Silver Wind re-fit (conversion)

[philipb]

Does anyone have any inside information about whether the Wind re-fit is now going ahead with conversion to the Expedition Fleet?

[carefreecruise]

We Were told from Silversea top management that it is going into expedition sailing because that is where the money is. So no holding off, it will be scheduled but may not have stabilizers installed to save money when retofiting. Not sure on anything's being deleted at this time, only hear rumors. 

[cruiseej]

No inside info here… the Wind is still docked in Marseille. The dry dock in Valletta, Malta was scheduled to begin August 21. Unless Silversea announces something sooner, we'll get some answers next month if we see it departing from Marseille.

 

We are booked on a December Wind trip which we aren't going to go on, should it actually sail. We asked out travel agent to move us to the same cruise next year, and she said after talking to her contacts at Silversea that we should stay put a little longer pending some additional word from Silversea. I don't know if that's a hint that they'll be canceling this year's Wind cruises, or that nest year's pricing will be reduced, or something else... we're waiting to see what develops before we get to 120 days out.

[Silver Spectre]

According to today’s SS press release regarding the sale of Manfredi’s final 1/3, the conversion of the Wind has been postponed, with no new date agreed.

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, Silver Spectre said:

According to today’s SS press release regarding the sale of Manfredi’s final 1/3, the conversion of the Wind has been postponed, with no new date agreed.

There goes Antarctica 2021 for a lot of folks.  Wonder how they (SS) will rework 2021 schedules?  Put her in the Caribbean for the winter?

[les37b]

Maybe I'll get my Copenhagen to Tower Bridge via Norway back afterall!

[swindy]

Where is the information about the conversion not going ahead?
 

[brimary]

1 hour ago, les37b said:

Maybe I'll get my Copenhagen to Tower Bridge via Norway back afterall!

Hope you do as it is one of the most scenic cruises,particularly the Norwegian Fiords,

we have ever done.Keep Fingers x for decent weather as it can do anything in Norway.Enjoy!

[jollyjones]

 I'm not interested in expedition cruising so maybe I'll get a chance for another 'final final' sail under Tower Bridge - the last 'final' one was at 5am in the rain. 

My first sail under Tower Bridge was going west at sunset - should have been stunning but the rain was so heavy it was difficult to see anything. I'm British and should know better than to expect dry weather but hope springs eternal.

 

 

[Randyk47]

The delay of the Wind conversion was mentioned in this article:

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/silversea-bookings-strong-no-changes-monaco-hq-or-team-lefebvre

 

The last Invictus upgrade paused

One more ship upgrade, for Silver Wind, remains in Project Invictus. The work should be taking place now. No new date has been agreed.

[philipb]

2 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

The delay of the Wind conversion was mentioned in this article:

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/silversea-bookings-strong-no-changes-monaco-hq-or-team-lefebvre

 

The last Invictus upgrade paused

One more ship upgrade, for Silver Wind, remains in Project Invictus. The work should be taking place now. No new date has been agreed.

 

Thanks for the link. We are (were?) due to sail on her next April (Uk to Iceland)

[Randyk47]

6 minutes ago, philipb said:

 

Thanks for the link. We are (were?) due to sail on her next April (Uk to Iceland)

Doesn’t sound like it will be ready for expedition cruises in April unless this “pause” is very short.  I’m guessing they’re waiting until the future of cruising is better understood and necessary adjustments made.   It’s a pretty vague announcement.

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, Randyk47 said:

It’s a pretty vague announcement.

 

It’s also sad to read that the big reveal of the new “Evolution” class ships that were announced in 2018 will now be pushed back to April, or even October, 2021.  It will certainly gives them time to redesign the ship as necessary in light of the focus that will remain on novel viruses in the future.

[Randyk47]

19 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

 

It’s also sad to read that the big reveal of the new “Evolution” class ships that were announced in 2018 will now be pushed back to April, or even October, 2021.  It will certainly gives them time to redesign the ship as necessary in light of the focus that will remain on novel viruses in the future.

Excellent point about redesigning future ships.   Better or at least more isolated ventilation seems logical.  I also wonder about dining venues.   Just thinking about the general trend across the whole industry to offer multiple smaller more intimate dining options.   While we personally like the options it seems to me these restaurants make physical distancing problematic.   Could we see a trend back to fewer dining choices in larger spaces?

[Stumblefoot]

2 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

While we personally like the options it seems to me these restaurants make physical distancing problematic.   Could we see a trend back to fewer dining choices in larger spaces?

 

You bring up a good point.  The increased dining choices is what captivated us on the Muse.

I could see the smaller venues being designed on a variety of angles (instead of a typical square or rectangular box design) in order to provide the ability to better socially distance.  And, I wonder if we might might see more private spaces for larger tables like we do in land based restaurants.

 

In the end, it certainly is going to be interesting to see how new cruise ships incorporate new design elements over the coming years.

[brimary]

Interesting subject.Our personal preference would be increased choice of small restaurants rather than a large MDR and less alternative choice.Social distancing should not be an issue once Cruise Companies are given permission to sail again otherwise I doubt if permission will be granted.Lets hope we can all start cruising safely again during 2021 but only if it returns as the normal cruising we have enjoyed with SS for 22 years.Living in hope at the moment with not much sign of normality.

[cruiseej]

On 7/15/2020 at 10:20 AM, philipb said:

From Seatrade Cruise News article:

 

The last Invictus upgrade paused

One more ship upgrade, for Silver Wind, remains in Project Invictus. The work should be taking place now. No new date has been agreed.

 

Hmm, well part of this article is just wrong. The Silver Wind dry dock was not scheduled to start for another month, on August 21. The Wind was supposed to be in Scotland today, before heading for London, St. Petersburg, and Scandinavia before ending in London on August 13 -- and then a 6 day trip to Malta for the start of the dry dock. So is it correct that the dry dock is on hold, or just incorrect speculation?

[Randyk47]

16 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

Hmm, well part of this article is just wrong. The Silver Wind dry dock was not scheduled to start for another month, on August 21. The Wind was supposed to be in Scotland today, before heading for London, St. Petersburg, and Scandinavia before ending in London on August 13 -- and then a 6 day trip to Malta for the start of the dry dock. So is it correct that the dry dock is on hold, or just incorrect speculation?

Reading the whole article I got the feeling it was written in another language (Italian maybe) then run through a translator.   For sure the section about the Wind is a bit vague and awkward.  I assume it was approved by Silversea PR so it’s probably accurate just not well written or translated.   

[cruiseej]

The Seatrade Cruise News article? I thought it was written okay, and uses phrases I'd think were crafted by an English-speaking writer. I think it just made a misstatement saying the Wind dry dock should be taking place now. And since it wasn't supposed to start until next month, that makes me question whether the schedule has actually been delayed or not. (All the Wind cruises starting in November are still open for sale on the Silversea website, but we've seen that doesn't mean anything; they just want to get people booked, even if they know the cruises will be cancelled.)

[les37b]

On 7/17/2020 at 4:05 AM, cruiseej said:

 

Hmm, well part of this article is just wrong. The Silver Wind dry dock was not scheduled to start for another month, on August 21. The Wind was supposed to be in Scotland today, before heading for London, St. Petersburg, and Scandinavia before ending in London on August 13 -- and then a 6 day trip to Malta for the start of the dry dock. So is it correct that the dry dock is on hold, or just incorrect speculation?

 

That article appears to be 2 years old so definitely not current.

 

You're correct in what you've said... In fact rather sadly, i should be on the final sailing out of Copenhagen in exactly 14 days time virtually to the minute for a 12 night cruise ending at Tower Bridge.

Edited July 18, 2020 by les37b

[Randyk47]

28 minutes ago, les37b said:

 

That article appears to be 2 years old so definitely not current.

 

You're correct in what you've said... In fact rather sadly, i should be on the final sailing out of Copenhagen in exactly 14 days time virtually to the minute for a 12 night cruise ending at Tower Bridge.

Hmmm....the article I see when I hit the link is dated July 13, 2020.   That’s just five days ago.   

[les37b]

Thats what i was refering to dated Jul 31 2018..

 

Im guessing i must be looking at the wrong thing? 

[Randyk47]

3 minutes ago, les37b said:

Thats what i was refering to dated Jul 31 2018..

 

Im guessing i must be looking at the wrong thing? 

This is an article from a couple of years ago that announced the purchase of a controlling interest in Silversea by Royal Caribbean.  This is not the article where the writer mentioned a potential delay in building of new ships and the conversion of the Silver Wind.  Here is the recent article:

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/silversea-bookings-strong-no-changes-monaco-hq-or-team-lefebvre

[les37b]

Randyk47, the screenshot was of the link that was posted... And was pointing out it was an old article. Why it was confusing given the reply. (And why Id said have i got the wrong end of the stick!)

 

Thanks for clarifying .... I took a read of the link you'd posted. I think it sounded like it was just worded badly. Silver Wind is due to dry dock... Its next plan now is dry dock. I agree you should have made it clear the dates if there is a change which we are still non the wiser.

 

 

[Randyk47]

13 minutes ago, les37b said:

Randyk47, the screenshot was of the link that was posted... And was pointing out it was an old article. Why it was confusing given the reply. (And why Id said have i got the wrong end of the stick!)

 

Thanks for clarifying .... I took a read of the link you'd posted. I think it sounded like it was just worded badly. Silver Wind is due to dry dock... Its next plan now is dry dock. I agree you should have made it clear the dates if there is a change which we are still non the wiser.

 

 

No doubt the wording on the Wind’s near term future is a bit confusing and actually wrong when the writer wrote the conversion should be underway right now when actually it wasn’t scheduled until next month.   It does cause one to question the accuracy of at least that portion of the report.   
 

I do know part of the report is accurate when she reported that RCL had stopped construction of an additional office building in Port Miami.  Shortly after this whole pandemic stuff hit I started watching port cameras for Port Miami and Port Everglades.  RCL’s headquarters is plainly visible and equally visible was a construction site immediately adjacent.  About a month ago all work stopped and within another week the three standing construction cranes had been disassembled and taken away.   That speaks to a serious decision to haul construction completely with no plan to start it up anytime soon.