet Seabourn had operated since the late 1980s. The older Seabourn ships carried about 200 guests each; Odyssey carried 450, yet the line was determined that the larger hull should still feel like a yacht rather than a small cruise ship. That tension — scale without mass-market scale — defined the design brief and, in time, defined modern Seabourn.
Her second identity is now just as important. Sold to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines in February 2023 and chartered back to Seabourn while she finished her published programme, she was handed over in 2024, refitted in Japan and renamed Mitsui Ocean Fuji, entering service for Mitsui Ocean Cruises from Yokohama on 1 December 2024. Her story therefore has two halves: the American ultra-luxury ship of 2009, and the Japanese ship she has since become. The dataset row behind this guide originally led with the Seabourn identity; it has since been reconciled to the Mitsui Ocean identity.
Key specifications
The dataset records 32,477 GT, a length of 198.12 m and a beam of 25.6 m, with a maximum capacity of 450 guests and hull number 62. Those figures place her firmly in the small-ship luxury segment: large enough for multiple restaurants, a substantial spa and genuine open deck space, small enough to keep a high space ratio per guest, which was a central selling point at launch. Published sources outside the dataset commonly credit her with a service speed of about 21 knots and a crew of roughly 330–335, figures that are not in the dataset row and so are not carried in the spec box above.
What the bare figures do not show is proportion. Odyssey was designed around all-suite accommodation, with the great majority of suites having private verandas. That decision drove the hull form and the superstructure width: this is a ship whose external profile is dominated by stacked balcony fronts rather than by the tiered public decks of an older liner.
Design and construction
Odyssey was built by T. Mariotti in Genoa, Italy — a yard with a long record in small luxury vessels and conversions, and a natural choice for a ship of this size and finish standard. Construction cost was reported at about $250 million. She was laid down in 2007, completed in May 2009 and delivered shortly before her June 2009 naming. The class that bears her name was engineered as a step change rather than an evolution: Seabourn had never ordered a new ship before, having built its reputation on the second-hand and purpose-built small yachts of the Seabourn Pride class era.
The design intent was contemporary rather than nostalgic. Where the earlier Seabourn ships evoked a private yacht of the 1980s, Odyssey introduced a cleaner, more modern interior architecture, larger suites, expanded dining choice and a two-deck spa that was promoted at the time as the largest on any luxury vessel. A retractable marina at the stern, allowing swimming and watersports from the ship in suitable anchorages, carried forward a signature Seabourn feature from the older fleet into the new hull.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
Odyssey's naming in Venice on 24 June 2009 remains one of the most unusual christenings in modern cruising. Instead of a single godmother, Seabourn named all of the guests booked on the maiden voyage as the ship's godparents collectively. Their names were engraved on a plaque displayed on board, and a specially designed mechanism allowed the group to participate in breaking a bottle of Italian Prosecco against the ship. The early-evening ceremony was timed for sunset over Venice, after which the ship sailed on a 14-day maiden voyage through the Adriatic and Greek Isles toward Istanbul.
The gesture was more than a publicity device. Seabourn's then president, Pamela C. Conover, framed it explicitly: the guests' patronage was the reason the ship existed. For a brand built on repeat passengers who regarded the ships as clubs as much as transport, making the first guests literal godparents turned loyalty into part of the ship's permanent record.
Career by operator
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2009–2024 | Seabourn Odyssey | Seabourn Cruise Line |
| 2023–2024 | Seabourn Odyssey | Owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines; chartered back to Seabourn |
| From December 2024 | Mitsui Ocean Fuji | Mitsui Ocean Cruises |
The dataset's operator history lists Seabourn Cruise Line and Holland America Line. The Holland America reference reflects corporate and operational support arrangements within the Carnival Corporation group, to which Seabourn belonged, rather than a period in which the ship sailed marketed as a Holland America vessel; she was a Seabourn ship in guest-facing service throughout 2009–2024.
Under Seabourn she established the pattern for the class: long, port-intensive seasons, a first Seabourn world cruise in 2010, and a reputation as the ship that proved Seabourn could grow without diluting itself. The February 2023 sale to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines was announced with a charter-back, so guests saw no immediate change. She arrived in Yokohama in September 2024 for a major refit before her Japanese debut.
Onboard character
Odyssey's character was defined by the design choices of 2009: all-suite accommodation, a high proportion of verandas, multiple dining venues rather than a single dining room, and public spaces scaled for conversation rather than spectacle. The two-deck spa, with its indoor-outdoor concept, was era-defining for luxury cruising — wellness treated as a primary space, not an afterthought tucked below decks. The stern marina, the open decks and the relatively low guest count for the tonnage all reinforced the founding claim that this was a yacht enlarged, not a cruise ship shrunk.
Under Mitsui Ocean Cruises the hardware is the same but the cultural framing has changed: the ship was renamed for Mount Fuji and for the earlier Fuji Maru, which Mitsui operated until 2013, and refitted for a Japanese domestic and international audience. That refit altered the hotel identity rather than the naval architecture, which is why the 2009 design decisions still describe the ship today.
Major refits and incidents
No major casualty or serious incident defines Odyssey's record in the sources consulted, and none should be invented to fill this section. The defining refit of her career is the 2024 conversion in Yokohama, where she was refurbished after handover from Seabourn and prepared for service as Mitsui Ocean Fuji. Contemporary reporting describes a major refit at Mitsubishi facilities in Yokohama between her September 2024 arrival and her 1 December 2024 entry into Japanese service. Details of routine drydockings during her Seabourn years are not reliably summarised in the sources used here.
Sister ships and class
Odyssey is the lead ship of the Seabourn Odyssey class, followed by Seabourn Sojourn (2010) and Seabourn Quest (2011), near-sisters built to the same basic design by T. Mariotti. Together the three ships formed the core of Seabourn's ocean fleet for more than a decade, until the line's newer, larger Encore-class ships and its purpose-built expedition ships changed the fleet's balance. In a notable echo of Odyssey's own transfer, Seabourn Sojourn was also sold to Mitsui Ocean Cruises, with delivery following a charter-back period ending in May 2026 — meaning the two oldest sisters are reunited under Japanese ownership.
Fate and where she is now
There is no fate to record in the past tense: the ship is in active service, but not under the name or operator in the dataset's headline fields. As Mitsui Ocean Fuji she is the founding ship of Mitsui Ocean Cruises, the new brand launched by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines in December 2024, chosen in part because her modest size suits cruising in Japanese waters including the Seto Inland Sea. Seabourn Odyssey, as a name, ended in September 2024; the hull, IMO 9417086, continues. Readers looking for her today should search under Mitsui Ocean Fuji.
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cruise_ships, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Mitsui_Ocean_Fuji