Luxury Line Silversea Plans Fleet-wide Makeover

It's makeover time for some of the world's most luxurious cruise ships.Luxury line Silversea on Wednesday announced plans to spend $170 million refurbishing its fleet -- the largest such outlay in its 22-year history.The line said its 396-passenger, all-suite Silver Whisper would be among the first vessels getting an overhaul, with work to begin in late 2016. Upgrades to the ship will include revamped suites with new dark emperor marble flooring in bathrooms, and the vessel's pool will be re-tiled and surrounded with new chaise loungers. The ship's main dining areas, The Restaurantand La Terrazza, will be re-skinned with plush new carpet and elegant hard-wood parquet, respectively, and will getnew furniture.Also going under the knife in late 2016 with similar improvements will be the 296-passenger Silver Wind. Silversea said the ship's pool deck will be completely ripped up and redone with new teak flooring, among otherchanges.Rounding out the overhauls in 2016 will be a makeover of Silver Discoverer, one of Silversea's expedition ships. Silversea said the ship's main restaurant will be remodeled with a lighter, more contemporary color palette, and the pool grill area will get new furniture.Details on additional ship upgrades will be announced at a later date.Silversea's investment comes as one of itstop rivals in the luxury cruise space, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, also pours millions of dollars into fleet-wide upgrades.