Silver Endeavour

Silver Endeavour is the only ship in Silversea's polar fleet that was built for the ice, and in 2026-27 it is the ship of the Antarctica Fly Cruise: 14 of its 16 Antarctic departures are round trips from King George Island, with a flight over the Drake Passage each way.¹² It carries 220 guests in 110 suites, every one with a veranda, and holds a Polar Class 6 rating.³⁴ It began life in 2021 as Crystal Endeavor.⁵ Fares start at $13,000 per person, two sharing, on October 20, 2026, a non-refundable Last-Minute fare; most other departures start between $22,400 and $34,100.⁶²

How big is Silver Endeavour, and what is its ice class?

Silver Endeavour is a 164-meter (539-foot), 20,649-ton expedition ship for 220 guests, rated PC6 under the IMO Polar Code.⁴ PC6 is the class for summer and autumn operation in medium first-year ice, which may include old ice inclusions.⁷ The main figures:

Seatrade Cruise News, which sailed on the ship's 2022 naming voyage, reported Azipod propulsion that let it turn on the spot in ice, and dynamic positioning, which holds the ship in place without dropping anchor in sensitive areas.⁵ We found no Silversea statement on whether the ship has stabilizers, and its ship page claims industry-leading Zodiac-to-guest and crew-to-guest ratios without giving a current Zodiac count.¹

Was Silver Endeavour the Crystal Endeavor?

Yes. Crystal Cruises introduced the ship as Crystal Endeavor in July 2021 for 200 passengers and sailed its maiden 2021-22 Antarctic season from Ushuaia; Royal Caribbean Group, Silversea's owner, then bought it for $275 million.⁵ Seatrade reported that it was believed to be the most expensive ship ever built per berth, at nearly $2 million.⁵ Silversea named it in the Lemaire Channel on that 2022 voyage, with the polar explorer Felicity Aston as godmother.⁵

The ship was designed with helicopters and submarines, but Silversea chose not to use them; its expeditions chief said that a helicopter flying around Antarctica did not make sense for the line.⁵ After its first Silversea season it planned to turn that space into rooms: six high-category suites in the former helicopter hangar on Deck 8 and four Veranda Suites on Deck 5, taking the ship from 100 to 110 suites and from 200 to 220 guests.⁵ Silversea's current figures, 110 suites and 220 guests, match that plan.³ If you want a helicopter or submersible, Scenic Eclipse carries both, at extra cost.¹⁰

What is a fly cruise on Silver Endeavour like?

A Silver Endeavour fly cruise is six days aboard, five of them exploring, wrapped in four flights and three hotel nights. This is the November 7, 2026 departure, which carries the ship's lowest All-Inclusive Plus fare of the season:¹¹

The ship suits this pattern because guests board and leave by Zodiac. Its two mud rooms on Deck 3, port and starboard, have boot heaters and lead straight to the landing platform.¹ Silversea's blog, describing an earlier fly cruise, says the gangway leads into the heated mud rooms, where outerwear is cleaned before the butler returns it to the suite.¹² Your parka, waterproof trousers and boots are issued at the hotel in Puerto Williams, and you fly already wearing them.¹³ Zodiac cruising, hiking and kayaking are included and need no pre-booking, and Silversea promotes the polar plunge as the fly cruise's rite of passage.¹⁴¹⁵ For the history of the Antarctica Bridge and what happens when weather grounds the plane, see our Silversea page.

Silver Endeavour's other three Antarctic departures run longer. An 8-day fly cruise over Christmas was waitlisted. A 13-day voyage on January 2, 2027 flies in and sails home through the Falkland Islands and Stanley. A 21-day voyage on March 4, 2027 sails from Puerto Williams to the Peninsula, South Georgia and the Falklands, ending in Buenos Aires.²¹⁶¹⁷

How much does Silver Endeavour cost in 2026-27?

Silver Endeavour costs from $13,000 per person, two sharing, for the October 20, 2026 fly cruise, and most other 6-day departures start at $22,400 to $34,100.² These are the lowest open fares for every Antarctic departure, read on October 15, 2026:

Larger suites cost far more. On the October 20 departure, the Residence category started at $32,600 and the Villa category at $47,300; on January 2, they started at $43,000 and $73,000.⁶¹⁶ Fares include drinks, gratuities, Wi-Fi, the charters and hotel nights; international flights to Santiago are extra.²⁰⁶ For cheaper ways to fly to Antarctica with Silversea, Silver Wind's sail-and-fly voyages start at $9,000 on an older ship with Oceanview suites.²¹

What are the suites like on Silver Endeavour?

Every suite on Silver Endeavour has a veranda, and the smallest is 356 square feet (33 m²) including it.⁴ Sizes from Silversea's deck plan:

On voyage pages, Silversea sells these as three categories: Veranda (355 sq ft), Residence (534 to 721 sq ft) and Villa (1,163 to 2,023 sq ft).⁶ Every suite has butler service, champagne on arrival, a stocked bar, an espresso machine and complimentary Wi-Fi.⁴ For dining there are The Restaurant, the French La Dame, the casual Arts Café and Il Terrazzino, an Italian restaurant found only on Silver Endeavour, plus The Grill beside the pool in a two-story glass-enclosed deck.¹ The Observation Lounge and the Library sit high on Deck 9.⁴

How many guests go ashore at once from Silver Endeavour?

No more than 100 at a time at a typical Peninsula site, so a full Silver Endeavour lands in at least three groups (our arithmetic).²² As a ship of more than 200 guests it also faces "stringent restrictions on time and place of landing activities", and Petermann Island takes no more than two such ships a day.²²²³ It may often sail below capacity: IAATO's 2026-27 estimate gives Silver Endeavour 13 air-cruise voyages carrying 2,314 passengers, about 178 a voyage, which would mean two landing groups (our arithmetic).²⁴ Smaller fly-cruise ships avoid the split entirely; see our guide to small vs large expedition ships.

Where does Silver Endeavour sail in the Arctic in 2027?

From May to September 2027, Silver Endeavour sails Svalbard, Iceland and Greenland's Scoresby Sund, starting or ending most voyages in Longyearbyen, Tromsø or Reykjavik.² Silversea's page for the ship also names the Canadian High Arctic and Hudson Bay among its Arctic waters; the table shows the 2027 departures in Silversea's Arctic and Greenland listing.²⁵

All are All-Inclusive Plus fares after a saving; the June 6 Svalbard voyage, for example, dropped from $17,550 under a "Save $5,000" offer that ends on November 2, 2026, and is 100% refundable until January 6, 2027.²⁶² That 7-day loop includes a hotel night and charter flight each way.²⁶ See our Svalbard cruises guide for other ships.

Which ships are the closest alternatives to Silver Endeavour?

The closest luxury rival is Seabourn Venture, a PC6 ship for 264 guests with 24 Zodiacs, which sails from Ushuaia after a charter from Buenos Aires and starts at $17,298 for 11 days.²⁹³⁰ Scenic Eclipse takes 200 guests to Antarctica, adds helicopters and a submersible, and starts at $18,973 for 13 days from Buenos Aires (February 17, 2027, a Preferred fare offered until October 20, 2026).¹⁰³¹ For a fly cruise with another line, Lindblad flies National Geographic Explorer guests from Puerto Natales on an 8-day trip listed from $9,600 plus $3,000 for flights, though that cabin was sold out and the cheapest open one cost $11,060 plus flights.³² Within Silversea, Silver Wind and Silver Cloud cost less but are 1990s ships with Oceanview entry suites.³³³⁴²¹

Is Silver Endeavour a good ship for Antarctica?

Silver Endeavour is the right ship if you want Silversea's fly cruise in its purest form: five days of exploring for six aboard, no Drake crossing, a polar-built hull and a veranda suite as the entry level. The catch is price and group size. Most departures cost more than $22,000 per person, the cheaper ones are non-refundable, and with 220 guests it lands in groups at the busiest sites. Travelers who are happy to cross the Drake one way can get six days in Antarctica on Silver Wind for less.²¹²