Silversea Cruises orders three new ships

Just months after its partial acquisition by the parent company of Royal Caribbean, Silversea Cruises is going into growth mode.

The Monaco-based luxury line and Royal Caribbean Cruises on Monday announced Silversea had signed a memorandum of understanding with German shipbuilder Meyer Werft for the construction of two new vessels for delivery starting in 2022. 

The as-yet-unnamed ships will be the first in a new series at Silversea to be called the Evolution Class.  

Silversea and Royal Caribbean Cruises on Monday also revealed Silversea had signed a contract with Dutch shipbuilder Shipyard De Hoop to construct a new expedition vessel to operate in the Galapagos. To be called Silver Origin, it will debut in March 2020 and take over the itineraries currently operated by Silversea's 100-passenger Silver Galapagos.  

Silversea and Royal Caribbean Cruises didn't reveal the size of the ships or other details. 

Royal Caribbean Cruises in April announced it had struck a deal with Silversea chairman and owner Manfredi Lefebvre D’Ovidio to acquire a two-thirds stake in the company Lefebvre's family had run for more than 20 years. 

In what amounted to the biggest cruise deal in several years, Royal Caribbean Cruises  said it would pay approximately $1 billion for the stake. Lefebvre also received approximately 472,000 shares of Royal Caribbean contingent upon achievement of certain performance metrics over the 2019-2020 period.

By Gene Sloan, USA Today
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