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The future of Silversea in Expedition Cruising?


Mike2131
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I have looked at the fleets and commitments to expedition cruising in the industry and Silversea seems to really be falling behind. I'll state upfront that, while I was not a fan of the RCI "takeover", I truly hope the cash infusion will prove to be a lifesaver for Silversea in this arena. We are on the 11/5/18 sailing of the Silver Explorer (our third on that vessel) from Valparaiso to Ushuaia. After the 2017 refurb drydock and the drydock that was pulled forward after the Wrangel Island fiasco, I hope we find her as pleasurable and capable as she was when we took our first expedition cruise on her (then named the Prince Albert II) in Svalbard in 2010. That said, this segment of the industry is growing and the competition has surged ahead with newer and purpose-built ships while Silversea has an older, refurbished, and converted offering of ships. Consider just two of the options available:

 

Ponant - They have 10 expedition capable ships (I am excluding Le Ponant), all, I believe, launched in 2010 or later. We sailed with them on the L'Austral in 2011 to Antarctica - a fabulous trip. They also have an incredible new ship being built that launches in 2021 - Le Commandant Charcot, It is a purpose-built icebreaker and we have already pre-booked for an Arctic cruise to the North Pole, Svalbard, and Franz Joseph Land.

 

Hapag-LLoyd - We have never sailed with them but they have 2 new wonderful looking expedition ships launching in 2019 - the Hanseatic Nature (all German speaking) and the Hanseatic Inspiration (all bi-lingual cruises - German and English). They are well established in the expedition segment and very highly rated.

 

Lindblad/National Geographic has 2 new ships already in the fleet or coming. Although we have not sailed with them, I know Seabourn has newer vessel in their fleet.

 

We love the staff and crew of the Silver Explorer (and probably would on the Silver Cloud Expedition), but I think Silversea is in real danger of becoming less and less competitive in the segment. An aging, patchwork fleet is just not going to cut it.

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I have looked at the fleets and commitments to expedition cruising in the industry and Silversea seems to really be falling behind. I'll state upfront that, while I was not a fan of the RCI "takeover", I truly hope the cash infusion will prove to be a lifesaver for Silversea in this arena. We are on the 11/5/18 sailing of the Silver Explorer (our third on that vessel) from Valparaiso to Ushuaia. After the 2017 refurb drydock and the drydock that was pulled forward after the Wrangel Island fiasco, I hope we find her as pleasurable and capable as she was when we took our first expedition cruise on her (then named the Prince Albert II) in Svalbard in 2010. That said, this segment of the industry is growing and the competition has surged ahead with newer and purpose-built ships while Silversea has an older, refurbished, and converted offering of ships. Consider just two of the options available:

 

 

 

Ponant - They have 10 expedition capable ships (I am excluding Le Ponant), all, I believe, launched in 2010 or later. We sailed with them on the L'Austral in 2011 to Antarctica - a fabulous trip. They also have an incredible new ship being built that launches in 2021 - Le Commandant Charcot, It is a purpose-built icebreaker and we have already pre-booked for an Arctic cruise to the North Pole, Svalbard, and Franz Joseph Land.

 

 

 

Hapag-LLoyd - We have never sailed with them but they have 2 new wonderful looking expedition ships launching in 2019 - the Hanseatic Nature (all German speaking) and the Hanseatic Inspiration (all bi-lingual cruises - German and English). They are well established in the expedition segment and very highly rated.

 

 

 

Lindblad/National Geographic has 2 new ships already in the fleet or coming. Although we have not sailed with them, I know Seabourn has newer vessel in their fleet.

 

 

 

We love the staff and crew of the Silver Explorer (and probably would on the Silver Cloud Expedition), but I think Silversea is in real danger of becoming less and less competitive in the segment. An aging, patchwork fleet is just not going to cut it.

 

 

 

Yours is an interesting and clearly informed post. (You could add Crystal’s new ship to your inventory of expedition ships.)Is it not possible, however, that this sector is being developed at a frenetic pace and that there may very soon be more capacity than demand in this specialized sector. In retrospect, Silversea prove wise not to have invested heavily in new build expedition ships. On the other hand, they could well be left behind if demand in this sector grows beyond capacity.

 

 

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The real problem may be a shortage of really well qualified expedition leaders. I know some who were with Silversea who have been lured away. I love the option for more choice, though currently we will stick with Silversea as we have so many days onboard with the ensuing perks.

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Mike2131 - is basically right in everything he says. Silversea currently has four expedition cruise ships in active service and that should be an impressive number. However these ships are between 25-30 years old and no new builds are on the horizon. And Silversea is due next year to cease operations on the Discoverer, formerly the Clipper Odyssey, reducing the fleet to three. I do think Silversea is being left behind somewhat . . . and I feel their itineraries are somewhat stale.

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And there is pricing.We are booked on the Scenic Eclipse in August 2019.The 13 day cruise in a spa suite is $8000 cheaper than a 14 day cruise on the Explorer in a smaller Medallion suite that we were interested in..Plus there is an onboard chopper and submersible.

On top of that they have Kara Weller as their Expedition head.

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Could be interesting when baby boomers, who are currently a huge part of the cruising market, feel too old and creaky to leap in and out of zodiacs ....

 

 

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Yep, I am squarely in the Boomer demographic. I’ll turn 69 before the upcoming Silver Explorer cruise. I am truly fortunate that I can get into or out of a Zodiac or Safari vehicle without issue or assistance. As Dirty Harry said, “A man has to know his limitations.” That said, I do have a list of what I call “old people trips” I’ll consider when the time comes I cannot take the expedition trips that I love so much. Until then, Rock on!

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To add to the point of silversea being left behind. Silversea has a presence in the Galapagos with one ship which is about 20 years old, was bought in for the purpose, has very little open deck space and has to be boarded from the zodiac by a hole in the side of the ship.

 

As a comparison, Celebrity Cruises have some ships in the Galapagos and the Xpedition has an open deck with restaurant and lounge area and a sea level stern platform for boarding from the zodiacs. Next year they will introduce the new Celebrity Flora which has been specifically designed for the region. Along with the new ship Celebrity will be enhancing their product by introducing several upgrades that will take them up to the standard that is expected on a Silversea ship. This new ship will push the expectations of cruisers to the region out in front of anything that Silversea has in any of their expediton fleet. Hopefully RCI will take an overview of silverseas Expedition fleet and realise that they will have to be a bit more ambitious.

 

This from Cruise Industry News

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/19645-celebrity-xpedition-makeover.html

 

This from Celebrity website

https://www.celebritycruises.co.uk/onboard/our-ships/celebrity-flora/

 

Have been with Silversea since 1999. Have more cruises booked. Looking fwd to cruising Silversea for a long time yet.

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Rocchi, having been on both Silversea Galapagos and celebrity xpedition, Silversea blows celebrity out of the water. Much nicer ship with much nicer cabins, way better food, nicer expedition staff and cabin stewards and butlers that actually speak English. There is no comparison.

 

The new Celebrity ship may be nice, but my husband would not sail Celebrity again based on just how poor the food was on that voyage.

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To add to the point of silversea being left behind. Silversea has a presence in the Galapagos with one ship which is about 20 years old, was bought in for the purpose, has very little open deck space and has to be boarded from the zodiac by a hole in the side of the ship.

 

In fact the ship is nearer 30 years old, having been launched in 1989-90. Its original name was Renaissance III. It's been in the Galapagos under three separate owners for many years. Sister ships include Island Sky, Caledonian Sky, Corinthian II and Hebridean Sky. I've been on three of these.

 

I'm aboard Silver Galapagos next January and look forward to crawling through the hole.

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Part of my point was that the expedition part of Silversea is making a ton of money. I think I read that somewhere on here in the last few days. Silversea under RCI could invest in new modern exploration ships that would be more appealing to us old yins and attract a new following from a younger set of passengers. We sailed the Galapagos on the Celebrity Xpedition in 2010 and although not up to SS standards at that time felt like a ship that was more suited to exploration as the only access to the ship was by zodiac. Last year we had a wonderful cruise on SS Explorer in South America and were in and out the hole in the side quite a lot and lovely ship as she is, still did not really feel like an expedition ship. (Maybe because I seem to remember spending more time on buses. 16 hours one day).

 

Not including the Cloud which I still can't think of as an explorer. With a new beginning with RCI the three other small bought in ships should be replaced by dedicated new builds in the next few years for a complete refresh of the expedition fleet.

 

I apologise if I gave the idea that we had to 'crawl' though a hole in the side of the ship. The intention was to emphasise that a small expedition ship is better boarded by a sea level stern platform. I remember on the Xpedition there were some fellow passenger who wern't very steady on their feet but with the assistance of the crew everyone was helped on and off the zodiacs with out incident and I seem to remember that it felt safer.

 

Anyway, I have said more than I usually contribute, time to withdraw and pull the cover over the head again.

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And there is pricing.We are booked on the Scenic Eclipse in August 2019.The 13 day cruise in a spa suite is $8000 cheaper than a 14 day cruise on the Explorer in a smaller Medallion suite that we were interested in..Plus there is an onboard chopper and submersible.

On top of that they have Kara Weller as their Expedition head.

 

I truly hope your voyage on the Eclipse will be fabulous and look forward to your review. After two Scenic trips we have found their communications and transparency to be terrible. The service and food on the most recent one last month was fair at best. How they communicated with their customers about the four month delay in the launching of the Eclipse was shameful. They had to know months before that the shipyard was going bankrupt and they would have to cancel four months of trips. I'm going to wait and see the reviews the first full year before considering it. We are going on the Silver Galapagos in April and trying to learn everything we can prior to the trip.

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I truly hope your voyage on the Eclipse will be fabulous and look forward to your review. After two Scenic trips we have found their communications and transparency to be terrible. The service and food on the most recent one last month was fair at best. How they communicated with their customers about the four month delay in the launching of the Eclipse was shameful. They had to know months before that the shipyard was going bankrupt and they would have to cancel four months of trips. I'm going to wait and see the reviews the first full year before considering it. We are going on the Silver Galapagos in April and trying to learn everything we can prior to the trip.

 

I have been on one expedition cruise on Silversea which we did this year in February. I also booked a cruise on the new Scenic Eclipse for 2020 to the Arctic. This ship looks like it is going to be amazing. The cabins look amazing too! I am excited about the submarine and helicopters and everything else I have seen and read about. I do agree that Scenic did a bad job with covering the 5 month delay and how they informed those who were cancelled. They are also very difficult to communicate with but I have read good reviews on their Europe river cruises. I have also read great things about their Asia river cruises combined with land tour and we have also booked one of those (Mekong with Cambodia and Viet Nam). I hope they step up their act before I sail with them in 2020. I still want to do the Galapagos and looked at the new Celebrity ship they are building as well as considering Silversea.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hopefully RCI will take an overview of silverseas Expedition fleet and realise that they will have to be a bit more ambitious.

 

 

 

With a new beginning with RCI the three other small bought in ships should be replaced by dedicated new builds in the next few years for a complete refresh of the expedition fleet.

 

 

https://www.porthole.com/silversea-cruises-orders-3-new-evolution-class-ships/

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Hopefully RCI will take an overview of silverseas Expedition fleet and realise that they will have to be a bit more ambitious.

 

 

 

With a new beginning with RCI the three other small bought in ships should be replaced by dedicated new builds in the next few years for a complete refresh of the expedition fleet.

 

 

https://www.porthole.com/silversea-cruises-orders-3-new-evolution-class-ships/

 

This is great news! Thanks for sharing.

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These new ships will be a start. At 5,000 tons (about the same as the Silver Discoverer and 1,000 tons smaller than the Silver Explorer), I will be interested to see where the projected itineraries are. I agree they will be well-sized for areas like Galápagos, but I wonder if they will be ice class vessels. New builds without that flexibility would seem shortsighted. We will be on the Silver Explorer in a few weeks and hope to get more info on this positive step by Silversea (and RCI).

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