Silversea Announces New Ship Plans

[AndreaRH]

Hi Everyone,

 

I just received this press release regarding plans for a new Silversea ship. Exciting news!

 

Andrea

 

(Miami -- March 13, 2007) Ultra-luxury operator Silversea Cruises has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for one 36,000-GRT, 540-guest, ultra-luxury vessel from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri with delivery scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2009. The line has also signed an option for a sister ship with Fincantieri.

 

The agreement with Fincantieri is conditional to final contract and financing. However, an irrevocable banking commitment, fully underwritten, has already been obtained and is only subject to the final loan agreement.

 

"This is a very exciting time for our company as we are now poised to further develop our unique style of luxury travel with a new generation of ship design," said Manfredi Lefebvre, Silversea's chairman. "Fincantieri is the ideal shipbuilder to craft our new luxury vessel that will carry on our tradition of being an innovator and trendsetter in ultra-luxury cruising."

 

Added Amerigo Perasso, Silversea's president, "This newbuild order shows great confidence in the luxury segment's potential for greater demand. Silversea will be well positioned to fully meet this future demand in North America and our international markets."

 

Giuseppe Bono, Fincantieri's chief executive officer stated, "The agreement with Silversea, the major player in the ultra-luxury segment, marks a further important step in our strategy to consolidate our position as a leading shipbuilder for the upscale cruise and mega-yacht markets."

 

The newbuild order is the first one for Silversea since 1998 when contracts for Silver Shadow and Silver Whisper were signed. The award-winning vessels entered into service in 2000 and 2001, respectively.

 

With the newbuild, Silversea's overall fleet capacity grows from 1,356 berths to 1,896 berths, representing a 40% increase.

 

The purchase price and design details about the new vessel will be forthcoming over the next few weeks.

 

Silversea Cruises is recognized as an innovator in the luxury segment, offering guests large-ship amenities aboard four intimate vessels, Silver Cloud, Silver Wind, Silver Shadow, and Silver Whisper, all designed to offer an atmosphere of conviviality and casual elegance. For the ninth year, Silversea was named "Number One" small-ship line in the 2005 "Readers' Choice" survey conducted by Condé Nast Traveler magazine. For the sixth time, Silversea was selected "World's Best" small-ship line in the 2004 Travel + Leisure readers' poll.

[Silver Pearl]

The news of a new Silversea cruise is exciting. I can't help but notice, though, that the space per passenger will be decreasing if the figures given are accurate. 36,000 tons with 540 passengers means 66 or 67 tons of space per passenger, as opposed to about 74 tons per passenger on the Shadow and Whisper. That's still a very high ratio, and the difference may not be noticeable to passengers, with the possible exception of space on the pool deck, especially around the pool bar. But, who knows, maybe there will be two pool bars on the new ship. :)

 

--Rich

[CruisinGerman]

Silversea is one of my favorite lines so my wife and I can't wait to try out the new ship. However, adding another 6,000 tons approximately, while at the same time adding another 140 passengers, seems to me that they are going to make it somewhat more crowded on the new ship.

 

I hope the designers and engineers don't take away space from the various categories of suites, but perhaps will choose to make better use of some of the public space now on the Whisper and Shadow that is not used efficiently and frequently.

 

Anybody have any more news on this?

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[uk1]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com./showpost.php?p=8138923&postcount=10

[meow!]

The news of a new Silversea cruise is exciting. I can't help but notice, though, that the space per passenger will be decreasing if the figures given are accurate. 36,000 tons with 540 passengers means 66 or 67 tons of space per passenger, as opposed to about 74 tons per passenger on the Shadow and Whisper. That's still a very high ratio, and the difference may not be noticeable to passengers, with the possible exception of space on the pool deck, especially around the pool bar. But, who knows, maybe there will be two pool bars on the new ship. :)

 

--Rich

 

Apparently, the calculation of the number of gross tons (volume of the ship) is very "elastic". When the Shadow/Whisper were built, they claimed 25,000 tons (with 382 passengers, it was 65 tons each). Then by 2002-3, somehow the number of tons got stretched to 28,000. I didn't notice any new overstructures added to the ship! In December, 2004, someone asked the captain of the Shadow, and he said "it depends", i.e. whether you are talking about squeezing into a lower category for fees, etc., or boasting to your customers! I don't know, and even the length of ths ship was quoted differently at different times!

[JPR]

What really matters in terms of the perception of space is the passenger to square footage ratio, not passenger to tonnage ratio. With new lighter alloys and the pressing need for fuel efficiency, it may be that the "feel" of this new ship will be the same or even better than with Shadow and Whisper.

[meow!]

Ever since the original announcement of a new ship in mid March, and the promise of further details in the next FEW weeks, there has been no news whatsoever for six months now. What happened? Does anyone know? Even Silversea agents say they don't know!

 

Is it being built or is it still a proposition, perhaps taken over by the acquisition of the new (second hand) expedition ship?

[MJN1]

We met two folks from SS at a recent "The Leading Hotels of the World" show-case in London. They told us that the new ship will be operational "1st half 2009".

[DebbieH103]

We are hearing 4th quarter of 2009. I think a lot of people are saying that.