This New Cruise Ship Has an Unprecedented Design, Elegant Suites, and ‘Quirky’ Cocktails

On my first commute with Silversea, greater than a decade in the past, I cooed over risotto flecked with gold leaf. I swooned when my husband and I have been serenaded by way of a jazz duo in an intimate supper membership. I beloved that the bartenders would take into account our favourite beverages — each and every one introduced on linen serviette — and I realized what it was once love to have a butler who smooth my sneakers, visible that they have been sorely short of a radiance.

I additionally famous issues Silversea didn’t have. The ones bartenders didn’t hand me a invoice to signal, disagree palms have been out for a tip. There have been disagree pushy bulletins hawking excursions, buying groceries lectures, or enroute artwork auctions, nor photographers plaintively begging for a pose so they might promote me a snapshot after. There have been, in cut, not one of the annoyances you once in a while in finding on ships.

So after I onboard Silver Nova in 2023, I had a sense the send could be outlined as a lot by way of what it didn’t have as by way of what it did. And, true to that Silversea DNA, I discovered that this vessel perceived to nearly disappear. Rather, the seagoing revel in blossomed, as my fellow passengers and I sighted islands and loved the weave of coastlines. Lots of lately’s maximum talked-about cruise ships paintings to center of attention our consideration inwards; Silver Nova, against this, reminds us to seem out — and to understand the place we’re going.

This little bit of alchemy is all due to the important, asymmetrical design of Silver Nova. This aesthetically pleasant selection additionally allowed designers to get rid of maximum buildings at the higher decks, permitting the ocean and terrains to inform their yarn. To pluck only one instance, the pond doesn’t sit down at the send’s centerline, as is regular. Rather, it unspools alongside the starboard aspect, turnover an openness this is unheard of on a little cruise send. 

“On the open decks of other ships you see a lot of stuff — attractions, distractions, a lot of things that keep your eyes busy,” defined Andrea Tonet, Silversea’s vice chairman of product technique. “We did the opposite, we removed everything that was not necessary, every obstacle, to create this unobstructed view of the sea and the destination.”  In consequence, I at all times felt like I had a unclouded sense of being someplace generation boarded. I won a deeper sense of connection to my atmosphere.

That mentioned, Silver Nova is at the higher aspect, a minimum of amongst true luxurious ships, with area for 728 passengers. But it surely additionally has a capacious passenger-to-space ratio that lends the vessel a welcome openness.

A boat of glass and curves, a need in order the locations to the visitor, and a chart marked for one of the most international’s maximum interesting parks — this is my evaluate of Silversea’s Silver Nova.

The Staterooms

The all-suite Nova has 9 other stateroom layouts, initiation with same old veranda divisions, which form up greater than 75 % of the send’s lodging. Those measure 301 sq. toes inside of and attribute a subdued palette of gray and cappuccino tones. The 54-square-foot teak veranda is obese plenty for 2 to experience a meal, and marble toilets are provided with a roomy bathe stall (many have each a complete bathtub and detached bathe). All suites come with a walk-in closet, self-importance desk, a immense TV, and stocked minibar. A butler is to be had in any respect hours, and in-room eating is equipped by way of many of the send’s venues.

Right through, Silversea’s customized mattresses are luxurious and sleep-inducing, with combed Egyptian anecdote bedding by way of Milan’s Rivolta Carmignani. There’s a pillow menu, with feather/ailing blends, reminiscence foam, and two hypoallergenic choices, medium and company.

A lot of higher suites are to be had, however the big name is a couple of Otium Suites, each and every spanning 1,324 sq. toes and each and every that includes a excess wraparound balcony with non-public scorching bathtub. Due to the send’s asymmetrical design, those balconies protrude in some way that permits for 270-degree perspectives.  

Bars and Eating places

Silversea’s culinary program is some extent of pleasure for the logo. Atlantide is Nova’s de facto major eating room, a good-looking venue that trade in a choice of steaks, lobster, and caviar in a luxurious, comfy surroundings. Then door, the determined menu at S.A.L.T. Kitchen evolves by way of future, taking inspiration from the vacation spot during which the send is crusing.  For instance, on journeys to Croatia, visitors would possibly in finding Dalmatian sardines marinated in lemon; alongside Central The united states you could come across hearty escabeche.

Los angeles Terrazza’s menu options Italian specialties, with pasta made enroute, generation Silver Notice is a swank supper membership, the place gourmand tapas are served in opposition to a backdrop of are living jazz. Positioned up supremacy, the Marquee is capped by way of an ethereal, two-story pergola that dapples the venue with shadow; perspectives from each and every desk are nearly unimpeded.  Complete breakfasts are served on the Marquee, and at lunch you’ll in finding an al fresco rotisserie with salads, burgers, and Neapolitan-style pizzas; at evening grill your personal chops.

Even though Silversea is a most commonly inclusive cruise sequence, 3 of the eating places require a surcharge: Los angeles Dame does a choice of French classics ($160 together with wine pairings), and Kaiseki has a full-on Asian menu ($40). S.A.L.T. Chef’s Desk has seating for as much as 24 diners, with 11-course tasting menus adorned with strings concerning the historical past of each and every dish or signature element ($180 together with wine and cocktail pairings).  

The send has a number of bars, together with Landscape Front room, a retreat discovered boarded all Silversea vessels. On Nova, the bar’s open air terrace features a little hearth, a attribute I don’t recall visible on any alternative cruise send.  Additionally of observe is the Nightfall Bar, which sits aft on Deck 10 and is stocked with attention-grabbing spirits. (I discovered it to be a stunning spot for sundown selfies.) The S.A.L.T. Bar was once most probably my favourite spot, with elegant open air seating and a menu of ordinary cocktails that includes atypical substances cued to the send’s regional itinerary. 

The place Silver Nova Sails

Thru early 2026, Silver Nova will summer season in Alaska and spend northern hemisphere winters in Australia and Pristine Zealand, parks the place supremacy deck perspectives must end up forever rewarding.  Within the spring and fall, because the send transits between the 2 hemispheres, look ahead to voyages alongside the coasts of Asia, together with some circumnavigations of Japan.

Shore Tours

On Nova, a choice of each integrated and added-cost shore tours are introduced. In parks like Alaska, the integrated excursions preserve quite a lot of actions, from mentor rides to scenic disciplines, whale observing, e-bike journeys, mountain climbing, and kayaking. In Australia and Pristine Zealand, choices come with kayaking within the Whitsunday Islands, a antique steam teach journey akin Melbourne, and a Maori cultural revel in. 

In Alaska, helicopter journeys to a glacier the place a dog-sled camp is based totally, or a personal fishing and crabbing excursion are a few of the added-cost excursions. In Australia and Pristine Zealand, add-on excursions come with a personal automotive and information in maximum ports, Hunter Valley wineries by way of helicopter, and a excursion of the Lord of the Rings filming places and Weta Studios. Alternative excursions are constructed across the S.A.L.T. program and interested in regional culinary angles, to be had at residue charge.

Facilities and Leisure

Silver Nova’s asymmetrical design permits for a sublime, expansive pond deck — a brilliant general of greater than 42,000 sq. toes throughout two decks. With that more or less elbow room, there’s hardly ever a want to get up early to assert a deck chair. The swimming pond sits akin to the starboard aspect, and the seating and increased walkways round it form an amphitheater-like impact, with a backdrop that may proceed on for miles. To me, it felt like being at a supercool rooftop bar or cliff’s-edge hotel — with a landscape that’s ever converting.

Silversea’s S.A.L.T. ecosystem, which is on a number of of the sequence’s ships, merits particular point out as an amenity, too. The acronym stands for Sea and Land Style, and describes diverse food-focused studies off and on the send. One of the core moments are to be had on the prior to now discussed S.A.L.T. Bar, Kitchen, and Chef’s Desk; there’s additionally a ravishing S.A.L.T. Lab, a area that permits for hands-on culinary classes. The culinary programming extends to talks and demos held within the send’s Venetian Front room, in addition to on shore tours branded as a part of S.A.L.T. Base sequence, if deep-diving into the delicacies of a particular vacation spot is your purpose, search for the S.A.L.T. “stamp.”

In different places, the Otium Spa has amongst its includes a steam room and indoor thermal pond with floor-to-ceiling sea perspectives. There’s a health heart, and private running shoes are to be had for particular person or staff classes.  The spacious Venetian Front room spans two decks — a lack on a smaller send — with cabaret seating and tiered banquettes for track performances, film screenings, and alternative staff techniques. A couple of extra intimate areas come with the Gourmand’s Nook, a cigar living room and bar, and the little but pleasant library, tucked at the back of the Statement Front room.  

Public-friendly Choices

With out devoted children disciplines, Silver Nova was once no longer designed for youngsters. However households who don’t want high-powered diversions to accumulation kids swamped will discover a welcoming atmosphere at sea and, throughout relief sessions, perhaps alternative kids to socialise with. Silversea permits kids over the year of six months, so long as they’re accompanied by way of an grownup over the year of 21; babysitting products and services don’t seem to be to be had.

Accessibility

Folk disciplines of Silver Nova, together with all eating places, bars, and the spa, are wheelchair available. Embarkation and disembarkation also are normally available, with a gangway that’s flat plenty to deal with mobility units; in ports the place stairs are concerned, group contributors can handover backup. The vessel additionally helps to keep some wheelchairs for visitor usefulness.

Nova has braille/tactile population room signage, elevator buttons, staircase handrails, and stateroom numbers.  

The send has six ADA available suites, on numerous decks, within the Top rate Veranda and Silver Suite divisions. Every is supplied with wider front doorways and suitable paths of progress for wheelchairs, scooters, and alternative mobility apparatus, and each and every comprises an available rest room and bathe. All disciplines inside of those suites are reachable with out the will for spare ramps, and contours an available rest room with self-importance and detached bathe.