Dateline: Monday 24th June 2024 Home: Introducing the Silversea Endeavour Expedition Ship

 

 

 

Welcome to my second expedition cruise with Silversea.  The first was aboard Silver Wind in July 2023 and was an expedition cruise along the west coast of Greenland. My upcoming cruise is aboard the Silver Endeavour, a relatively small but beautifully appointed vessel as the following specifications demonstrate:

IMO Polar Code rating PC6

Crew 207

Guests 220

Tonnage 20,649

Length 539 Feet/ 164 40 Metres

Width 93 Feet/28 35 Metres

Speed 19 Knots

Passenger Decks 8

Built 2021

Following the collapse of Crystal Cruises the Royal Caribbean Group announced that it had received approval to buy the Crystal Endeavour on Monday 18th July 2022.  She was renamed Silver Endeavour during her maiden season in the Antarctic and thereafter several substantial changes to the vessel were completed including converting the casino into crew cabins and an infirmary, converting the current infirmary into four balcony suites, and remodelling the helicopter bay on Deck 8, into six suites. 

The defining characteristic of diesel–electric transmission is that it avoids the need for a gearbox, by converting the mechanical force of the diesel engine into electrical energy (through an alternator), and using the electrical energy to drive the propellers attached to Azipods, a marine propulsion unit consisting of a fixed pitch propeller mounted on a steerable gondola ("pod") containing the electric motor driving the propeller, allowing ships to be more manoeuvrable. They were developed in Finland in the late 1980s jointly by Wärtsilä Marine, Strömberg and the Finnish National Board of Navigation. 

 Silver Endeavour has 4 × Wärtsilä 6L32E/E2 (4 × 13,020 kW Alternators) and two ABB Azipod propulsion units..

My suite is 610.  If you would like to know more about the ship then you can visit: https://www.silversea.com/ships/silver-endeavour.html

I leave on Friday 28^th June with a 2.30am pickup for a 7.40am British Airways flight to Reykjavik.  Did I mention it's a Business Class flight all part of the package for this cruise!

In my next post I will explain how an Expedition Cruise varies from the more conventional (If there is such a thing) forms of cruising and introduce the Itinerary for this adventure.