When you’ve got a winning formula, stick with it. Even before Silversea launched their first new Nova Class vessel last year with the handsome Silver Nova, the luxury cruise line knew that its Silver Ray sister ship would be an equally instant followup hit. The launch of the Silver Ray, whose naming ceremony took place last month in Lisbon, also happened to mark the line’s 30th anniversary. And now, as the twelfth ship in the fleet, the Silver Ray is rapidly gaining fans as it cruises the Mediterranean and Greek Isles before it sails to the Americas at the end of the year.
Launched mid-June, the Silver Ray is the second vessel in Silversea’s Nova Class.
Earlier this year, Silversea’s Royal Caribbean Group parent company also launched its Icon of the Seas to great fanfare. At 250,000 gross registered tonnage that largest vessel on the seas carries five times the weight of the Silver Ray. But as the Silver Ray team is quick to point out, the level of complexity in these new generation vessels is the same, with the number of working components adding up to some 50 million in each.
The second vessel after the Nova to be built in the Meyer Werft shipyard on the northern German Ems River, the Ray also features hybrid power sources, including liquified natural gas (LNG). And developments such as using compost to produce heat are particularly attractive to a new generation of passengers.
Ship cost then is certainly not a function of size alone. Just take into account too the amount of marble and the 40,000 square feet of exterior glass that the Silver Ray carries. Not to mention the work it took to come up with and execute its radical new asymmetrical design that has shattered the cruise ship norm.
The introduction of asymmetric design in the Nova Class ships, as here on the Silver Ray, was an … [+]
With great open spaces, the footprint of the Ray is largely the same as the Nova. Dynamic new technologies have vastly reduced engine noise and vibration which allows for a complete recalculation of cabin and suite placements and shapes.
Both vessels have–in, for example, a Deluxe Veranda Suite that measures 355 square feet—floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors to their private verandas, and blackout curtains between the beds and sofa and ottoman area. Ample storage space includes nightstands with shelves. And of course your butler will deliver caviar service at your whim. (Further details in a Silver Nova post here).
The Ray does have some subtle new touches you wouldn’t be expected to notice but which have a big payoff, such as a chamfered door to your large walk-in closet that allows for a bit more cabin interior space. And then there are back-of-house changes not visible to guests that include an attractive and commodious crew area stocked with amenities for the 544 crew who serve 728 guests.
Silver Ray cabins and suites are all veranda style.
Both vessels also carry the most stunning and enormous of art collections in the Silversea family, with images placed prominently onboard that were commissioned from famed photographer Steve McCurry (see a Nova art post here).
The cruise line’s new Otium spa is as full service and inviting as the chicest of urban ones. Cabin bathroom amenities are Otium labeled as well, and nicely do away with single use bottles and containers.
In some five years since inception, Silversea’s S.A.L.T. program has taken ever greater steps into cooking up perhaps the industry’s most innovative culinary and drinks scenes (more S.A.L.T. news in a post to follow).
And then there are Silversea’s well-plotted shore excursions. On a quick pre-christening sail from Lisbon to Cádiz, passengers could opt for a guided afternoon tour, or just take off themselves, through this historically mega-significant, but lesser visited Andalusian port that was founded by Phoenicians.
It takes just minutes to walk from the cruise marina into the narrow and windy ancient Pópulo quarter. Or, start wandering your way down long and straight streets lined with 19th-century neo-Romantic homes built by a bourgeoisie made rich off of global trade and who filled their shady parks and squares with exotic New World botany. There’s also the Baroque and Neoclassical cathedral to see, or the Abastos covered market, and any number of fine urban beaches to lounge on.
Silversea commissioned images from photographer Steve McCurry.
By evening, passengers who opted to head to the nearby city of Jerez were treated to a flamenco evening at the century-old Tabanco Pasaje wine merchant bar. Four rousing performers shared a tiny stage, with guests nibbling on tuna and anchovies inches from the performers. Yes, it’s touristy, and yes, you’re a tourist. It’s also super fun, and how often at show’s end do you receive an empty bottle of your own to fill straight from their casks of a dry fino or a sweeter sherry of your choice?
Having taken recent delivery of six ships, Silversea is clearly on the move. At the Silver Ray June christening, veteran ship captain Alessandro Zanello was joined by Silversea’s new president Bert Hernandez and Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty. The trio welcomed and introduced the Silver Ray godmother Dr. María Josefina Olascoaga.
The Argentine-born professor of ocean science at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science “focuses on the study of transport and mixing in the ocean,” per Silversea’s announcement. “She also co-leads OceanScope, a unique public, private and academic program, that equips Royal Caribbean Group ships with oceanographic instruments to collect the ocean’s vital signs.”
Which means there’s even a lot more big stuff going on with the Silver Ray behind the scenes.