Silver Nova

The 2023-built MS Silver Nova cruise ship is a new-design (EVOLUTION-class) ultra-luxury vessel currently under construction by Meyer Werft at its shipyard in Papenburg (Germany Lower Saxony). The first EVOLUTION ship (Nova) is planned for launch in 2022-Q4 and inauguration in 2023 July. A second sistership (tbn) follows in 2024, to be constructed by the same shipbuilder.

The vessel (IMO number 9886213) will be currently Bahamas-flagged (MMSI tba) and registered in Nassau.

Both EVOLUTION-class ships are part of the Silversea Expeditions fleet.

History - construction and ownership

Silversea Cruises is a Monaco-based privately-owned cruise company and top-luxury travel brand. It was established in 1994 as joint venture of V-Ships Monaco (fka Vlasov Group) and Lefebvre Family of Rome Italy. In 2018, RCCL-Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd acquired 2/3rd of the company. Silversea now has a fleet of smaller-sized boutique vessels with passenger capacity between 100-700. The company's business model is to operate yacht-like vessels in the industry's ultra-luxury-all-suite ship category. Silversea's all-inclusive fares include beverages (also selected wines), gratuities (none are allowed), travel insurance, port charges, one or more shore excursions (per voyage).

Despite having ice-strengthened hulls, both EVOLUTION-Class units (Nova and TBN-2024) are not expedition ships, but rather an enhanced version of Silversea's newest mega-yachts Silver Muse (2017), Silver Moon (2021), Silver Dawn (2022). The new class units are designed with max passenger capacity 728 (in addition to 560 crew/staff) and GT (gross tonnage/volume) 54700 tons.

Silver Nova is one of the industry's most spacious ships, featuring the Silversea fleet's highest space-to-passenger ratio 75 (enclosed space per passenger / ft3 to GT) and crew-to-passenger ratio 1:1,3.

The vessel's construction (hull/yard number 719) officially started on November 18, 2021, with the steel-cutting ceremony held at the Papenburg Shipyard. During the keel-laying ceremony (December 2, 2021) was officially announced the new ship's name - "Silver Nova". The special event was attended by Roberto Martinoli (Silversea's President and CEO), Bernard Meyer (Meyer Werft's Managing Director), Barbara Muckermann (Silversea's CCO/Chief Commercial Officer).

The Silversea ship's namesake is the 2018-built liner AIDAnova.

Ship technology

On October 8, 2018, RCG-Royal Caribbean Group (shipowner and Silversea's parent company) announced shipbuilding agreements for 3 new boats for Silversea. The MoU (with Meyer Werft Germany) included two new-design (EVOLUTION Class) ships with first delivery planned for 2022. The 3rd contract was signed with Shipyard De Hoop (Holland) for building Silver Origin (100-passenger ship for Silversea's Galapagos program previously served by Silver Galapagos/sold in December 2020). Silver Origin entered service in May 2021 (originally planned for March 2020). The shipbuilding contracts were signed by Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio (Silversea's Executive Chairman), Richard Fain (RCG's Chairman and CEO) and Tim Meyer (Meyer Werft's Managing Director/for the EVOLUTION ships) and Patrick Janssens (Shipyard De Hoop's CEO/for Silver Origin).

In October 2021 was announced that the EVOLUTION-class units will be hybrid-powered, using three different power sources - main engines (dual-fuel, running on both ULSD/ultra-low-sulfur diesel and LNG/liquefied natural gas) as well as two alternative power sources - fuel cells (hydrogen-based technology, max capacity 4 MW per boat) plus batteries (power storage system). Another innovation is the MAGS (Micro Auto Gasification System) for reducing onboard dry waste volumes, which results in lower incineration/CO emissions. These new maritime technologies allow ~40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to Silversea's previous ship class (Muse-Moon-Dawn).

As the boats are shoreside-power ready, while berthed in ports they can connect to the town's power grid (for the electricity needed for onboard operations) instead of running their own diesel generators.

Silversea's EVOLUTION ships are also designed to have an EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index for new ships) IMO rating of approx 1/4 better than IMO's (International Maritime Organization's) current requirements for this GT-tonnage. The EEDI index estimates the CO2 volume (grams of carbon dioxide) per tonne-mile, making it kinda a sustainable ("environmental cost") ratio.

Decks and Cabins

Silver Nova staterooms (364 total) are all outside, each with a step-out balcony and all are in Suite categories. Cabin types include Otium, Owner, Grand, Master, Signature, Silver, Junior Grand, Premium Medallion, Medallion, Premium Veranda, Deluxe Veranda, Superior Veranda, Classic Veranda.

The boat has 10 passenger decks, of which 4 are with cabins.

Itineraries

What is confirmed so far by Silversea is that both EVOLUTION-class boats (Nova and tbn-2024) will operate polar cruises to ports and destinations in the Arctic (Europe, Russia, Canada) and Antarctica.

Venetian Society members (Silversea's loyalty program) and travel agents received pre-sale access to Silver Nova's details (deck plans, staterooms, itineraries-destinations) on December 16, 2021. General bookings are scheduled to open on January 6, 2022.

Silver Nova's inaugural season (2023-2024) currently has scheduled a total of 30 itineraries in Europe (UK-British Isles, Mediterranean), Transatlantic crossings (RepositionCruises.com), and voyages in South America and Alaska (in 2024) visiting 100+ ports in 50 countries.

Schedule 2023 (UK-Mediterranean-Caribbean)

Note: fares are all-inclusive, in Euro/EUR and per person (with double occupancy).

• Maiden Voyage (July 15) 10-days from Southampton to Lisbon - EUR 7200 pp
• Maiden Voyage (July 15) 19-days from Southampton to Civitavecchia-Rome - EUR 11500 pp
• (July 25) 9-days from Lisbon to Rome - EUR 5500 pp
• (August 3) 11-days from Rome to Venice - EUR 7700 pp
• (August 14) 7-days roundtrip from Venice - EUR 5400 pp
• (August 21) 11-days from Venice to Rome - EUR 7700 pp
• (August 21) 28-days from Venice to Barcelona - EUR 18200 pp
• (September 1) 7-days from Rome to Monte Carlo - EUR 4800 pp
• (September 8) 10-days from Monte Carlo to Barcelona - EUR 7200 pp
• (September 18) 11-days from Barcelona to Lisbon - EUR 6800 pp
• (September 18) 28-days from Barcelona to Lisbon - EUR 15500 pp
• (September 29) 17-days roundtrip from Lisbon - EUR 10800 pp
• (October 16) 22-days roundtrip from Lisbon - EUR 13600 pp
• (October 16) Transatlantic repositioning 33-days from Lisbon to New York - EUR 15900 pp
• (November 7) Transatlantic 11-days from Lisbon to New York - EUR 4450 pp
• (November 18) 16-days from New York to Bridgetown - EUR 7050 pp
• (November 18) 31-days from New York to Lima/Callao - EUR 11950 pp
• (December 4) 15-days from Bridgetown to Lima - EUR 7700 pp
• (December 19) 16-days from Lima to Fort Lauderdale - EUR 8900 pp.

Schedule 2024 (Caribbean-South America-Alaska)

• (January 4) 12-days from Fort Lauderdale to Lima/Callao - EUR 7700 pp
• (January 4) 32-days from Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires - EUR 18900 pp
• (January 16) 20-days from Lima to Buenos Aires - EUR 13200 pp
• (February 5) 9-days from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro - EUR 5900 pp
• (February 5) 29-days from Buenos Aires to Bridgetown - EUR 14700 pp
• (February 14) 20-days from Rio de Janeiro to Bridgetown - EUR 10700 pp
• (March 5) 10-days from Bridgetown to Fort Lauderdale - EUR 6750 pp
• (March 5) 26-days from Bridgetown to Lima/Callao - EUR 13050 pp
• (March 15) 16-days from Fort Lauderdale to Lima - EUR 8500 pp
• (March 31) 16-days from Lima to Fort Lauderdale - EUR 8500 pp
• (March 31) Alaska repositioning 23-days from Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver - EUR 13950 pp.