Silversea has unveiled its full 2028–29 programme — 278 voyages to 497 destinations in 71 countries — and buried in the luxury line’s announcement are several firsts that will interest well-heeled British cruisers: expedition-style sailings in the Mediterranean, an Antarctica routing that skips the Drake Passage entirely, and Silver Nova’s debut in the Norwegian fjords.
General sales open on Thursday 9 July.
The collection at a glance
The programme, titled “Let the World Surprise You,” runs from March 2028 to March 2029 and adds more than 120 new or reintroduced ports across classic and expedition sailings, with over 50 overnight calls.
Itineraries are deliberately timed to cultural moments — the Monaco Grand Prix from the harbour aboard Silver Ray, Japan’s summer matsuri festivals aboard Silver Whisper, Scandinavian midsummer, and the grape harvest along Europe’s Atlantic coast.
Silversea president Bert Hernandez described the collection as “taking guests beyond the expected”.
Expedition ships come to the Med
The most intriguing strand is Silversea’s biggest-ever programme of Mediterranean Expedition voyages aboard Silver Wind — the expedition toolkit of Zodiacs, kayaks and guided hikes applied to the volcanic coastline of Milos, the lesser-known Greek islands of Amorgos and Folegandros, Algiers and Bejaia in Algeria, Pantelleria off Sicily, and a rare river cruise up the Guadalquivir into Sevilla.
For British travellers who feel they have done the Mediterranean, this is the Mediterranean done differently — and it reaches places conventional ships cannot.
Antarctica without the Drake
The enhanced Antarctica Fly Cruise programme tackles the single biggest deterrent for many would-be polar travellers: the notorious two-day crossing of the Drake Passage.
From 2028–29, the journey begins with a stay at The Cormorant at 55 South — Silversea’s own hotel in Puerto Williams, Chile, the southernmost on Earth — followed by a private charter flight directly to King George Island.
Forty-one Antarctica departures run across Silver Cloud, Silver Endeavour and Silver Wind, including Christmas and New Year sailings.
It is not a budget route to the White Continent, but for those whose stomach (or schedule) rules out the Drake, it removes the last excuse.
The fjords arms race continues
Silver Nova — the line’s newest class of ship — takes its first-ever Northern Europe season in 2028, sailing Norway’s Heritage Fjords including Geiranger and Flåm alongside Silver Spirit, plus Baltic itineraries to Sweden and Finland.
If that sounds familiar, it should: Holland America announced deeper fjord itineraries for 2027 just this morning.
Norway’s marquee fjords are becoming the destination every tier of the industry is racing to showcase — good news for British cruisers, for whom the fjords remain home territory, whether reached no-fly from Southampton or in all-inclusive luxury.
Sixty days around the Med
The collection’s centrepiece is the Grand Mediterranean Voyage 2028: sixty days aboard Silver Dawn from 23 September 2028, sweeping through Greece, Croatia, Italy, the Adriatic and Iberia — Istanbul, Dubrovnik and Amalfi alongside quieter calls at Menton, Naxos and Roses — with curated exclusives including a private evening in Athens and a Papal experience during an overnight Rome call.
Autumn timing means shoulder-season crowds and temperatures: arguably the civilised way to do a Grand Voyage.
The bottom line
Silversea sells directly in the UK in sterling, and with sales opening Thursday, the calendar-pegged sailings — Monaco Grand Prix week, the Japanese festival itineraries, and the Christmas Antarctica departures — are the ones that historically go first.
For everyone else, the message from this collection is the same one running through the whole industry’s 2027–28 announcements this week: the competition is no longer about ships, but about what the itinerary lets you witness.
