On January 29, 2004 we embarked on a 9-days cruise on Silver Whisper, which took us from Colon (Panama) to Callao (Peru). We had cruised on the smaller Silversea ships quite frequently in the past and were curious if the newer, larger ships would also become our favorites. This was the major consideration to take this particular cruise. We had booked a midship veranda suite and the total cost was $7,942, which included an extra 5% savings, because we had already reached 100 days of cruising with Silversea. Most of the following comments are comparative to our experiences on the Silver Cloud and Silver Wind cruises we had in the past.
We took advantage of the early embarkation possibility, which cost $100 per person but was well-spent money! We boarded at around 11 am, rather than in the afternoon, as usually done. We enjoyed the even more personalized welcome, the leisurely unpacking (on other occasions we had to really rush to make it to the lifeboat drill). We had our lunch and in the afternoon, after a good rest, we could watch the guests boarding the ship, while sipping champagne on our veranda. What a nice way to spend the initial day of the cruise...
The increased roominess of the staterooms is really a big improvement, specially the bathroom, with the added shower stall and double basin. The walk-in closet will accommodate a reasonably large amount of clothing; there is also ample drawer space and a well-sized safe. The only size problem we encountered on the veranda: the furniture is much too large for one to move around more or less comfortably. All the amenities in the bathroom were excellent, and we especially enjoyed the above average fluffy towels. We also liked the expanded variety of classical music we could listen to in the suite. Quite an improvement indeed with very few repetitions. It was a nice touch to have put good quality binoculars in each stateroom - just like an umbrella, shoehorn, hair dryer, slippers and bathrobe, one item less to take with us next time!