Muckermann has designed the wellness programme to focus on indulgence / photo: Silversea Cruises
"When you can have anything you like, you settle on what you really want,” says Barbara Muckermann, chief commercial officer of Silversea Cruises and the brains behind Otium, the luxury cruise line’s new wellness concept. “As long as the quality is there, that’s all you need.”
Quality is a trademark of Silversea, which prides itself on enabling guests to ‘travel deeper into luxury’. Now, the Monaco-based brand has managed to one-up itself with the introduction of Otium – its ambitious new wellness programme launching in March 2022 on Silver Dawn, its 10th and newest ship, with its sights set on indulging the very wealthy.
In Roman culture, Otium – the opposite of negotium, the nonexistence of pleasure – was a period of time dedicated to leisure, in which people bathed, conversed, sang, theorised, drank, ate, socialised and relaxed, explains Muckermann.
With the launch, Silversea not only pays homage to its Italian heritage, but also offers guests a new level of curated and customised comfort, aiming to redefine the wellness experience at sea, with a strapline ‘The original art of comfort’.
Essentially, Muckermann and Silversea believe wellness should be a natural, enjoyable part of the day and that living well and being well are not mutually exclusive.
“Otium is unlike any other wellness programme; it aligns perfectly with our brand positioning,” explains Muckermann. “Otium was an opportunity to stop pretending that wellness is all about sacrifice and delayed gratification – instead it will revolve around instant gratification, extending the luxurious pampering for which Silversea is best known to different areas of the ship, from guests’ suites to the redesigned spa, and beyond,” she says.
Encouraging wellness through ‘balanced indulgence’, Otium is built around five pillars – which include the spa, as well as new bathing, sleeping and dining experiences and a novel ‘balcony experience’ to enhance time spent outside – with each offering a number of customisable elements.
“Otium will guide guests on a journey of wellness, starting in their suites, extending to the spa, and continuing into other public venues,” says Muckermann. “They’ll be able to unwind and socialise in the spa’s thermal areas with a glass of Champagne and snacks prepared with ingredients such as caviar and truffles or have a couples’ massage to live music.”
The Silver Dawn wellness offering will have four new areas of programming in addition to the spa, including the Otium Bathing Experience which will be delivered in passengers’ private bathrooms – these will have both a walk-in shower and a bath, making them some of the most spacious bathrooms at sea.
The custom bathing experience, prepared by Silversea’s butlers, will enable guests to indulge in a multi-sensory soak, while listening to the playlist of their choice and enjoying a range of delicacies.
The Otium sleeping experience will be tailored to individual preferences. Cabins will have a special Otium mattress, while the pillow menu will include customisable down and feather blends, memory foam, firm down, and improved down.
The Otium balcony experience will see travellers encouraged to slow down and enjoy the breathtaking views that stretch to the horizon and make the most of their personal space.
In cool weather conditions, Silversea will deliver luxurious cashmere blankets, a selection of appetisers, and an indulgent hot chocolate menu.
In warmer climates, guests will be able to order body mists, sun creams, cocktails, and gourmet bites.
Perhaps the most indulgent aspect of this programme, says Muckermann, is the addition of an in-suite Otium comfort food menu which will be available 24/7 and designed to enhance guests’ moments of leisure.
Signature dishes will range from gourmet popcorn to lobster and caviar in a brioche, justifying Muckermann’s comment that “enjoyment and indulgence lie at the heart of Otium’s sensuous experience”.
Silverseas tackles emissions
Silverseas has announced it will launch its first hybrid cruise ship in 2023 in a bid to mitigate its environmental impact – as cruise ships are major polluters.
The new launch, Silver Nova, is currently under construction and when complete will be the first hybrid, luxury cruise ship free of local emissions while in port, through the use of fuel cells and batteries.
The ship will also use liquified natural gas as its main fuel, enabling a 40 per cent overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per double suite when compared to Silverseas’ previous class of ships.
Other sustainable features will include the installation of a system to reduce onboard waste volume, resulting in lower incineration emissions.
Silver Nova will be one of the most spacious cruise ships ever built and offer passengers a space-to-guest ratio of 75 GRT (gross registered tonnage) per passenger and a 1:1.3 crew-to-guest ratio, as well as butler service for all suites. The ship will be able to accommodate 728 guests and have a full service spa.
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Muckermann has designed the wellness programme to focus on indulgence / photo: Silversea Cruises
"When you can have anything you like, you settle on what you really want,” says Barbara Muckermann, chief commercial officer of Silversea Cruises and the brains behind Otium, the luxury cruise line’s new wellness concept. “As long as the quality is there, that’s all you need.”
Quality is a trademark of Silversea, which prides itself on enabling guests to ‘travel deeper into luxury’. Now, the Monaco-based brand has managed to one-up itself with the introduction of Otium – its ambitious new wellness programme launching in March 2022 on Silver Dawn, its 10th and newest ship, with its sights set on indulging the very wealthy.
In Roman culture, Otium – the opposite of negotium, the nonexistence of pleasure – was a period of time dedicated to leisure, in which people bathed, conversed, sang, theorised, drank, ate, socialised and relaxed, explains Muckermann.
With the launch, Silversea not only pays homage to its Italian heritage, but also offers guests a new level of curated and customised comfort, aiming to redefine the wellness experience at sea, with a strapline ‘The original art of comfort’.
Essentially, Muckermann and Silversea believe wellness should be a natural, enjoyable part of the day and that living well and being well are not mutually exclusive.
“Otium is unlike any other wellness programme; it aligns perfectly with our brand positioning,” explains Muckermann. “Otium was an opportunity to stop pretending that wellness is all about sacrifice and delayed gratification – instead it will revolve around instant gratification, extending the luxurious pampering for which Silversea is best known to different areas of the ship, from guests’ suites to the redesigned spa, and beyond,” she says.
Encouraging wellness through ‘balanced indulgence’, Otium is built around five pillars – which include the spa, as well as new bathing, sleeping and dining experiences and a novel ‘balcony experience’ to enhance time spent outside – with each offering a number of customisable elements.
“Otium will guide guests on a journey of wellness, starting in their suites, extending to the spa, and continuing into other public venues,” says Muckermann. “They’ll be able to unwind and socialise in the spa’s thermal areas with a glass of Champagne and snacks prepared with ingredients such as caviar and truffles or have a couples’ massage to live music.”
The Silver Dawn wellness offering will have four new areas of programming in addition to the spa, including the Otium Bathing Experience which will be delivered in passengers’ private bathrooms – these will have both a walk-in shower and a bath, making them some of the most spacious bathrooms at sea.
The custom bathing experience, prepared by Silversea’s butlers, will enable guests to indulge in a multi-sensory soak, while listening to the playlist of their choice and enjoying a range of delicacies.
The Otium sleeping experience will be tailored to individual preferences. Cabins will have a special Otium mattress, while the pillow menu will include customisable down and feather blends, memory foam, firm down, and improved down.
The Otium balcony experience will see travellers encouraged to slow down and enjoy the breathtaking views that stretch to the horizon and make the most of their personal space.
In cool weather conditions, Silversea will deliver luxurious cashmere blankets, a selection of appetisers, and an indulgent hot chocolate menu.
In warmer climates, guests will be able to order body mists, sun creams, cocktails, and gourmet bites.
Perhaps the most indulgent aspect of this programme, says Muckermann, is the addition of an in-suite Otium comfort food menu which will be available 24/7 and designed to enhance guests’ moments of leisure.
Signature dishes will range from gourmet popcorn to lobster and caviar in a brioche, justifying Muckermann’s comment that “enjoyment and indulgence lie at the heart of Otium’s sensuous experience”.
Silverseas tackles emissions
Silverseas has announced it will launch its first hybrid cruise ship in 2023 in a bid to mitigate its environmental impact – as cruise ships are major polluters.
The new launch, Silver Nova, is currently under construction and when complete will be the first hybrid, luxury cruise ship free of local emissions while in port, through the use of fuel cells and batteries.
The ship will also use liquified natural gas as its main fuel, enabling a 40 per cent overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per double suite when compared to Silverseas’ previous class of ships.
Other sustainable features will include the installation of a system to reduce onboard waste volume, resulting in lower incineration emissions.
Silver Nova will be one of the most spacious cruise ships ever built and offer passengers a space-to-guest ratio of 75 GRT (gross registered tonnage) per passenger and a 1:1.3 crew-to-guest ratio, as well as butler service for all suites. The ship will be able to accommodate 728 guests and have a full service spa.
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
Sponsored: Comfort Zone - Rethinking packaging
With its commitment to meeting the highest standards in relation to sustainability and regeneration, Comfort Zone is reducing its plastic footprint through the use of innovative packaging design and an important partnership to stop ocean-bound plastic
Project preview: Cultivating health
Montara Hospitality Group is developing Tri Vananda, a multi- generational, residential wellness community on the island of Phuket
Sponsored: Art of Cryo – Cold gold
Introducing cryotherapy can be lucrative for spas, as well as offering customers a cutting-edge therapy with powerful benefits for both body and mind
Interview: Brothers in spa
Saverio Quadrio Curzio of QC Terme on working with brother Andrea
on the global expansion of their luxury brand, which is built around European bathing traditions
Everyone’s talking about: Property investment
Reductions in travel and the growth
of homeworking have changed where people spend their time. Our experts consider how this will impact investment
Research: Crossing the watershed
The Global Wellness Institute dives deep into data on the US$4.4tr global wellness economy. Kath Hudson reports
Q&A: Michael Roizen & Victor Koo
The Global Wellness Summit in Boston brought the industry together for three idea-packed days. Spa Business caught up with this year's influential co-chairs
Mystery Shopper: Out of the blue
Jane Kitchen visits Iceland, the
land of fire and ice, to compare
and contrast experiences at the
famed Blue Lagoon and the newly-opened Sky Lagoon in Reykjavik
Sponsored: Optimal results
Gharieni is using research findings and insight to ensure its innovative wellness concepts exceed customers’ expectations
First person: True North
Andrew Gibson heads to Larvik in Norway to experience the world of wellness that is Farris Bad
Urban spas: La Samaritaine
Ghislain Waeyaert visits the Dior Spa at La Samaritaine in Paris, after its €500m upgrade
Spa software: Staff retention
How the latest software can help retain staff and increase business potential in a COVID-challenged world
Finishing touch: COVID attacks fat cells
Researchers from Stanford University set out to explain why people with obesity are at higher risk when contracting COVID-19, as Tom Walker reports
Mandarin Oriental has announced a standalone residence brand, Mansions, which will debut at
Emirates Palace, Mandarin Oriental Mansions, Abu Dhabi, in 2029.
Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai in Hoi An, Vietnam, has put together a Global Wellness Day
(GWD) agenda with activations rooted in nature and shaped by four pillars of Joy – in
alignment with the day’s theme #JoyMagenta.
The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the 2026 event in
Phuket, Thailand, later this year with the theme: The Science, Art and Soul of Wellness.
Auko, an all-inclusive development, is opening in Phong Nha in Vietnam in Q3 2026, with a
series of 30 tented eco-lodges and wellness hospitality operations by Lumina Wellbeing.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Naples Beach Club, a Four Seasons Resort, has opened a 2,800sq m spa called The Sanctuary,
with the design and concept inspired by the Native American people that populated Florida’s
Southwest coast – the Calusa.
Swire Hotels’ luxury hospitality brand Upper House has revealed it will roll out its two-day
House of Healing retreats at its three hotels in Hong Kong, Chengdu and Shanghai.
LVMH-owned beauty house Guerlain will launch up to five spas with partners a year as part of
its plan to expand globally, according to the brand’s international spa and wellness director,
Diane Davody.
A new global study by Kevin Kelly and Peter Yesawich, called WELLSurvey 2.0, has revealed
more than half of consumers in the UK, US and Germany would not choose numerous high-
profile wellness resort brands for a future trip.
Le Atelier by C.O.D.E. doesn't offer a standard bespoke service, it provides a highly
customised approach to designing massage beds and loungers in high-end wellness
environments. [more...]
