Silversea Cruises is a luxury cruise line owned by the Lefebvre Family of Rome. Silversea Cruises aims first and foremost to provide a luxurious cruise experience, and this is primarily what they are known for. (Indeed, the cruise line regards itself as part of the ultra-luxury segment of the industry.) And while the cruise line may be well-known for their commitment to high-class cruising, the precise name of the company is evidently not well-known, as it is frequently referred to as “Silverseas Cruises” (plural), and it is often spelled “Silver Sea Cruises” and “Silver Seas Cruises.” But we suppose that’s neither here nor there. Below you’ll find an introduction to Silversea Cruises, covering the basics of the cruise line and what it has to offer.
Silversea Cruises was started in 1994, making it a relatively new cruise line. It is also rather small: there are six small ships in the Silversea fleet, and the entire company controls only a .4 percent of the cruise market. However, Silversea is not directly competing with the mammoth cruise companies like Carnival and Royal Caribbean. The specific intention of founding the cruise line was to carve out a niche for itself as a luxury cruise line, and that is what it has done.
In pursuit of this goal, Silversea ships are designed to accommodate fewer guests, which means every passenger has more personal space. Their accommodations are among the most spacious offered by a cruise line, and every cabin has a view of the ocean. Most rooms even have private verandas. For anyone who has booked a cruise vacation before, you’ll recognize how rare this is. On a normal cruise, you pick which type of cabin you would like, and you pay a correspondingly higher amount for better cabins (defined by features like ocean views and private verandas). On Silversea, there is essentially no such thing as a second-class cabin.
Not surprisingly, the service on board Silversea cruises is highly personalized. Every cabin has butler service, and passengers can eat when and where they choose. The service is so personalized, in fact, that you can actually design your own cruise. This allows passengers to embark and debark as they see fit, getting on or off at whatever port a ship passes. The only restriction to these “personalized voyages” is that you must stay on board for at least five nights. Despite the smaller ships and the highly personal service, Silversea cruises feature many of the same attractions as regular cruises, like casinos and spas, and they also sail to the same major cruise destinations, such as Alaska, the Caribbean, and Europe. (For the record, they also sail to more distant lands, like Australia, as well as to locations in Asia and Africa. More information can be found in our article The Destinations of Silversea Cruises.) So, you get an intimate cruise experience without sacrificing the amenities offered by the major cruise lines.
You might be thinking that Silversea Cruises sounds awesome, and indeed they are highly regarded. However, as you might expect, they are more expensive than regular cruises, and you likely won’t be finding any really cheap cruise deals for Silversea vacations. That said, if you can afford a more expensive vacation and you have a taste for luxurious living, you might want to look into Silversea Cruises.