Cruise News

Seabourn Encore Adds Alaska Menus for First Season

May 28, 2026 4 min read

Seabourn is turning the Seabourn Encore’s first Alaska season into a more destination-led onboard experience, adding regional dining events and Alaska-inspired cocktails across the ship’s culinary program. The move ties the ship’s 2026 deployment between Vancouver and Juneau to menus built around local seafood, foraged ingredients and named experiences at The Restaurant and The Colonnade, according to Cruise Industry News.

What happened

Seabourn has created an Alaska-inspired culinary program for the Seabourn Encore’s first Alaska season, adding a slate of destination-driven dining and beverage experiences designed specifically for the deployment.

The ship made its maiden call at Vancouver and began Seabourn’s 2026 Alaska season on May 14, 2026. The program is tied to a series of seven- to 14-day voyages between Vancouver and Juneau, scheduled from May through September 2026.

Mark Tamis, president of Seabourn, said the Alaska season gave the line an opportunity to bring the destination into focus in a more intentional way. He said the culinary program is designed to reflect where guests are from the first evening onboard through the final days of the voyage.

Why it matters

For guests, the program makes Alaska part of the onboard rhythm rather than only a backdrop outside the ship. The named dinners, brunches, lunches and cocktails give the itinerary a stronger sense of place, with the region showing up in both formal and casual dining moments.

For Seabourn, the program also gives Encore’s first Alaska season a defined onboard identity. Instead of presenting Alaska only through ports and scenery, the line is using food and beverage to reinforce the deployment from embarkation through mid-cruise dining and late-voyage experiences.

The approach is especially relevant on longer seven- to 14-day voyages, where repeat dining occasions can become part of the overall destination story. Seabourn is centering the program on two venues: The Restaurant and The Colonnade.

The route context: Vancouver to Juneau

The Encore’s Alaska program is anchored by voyages between Vancouver and Juneau, with departures scheduled across the May-to-September 2026 season. The source report notes that the ship began the season after a maiden call at Vancouver, marking the start of Encore’s Alaska deployment for Seabourn.

That route framework matters because several of the new culinary experiences are tied to the flow of the voyage. The Surf & Sear Sailaway is served on the first evening of each sailing departing Vancouver or Juneau, while the Fisherman’s Table is offered mid-cruise and timed to sailing near Sitka on one itinerary and Misty Fjords on another.

The Colonnade gets the biggest Alaska showcase

At The Colonnade, Seabourn is leaning into shared, seafood-forward and casual-destination formats. The experiences listed for the venue include:

  • Surf & Sear Sailaway — A buffet-style sailaway dinner served on the first evening of each voyage departing Vancouver or Juneau.
  • Alaskan Seafood Boil — A three-course experience built around an individual pot of King crab legs, Alaskan salmon, mussels, bacon-wrapped scallops and shrimp.
  • Fisherman’s Table — A shared tableside dining experience spotlighting salmon and halibut, served mid-cruise and timed to sailing near Sitka on one itinerary and Misty Fjords on another.
  • Alaskan Earth & Ocean — An Alaska-focused version of the Earth & Ocean menu, offered two evenings per voyage with different menus each night.

The Colonnade lineup gives the program a clear progression: a first-night sailaway dinner, a seafood boil, a mid-cruise table experience and two evenings of Alaska-focused Earth & Ocean menus. That keeps the regional theme from being a single one-off dinner and instead spreads it across the voyage.

The Restaurant adds dinner, brunch and fish and chips

The Restaurant is also part of the Alaska rollout, with three named experiences that bring the region into more traditional dining settings.

  • Midnight Sun Dinner — A dinner featuring dishes such as Wild Mushroom Consommé, Alaska King Crab Salad, Olive Oil Poached Black Cod and Baked Alaska.
  • Alaskan Brunch — A once-per-cruise brunch serving locally sourced seafood and foraged ingredients.
  • Alaskan Fish & Chips — A lunch pairing battered fish with steak fries and local beers, with Alaskan Seafood Chowder and an Individual Baked Alaska also on the menu.

The Restaurant experiences give Seabourn a way to carry the Alaska theme into multiple dayparts: dinner, brunch and lunch. The use of seafood, foraged ingredients and regional menu language is consistent with the line’s stated goal of making the destination more visible onboard.

Cocktails take cues from glaciers and the Inside Passage

Seabourn’s beverage program for the season includes five Alaska-inspired specialty cocktails: Glacier & Fir, Midnight Sun No. 20, Denali Bramble, Inside Passage Punch and Aleutian Sunset.

Two of those drinks add a literal regional element. According to the report, Glacier & Fir and Inside Passage Punch are made using Alaska glacial ice.

The cocktail list gives the Alaska program a bar-side extension, matching the food menus with drinks named for regional features and imagery. It also gives guests another way to connect the shipboard experience to the route, even outside the dining rooms.

Guest and business implications

For cruisers comparing Alaska options, Seabourn’s move puts a spotlight on food as part of the itinerary value. Alaska sailings are often associated with scenery and wildlife viewing, but Encore’s program gives dining a more prominent role in the guest-facing product.

The details also help distinguish Encore’s first Alaska season within Seabourn’s 2026 deployment. Guests sailing between Vancouver and Juneau can expect the Alaska theme to appear at multiple points in the voyage, rather than as a single specialty meal.

From a product perspective, the program supports a broader industry trend toward destination-led dining, where onboard menus mirror the region being sailed. In this case, the evidence is specific: local seafood, foraged ingredients, Alaska-themed dishes, named dining events and seasonal cocktails created for the Alaska program.

What to watch next

The key thing to watch is how Seabourn carries the program across the full May-to-September season and whether the menu cadence remains consistent on both seven-day and 14-day voyages.

Other details to follow include:

  • How the Alaska-inspired experiences are scheduled across different itineraries.
  • Whether the mid-cruise Fisherman’s Table timing varies beyond the Sitka and Misty Fjords references in the source report.
  • Whether Seabourn expands similar destination-driven programs to other ships or regions.

For now, the confirmed rollout is specific to Seabourn Encore’s first Alaska season, with dining and beverage experiences centered on The Restaurant and The Colonnade.

Source-linked close

The full program details were reported by Cruise Industry News, including the voyage window, Vancouver and Juneau deployment, named dining experiences and five Alaska-inspired cocktails.

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