Silver Whisper in Helsinki, 6 June 2012

Silver Whisper

IMO 9192179
Built 2001, C.N. "Visentini" di Visentini Francesco & C. Donada, Italy (hull), T. Mariotti Genoa, Italy (outfitting)
Tonnage 28 258 GT
Length 186,00 m
Width 24,80 m
Draugth 6,00 m
400 passengers
2 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 11 474 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 20,5 knots

After posting the last entry about the Silver Whisper (I know it was a week ago, but I managed to take two good sets of images of the ship within a week so) something clicked in my head and I realised there is a link in the ship's name to Silver Line, a fictive shipping company in the long-running Swedish soap opera Rederiet (literally "The Shipping Company"). Rederiet was and is one of my all-time favourite TV shows. It chronicled the fortunes of the family-owned Swedish shipping company Dahlén (fictive of course) and the crew of their flagship Freja ("played" by the Birka Princess). Dahlén Line had many competitors over the run of the series, the by far most fun of which was Silver Line led by Pehr Silver (played by Peter Harryson). The company loosely modelled on Stena Line, though I don't know how much similarity there was between the fictive Pehr Silver and the real-life Sten A. Olsson. Anyway, the point of this obscure TV-series related rambling is that nowadays I'm always pronouncing the named of Silversea Cruises' ships in a heavy Swedish accent becuase, let's face it, with names like that they could be Silver Line ships. Except that Silver Line built theirs cheap in Poland, which Silversea didn't do.

But the photographs. Silvär Wispär photographed in Gustafssvärds sund after departing Helsingfors Södra Hamnen on the afternoon on 6 Juni 2012. Clicka på bilder för större format.

Cue the theme to Rederiet. I promise to stop about the series now.

My friend Olli suggested the spot for photos on this day and his choice was excellent. Even if we had to crawl through one of the windows in the ramparts to get there.

The photo looks very summery but it was actuatlly very cold. Gloved would have came in handy.

Nothing to add to this photo.

Silver Whisper in Helsinki, 29 May 2012

Silver Whisper

IMO 9192179
Built 2001, C.N. "Visentini" di Visentini Francesco & C. Donada, Italy (hull), T. Mariotti Genoa, Italy (outfitting)
Tonnage 28 258 GT
Length 186,00 m
Width 24,80 m
Draugth 6,00 m
400 passengers
2 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 11 474 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 20,5 knots

Silver Whisper is one of the ship that comes to Helsinki a lot. Interestingly, these ships tend to fall into two very different categories: large mass-market ships like AIDAsol, Celebrity Constellation and Norwegian Sun in one end of the spectrum, and exclusive luxury ships like Le Boréal, Seabourn Sojourn and Silver Whisper in the other. I find it quite fascinating that such diverse ships seem to follow so similar itineraries.

Anyway. The photographs here show the Silver Whisper at the Kustaanmiekka strait after departing Helsinki South Harbour on the afternoon of 29 May 2012. As usual, photographed from Kustaanmiekka. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

Not photographed from "The Hill" near the western shore of Suomenlinna but from the bottom of it, giving ever-so-slightly different point of views from the earlier Kristina Katarina entry from the same session.

All kinds of foreground crap here.

And a rowan in bloom. And way markers. And a small lighthouse-thing.

Past the rowan and onwards to... someplace. Probably either St. Petersburg or Stockholm.

Silver Wind, 24 May 2009

Silver Wind

IMO 8903935
Built 1995, Soc. Esercizio Viareggio, Italy (hull), T. Mariotti Genoa, Italy (superstructure), Cant. Nav. Visentini Donada, Italy (outfitting)
Tonnage 16 927 GT
Length 155,81 m
Width 21,40 m
Draft 5,30 m
315 passengers
2 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 10 600 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 17,5 knots

Silver Wind was the second ship completed for Silversea Cruises, which in itself is a joint venture between Lefebvre and V-Ships. Unusually the Silver Wind and her older sister Silver Cloud were built at three different shipyards, one building the hull, the second the superstructure and the third being responsible for the outfitting. Externally the ships have an attractively simple yet streamlined design. The external design was further refined in Silversea's next two ships Silver Shadow (2000) and Silver Whisper (2001), and Radisson Seven Seas Cruises' 2003 newbuilding Seven Seas Voyager also bears affinity to the first Silver sisters' design. Sadly, with their newest ship Silver Spirit Silversea have abandoned the attractive common exterior design of their ships.

Internally the Silver Wind has a somewhat unusual arrangement with cabins in the forward sections of the ship (furthest from engine noise) and public rooms aft. This arrangement was popular in ferry design during the late 1970's and early 80's (and it was used in a handful of cruise ships of the time as well), but since then it has largely fallen to disfavour - except on Silversea's ships. Unsurprisingly considering the company's Italian origins, the interiors are decorated in Italian modern style and the company has an Italian Heritage theme (seriously, how many Italian Style cruise lines do we need?).

Photographs below show the Silver Wind at Monte Carlo roads on 24 May 2009, photographed from onboard MSC Sinfonia. Click on the image(s) to view full size.

In the morning mists of Monaco on the day of the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix.

And in the mid-day sun.

Silver Whisper, 27 July 2010

Silver Whisper

IMO 9192179
Built 2001, C.N. "Visentini" di Visentini Francesco & C. Donada, Italy (hull), T. Mariotti Genoa, Italy (outfitting)
Tonnage 28 258 GT
Length 186,00 m
Width 24,80 m
Draft 6,00 m
400 passengers
2 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 11 474 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 20,5 knots

Silver Whisper is the second on Silveasea Cruises' two "second-ganeration" ships (her older sister is the Silver Shadow). She was built at two different shipyards, with the hull constructed at Visentini in Donada and towed to the T. Mariotti shipyard in Genoa for completion. Silver Whisper is one of the few cruise ships given a five-star ranking by Berlitz. All accommodation are suites and all have either a picture window or a private balcony.

Photographs of the Silver Whisper in Kustaanmiekka strait shortly after departing Helsinki on 27 July 2010, taken from the ramparts in Kustaanmiekka.