Silver Wind re-fit (conversion)

[daddyo]

We are on the following voyage, June 11 from Lisbon. So far only 50% booked. Also a great itinerary. Hope your cruise goes well!

[FauxNom]

15 hours ago, daddyo said:

We are on the following voyage, June 11 from Lisbon. So far only 50% booked. Also a great itinerary. Hope your cruise goes well!

Thanks, and to you as well! I was surprised by the pricing on these--maybe changing from the Cloud to the Wind made people lose interest. I don't know how full our cruise is, but I suspect it won't be crowded.

[cruiseej]

Silver Wind has moved. She has moved from Souda on Crete, where she had been berthed recently, to Piraeus — as sure a sign as any that onboarding of crew and provisions is likely soon to be underway in preparation for her resumption of sailing in late May. I guess we won't get a press release for SS about the scope of the renovations until closer to the date of that first cruise. 

[cruiseej]

And after shuttling around the Mediterranean for the past six weeks, the Wind docked today back in Piraeus, presumably preparing to board passengers in four days for her return to cruising after a 26 month pause for Covid and ice-class makeover. 

 

We were scheduled to be on the Wind in Antarctica in December 2020, and then again in December 2021, but both cruises were canceled. We're booked on the same cruise in December 2022 and hoping the third time will be the charm — but the holiday cruise to South Georgia Island was switched to the Cloud for this year, so after all my obsessive following of the Wind for the past several years, we won't even sail on her when we go to Antarctica this winter!

 

Hopefully the changes Silversea made to the Wind's conversion, informed by what they learned from the Cloud's earlier conversion, will make for excellent expedition cruising for years to come. I look forward to reading reports from passengers on the Wind's first few cruises.

[Randyk47]

The Wind was our first Silversea cruise back in 2012 and as it turns out our last and most recent cruise in 2020.  I think there were only two more cruises before Covid shut everything down.   We knew she was going to be converted to an expedition ship so we wanted one more cruise on her as we’re generally not interesting in the expedition itineraries.   We hope they’ve done the little lady good and she’ll cruise for years and years to come.   

[alithecat]

cruiseej: we are also on the Cloud holiday cruise this December 2022. It is our 3rd try to Antarctica too. First the Wind in 2020, then Seabourn Quest in 2021, and now finally the Cloud. Sorry to miss the Wind... next time.

 

We normally book our own air, but because of Covid-19 uncertainties and possible itinerary changes, we booked Silversea air this time. I'm getting concerned that they haven't given us flights yet.

[cruiseej]

2 hours ago, alithecat said:

we are also on the Cloud holiday cruise this December 2022. It is our 3rd try to Antarctica too.

 

Well, I hope we get to meet on the third try for both of us. 🙂

 

2 hours ago, alithecat said:

We normally book our own air, but because of Covid-19 uncertainties and possible itinerary changes, we booked Silversea air this time. I'm getting concerned that they haven't given us flights yet.

 

Same here, although we got a good deal on the business class upgrade with our multiple cancellations. 

 

Last year, Silversea booked our air for December in March. When I asked our travel agent about booking our air this year, she told me that Silversea had shortened the timeframe for air bookings from 270 days out to 200-170 days out. I guess it's due to the turmoil with airlines frequently changing flight schedules as they fight ongoing changes in demand due to Covid as well as staffing shortages. 

 

We had our TA put in a deviation request in order to fly to Santiago a day early. (Flying from the east coast in mid-December is always at risk for weather, and we don't want a flight delay to make us miss this trip!) I noticed last week that, to my surprise, there were flights showing on MySilversea. And they were awful! Flying from Philadelphia to Atlanta to Miami to Santiago, instead of just Philadelphia to Miami to Santiago… with an 8 hour layover in Atlanta… and then a less-than-one-hour connection with a  change of airlines, in Miami. Seriously? What algorithm decided that was a good plan? Fortunately, with help from our TA, as of yesterday our flights were changed to the ones we originally requested. Whew! If you haven't requested to pay for a deviation, I'd guess that your flights will be booked in the next month or so.

[les37b]

8 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

The Wind was our first Silversea cruise back in 2012 and as it turns out our last and most recent cruise in 2020.  I think there were only two more cruises before Covid shut everything down.   We knew she was going to be converted to an expedition ship so we wanted one more cruise on her as we’re generally not interesting in the expedition itineraries.   We hope they’ve done the little lady good and she’ll cruise for years and years to come.   

 

I was booked on my favourite ship for what would have been it's last voyage as a classic ship from Copenhagen to Tower Bridge in August 2020 on what would have been a memorable home coming (Itinerary and occasion.)

 

I'm guessing going forward, the only possibility to get on board now will be if Venetian privileges return and can book lunch while in port at Tower Bridge. Alas that seems improbable until COVID risks vanish plus, the 6 visits per year now seem to be 0 or 1 at most.

 

I miss her.