Silversea’s new food and wine program S.A.L.T will not be impacted by anti-COVID-10 protocols for cruise ships, which the cruise line is well-positioned to meet because it’s a luxury line, according to Silversea’s Chief Marketing Officer Barbara Muckermann.

“We’re not expecting any changes apart from the delay due to the Fincantieri shipyard,” she said. “Once Moon comes out, the S.A.L.T. program will be fully implemented.”

Silversea says its ships are more spacious than most and therefore better-able to implement social distancing

RELATED: Silversea ups entertainment across fleet, debuts new show for Silver Moon

RELATED: Silversea Cruises announces delivery delays for Silver Moon and Silver Origin

Instead, she said that guests would see the greatest changes on shore excursions. “The biggest difference will be on the shore excursions,” she explained.

“We are in touch with our shore excursion operators to ensure they are managed with the highest possible safety, which might mean we rent a whole restaurant for our guests rather than sharing with other people,” she added.

The comments were made during a webinar attended by the cruise line’s President & CEO, Roberto Martinoli, and SVP of Hotel Operations, Damien O’Connor.

The S.A.L.T lab aboard Silver Moon – Silversea says the new food and wine program unaffected

According to O’Connor, Silversea is well-prepared to enact new social distancing measures, because of its luxury fleet.

Silversea operates small ships, from the 100-passenger Silver Origin, to the largest, Silver Moon, which carries 596 passengers. The ships are all suite with a very high space to passenger ratio.

“We are in a privileged position because of the space of our ships,” he said. “There will no doubt be less guest to crew contact, but we are not saying there will be less guest to guest contact.”

Silver Moon will be a sister ship to Silver Muse, introduced in 2017

RELATED: New dining experiences announced for Silversea’s upcoming Silver Moon

RELATED: ‘Middle East region looks for superlative cruising options’ says Silversea MD

He did not go into any more details in terms of onboard health and safety protocols, despite questioning. Because Silversea’s buffets are not self-serve, they may survive the pandemic, unlike those on Royal Caribbean and Norwegian.

Like other cruise line’s that have been forced to suspend operations globally, Silversea is seeing strong interest in future cruise bookings.

According to Muckermann, many passengers who cancelled and requested a refund then proceeded to rebook two weeks later. “2021 bookings are really, really doing well,” she said.

Silversea Cruises caters to an older, more refined cruising set, and its this demographic (60 to 80 years old) that are making the most bookings for 2021.

“The older generation is booking with a higher frequency than the other generations,” said Muckermann.