Silversea’s 30th Anniversary: You Share Your Favorite Silversea Moments

What makes a Silversea moment? Beyond providing polished service, capacious accommodations and broadly satisfying cuisine, it’s those magical happenings we know might never happen again. It could be something Silversea crafted behind the scenes and delivered unexpectedly, or it might be a confluence of right time, right place, but these are memories we fondly associate with the cruise line.

For me, it was my first cruise a dozen years ago with Silversea, a Mediterranean itinerary departing from Athens aboard the nearly new Silver Spirit.

I was reviewing the ship for a publication that has since moved on to the great Internet beyond. My eyes widened in amazement when risotto flecked with gold leaf was placed before me one night; the next, a jazz duo in an intimate supper club serenaded my husband and me. Bartenders introduced me to the Negroni, served on a linen napkin, which became my favorite drink in the Mediterranean, and I learned what it was like to have a butler who polished my shoes without so much as asking.

For Lennie Nguyen that moment occurred in Turkey:

On Friday, July 18, 2014, at dawn, the Silver Spirit arrived at Port Kusadasi, Turkey. We embarked on a four-hour tour to explore Ephesus and the Basilica of St. John. Multiple large cruise ships docked simultaneously, bringing approximately 6,000 visitors to the area. By 6 p.m., all the other cruise ships left the port; only our ship stayed. Silversea had organized an exclusive concert at Ephesus for the ship’s guests, who basically had the whole of Ephesus to themselves that evening. We enjoyed the concert at Ephesus under twilight, creating a unique, awesome and truly unforgettable experience.

Music must be in Silversea’s DNA. Benjamin Oshlack, who has sailed with Silversea for more than 350 days, shares this:

On Oct. 17, 2014, we boarded the Silver Spirit for a 38-day cruise from Athens to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A few months before embarking, we heard there would be a 20th anniversary celebration of Silversea’s founding, while overnight in Livorno, Italy. It was also announced there would be a performance by a special guest, Andrea Bocelli, accompanied by the Silversea orchestra. All the guests were invited and comfortably accommodated in the show lounge. The crowd was so excited, with such a buzz in the air, and what a spectacular performance it was. 

“After the concert, all the passengers were invited to a gala dinner, together with Andrea Bocelli and his family, hosted by the Silversea owners, who brought their own chefs onboard, together with a selection of premium wines from their private cellars. The dinner was one of the most delicious gourmet meals we ever had the privilege to enjoy. The excitement continued throughout the night as well as the remainder of the voyage, the most memorable of the many wonderful times we have enjoyed cruising with Silversea.

How ‘lagniappe‘ transforms special moments

A French word I like, commonly used in New Orleans, is lagniappe. It means “a little something extra,” and Silversea has developed a reputation for delivering that something that guests don’t anticipate. As Stephanie Hanrahan discovered on her first trip with Silversea, a 29-day voyage in 2011 aboard the Silver Wind, you might have to be careful what you dream of.

“The first week I had a delicious brownie for dessert. The second week I asked the maître d’ if the brownie might appear again on the menu. He told me I would definitely see it again. The next night – and every night after that for the rest of the voyage – a brownie appeared every evening in my cabin!”

Our most memorable moment was to be overwhelmed by the loyalty and generosity of our Silversea family of guests, employees and friends.

—Steve and Janet Randall

And as Libby Lawrence shared:

“My husband and I traveled on the Silver Spirit from Rome to Barcelona, Spain, in 2010. After a full-day tour in the warm sun, we returned to our suite to find a trail of flower petals leading to the bath, which was filled with warm water and flower petals. What a wonderful sight and an unforgettable moment shared by us both.”

It’s said that, during its peak touring days in the early 1980s, the rock band Van Halen had a rider in their performance contract that said “no brown M&M’s.” What may have seemed an excuse for indulgent rock star behavior was actually a clever way of determining whether venue management had read the band’s contractual requirements carefully, to reveal whether strict safety procedures were being followed. Similarly, Juan De Blas tested Silversea’s standards when the butler for his suite introduced himself, and…

“We were greeted with a very broad smile, a ceremonious greeting and a request to ask him for anything we desired. I asked him to bring to the room a good whiskey and a tray of assorted fruit that included papaya and custard apple. I thought he might not know what those fruits were. Without flinching, he nodded and disappeared.

“A long time passed and the butler did not return, and I decided to call him on the phone he had given us. He did not answer, but after five minutes he appeared again and knocked on the door. He was carrying a tray of fruit on a covered silver plate and also a bottle of my favorite whiskey. With a smile he opened the tray and there were the custard apple and papaya together with the largest variety of fruit I had ever seen. He apologized for the delay, which had been caused by someone leaving the ship to buy the missing custard apple, It had taken awhile to return because there were none ripe enough until the last store he visited.”

Such epiphanies come at unexpected times, and Richard Anderson recalls a June 2023 sailing with his wife aboard Silver Spirit, exploring the Croatian coastline.

“The weather was perfect, and one Sunday morning we were moored off the small town of Rovinj. The sea was like a mill pond, and the morning sunlight was perfect. We decided to have breakfast under the canopy at the rear of the main restaurant and were shown to a table neatly laid out with its crisp white napkins and cutlery sparkling in the sunlight. We ordered our breakfast, and as we looked out over the town, only a hundred meters away, I said to Angie, ‘Does it get any better than this?’ We spent all those years working late at the office and bringing work home at the weekend, and we had to believe that it was all going to be worthwhile. Well, here it is, right now!’

“Just at that moment the morning silence was broken by the bells chiming from the church on the promontory. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘The morning church bells just make it perfect!’ And so it was. I have a few memories of cruising, but this will stay with me for the rest of my days. Just perfect!”

Most of the time, Coco Chanel’s mantra rings purest: “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” Rosemary Vyvyan told us about her most memorable time with Silversea, sailing a transatlantic passage:

“We crossed the North Atlantic, eager to retrace the voyages taken by the Norse over 1,000 years ago. En route to Greenland, we spotted two ships that we thought looked odd, until we realized the apparitions were actually majestic icebergs. Over the next few days, we were awestruck as the steadfast Silver Cloud plowed through a sea of calved iceberg pieces. 

“One day we boarded Zodiacs and meandered through a stunning icefield. The weather was warm, the sea calm, and the sun ablaze. We were summoned to join another Zodiac and, as we approached, we realized it was not occupied by guests but by crew. We crept slowly over and positioned ourselves alongside to be greeted by jolly crew members who passed us glasses of Champagne and plates of chocolates to enjoy. These treats were savored as we floated among the spectacular icebergs, each one unique in size, color and contour. All the while our guide captivated us with myriad facts about the area, and we listened with the wonder of children. We were filled with gratitude.”

Great travel makes for memorable travel. Conversely, not all memorable travel is good in the moment. Although I’ve experienced no hiccups on my various cruises with Silversea, whether it be airline luggage gods, political squabbles or the occasional pandemic, the odds are stacked against perfect travel. The measure of a great travel provider, then, is how it can fashion a silk purse from a sow’s ear. Janis Chayter discovered this on a 2017 sailing from Cape Town, South Africa, to Morocco:

“Unfortunately, the itinerary was interrupted in the final stages as the Silver Explorer had to be placed in dry dock in the Canary Islands for repairs. Instead of cruising to Morocco, a charter flight was organized to fly us. My husband and I had recently spent two weeks in Morocco and believed that we had well and truly seen the highlights. How wrong we were!

“With Silversea we visited Agadir, Taroudant, Marrakech and Casablanca. Our accommodation was excellent, and we were blown away by the tours that were organized. It was a whole new experience. In Casablanca, Silversea outdid everyone’s expectations. A fabulous dinner was organized with wonderful food, and the entertainment was second to none. Horsemen completed their charge with guns firing, the horses’ eyes ablaze, and the Silversea name was highlighted with fireworks.”

Our butler did it

Fortunately, sometimes we can just leave it to the butler to resolve. Joan Stein recalls:

“Some years ago, we were on the Silver Spirit. We were at the Hot Rocks for dinner, and a waiter spilled an entire glass of red wine all over my husband. 

“The first words out of our waiter’s mouth were, ‘I’m so sorry, I’ll call your butler.’ The butler got to our suite before my husband. He took complete care of him, changing out his clothes, taking the dirty clothes to be cleaned, cleaning his shoes and even combing his hair. My husband was back with our group at the restaurant within 10 minutes. That’s a truly great butler, and that is what Silversea is known for.”

Given the opportunity, more often than not it’s a team effort that makes the Silversea cruise experience memorable. Bradley Feuer told us how Silversea helped fulfill his father’s dream trip – and then some.

“My father passed away at nearly 94 years of age, just before the pandemic. One of his dreams was to travel to Australia and New Zealand. I booked a cruise on the Silver Muse to the region, in his memory. I brought along his favorite baseball cap and wore it on every excursion. 

“My father, a native New Yorker, loved the song ‘New York, New York,’ sung by Frank Sinatra. You can imagine my surprise when, on Christmas Eve, the singer in Silver Note took exception to her set of holiday songs to sing that song. And then the next time we dined in Silver Note, she sang his favorite vacation song, ‘Quando, Quando, Quando,’ followed by my parents’ wedding song, ‘Strangers in the Night.’ Or when, while dining in The Grill, at the time we toasted to my father, the band set up on the pool deck played ‘Tears in Heaven.’ On the anniversary of his death, the crew was kind enough to provide me with an electric candle for our suite. Needless to say, this cruise vacation was as meaningful as it was memorable.”

And there’s one more, perhaps one of the most powerful Silversea moments of all because it involves both our fellow travelers and our crew. “Having sailed with Silversea since 2000 and accumulating along the way 2,308 Venetian Society sailing days, my wife, Janet, and I know all too well that these devoted men and women of the crew are the reason we keep coming back,” writes Steve Randall.

“Our most memorable moment occurred in December 2020 when Silversea and the entire cruise industry discontinued operations due to the Covid outbreak. The opportunity to help our Silversea crew during an uncertain furlough of operations, sparked an idea of launching a fund-raising effort on Facebook’s Silversea Passengers.

In December 2020, that effort was launched as a GoFundMe campaign. We hit USD $10,000 in just the first six hours! We continued to exceed our fund-raising goals having raised nearly USD $250,000, thanks to contributions from countless guests, employees and friends of Silversea. By the time we closed the fund in December 2021, our Silversea family had helped nearly 1000 crew members. So, in closing, our most memorable moment was to be overwhelmed by the loyalty and generosity of our Silversea family of guests, employees and friends.

Editor’s Note: Want to experience more Silversea memories over the past 30 years? Check out additional vignettes from Silversea guests. You can read them here.