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Brittany Chang
- I spent five nights on Silversea's new ultra-luxury cruise ship, Silver Ray.
- Fares in 2024 start at $4,550 per person for a seven-day cruise.
- My favorite amenities on Silver Ray included a sauna with ocean views and a fun cooking class.
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The hardest part about your Silver Ray cruise could be deciding what you want to indulge in first.
Silversea, Royal Caribbean Group's most luxurious cruise line, recently welcomed its 12th ship, the 728-guest Silver Ray. But as with any new floating five-star hotel, the cost to sail won't be ultra-cheap, with weeklong cruises starting at a whopping $4,550 per person in 2024.
I might've scoffed at this cost before boarding Silversea's second Nova Class vessel. But after experiencing all it has to offer on a complimentary five-night test cruise in mid-June, the price tag now makes more sense — and might even be justifiable.
Take a look at my 10 favorite amenities on Silver Ray, all of which shed some light on its steep fare.
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1. The butler-delivered caviar you can eat on your couch while wearing pajamas
Room service isn't always free on mass-market cruise ships.
On Silver Ray, not only are the hot dogs and hamburgers delivered to your suite complimentary — but caviar is, too.
Simply call the room service line or ask your butler for caviar, and before you know it, a tin of the expensive fish eggs will be presented at your door.
You don't want to know how pretentious and insufferable I felt as I shoveled the tiny pearly bites into my mouth while lounging on the couch.
It wasn't the best caviar I've ever had (it's one of Calvisius' cheapest options). But it definitely added the unnecessary, theatrical, and extravagant touch I had been seeking on a $650-a-day cruise.
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2. The sushi lunch
Dinner at Silver Ray's Japanese restaurant, Kaiseki, costs $80 per person. But it's complimentary during lunch, making it a great place to gorge on free sushi, sashimi, beef-filled bao buns, and ramen.
Alcohol is complimentary on Silversea, too. So feel free to have a glass of sake and Japanese beer with your raw fish feast.
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Like the caviar, the sushi quality wasn’t comparable to Michelin-rated omakase restaurants.
The scallop nigiri in my sushi and sashimi combo tasted more lightly poached than raw, the uni was served on unevenly cut cucumbers, and the octopus in the octopus roll was too chewy.
But complaints aside, the portions were gracious, the fish quality was acceptable, and the rolls were diverse. The spicy tuna roll had the perfect allium punch, while the vegetarian one stood its ground among the raw fish. It was far better than I expected for a cruise ship lunch.
Best of all, it was complimentary. And while it didn't change my life, it certainly satisfied my craving.
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3. The upscale café without the upscale prices
Many popular cruise ships have an onboard Starbucks. Silver Ray goes one step further with a café comparable to your overpriced neighborhood coffee shop (and this one won't make you pay extra for oat milk).
At the centrally located Arts Cafe, guests can order latte art-topped espresso drinks and uncommon tea varieties — all served with Mepra spoons that cost $40 each.
If you're a fan of cucumber sandwiches and cakes, the Art Cafe is also a great place to grab a mid-day snack or host an impromptu afternoon tea.
4. The entertaining cooking class
Silversea's SALT — an acronym for "sea and land taste" — program weaves cuisines local to the ship's destination into the cruise.
At SALT Lab, this takes the form of a complimentary cooking class.
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You might think, 'I'm on vacation — I don't want to cook!'
I hear you. But SALT Lab is nothing like cooking at home.
For starters, the instructor and their assistant do all the cleaning and prepare all your mise en place for you. And I guarantee they're funnier, wittier, and more lighthearted than your partner who yells at you for not following the recipe.
All you have to do is listen to their instructions, assemble, cook, and eat.
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5. The restaurant showcasing dishes from the itinerary
SALT isn't just a cooking class. It's a lifestyle. (Just kidding — but not really.)
Silver Ray offers SALT cooking classes, SALT shore excursions, a $180 SALT Chef's Table dinner, a SALT Bar, and a SALT Kitchen.
If you hate repeating meals, the latter could be your savior. Half of its menu changes almost daily according to the ship's destination. So, if you didn't have time to explore a port's cuisine, you could go to SALT Kitchen instead.
When Silver Ray was docked in Lisbon, the restaurant had options like roasted pork loin with a Portuguese red bell pepper sauce, and travesseiros, a popular dessert from nearby Sintra, Portugal.
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6. The half-restaurant, half-jazz bar
Silver Note is where you go to chow down on small plates of beef tenderloin and octopus tentacles while being serenaded by live jazz vocalists and pianists. If you can overlook the purple and red spotlights that give the venue a cheap dive bar feel, you'll be delighted by Silver Note's talented performers, tapas-style food, and fun plating.
The plates were pre-warmed, the lobster tail was perfectly cooked, and the musicians were world-class. I ate alone and stayed for about two hours, fully engaged by the impressive vocalist.
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7. The spa’s view
Access to spa facilities like saunas is often complimentary on high-end cruises.
Silver Ray's was admittedly bare-boned, with only three rooms (a steam room, sauna, and thermal pool). But you'll quickly forget about the lack of options when you see the ocean views inside the pool and sauna.
The latter is a great place to balance your yin (peacefully staring at the passing waves) with your yang (feeling like you're about to have a heat stroke).
Unfortunately, the steam room doesn't have any views. However, it does offer complimentary scented scrubs that will leave you with baby-soft skin.
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8. The pool
You're probably wondering how an amenity as commonplace as a pool could be so special.
There is, in fact, nothing spectacular about the pool itself. What is special, however, is its placement toward the starboard-side edge of the ship, giving swimmers a photogenic view of Silver Ray's surroundings instead of sunbathers' toes.
Don't worry, fellow loungers. We get a perk, too.
No need to walk to the pool bar to refill your piña colada. The waitstaff will do it for you.
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9. The elevators
Before Silver Ray, I would've scoffed if you had told me one of my favorite amenities on a cruise ship would be the elevators. But alas, it seems not all of them are created equal.
On most cruise ships, the elevators are located at the center of the vessel and flanked by corridors on either side.
Like the pool, all six of Silver Ray's elevators are located by the edge of the ship — half port side, half starboard side — and lined with glass walls, giving riders sweeping views of the ship's surroundings.
Not to be dramatic, but I've never seen a more beautiful elevator.
Once inside, travelers can select their desired floor on the touchscreen.
The screen's floor descriptions are updated on port days to indicate where guests must disembark. It's a small but convenient touch I've yet to see on other cruises, saving travelers the panicked "where do I get off this ship?" question.
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10. The tablet-phone-TV connectivity
The best part about my Deluxe Veranda suite wasn't the walk-in closet or balcony. It was the seamless connectivity between my phone, the in-room tablet, and the TV.
Silver Ray's cabins have portable touchscreen tablets that function as a vacation guidebook, daily scheduler, and suite control center.
The TV has the same functions, for when you're sitting on the couch and too lazy to retrieve the tablet. Or, if you're not in your cabin, your mobile Silversea profile has the same options.
As someone who religiously studies menus before going to a restaurant, I loved having every onboard restaurant's menu at my fingertips.
But the real winning feature was the "sleep" setting. No more hitting your knee on furniture as you navigate back to bed after turning the lights off. The sleep setting slowly dims the suite's light fixtures, giving guests plenty of time to saunter back to bed before everything goes dark.
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