Silversea Silver Ray Is the Small Luxury Ship That Feeds You Like a Local

Silversea just put its newest ship in the water and it holds about 728 guests. That is smaller than a single deck on some of the megaships people fly across the country to board.

The ship is called Silver Ray. It is the second in Silversea’s Nova class, and it runs on a hybrid system with liquefied natural gas. It weighs around 54,700 gross tons, which sounds big until you do the math on how few people are aboard.

That math is the whole point. Silver Ray gives each guest about 75 gross tons of space, one of the most generous ratios Silversea has ever built. You get room to breathe and you almost never wait for anything.

The other reason to care is the food, and specifically a program called S.A.L.T. It stands for Sea and Land Taste, and the idea is that the menus change with the region you are sailing through. You eat the place you are actually visiting instead of the same shrimp cocktail you would get anywhere. There is a S.A.L.T. Kitchen, a bar, and cooking classes that tie into the ports. It is one of the few onboard dining ideas that is genuinely different rather than just marketing.

The design is the part people either love or find odd. The ship is asymmetrical, built to keep the ocean in view from nearly everywhere, with floor to ceiling glass in the public rooms. Guests coming off big ships tend to be stunned by how much light and open space there is.

Now the honest part. This is ultra luxury, which means the price is ultra too. A couple can spend well over ten thousand dollars for a nine or ten night sailing, and the fares run all inclusive with drinks, tips, and most excursions built in. That structure is great value if you use it and a shock if you were expecting a mainstream cruise price.

There are real quirks. Silversea does not use a phone app, so your daily schedule shows up on your cabin TV instead. A few longtime guests have grumbled about that and about the occasional miss in the dining room. This is a small ship with limited entertainment, so if you need a water slide and a comedy club, this is not your boat.

Silver Ray is best for the traveler who wants quiet, space, real food, and a lot of the world in one trip. It is not for anyone chasing the biggest ship or the lowest fare. You can absolutely try to sort ultra luxury pricing on your own. You can also try to read a wine list in the dark. If you want help figuring out whether this ship fits you, that is literally what we do.

Fair winds and following seas,
Captain Steve