What This Means
The best sailing at 400 is still respectable on paper: Ovation of the Seas on a 7-night Southbound Alaska & Hubbard Glacier itinerary from Seward. But the rest of the tier falls off quickly. After the Alaska standout, the next-best options are short Mexico sailings and a few low-duration repositioning or coastal itineraries. The tier does not have the depth that the mid-range tiers offer.
The region mix is also narrow. Mexico appears twice, Alaska once, and Caribbean once in the top set. That is not enough spread to make 400 a stable target if you are looking for repeatable value. The average top score for the tier is 95.3, which trails the stronger low-to-mid tiers by a meaningful margin.
This is the main reason 400 underperforms. It does open Alaska early, and that is useful, but the inventory is too sparse to build a month around. If you can reach 600 or 800, you get more choice and a better shot at the same core regions without relying on a six-sailing sample.
For this release, 400 is a threshold, not a destination.