WHEN SILVERSEA CRUISES began operations in 1994, it became the world’s first all-inclusive, ultra-luxury cruise line. For sheer elegance in small-ship cruising, Silversea continues to top the charts. Its fleet expanded to nine ships, with five more on order, and its itineraries now cover the globe. In this, its silver jubilee year, Silversea was elected GT’s Cruise Line of the Year, a position it achieved by continuing to enhance its offerings. For the near future, Silversea will place more emphasis on its longer voyages and expedition cruising.

Silversea’s Silver Origin Superior Veranda Suite PHOTO: © SILVERSEA

Much of this manifests in the inauguration of a new expedition ship, Silver Origin, to launch in July 2020. Especially designed for the Galápagos Islands, Silver Origin is the latest addition to Silversea’s line of expedition ships, which originated 10 years ago. Carrying just 100 guests, this all-suite vessel will sail alternate seven-night itineraries between Baltra and San Cristóbal, visiting multiple isles of the Galápagos Archipelago, with a stop at the Charles Darwin Research Station. Passengers will enjoy free WiFi, complimentary expedition gear, the services of eight Zodiac craft and one local naturalist guide for every 10 guests. During the holiday season, starting Dec. 19, 2020, Silversea will conduct 11-day and 12-day extended cruises, too. Silversea promises to deliver the most elegant Galápagos cruising available, along with the best Zodiac-to-passenger (1:12.5) and crew-to-passenger (1:1.16) ratios in the region.

In addition, Silversea announced the world’s first expedition world cruise, departing Jan. 30, 2021, on the 254-passenger ice-class Silver Cloud, equipped with 18 Zodiacs and 10 kayaks for shore excursions. This 167-day voyage from Ushuaia, Argentina, near Antarctica, to Tromsø, Norway, near the Arctic Circle, includes 107 destinations in 30 countries — an exhaustive oceanic trek enhanced by a range of lecturers and speakers from world explorer Tim Severin to Felicity Aston, the only woman to cross Antarctica alone. Such a cruise doesn’t come cheap, of course, with fares ranging $99,000–400,000 per person, but the price includes shore excursions and business-class airfare from select gateways.

For those wanting more abbreviated but still in-depth luxury expedition cruises, Silversea is expanding its Grand Voyages program. These Grand Voyages provide all passengers with suites, butler services and a long list of complimentary perks from wines to WiFi … more than enough for a month or two of pleasure and discovery at sea. A 51-day Grand Voyage circumnavigation of Australia, for example, departing from Sydney Oct. 31, 2020, on the 596-passenger Silver Muse, includes additional stops in New Zealand, Bali and Komodo Island. A 70-day Grand Voyage of South America, roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale, departs Jan. 7, 2021, on the brand-new, 595-passenger Silver Moon and includes a Panama Canal transit and stops at Rio de Janeiro, the Falkland Islands and the Chilean fjords.

Set to reach more than 900 destinations on all seven continents in 2020, Silversea continues to sail at the head of its class among ultra-luxury, small- ship cruise lines.