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Silversea’s Millennium Class luxury cruise ships Silver Shadow and Silver Whisper offer you freedom and space to design your day. Silver Shadow retains Silversea’s essence – spacious suites and superior service – paired with a lively cosmopolitan atmosphere and enhanced amenities. Energise body and mind in the upgraded spa and fitness centre. Savour fine wines and French gastronomy in La Dame and enjoy authentic Italian cuisine in La Terrazza, endless ocean views from The Grill and internationally-inspired The Restaurant. From delectable dining to relaxation in ultra-luxury, cruising has never felt so good.
Sailing with the Silver Shadow was the most wonderful and amazing experience. With all the newer ships, I was reluctant, the Shadow was one of the original Silversea ships. I reached out to fellow Silversea passengers on our Facebook page. Everyone said it was their favorite ship. Now I know why! The Shadow is classy, beautiful and more intimate than I could have imagined. It was also totally updated. I love love the size of the ship with only 365 passengers on the 12/03/2024 sailing. The guest passengers were as a group, very friendly. It was easy talking to most people. The suites had been renovated. Our Silver Suite was a great choice. Perfect size, plenty of closet space, great closet and bathroom. Our butler was terrific and so was the guy who cleaned our suite twice a day. We had breakfast in our suite all 14 days. The food was excellent. Every evening the main restaurant’s ‘special selections’ menu was new and exciting! La Dame, their Michelin 5 star restaurant is awesome for a special evening. My husband loved La Terraza, the Italian restaurant. The crew on all Silversea ships are always the best crew ever. Loved our ports as well. I can’t find a single thing to complain about, lol. It was that good! We had the best two weeks. Already signed up for future cruises.
This was our 20th cruise, the other most recent on Seabourne and Windstar. We did extensive research prior to choosing this cruise and with a couple of exceptions most cruise lines had many negative recent reviews. They typically cited service cutbacks, staffing shortages and inexperienced staff, as the cruise lines continue to recover from the impact of Covid. I am pleased to report that our cruise was excellent. The cruise staff could not have been more pleasant or helpful. Our butler was over the top in looking for every possible opportunity to enhance our cruise. We had nothing but smiling faces delivering exceptional service. You could tell that this was a happy ship with all of the staff taking great pride in being a part of the Silver Shadow team. As many have noted, it is an older ship but it is a lovely ship in impeccable condition. We were very pleased with our veranda suite which was tastefully decorated and spacious and had a walk in closet as well as a bath. The entertainment was excellent, especially considering that this is a small ship. The entertainers had been working together for six months and the shows were very well rehearsed. The dancers were exceptional and we also enjoyed the guest entertainers. We found the included excursions good but opted for two paid beach and snorkelling excursions, which should perhaps be added to the included excursions considering we were in the Caribbean. The one area for improvement could be the dining. The breakfasts and lunches were good but we found the dinners a little hit and miss. The wine service was quite good with a reasonable selection. One night we paid for Le Dame and we thought it was well worth the premium. The food was not the same and the service was exceptional. Overall we loved our cruise on the Silver Shadow.
Embarkation: We left our hotel via Uber and we’re dropped off at the port where we had our luggage tagged to go onto the ship. We checked in to an area where we showed our identification, had our picture taken and were given a key card and small folio, a pocket folio in order to board the ship. We boarded the ship and immediately went to our room, arriving to a bottle of chilled champagne. Eventually, all of the luggage arrived, and we were introduced to our butler. We unpacked and got ready for our trip. As we were leaving the port, we had a reservation at La Terraza. This was a treat as the restaurant is in the rear of the ship and we left the port, proceeded down the Hudson with a beautiful view of the New York skyline. We booked a Vista suite which is the same size as most of the suites are on the ship. It has a large picture window, but no balcony like the veranda suites. The actual suite itself is identical to all of the veranda suites on the ship. These suites are quite large. There was plenty of room to move around. The bed was seemingly larger than the queen that was advertised. The bathroom was also quite large and had plenty of room to move around and included a separate shower and tub with Bulgari toiletries. The walk in closet was generous, and we were able to get all of our luggage emptied into the storage areas of the suite. The condition of the suite was immaculate. The carpet looks brand new. The furniture and bathroom were in excellent condition and all of the features in the suite were also in excellent condition. When walking through the ship, the condition of all of the areas of the ship looked brand new. Although there were many unflattering reviews and comments online regarding the ship looking tired, even though it was refurbished in 2019, there was very little evidence of any wear and tear as the ship seemed to be looking almost brand new. It was also brought to our attention that in November 2024, the ship is going to be dry docked and refurbished for any items that need to be taken care of so it will be brand new again for 2025. Food: Let’s talk about food. We are seasoned travelers, we have traveled on several high-end cruises, including Silversea, Seadream and Ama Waterways. We are true foodies who seek out fine gourmet food experiences in all of our travels, regardless whether we are on a ship, traveling to a city or staying in the countryside. That being said, the food on Silversea Silver Shadow was a first class experience. Most of our breakfasts we had delivered in room by our butler. Every item that we ever ordered, including the coffee and the tea (hot) were delicious and finely presented. I was even able to substitute smoked salmon for Canadian bacon anytime I had eggs Benedict. There are many other breakfast options which we were able to choose, like omelette made to order and fine pastries. We did choose to go to the buffet at La Terraza on one occasion. There is a wide selection of food, both cooked, cold, including breads, fruit, meats, and cheeses, as well as hot cooked items. The choices were good and the food was tasty. Our lunches were relatively mixed as on two different excursions, we decided to have delicious lobster rolls off of the ship as we walked through the towns of our port destinations. In the atrium in the middle of the ship, they also have different sandwiches to choose from as well as pastries and drinks around lunchtime. On several occasions, we chose to have a tuna wrap and smoked salmon sandwich. It was actually quite a good selection in that area as well for lunch. Lunchtime we always seemed to be on the go. Around 4 o’clock every day, they had tea in the atrium area and had typical finger foods that you would find in a high tea service, including finger sandwiches and scones just to name a few. All of the choices were excellent both in taste and presentation from the service staff. Every day at 5 o’clock, our Butler arranged to have two plates of caviar in our room where after the first night of having it with all the trimmings including champagne to go along with this treat, or we would have a cocktail and enjoy the caviar with all it’s accompaniments. We managed to eat dinner at all of the four venues. The food and service was excellent at each of those restaurants. You could order off the menu, and if there wasn’t something available on that menu, you could ask and they would make it happen. Out of the 10 days on the cruise, I think I had Maine lobster tails on 5 occasions. It was on the menu every night. They even had a seafood lunch with lobster and crab one day at La Terazza. I had fresh wild caught fish prepared in a variety of ways, pasta and risotto to name a few. The pasta dishes were excellent. My wife had lamb chops and fillet mignon that were also excellent. The wine that they poured at dinner at all of the locations were good. They weren’t top shelf wines, but they were drinkable. You could opt to upgrade for a price if you wanted to buy a nicer and more expensive bottle of wine. The spirits that they were pouring were all top shelf spirits. You would have to pay a small premium if you wanted to upgrade, for example, from a VS cognac to an XO cognac. The up charge was very reasonable. The bottom line here is that there were no complaints at all regarding the quality and variety of food and drink offered on this cruise ship. This is a relatively small ship and on our cruise from New York to Quebec City, we had 327 passengers. There were many activities that were offered to the passengers. These activities gave the passengers a chance to mingle and get to know one another. We created many friendships and had a wonderful time interacting with many passengers on board. There is a midsize theater on the ship, and there was entertainment just about every night. The singers, dancers and musicians were all terrific performers, and everyone enjoyed all of the shows. These are small productions, but they all packed a lot of punch. We even had a Broadway Star guest artist come in and sing two nights. What a show. There were many options for excursions on this trip, both included in the price of the cruise as well as some extra excursions that required an additional fee. Choosing an excursion is a very subjective and personal choice, depending on your interests. Some of the excursions we took were good and some were marginal. One excursion that we took to the Saguenay Fijord via zodiac carried a surcharge, but was well worth it and our favorite excursion of the trip. The carriage ride in Charlottetown, included as an excursion, was also excellent and one of our favorites. We loved this trip so much and had such a good time that we booked another 12 day cruise on Silversea in the Mediterranean for October 2025 and we are very much looking forward to that trip, even though it is on a slightly larger ship with a little under 600 passengers. After speaking to so many repeat Silversea passengers who have had experience on a variety of their ships, we are confident that any destination on any ship will be a 5 star first class experience.
Boarding Process: A The boarding process at the Manhattan cruise terminal was fast and simple. Within 15 minutes, we were on the ship and sitting down to lunch in La Terrazza. In contrast, there were huge line-ups that seemed to stretch to NJ for people waiting to board Carnival and Costa ships. A great start. Ship condition: B The Shadow is showing its age (built 2000 and last refurbished in 2019). We noticed a few spots of rust in some places, some chipped paint on the pool, some worn spots on carpets, some patio doors in suites that are difficult to open/close, a loose control panel in one elevator that was held together with duct tape for a day, etc. However, for a ship that is 25 years old, we felt the Shadow was still in reasonable shape and its current shortcomings are mainly cosmetic. Ship amenities: C The Shadow is a small ship (28,258 Tons, 392 passengers), which means fewer choices for dining (4 choices), bars, entertainment, and other amenities than on larger vessels in the fleet. This may be fine on short cruises (less than 10 days), but for us this gets a bit boring on longer cruises – especially when bad weather restricts use of the pool and pool-side Grill restaurant as it did for part of our voyage. Food: B+ While the variety of restaurant choices on our ship was smaller than on larger vessels, the quality of food on board was very good. On our first night, we had a fun and delicious meal at the outdoor Grill, where we cooked steak and shrimp on hot rocks – a great choice for the sail-away from NYC. On most nights, we dined at The Restaurant which offered a good selection of dishes - everything we chose was well-presented, cooked to order and delicious. We love the atmosphere in the Main Restaurant. On one night, we paid $60 each to eat at La Dame - the one extra-charge speciality restaurant on board. On five previous cruises we had dined at La Dame and had come away unimpressed each time. However, this time was different – the food was prepared to perfection and the service was superb! Finally, we had all our lunches in La Terrazza, the buffet style restaurant that also does table service. We have, and continue to, love the quality of buffet options – especially the sushi. Unfortunately, our two dinners at La Terrazza, which does an Italian theme at night, were disappointing. Pasta overcooked. Lack of sauce on some dishes. Average tasting food. Not up to the standard of speciality Italian restaurants on other cruises. Service: B After boarding in NYC, we went to La Terrazza for lunch and met our first waiter who was efficient, personable and charming. A nice start, we thought, but this kind of service was not limited to one waiter or one venue – we found it almost everywhere on the ship. And yet, we were told than some 130 crew were relatively new to Silversea and our ship. What they may have occasionally lacked in polish, was certainly made up for in desire to please and make passengers happy. One example is the lack of cocktail napkins on the ship, which were supposed to arrive before our cruise but never did. In response, one of our bar waiters went ashore and bought some cocktail napkins with his own money. The bar staff, particularly in The Bar lounge, were terrific. Unfortunately, our butler and room service were average – on several occasions items we ordered (caviar, bottles of alcohol, water) arrived late or not at all, on the first night there was no Chronicle left in our room showing the next day’s activities, and several items including shampoo, body wash gel and tissues in the bathroom ran out without being replaced. On the last night our room steward removed our bathrobes and left no bottles of water. Cabins: B We and the friends we were travelling with had classic veranda cabins on deck 5. I like the layout of the cabin with a sitting area next to the patio door, and a separate bedroom that can be closed off with drapery. Our cabins were in good shape, although our friends had a sticky patio door that required several visits from maintenance to open on multiple days. Our linen curtain on the patio door had several streaks of black smudges where the curtain must have got caught while the door was being closed – would have been nice if it had been replaced and laundered. The TV worked much better than on the Muse where the TV is part of the wall mirror and is difficult to operate. There were electric sockets next to one side of the bed, which made charging devices convenient. Internet worked reasonably well in our suite. Overall, a nice cabin. We chose deck 5 because it is on the same deck as the Atrium where we conveniently could go for take-out coffees in the early morning to enjoy while we got ready for breakfast. Entertainment: C+ The ship’s troupe of singers/dancers and their shows were good. We loved the guest singer, Rachel York, especially her tribute of James Bond theme songs. The piano vocalist in the Bar was terrific. The Silver Sea trio were very good. The guitarist was disappointing. The DJ was average. Itinerary: B+ This was our third cruise to New England/Canada, so we clearly like the itinerary. And even though bad weather forced the ship to skip its call at Les Iles-de-la-Madeleine – the major reason we chose this particular itinerary – we still enjoyed all the other ports of call. For us, there is something special about the charming small towns and coastline of New England and Maritime Canada. And, of course, the abundance of reasonably priced lobster, oysters, and mussels at local restaurants. Our itinerary included Newport, Boston, Portland, Halifax, Charlottetown, Saguenay and Quebec City. Every stop was interesting and worthwhile to visit. Quebec City, with its old-world charm, French culture, and superb food was our favourite, and we stayed there for two nights after the cruise. Other: D There were two men travelling together with two standard poodles on board. The staff told us that these dogs were service dogs and that both men needed them. However, if these were indeed service dogs, they were not trained as traditional service dogs. These dogs occasionally barked at people, yanked their owners around, engaged with passengers, and ate off the floor in La Terrazza at lunch as their owners dropped food scraps on the floor for them. I don’t have an issue with legitimate service dogs, but Silversea needs to have some way of ensuring dogs allowed on board know how to properly behave. There were several shortages of items due to a container not being delivered to the ship when it was in St. Thomas several weeks earlier. Overall experience: B We were pleased with the itinerary, quality of food, and overall level of service we experienced. The Shadow isn’t the best cruise ship we’ve been on, but we like small ships and were okay trading off more dining and entertainment options for a cozier environment where everyone knows our name and treats us like family. However, our cruise was just 11 nights, and had it been longer we may have had a different opinion. In fact, we were just beginning to wish there were more onboard options when we disembarked in Quebec City. Overall, we enjoyed the cruise enough that we will be sailing with Silversea again in the near future.
Silversea’s suites offer one of the highest space-per-guest ratios of any luxury cruise accommodations. All Silversea suites have ocean views, and most include a private teak veranda so that you can breathe in the fresh sea air simply by stepping outside your door. And regardless of the ship or suite category, all guests will be pampered with the personalised services of an attentive butler.
For a truly personal experience, customise your suite with an abundance of thoughtful options and luxurious amenities from Bulgari toiletries and personalised stationery to a bar with your favourite wines and spirits. Settle in with a complimentary movie or choose instead to simply watch the ocean swim by. You can even have dinner in-suite served course by course by your butler. Then, when it’s time to retire, curl up beneath Egyptian cotton linens and a fluffy duvet, with your choice of nine different pillow types. The ultimate in luxury cruise accommodations, Silversea’s suites are your home away from home.
With the importance of food in Italian culture, you would expect dining to be a high priority at Silversea. And it most assuredly is. No matter where you dine, you will find the great diversity and presentation of culinary selections on board your all inclusive cruise.
The main dining room aboard every Silversea luxury cruise ship, The Restaurant, is always open seating so you can arrive at your leisure and dine with the friends you invite to join your table. And with the worldly crowd of international guests who sail on Silversea ships, socialising is yet another great advantage of the Silversea experience.
Select voyages go the extra mile with enrichment programmes that will invigorate mind, body and soul, so from the tips of your taste buds to the depths of your soul, be prepared for a sensory rollercoaster of discovery while not only aboard but also ashore. Silversea's travel experience is a second to none and after 23 years in the business, travelling from pole to pole, Silversea has carefully sourced some of the world’s most renowned artists, experts and guest speakers who will travel on select voyages in order to offer culturally immersive experiences from a unique perspective. These carefully curated parties and performances have been designed to engage, enlighten and enrich your voyage, so that whatever your passion, you can indulge it on board.
The ocean views and soothing sound of the surf can be quite intoxicating at sea, so it’s not surprising that daydreaming on deck is one of the most popular pastimes. However, every Silversea all inclusive cruise also includes a considerable number of more active pursuits — some for the body, some for the mind … and some just for fun.
While on your luxury cruise, embark on a personal journey of wellness to complement your global adventures. Work out in the well-equipped Fitness Centre, take a class in circuit training or Pilates in the aerobics room, and let the sauna and steam rooms work their magic to soothe every muscle.
Silversea offers seminars ranging from aromatherapy and nutrition to how to burn fat. A holistic approach to wellness fully integrates exercise, fitness and spa therapies with health lectures and nutritious dining to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle, even while away from home.
Please note: Although Silversea accepts guests over the age of six months, there are no special programmes for children on board, and Silversea does not provide for the care, entertainment and supervision of children.
