Enormous £195m cruise liner on its way to Plymouth

A £196m cruise ship containing eight restaurants, five bars and a beauty spa will stop off in Plymouth bringing a horde of minted American visitors. The 12-deck Silver Spirit will anchor in the Sound at about 8am on Wednesday, June 12.

The ship is carrying 509 passengers, of which about 350 of them are from the USA. The rest are British, Canadian, Australian and European, and they will be spending much of the day in Plymouth.

The guests will start arriving at the Barbican Landing Stage by tender from 8.30am, with some heading out of half-day excursions to Dartmoor and Mount Edgcumbe, but spending the rest of the time in Britain’s Ocean City. Others will have tours of Plymouth Gin and enjoy Plymouth’s historic walking tour, while others will simply spend the day, and their cash, in the city.

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And if the Bahamas-flagged Silver Spirit looks familiar that’s because it visited Plymouth in 2017. And its sister ship, Silver Dawn, has been here several times before, most recently in May this year.

Both vessels are operated by Silversea Cruises, a company that has grown fond of Plymouth and is scheduling regular stops. Glen Gardner, Plymouth’s cruise new business development manager, said: “It’s a success story which came from a familiarisation visit a few years ago. Silversea Cruises really loved Plymouth and booked six visits of which this is the fourth. They will be back in 2025 and 2026.

“Up-market luxury cruise lines seem to like Plymouth. Their passengers have a great time here, which is good news for the economy and the city’s cruise reputation.

“Silver Spirit has 509 passengers and they are very up market, the spend per passenger is high. They have surplus income to spend in places like Plymouth. Silver Spirit passengers will be about 70% American, they love coming to Plymouth because of the historical and cultural links.”

Silver Spirit is the sixth ship in the Silversea Cruises fleet and entered service in 2009. It has 270 passenger cabins and a crew of 412. It is 211m in length and can travel at 20 knots, which is 23mph.

Inside it are eight “superlative luxury dining options”; including The Grill’s lava stone cooking, the Japanese cuisine Seishin, small plate tapas Silver Note, Italian dish La Terrazza, French fare La Dame, “Asian-accented” Indochine, seafood specialist Atlantide, and Neapolitan Spaccanapoli. Its bars and lounges include Arts Cafe, Panorama Lounge, Dolce Vita, Connoisseur’s Corner, and Tor’s Observation Lounge.

It also has the Zagara Beauty Salon and Zagara Beauty Spa, with its nine treatment rooms. A Fitness Centre has classes in aerobics, yoga and Pilates.

It will remain in the Sound until 5pm on June 12. Plymouth was expected to welcome another ship Star Legend on June 14, but it has cancelled its stop. The luxury vessel Seabourn Sojourn is still scheduled to stop in Plymouth on July 10 however.

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