Cruise & Ferry Review - Autumn/Winter 2020

5 1 social distancing – meeting friends and enjoying a wonderful dinner will always be a fundamental part of the Silversea experience. Settings will probably be more spread out – with tables seating fewer people – but the essence of the unique Silversea experience will remain in place.” Confident in the cruise industry’s future, Silversea has continued to prepare for newbuilds joining its fleet. In June, the company took delivery of its newest ship from Netherlands-based Shipyard De Hoop, which implemented a series of strict health and safety measures to ensure its team could continue working safely throughout the pandemic. De Hoop also used innovative methods to conduct Silver Origin’s sea trials. The ship’s dynamic positioning system was tuned remotely from engineers in St. Petersburg, Russia – over 1,800 kilometres away. “Silver Origin’s construction is indeed an amazing story of resilience and I must pay my compliments to the incredible team at De Hoop, which overcame a number of obstacles to deliver our beautiful ship in such a timely manner,” says Martinoli. Work also continues to progress well on newbuild, Silver Moon, which is due for delivery from Fincantieri in October 2020. “I’m especially eager to see the launch of our pioneering new Sea and Land Taste (S.A.L.T.) programme, which will unlock entire ecosystems around culinary discovery, with the programme changing with each port the ship visits,” says Martinoli. “The S.A.L.T. Kitchen, S.A.L.T. Lab, and S.A.L.T. Bar onboard Silver Moon will enable travellers to form strong connections with each destination.” Regarding the rest of the fleet’s ships, Martinoli says Silversea will “not be too hasty” when it comes to returning to service. Organising safe trips ashore will be a key consideration. “It’s still too early to share details on our protocols for shore experiences, but we’ll use the expert insight of the Healthy Sail Panel to address this concern. One option that we’re exploring is to make the voyage experience as closed-loop as possible, with a series of enhancements to ensure that we’re in control of every aspect of guests’ travel experience. This way, guests and crew can be confident that everyone follows our enhanced procedures. “We’ve remained in constant contact with all ports and destinations to work together on protection of passengers, crew and the communities we visit and we’ll share itinerary details soon.” C&F INTERV IEW