Silversea Cruises Silver Moon

Silversea Silver Moon Completes Successful Sea Trials

Cruise news to cheer! 

Sailing suspensions.  Cancelled cruises.  Refund delays.  Scrapped ships.  Nasty comments from journalists who consider themselves qualified to slam the entire industry despite never having set food on a gangway. 

I tell you, these days I brace myself before checking cruise industry news reports.

This morning, however, I found a pleasant surprise sitting in my inbox—word that Silversea’s Silver Moon completed her successful sea trials between August 8th and August 20th and, with delivery set for October 30th, the ship is on track to begin sailing this November with a crossing from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale.   

Silversea Cruises Silver Moon

Silver Moon during sea trials | Photo: Silversea Cruises

Silversea’s senior officers, external engineers, and representatives from both Fincantieri and the Royal Caribbean Group put Silver Moon through a series of preliminary tests in the Adriatic Sea – including noise, and vibration tests. Once Silver Moon was out of the water, stability tests were performed; public spaces were inspected; and engineers applied the finishing touches to the ship’s exterior, including the cleaning and painting of the hull, and the polishing of the ship’s brass propellers. Secondary tests, including speed tests, were then carried out on the return sailing from Trieste to Ancona. Work has now recommenced on the ship’s interior. 

And all of this was done with a reduced crew of approximately 320 due to precautionary health protocols.

The ultra-luxury 40,791 grt, 596-guest all-suite (97% veranda) Silver Moon will have one of the highest space-to-guest ratios at sea—always a good thing but now, with today’s headlines, an even better thing.

She will also introduce the line’s innovative S.A.L.T. (Sea and Land Taste) program which offers immersive culinary experiences that allow guests to use food to deep dive into an area’s cuisine in order to truly grasp the soul of a destination.  And S.A.L.T. isn’t just limited to a couple of menu options!  While S.A.L.T. Kitchen will feature a changing menu of regional cuisine, S.A.L.T. Bar will offer local cocktails, wines and spirits served by bartenders specially trained to explain the context of each drink and S.A.L.T. Lab will feature workshops, demonstrations and lectures by local chefs and food experts.

While sister to Silversea’s Silver Muse, you can expect a few changes and enhancements aboard Silver Moon, including a larger version of Silversea’s signature French dining venue La Dame, enhanced indoor and outdoor spaces at the Zagara Beauty Spa and an expanded Pool Deck Bar.

Silversea Cruises Silver Moon

Silver Moon during sea trials | Photo: Silversea Cruises

And if you’re in the market for even more positive cruise news in these days of doom and gloom, Silver Moon is the second Silversea ship to join the ultra-luxury fleet this year:  expedition ship Silver Origin was delivered on June 3rd and is currently in Ecuador in advance of the Galapagos Islands sailings she’ll begin in November.

The last time I sailed Silversea was June 2014, a Silver Shadow Alaska voyage that was plagued by relentless rain and wind.  (I remember leaning against the rail on a misty cold morning and my husband shouting “Look!  There’s the sun!”  My heart soared, only to discover he was talking about the Norwegian Sun which was making her way into the harbor.)

Still, the rain and wind didn’t matter.  How could it when we were ensconced within a cushy veranda suite with a butler who delivered hors d’oeuvres each afternoon, provided cozy wool blankets when we chose to sit on the veranda and believed we simply couldn’t have a light strawberry and spinach salad dinner without a bottle of wine to accompany it?  (He was right.)

Silversea Cruises always gives me something to cheer about.  On a cold and rainy sailing, it was on board elegance and luxury, extraordinary cuisine, superb service and an open bar.  Now, in today’s crazy world, it’s the promise of two exciting new ships that reassure me cruising will return.  And since those ships are Silversea, I can confidently say that it will return better than ever.

Judi Cuervo is a New York City native who fell in love with cruising in 1976 during her first sailing aboard Carnival Cruises’ Mardi Gras. Twenty years later, she began her freelance cruise writing gig and, since that time, has covered mass market, ultra-premium, riverboat and expedition ships for regional, national and international publications as well as cruise websites.