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Set sail from summer 2024 aboard the second Nova Class ship Silver Ray
Get ready for Silver Ray. Silversea’s second Nova Class ship arrives in summer 2024 and promises guests seamless destination connection. Silver Ray mirrors every aspect of her sister ship, Silver Nova, including a pioneering, asymmetrical design and extraordinary use of glass in both public areas and in suite for uninterrupted views wherever you are! What’s more, Silver Ray is one of the most spacious ships ever built, offering an exceptionally high space-to-guest ratio yet remaining nimble enough to offer purity in movement, as her name suggests. She is truly our ray of light.
See The World In A New Light
Building on our shining success with Silver Nova in 2023, our second Nova-class ship, Silver Ray, is a guiding light for the future of luxury travel. A bold, asymmetrical design creates wide open spaces and vast breathtaking views of your destination, everywhere you look. Innovative and indulgent luxury experiences make your voyage unforgettable, while cutting-edge technologies and a whole new approach to sustainability ensure respect for the environment, wherever and whenever you sail. Welcome to the light. Welcome to Silver Ray.
My wife and I really enjoy Silversea. We went on back-to-back cruises in April and May 2022 from Venice to Rome and Rome to Barcelona on the Silver Dawn and had a great time in all aspects of that vacation. So when it came time to plan another trip to the Mediterranean connecting Barcelona and Lisbon, we turned to Silversea without hesitation. It was another 5 star affair. Here are the pros and cons (a few) on the Silver Ray: Pros: - The ship is new (first sailed in August 2024)…gorgeous…clean..and extremely spacious. From the outside, you’d swear it holds 2,500 passengers. But the maximum is 728 which leaves lots of room to wander and find a quiet spot. - Except in a few cases, the staff is unfailingly polite, friendly and helpful. The ratio of personnel to passengers must be quite high. We’d like to applaud Raluca, a Dining Supervisor, and Clara, the housekeeper. - Food was exceptional in all the venues we tried: La Terrazza (breakfast, lunch and dinner)…Atlantide (dinner)…The Kitchen (dinner)…Kaiseki (dinner) and the Pool Grill (lunch…a little less so). - We mostly selected from the list of included complimentary shore excursions since we were pleased with them on the Silver Dawn in 2022. There was minimal disappointment on the Silver Ray. Everything was very well organized and the tour guides were excellent (by and large). - Quality of the entertainment was very good. Highlights included performances by individual musicians in lounges around the ship. - Both embarkation and disembarkation were smooth and easy. The regular huge buffet breakfast was offered on the final day…we waited a short while for our group to be called…left the ship and retrieved our luggage within 5 minutes. Cons: - There are tons of servers in each venue and assistance is very gracious, but it still took at least 10 minutes for coffee drinks to arrive at breakfast. - Sanitizer stations are mainly found near restaurants and many were frequently empty. However, many of the doors, such as to public bathrooms, opened by waving your hand in front of a light. My how things changed in the past few years! - Few sugar free desserts were available in any of the restaurants and there was no signage. We needed to ask staff if they had anything sugar free - whether it was our server or people at various buffet stations. My wife is diabetic and I’m sure many of our fellow passengers in the 60s and 70s were too. - On the 2nd night, we went to La Terrazza which transforms from a buffet at breakfast and lunch to a large sit down Italian theme restaurant. It opens at 630 PM and we showed up at 650 PM, but were told to come back at 9 PM since we didn’t have reservations. The place was nearly empty and after a minute we were seated. We remained until 830 PM and it never got past 30% occupancy. - To the best of our knowledge, you cannot log online into a phone and iPad at the same time. - Cover charge for the Japanese restaurant, Kaiseki, was $40 per person on the Silver Dawn in May 2022. Now, it’s $80 per person. A staff member said “it’s still $40 on all ships except the 2 new ones, the Silver Ray and Silver Nova. $80 was definitely too high. Despite these relatively minor issues, we’d heartily give our 5 star stamp approval to the Silver Ray.
Silver Ray is a new ship and you will experience all of the futuristic, post covid changes that they have made on this ship. From hand wash stations at the restaurant to hands free door openers, they have really done an exceptional job on these and many other little touches. I'll start with the welcome on board greetings. Everyone in the ships staff made sure that you had a warm welcome. And that continued for the entire cruise. We met our butler, Pan. We advised him of a first time cruise that was with us and he assured us that he would take great care of her. And that he did. We would go to breakfast and when we returned, the room was straightened out. Fresh towels, bed made, and any clothes that were left out would be hung up or folded and placed on the sofa. The beds were made up daily and beautifully done. The sheets were the finest, made in Rome. The bed was comfy and filled with many pillows. The rooms were very quiet. The room had plenty of extras. Sofa, pillows, TV, fridge filled with drinks that we selected. The room was plenty big. The closet was large and roomy. Thee restaurants on the ship were all very good. Japanese, American, local food, buffet, fine dinning to casual. Dress up or dress down, everything was good. The entire staff was very nice. The ship always felt like it wasn't full. Everything was spaced out nicely. There were many bars on board. We found and had a favorite one that we would go to before and after dinner. The drinks were all included. Finally, the tours, most of them were included, and were all performed by very well informed individuals. The ones that we had were all good. This cruise line is tops. Great ships, service, foods, limo service. They pick you up at your home and deliver you to the airport, pick up at the airport and deliver you to the ship or hotel. The same thing for the return. The entertainment was very good. Great music, dancing, and plenty of room in the theater. Comfy seats. Two floors. The productions were entertaining. I recommend their cruise line. You won't be sorry.
We just came off of an 11 night cruise on the Silver Ray from Rome to Barcelona. We had only sailed Silver Sea one other time about a year ago on the Dawn and while that ship was nice and the food good, we felt the service was a bit too impersonal and business like for us so we were hesitant to book them again but we're glad we did. The Silver Ray food, service and entertainment to us were all excellent. The ship is drop dead gorgeous and we really liked the asymmetrical layout. Loved all the natural light and openness to the outside. Some highlights we really enjoyed: - Alfredo playing piano in the Dolce Vita lounge each night was one of the best we've heard on cruise ships; we were there every night - LuJeanne and Devin played great jazz in the Silver Note and the food was very good - The Silver Ray singers and dancers were excellent and we loved all their shows (however the dancers were all leaving on Nov 23rd) - Loved having the free laundry via our Celebrity status - embarkation was a breeze; took about 10 minutes to get thru (boarded around 11:45 AM); disembarkation was also quick - Jonathan Slade was very good cruise director - Really enjoyed two Salt Lab cooking classes and love that Silver Sea offers them for free - Atlantide's food was very good and the service much faster than our last cruise (we ate there most nights at 7 PM) - Diana Preston the guest lecturer covered very good topics and shared a lot of great info - The free Wi-Fi worked well for us other than occasionally dropping and having to re-sign in; we could do WhatsApp call, emails and texting - The included tours we took were all good and included the ear whispers when needed - We enjoyed the free Kaiseki lunch and also the La Terrazza lunch buffet - We ordered room service on most early tour days and it was always tasty and the right temperature - The Spaccanapoli pizza is one of the best at sea - Our butler was very attentive and helpful bringing us afternoon popcorn most days as well as other tasks Overall we had a great cruise and have booked a Baltics cruise on the Silver Dawn in April 2025 (a leg of the World cruise). Anyone planning a trip on the Silver Ray, you are going to love it! PS: If you want a day by day summary of our cruise with pictures of our ports, our food and other info, you can find it on my travel blog at thewanderingitalian dot com.
The new (June 2024) Silver Ray rates good or excellent on all points. Starting with the essentials, it is a very quiet, very stable ship. True, we enjoyed very sunny and calm weather in Greece and Turkey, but she really distinguished herself from her sister the Nova, which I found to be very squeaky. The itinerary included several late night departures and an overnight in Istanbul, which allowed us to dine on land or even attend events onshore in the evening. The stop in Kusadasi/Ephesus allowed passengers to attend the evening musical concert in the archaeology park - a must do at least once. The service was the most attentive we have ever experienced on a SS (or any) ship, with table visits from the Chef or restaurant manager at almost every meal. Captain Zanello was seen on the decks almost every day. The Butler and steward were accessible and responsive. SS has upped their game with entertainment - besides four pop singers and four dancers, there is a six piece band. There were several excellent guest performers: a violinist (who also did patter), a comedian and a tenor. In addition, there are the usual bar performers - saxophone, violin and the mulit-talented Alfredo in the main bar, where people will actually stop talking and drinking to hear him sing. IN the Silver Note venue, the duo (a married couple from South Africa) was hands-down the best I have ever heard on Silversea or on land for that matter. The food was generally good, not great, though we had some great items in the S.A.L.T. restaurant. The drinks were well made and the cocktail menu was extensive. One downside is that the Arts Cafe has been moved to the middle of the public area where the excursion desk and reception desk is. It's more like a coffee shop in a hotel lobby now rather than a true coffee house. Plus, they no longer serve alcohol there and they close at 8 pm - so no late night bites. We had a veranda cabin with shower only - it provided two sinks (actually, two faucets over a long trough sink) and two huge drawers that easily kept everything out of sight. In fact, there was a lot of storage all over the cabin, although the walk-in closet is smaller than on non-Nova class ships due to the design changes (the standard veranda size is smaller on the Ray than on the Muse class ships, but a little larger than on the Cloud and Wind). The daily activities, including the ones you have personally reserved, appear on an interactive TV every day. My tip is: check your messages every day - don't just assume the message is an ad for a future cruise. If there has been a change to your reservations or a special meal notice, that is where it will appear. We took a mix of included, pay-for and private tours. The included tours were fine, and we felt we got value for the things we paid for, although there is always a better value in arranging your own guide if you can.
All suites feature:
From fine French cuisine, delicate Asian options to relaxed Italian family-style meals, our chefs' creativity knows no limits.
With the importance of food in Italian culture you would expect dining to be a high priority at Silversea. And it most assuredly is. Moreover, gastronomic excellence is a given, thanks to our recipes that reflect heritage and revamp tradition. No matter where you dine, destination influence is readily apparent in the great diversity and freshness of your selections. And every ship also features an array of dining venues. The main dining room, The Restaurant, is an open-seating venue where you can dine whenever you please, and where impromptu dinners with new-found friends is a matter of course. After all, with our worldly crowd of international travellers, socialising is one of the things people love most about our luxury cruise ships. Per guest reservation fee for specialty restaurants.
Our voyages not only take you to the four corners of the globe but keep you entertained as you get there.
A varied and exciting enrichment program 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. No one knows the world like we do. Our travel experience is second to none and after 25 years in the business traveling from pole to pole we truly believe that our in-depth knowledge is worth a thousand travel guides. So we have 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 with our partners to engage, enlighten and enrich your time with us, so that whatever your passion, you can indulge it on board.
Do you want a sneak peak of Silver Ray’s spacious public areas? More will be revealed soon, so watch this space!
Embark on a personal journey of wellness to complement your global adventures while onboard your luxury cruise.
Whether you want to work up a sweat in the state-of-the-art Fitness Centre, take a class in circuit training or enjoy Pilates in the aerobics room, our spa and wellness centre has the right option for you. Let the sauna and steam rooms work their magic, enjoy treatments that soothe every muscle or keep your personal grooming up to date in the Beauty Salon. Silversea offers a holistic approach to wellness that 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.
