You're about to discover the most important watch outs and things you need
to know if you're interested in, or considering, cruising with Silversea
Expedition cruises. I'm Gary Bembridge and this is another of my
tips for travellers. I'm going to explore Silversea Expedition Cruises. First of
all, who or what exactly is Silversea Expedition Cruises? Silversea Cruises has
two parts. They have the classic cruising fleet and they have the expedition fleet.
Silversea itself is part of the Royal Caribbean group who have
Royal Caribbean line, which is their sort of more mass-market line, t
Celebrity ,which is their premium line, Azamara which is a small ship
destination line and they have Silversea
Cruise line within the overall group. Silversea have a classic fleet which has
ships up to around about 600 guests, and then they have the expedition fleet
which is constantly growing and expanding. Theyhave such ships as the
Silver Cloud, which I'm on now, they have the Silver Explorer which I've been on.
They also have the Silver Galapagos and they'll soon add to that to the Silver
Origin Galapagos, they have Silver Discoverer and they're constantly
converting and bringing other ships onto their expedition fleet because it's
constantly growing. In terms of where they cover in expeditions, they
cover the Galapagos, they cover Antarctica, they cover the Arctic and in
between those periods they cover other parts of the world like
Africa, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific and South America.
The next key watch-outs are around what they do better than other expedition
brands, and what they do the same or worse than another expedition brands. Let's
start by taking a look and what I think they do really well or do better. First
of all, what they do phenomenally well is luxury expedition cruising. They have
luxurious ships which are five-star premium ships with plush
interiors and butler service in every single suite. They have lots of attention
to detail, incredible food, very high level of service and high
passenger to crew ratio, and all the trimmings you'd expect of a luxury brand
with champagne and caviar. So, basically taking their
classic luxury service and features and putting that into their expedition ships and
product. They also offer our surprisingly large amount of choice onboard the
expedition ships. For example, on Silver Cloud there are four dining
options. You have the main restaurant, you've got La Terrazza which is a buffet
for breakfast and lunch and then turns into an Italian restaurant, you have La
Dame which is very premium epicurean dining experience and then you have the
grill, which is an outdoor area which for lunch time will serve things like
burgers and hot dogs and at night has the Silversea signature Hot Rocks. They
also have a wide range of bars, and for example again on the Silver Cloud you've
got the Grill Bar outside, Dolce Vita, you have the Panorama Lounge. t
You have facilities like a fitness centre, a spa, guest laundry, library
and Observation Lounge. So, again lots of facilities and lots of choice. Surprising
large amount for a relatively small ship. One of the things they do phenomenally
well, and they put a huge amount of resource against, is the Expedition Team.
Expedition cruises will have some kind of expedition team , but on Silversea its is a
very big team. On Silver Cloud there were 28 people in the
expedition team. You have the expedition leader and a wide range
of experts like historians, botanists, some experts and wildlife birds - a
huge range of expertise. They run briefings before you do landings,
they do recaps where they'll talk about what you've seen and they'll do
various lectures across the course of the expedition. One of them will then
drive your zodiac everyday, so as you move around the different zodiacs you have
different experts with you all the time. The expedition team, I would say, is
definitely something they do very well. A fantastic innovation on Silversea Expedition Cruises is
the Photo Studio. They have a photographer and often a
photographer and a videographer. The videographer goes out on all the
expeditions and captures unique footage on what you've seen and creates a video. At
the end you can then buy it. What the photographer does is help people improve
their photographic skills. In the Photo Studio there's a huge amount
of computers for both for Mac and PC users. On these are loaded programs like
Lightroom and Photoshop. So, when you've been out an excursion, you can go in there you
can use the facilities to edit, crop and improve your photos. For a fee you can
then print those out. Use of the equipment is totally within your fare. T
Then what the photographer does is also run a series of courses. Some
are free courses and they also run a series of paid-for
courses on everything from how to shoot manual and how to use things like
Lightroom. They are often free to chat about photographs and you can get tips advice. I think that's
a huge huge big plus and definitely something that they do phenomenally well.
What do Silversea Expedition Cruises do the same as other expedition brands?
One of the things that is pretty much the same is the fares are largely all-
inclusive. Even on a more basic line the fares, because the nature of expeditions,
tend to be relatively all-inclusive. The Silversea Expedition Cruises fare includes
accommodation, all of your food,
gratuities and some limited Wi-Fi. What's very
important is all your excursions are included - all your zodiac
trips and landings. However, that's consistent across expedition brands no
matter what level they are. They do you have kayaks onboard which are included,
so you don't pay to use the kayaks. Some other expedition brands do have kayaks
but there's fees associated with them The only things that are not included on
Silversea Expedition Cruises are if you want to go and have some spa treatments, if
you're eating in La Dame or if you use laundry
(although that is included within some fares) and of course if
you do things like buy things in the boutique. Basic Wi-Fi is included. It's
not very high allowance, so if you want something faster and want to be
connected all the time there is a fee to get a better internet package. The other
thing that they do is they do require you to bring your own gear. There is some
limited stuff on board in terms of boots, but you do have to buy or rent your own
gear. On expeditions, particularly Arctic and Antarctica,
there's a lot of gear that you need to bring. What Silversea Expedition Cruises do like many
of the more premium expedition lines, they have relationships with different
providers.In Silversea Expedition Cruises case it's with a company called Ship-
to- shore-traveler and they have a very specific Silversea section where you
can go in and you can order your gear and then that gets delivered to
the ship. You can either rent it or buy it. The other thing that Silversea
do, which is again pretty consistent across expedition brands, is they give
you a Parka, and expedition cruise lines normally give this to their passengers
because it helps you stand out when you're on land. They also give you a
reusable water bottle and they give you a backpack as well. One thing that is
very similar is the format. The format of expedition cruising is fairly
consistent. What that tends to be is there is three basic things that happen:
(1) some cruising around in the ship where you'll go through
different sites or you might be wildlife spotting, (2) zodiac
tours again looking at scenery or up close to
whales or you'll go and check out wildlife and (3) is landings where
you go on zodiacs and your land in certain areas and you then go on
hikes to look at wildlife or scenery or some historic aspects. The format of
expedition cruising is very similar no matter who you go with.
You have briefing sessions, you have zodiac tours or landings and then you
have recap briefings. The format and structure is pretty similar.
Who in my view is Silversea Expedition Cruises best suited for? First
of all you need to be relatively affluent, because it is a premium luxury
experience and the fares are on the higher side versus more basic expedition
cruise lines. You'll find most of the passengers tend to be in their 50s 60s
and 70s, many of them are retired or professional people. Guests will
generally be quite active and fit you, as you have to be quite fit to go on many of
the expedition cruises. For example, both in the Arctic and Antarctica you
have to be getting on and off of zodiacs, you're going to be going on hikes up
some very big hills and mountains with rough terrain so you
do need to be pretty fit and active. There is some capacity for people with
mobility issues and there are some accessible cabins. But, very important, if
you do have accessibility issues have a discussion with Silversea first. Of course
you'll find in some of the areas, particularly Antarctica, you will find a
much bigger spread because there are younger people who
have the money or resources or just really want to do it and will go. For
example, we had some people in their late 20s who were on their honeymoon because
and they wanted to do Antarctica. The expeditions are managed and run in
English, however on the various expeditions I have been on they have been other
language passengers. They normally come as a group. For example on the
cruise I've just done, there was a sizeable Russian group and they'd bought a
Russian translator along. If you want to come and do it another language, you need
to come as part of an organised group. The groups are organizing the translations rather
than Silversea itself. If you're a solo traveler, the good news is that
Silversea do various promotions on certain expeditions across the year.
If you take a look at their website under the offers section there's an specific
section for solo travellers. Sometimes there will be no surcharge or
there may be a 15% to 25% surcharge. You'll find quite
a lot of solo travellers then on those cruises. I was on this particular
cruise as a solo traveller, but certainly as a solo traveller it was very sociable
and easy to mix with people. It was great that they do have those deals
for solo travellers. Silversea Expeditions is a great product. It's a premium product
and a pretty expensive product, but there's a lot they offer. They have a huge
expedition team, you travel with luxury with butlers and all the bells and
whistles you'd expect from a premium luxury experience. There's a number of
things that they do really well like that premium experience. I think the
expedition team is phenomenal. The Photo Studio is great and then the other
things they do are fairly similar to the others. The format and structure is fairly similar.
I'd love it you watched many more of my tips of travellers videos as they're designed to
help you make much more of your precious travel time and money whether
on land, at sea or on the rivers of the world.