Silverseas May to Bay of Bengal

[highplanesdrifters]

@Fletcher Just found some delightful Antarctic trips aboard Ponants Le Commandant Charcot.  Might have to amend that South Georgia requirement. Thanks for getting the wheels spinning.

[Fletcher]

I just transferred our Venture booking to the Sojourn and the 21-day Med cruise in September.  

[WesW]

fyi; taken from Forbes, February 22

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/margiegoldsmith/2022/02/15/silversea-cruises-ultra-luxifies-its-cuisine-spa-and-suite-experience/?sh=7b6e1e1e3cb3

 

 

What types of programs do you plan to innovate in the future?

My next big project is around expedition ships. We have launched Silver Origin, our first purpose-built ship specific of destination. It sleeps 100 passengers and is purpose-built for the Galapagos. Our next project is to design ships with the same concept of the Origin designed for other destinations. The next one is the Polar regions for the Arctic and to Antarctica

[highplanesdrifters]

@Docklangthanks for letting us hijack this thread. 

 

@WesWgood article, thanks. Perhaps we can get a little Salt trickle down on the smaller ships. 

@Fletcher21 days lazing around the Med, sounds wonderful. 

[Fletcher]

Thanks for the Forbes link -

a suite experience, a bath experience, a bed experience, a sleep experience, a balcony experience.  What total rubbish these people speak.

 

But good to see Silversea revamping its expedition experience!

Edited February 15, 2022 by Fletcher

[Stumblefoot]

6 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Perhaps we can get a little Salt trickle down on the smaller ships. 

What's the cuisine of the Antarctic? Krill?  😉

[cruiseej]

9 hours ago, WesW said:

Barbara Muckermann: Our next project is to design ships with the same concept of the Origin designed for other destinations. The next one is the Polar regions for the Arctic and to Antarctica

 

Sounds like the Cloud's days may be numbered. (But it could be four or five years until any new expedition ships come into service.) With all the new luxury expedition ships which have come into service in the past few years and will continue over the next few years, it should be no surprise Silversea sees the need to build modern expedition ships which can compete.

 

Also from the article, from Barbara Muckermann:  "We plan on becoming the largest luxury and expedition player by far. We are projecting to be the first player globally. We expect by 2027, one out of three luxury and expedition passengers in the world will travel with us."

 

For those longtime Silversea customers who came aboard when this was a small-but-growing cruise line, it sounds like the growth will continue. As will the quest to beat competitors with luxury all-inclusive details around every corner, such as included excursions and the door-to-door transportation. None of this will come cheap. And they clearly believe the wealth exists to fill more ships at higher price points, so for those for whom cruising on Silversea was a bit of a budget reach, be prepared to be "gentrified" out of the market. 😉

[tgh]

The market trend in terms of volume and cost per day  is clearly for larger ships and increasingly softer  "adventure"… expeditions in name only.

Folks like me who long for the more robust SS/exp of yore will be forced to look elsewhere .

I loved the old discoverer,  wail at the pending loss of the PAII, and find the cloud et al altogether too soft.

It is also true that external regulatory pressures (AECO et al) are regimenting the shore experiences to be a bit like visiting the zoo.
 

 

[cruiseej]

1 hour ago, tgh said:

The market trend in terms of volume and cost per day  is clearly for larger ships and increasingly softer  "adventure"… expeditions in name only.

 

I'd respectfully disagree. In the luxury cruise market, the trend seems to be more and more for small expedition ships. Many longtime customers on brands like Silversea and Seabourn have traveled to many parts of the world, and are looking for new adventures which new expedition ships in a luxury brand can deliver. Look at the Silver Origin from Silversea, the Venture and Pursuit from Seabourn, the Crystal Endeavor, the new Vikking Octantis and Polaris, Hapag-Lloyd’s three new ships, many of the new Ponant ships (seven built in the past 5 years), and the new Ritz Carlton ships, among others.

 

I think the luxury cruise lines have decided that there are enough people who will pay significantly higher per diems to cruise on a small (200-250 passenger) ship outfitted for expedition travel (ice class, zodiacs and kayaks — plus the new toys of submarines and helicopters) to create an alternative to the bigger-is-better building of cruise ships. Whether there are enough people who will pay the higher prices to fill all the new ships current and forthcoming will be an interesting story to watch over the next 5+ years. (Only Regent among the luxury cruise lines has decided to stay out of the small ship expedition cruising market.)

 

Ms. Muckerman's comment that Silversea "plan[s] on becoming the largest luxury and expedition player by far" indicates to me they must have significant expedition ship building in their plans. The Silversea Explorer (aka PAII) is loved by many, but it can't compete in suite size and amenities onboard — but also fuel efficiency and eco-sensitivity that ships being built now can offer. they pumped a lot of money into the Cloud a few years back, and similar money into the Wind this past year, so they can likely provide years of service, but the Cloud/Wind are not going to compete well against many of the recent and upcoming ships mentioned above. And Silversea likely wants to be able to bring at least some of the luxury features they've added to the Moon/Dawn to a new generation of smaller expedition ships. 

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

I agree with @cruiseej  The trend is to combine hard adventure with soft luxury.  Even National Geographic is coming out with ships that don't look like old fishing trawlers.  And don't forget Scenic and Emerald [with and without submarines and helicopters to cover two price points].  There are a TON of new small expedition ships in the pipeline, and we'll see if there really are that many folks willing and able to fill those berths.

[highplanesdrifters]

18 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

What's the cuisine of the Antarctic? Krill?  😉

There's lots of ways to eat Krill. 

Krill bruschetta 

Krill Caesar 

Grilled Krill

Teriyaki Krill

Krill tacos 

Krill a la mode

Krill brulee 

[Fletcher]

On 2/16/2022 at 1:27 AM, Host Jazzbeau said:

I agree with @cruiseej  The trend is to combine hard adventure with soft luxury.  Even National Geographic is coming out with ships that don't look like old fishing trawlers.  And don't forget Scenic and Emerald [with and without submarines and helicopters to cover two price points].  There are a TON of new small expedition ships in the pipeline, and we'll see if there really are that many folks willing and able to fill those berths.

Those old Island Sky and Hebridean Sky ships owned by Noble Caledonia are looking way out of date. I wonder what that company plans on doing.  You can't just rely on brand loyalty for eternity.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

8 hours ago, Fletcher said:

Those old Island Sky and Hebridean Sky ships owned by Noble Caledonia are looking way out of date. I wonder what that company plans on doing.  You can't just rely on brand loyalty for eternity.  

I think they're out of date as expedition ships, compared to these new designs.  But they stack up very well as boutique cruise ships because there aren't any new builds in the 100 passenger size.  Our experience on Hebridean Sky wasn't too different from Ponant's Le Champlain and the older ship has much more of the feel of a ship rather than a glitzy hotel.  Noble Caledonia's strength isn't the ships per se but what they do with them (itineraries and excursions).

[highplanesdrifters]

Sadly SS have canceled this delightful trip. Hope to meet everyone on another journey.

[Redrob123]

4 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Sadly SS have canceled this delightful trip. Hope to meet everyone on another journey.

So disappointed as this was to be my first SS cruise after Crystal shutdown.  Was so excited to be doing expedition.  Another time hopefully.

[tgh]

We get the news hot off he press on cruise critic..sigh.. was still hoping to make it work..

What is the ship doing instead ?

[Fletcher]

The Silversea cruise I most fancied - on the Cloud sailing from Fortaleza to Barbados next month - has also been cancelled.