Silversea Cruises

Silversea Cruises was founded in 1994 by the Lefebvre family of Rome, in partnership with Monaco's Vlasov group, the former owners of Sitmar Cruises. It set out to create a small-ship, ultra-luxury line with all-inclusive fares, and its first ship, Silver Cloud, entered service that year; the line later became part of the Royal Caribbean group. The fleet below divides into a classic luxury fleet and an expedition fleet. The classic ships grow steadily by generation, from Silver Cloud and Silver Wind at about 17,000 GT, through the 28,258 GT Silver Shadow and Silver Whisper and the roughly 40,700 GT Muse-class ships, to the Nova class — Silver Nova and Silver Ray — at 54,700 GT. The expedition side is smaller and more specialised, represented here by the ice-capable Silver Endeavour and the 6,365 GT Silver Origin, built for one region's demanding conditions.