Silversea Cruises

Best For People Who Want:
Free-flowing champagne; "best of the best" luxury; implacably attentive personal service; cabins with private balconies; a choice of dining venues; imaginative itineraries; everything included.

Should Be Avoided By People Who Prefer:
Bargain shopping; Children's facilities, casual dress, extensive sports; children's and spa facilities.

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Onboard Experience:
Small enough to be intimate, big enough to offer an elegant two-story show lounge and three dining venues, these ships are in the very forefront of the ultraluxe class, la cr�me de la cr�me de la cr�me, so to speak.

You're very unlikely to encounter warmer, more consistently above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty service than on these ships, whose staves seemingly delight in exceeding your most extravagant expectations.

Make no mistake -- this is a very formal cruise experience. Expect no fewer than five courses at every meal other than breakfast. Lady passengers slip into long sequined gowns at the most negligible provocation.

Silver Shadow, and her sister Silver Whisper, are larger than Silversea's original two vessels, Silver Cloud and Silver Wind, and offer extremely high space-per-passenger ratio of 74. The small boutiques offer predictably expensive sunglasses and clothing and ultra-expensive jewelry.

The production shows are a cut above those you'll see on comparable luxury vessels. You're also apt to be able to attend lectures on and performances of opera. Silversea prides itself on its innovative itineraries, and passengers are generally delighted with their shore excursions.

Single, open-seating dining permits you to dine when and with whom you please each evening, and complimentary wine flows like water. Your fare includes tipping and all beverages throughout the ship.

Several new programs intended to emphasize the line's Italian heritage debuted in 2005. Silversea's in-suite bath amenities are now furnished by the Italian fragrance house Acqua di Parma. Paintings by noted Italian artists are proudly featured throughout. Italian luxury brand Loro Piana opened shops aboard each ship offering accessories, gifts and made-to-measure products. But not all is from the land of Leonardo, Galileo, and Verdi; the first Viking Cooking School at sea, held in the new Viking culinary theatres, offers cooking classes led by the unmistakably Gallic firm of Relais & Chateaux.

Décor:
Décor is sublimely tasteful, with rich blues, soft golds, and coppery-brown wood tones predominant in the suites. Gentle earth-toned and pastel walls have gorgeous inlaid wood and marble accents. Floor-to-ceiling windows drench most public rooms on these ships with light.

Public Rooms:
Moving from one public room to another, or to the dining room, you'll do lots of ascending and descending, but on a ship this size, that isn't a terrible imposition. Deep Wedgwood blue and golden peach fabrics and carpeting, with warm caramel wood tones, predominate. There's lots of blood-red velveteen, and lots of golden brocades as well.

With its brown leather sofas and chairs, the wood-paneled Humidor cigar lounge is a wonderfully comfortable spot for after-dinner cigars ($12 to $47 each) and cognac. The breathtaking Observation Lounge, with 180 degrees of sea views, has a marble bar and is equally inviting for both pre- and post-dinner drinks or morning coffee.

The Panorama Lounge, with floor-to-ceiling windows, serves at night as a piano bar. Pre-dinner concerts and lectures are also staged here, and high tea served as well. Two adjacent rooms house the ship's Internet center (whose computers are nearly always spoken for), and a lending library for book and free videos, respectively. A nice touch: Silversea sends you a dedicated on-board e-mail address before you set sail.

A combo performs nightly in The Bar, adjacent to the main lounge, which is bigger than you'd expect on ships this size. Enjoy Las Vegas-style floor shows, comedians and guest lecturers in this elegant space. There's a small casino.

The tiny shopping arcade includes Silversea's LJ boutique, which replaced the original Bulgari outlet, and offers a variety of upscale merchandise bearing several esteemed logos. Besides the usual pricey casual wear, the main boutique has designer jewelry. Sometimes merchandise from the cruising region is offered for sale on board.

Cuisine:
It simply isn't as good in the main dining room as on other very pricey luxury lines. Indeed, you're apt to see a scandalously large number of fellow diners sending their meals back to the kitchen in exasperation. Oddly, that which room service delivers is somehow always exemplary; it's as though it's produced in a separate kitchen.

Restaurants:
You can dine formally in the main restaurant, slightly less formally in the Terrace Cafeacute; or Le Champagne, or order room service. With its large picture windows and tables for two, four, six and 10, the main restaurant offers dining to the accompaniment of a live trio playing romantic oldies. Guests are encouraged to take a spin around the small dance floor. There are plenty of tables for two from which to watch them doing so.

The Terrace Cafe, popular for casual breakfast and luncheon buffets, at night becomes the alternative Italian restaurant La Terrazza, at which reservations are mandatory. On formal nights, La Terrazza serves as the dining room for those choosing to dress informally. Its windows are even bigger than those in the main restaurant. Reservations are required for the theme meals offered most nights, which might include a Spanish-style lobster and shrimp soup and a Moroccan tagine stew with sea bass and raisin couscous.

The usual matching of wine to cuisine is reversed at the intimate (only 24 seats), intensely chi-chi Le Champagne, where it's actually the food that's designed with the wine in mind. Le Champagne is open for dinner only; reservations are fervently recommended. Surprisingly, incongruously, there's a small additional charge for wine.

One may also dine in-suite, ordering course-by-course from the luncheon and dinner menu - splendid news indeed for those who find onerous the idea of dressing for dinner after a busy day in port. Suites without a separate dining room have a portable table for this purpose. The Terrace serves breakfast and lunch buffets, while The Restaurant offers a five-course luncheon menu. Weather permitting, the Pool Grille operates from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Service:
From stem to stern, both officers and staff beam with delight at the prospect of assisting you.

Tipping:
Your fare includes gratuities.

Entertainment:
Silversea's newly upgraded entertainment features lavish floorshows devised by Jean Ann Ryan. There are also operatic performances and lectures about opera.

Cabins:
These ships staterooms are uniformly large, comfortable and very well-equipped; a wood-paneled vanity with TV/VCR and mini-fridge, walk-in closets, and marble bathrooms are all standard, as too are new down duvets and Hilden America linens. Honestly, what's left to be desired? Roughly 80 percent have private verandas, with glass instead of metal partitions. Bathrooms, more elegant than any at sea, with the possible exception of those aboard Regent's Seven Seas Navigator and Voyager, have separate shower and tub, plus his-and-hers sinks. The minimum-category Vista cabins (no balcony) measure 287 sq. ft., while the standard balcony staterooms, Veranda, are 345 sq. ft. Both are more than adequate even for a two-week cruise.

Your best bet, though, may well be the 701-sq. ft. Silver Suite, which offers a large living room with dining area, a generously proportioned bedroom, and large balcony. Or if you're even more intent on splurging, there are the 1,286-sq. ft. Grand Suite (cabins 801, 802 have the best configurations in this category). You enter a huge living room that would be right at home in a penthouse in Trump Tower via a marble foyer (with guest bathroom). There's a bar, of course, a gigantic flat-screen TV, a dining area and huge balcony. The walk-in closet is bigger than many lines' mid-sized cabins.

The occupants of the largest Silversea suites - the Grand, Royal, Rossellini and Owner's Suites -- enjoy the ministrations of butlers certified by the Guild of Professional English Butlers, which trains the British Royal Family's servants. Your butler will do everything from unpacking your suitcase to arranging a private car at the next port, from drawing a bath to planning an in-suite cocktail party.

Fitness/Spa:
The ships have a small but well-equipped fitness center, a beauty salon and massage facilities (for which make your appointments as you board). Fitness classes are offered during days at sea. A fast-walking/jogging track has glorious views. One of the best massages you can enjoy at sea is offered here.

As on many (far too many, if you ask us!) new ships, some decks are covered with hideous AstroTurf, where once there might have been teak. However, teak is a hardwood and can present a fire hazard on an open deck.

Attire:
Bring your tux. Bring your jewels. Some women pour themselves into sequins even on informal nights. Those who don't want to dress up may dine informally in the Terrace Cafe and then retire to a designated lounge for cocktails and after-dinner drinks, but will be turned away at the door of the entertainment lounges. On a ten-night cruise, there are three formal, four informal and three casual nights. Daytime attire is casual.