Silver Nova: A Groundbreaking and Environmentally-Friendly Cruise Ship

Meyer Werft has successfully conveyed Silversea Cruises’ Silver Nova cruise ship from its building yard in Papenburg, Germany to Eemshaven in the Netherlands. The vessel is scheduled for maiden voyage in August and will feature innovative technologies aimed at promoting environmentally friendly operations. Notably, it will also be Royal Caribbean Group’s inaugural LNG-charged cruise ship and is expected to achieve a 25% better Energy Efficiency Design Index rating than the applicable IMO standards. In addition, it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% compared to Silversea’s previous class of cruise ships, the Muse class.

The Silver Nova measures 801 feet in length and approximately 54,700 gross tons, making it the first LNG-fueled cruise ship in the mid-sized ultra-luxury category. This is in contrast to LNG-fueled vessels previously introduced by operators including Carnival Corporation, Disney Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, Havila, and Ponant, which were mostly the largest in size. The vessel features a hybrid power plant and is designed to operate emission-free in ports by turning off its main generators. It is outfitted with a 4-megawatt fuel cell system, batteries, and a newly developed Micro Auto Gasification System to convert waste into thermal energy.

Apart from featuring new technologies, the Silver Nova is designed to be one of the most luxurious cruise ships in service. It offers all-suite accommodations for 728 passengers and an outstanding passenger space ratio of 75 gross tons per passenger and has a crew of 556, leading to a high ratio of 1:1.3 crew-to-passenger. Meyer Werft’s Managing Director, Jan Meyer, expressed optimism that the Nova class will set new standards on the way to net-zero emissions cruising.

The Silver Nova is one of two cruise ships Meyer Werft was contracted to build for Royal Caribbean Groups’ Evolution Class. The second vessel, Silver Ray, began construction with the symbolic first steel cut in November 2022 and is scheduled to enter service in the summer of 2024.

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