Silver Wind re-fit (conversion)

[cruiseej]

Hmmm, that's curious. I see that it's off the coast of Spain, passing Barcelona shortly. But why would it be headed to Poland? The dry dock/retrofit was previously scheduled for Malta, and the timeframe was thought to be August-October. Has SS changed shipyards? With the extensive amount of mechanical, structural and hotel work scheduled and materials needed, that would seem unlikely -- but who knows in a world recovering from the pandemic?

[rosewood jo]

What’s in Poland ??

[mspjerry]

Gdansk, on the Baltic Sea, is Poland's largest port. There is a large shipyard there, which is where the Solidarity Movement forced the Communists to make concessions in 1980. 

 

In Silversea's May 22, 2021 Resumption of Service announcement, they show the first voyage of the Wind to be Nov 20, 2021 from Buenos Aries. In the cabin description they allude to cabin feature changes that will be made in the 2021 updates:

 

PLEASE NOTE: SUITE INFORMATION REFER TO THE SILVER WIND POST THE 2021 EXTENSIVE DRY DOCK, AND WILL THUS ONLY APPLY TO ANY VOYAGES STARTING FROM JUNE 2021. FOR DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE SHIP CONFIGURATION FOR VOYAGES PRIOR TO MAY 2021 PLEASE REFER TO THE DECK PLANS. SUITE DIAGRAMS SHOWN ARE FOR ILLUSTRATION PURPOSES ONLY. FINAL FEATURES, MATERIALS, FINISHES AND LAYOUT MAY BE DIFFERENT THAN SHOWN.

 

Perhaps there will "Hotel Work" will be performed outside of the Ice Class hull strengthening. We can only speculate, but that is fun to do, too.

[rosewood jo]

Ports in Poland.   FYI

[cruiseej]

I wasn't questioning that there are shipyards in Gdansk, but I would have thought the structural steel isn't easy to re-route from a shipyard in Malta to a shipyard in Poland. Along with all the carpets, beds, tables, chairs and other furnishings which were scheduled to be switched out. It's a lot of materials to re-route to a different shipyard 1,100 miles away in another country.

 

The similar two-month refurbishment of the Silver Cloud in 2017 from a classic cruise vessel to an expedition one was performed at the Palumbo shipyard in Malta. It had been expected that the same shipyard would do the conversion of the Wind. Planning for the Cloud conversion took more than 8 months prior to the 2-months of active work in the shipyard, so this work is not easily bounced from one shipyard to another.

 

The original description of this refurbishment said:

 

"Part of Project Invictus – a long-term plan to grow and improve Silversea’s already luxurious fleet of ships – the second extensive refurbishment of Silver Wind will begin in August 2020. As well as benefitting from a strengthened ice-class hull, new state-of-the-art equipment for cruising in remote regions, a fleet of Zodiacs and kayaks for on-water exploration, and an upgraded theatre, the second extensive refurbishment will enhance the ship’s comfort and Silversea’s hallmarks of luxury: all suites will undergo another full upgrade; the Spa & Salon will each be completely refurbished; the Reception/Atrium will be overhauled; and additional improvements will be made to La Dame, La Terrazza, the Main Bar, the Observation Lounge, the Panorama Lounge, the Pool Bar, public bathrooms, and the Theatre, among other spaces."

 

I am hoping that they aren't cutting back and just doing the minimum needed for the ice-class hull and space and equipment for the zodiacs, without the improvement to the public spaces and suites. Silversea's web page about the Wind doesn't mention any of those upgrades. That doesn't mean they aren't happening; it also doesn't mean they are.

 

I asked this question of Silversea's Barbara Muckerman last week, and she gave a carefully worded non-reply reply: "I can confirm that the refurbishment is on schedule and we will release details in due course."  I guess we just have to wait and see. 

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by cruiseej

[cruiseej]

Barbara Muckerman did a Facebook live session today to answer questions from travel agents and passengers, and shed some light on plans for the Wind and Antarctica this winter.

 

The Wind has sailed over the past week from Marseille, where it had been docked for months, to Gdansk, Poland, where it arrives tomorrow morning. It will undergo its dry dock there. She didn't share details on what made them switch from the shipyard in Malta, which had done the similar conversion of the Wind's sister ship several years ago, to one in Poland. I don't know if it was availability of shipyard space, workers, cost, or other factors. From what I've read, the Poland shipyards generally haven't done much work on cruise ships, but I assume the folks at Silverseas and parent Royal Caribbean know how to source suppliers around the world, and decided this was their best option. In addition to the mechanical retrofits, the ship was scheduled to get upgrades throughout the "hotel" part of the ship, and she indicated this was part of the work in Poland -- but she didn't answer whether it will include all that had been previously planned or not.

 

But she left no doubt that the conversion of the Wind to an ice-class ship is happening, starting now, and the Wind will be ready for the winter season as planned. 

 

In terms of South America trips this winter, she said they expected to have clarity by August or September. but in terms of Antarctica in particular, she seemed very upbeat. Cruising to Antarctica isn't a problem; the only issue is getting passengers to and from the ships. For that, she said they have Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D. Three of those, she said, involve bypassing Argentina. She didn't go into any more specifics, but this could likely entail using Puerto Williams in Chile instead of Ushuaia, Argentina, a change they previously announced for the Silver Explorer, one of their three ships operating Antarctica cruises this winter. But she seemed very confident that they would be able to get people to and from ships and sail the Antarctica season.

[rosewood jo]

Thks.   Yes I was on that live FB.   I asked if the full hotel upgrades were being done on the wind.   She didn’t answer that.     

[rosewood jo]

Where on silversea.com do we upload our Covid card?  

[cruiseej]

@rosewood jo I don't think you'll be able to do that until much closer to the start of the cruise. The way things are changing rapidly, they're just dealing with nailing down the terms and conditions and policies for the cruises departing in the next month. They may wait until they know for certain whether the cruises will run from Argentina or Chile, and what information that country will require, before asking passengers to upload a Covid card. Or at least until they have all the bugs worked out of their systems as the early cruises resume this summer. 

[cruiseej]

@rosewood jo Just confirming that the vaccination certificate gets uploaded to 'My Silversea' under the 'Health Acknowledgement’ section -- but because the protocols are constantly evolving, this feature only becomes active only for sailings departing in within the next couple of months.

[kimanjo]

7 hours ago, cruiseej said:

Barbara Muckerman did a Facebook live session today to answer questions from travel agents and passengers, and shed some light on plans for the Wind and Antarctica this winter.

 

The Wind has sailed over the past week from Marseille, where it had been docked for months, to Gdansk, Poland, where it arrives tomorrow morning. It will undergo its dry dock there. She didn't share details on what made them switch from the shipyard in Malta, which had done the similar conversion of the Wind's sister ship several years ago, to one in Poland. I don't know if it was availability of shipyard space, workers, cost, or other factors. From what I've read, the Poland shipyards generally haven't done much work on cruise ships, but I assume the folks at Silverseas and parent Royal Caribbean know how to source suppliers around the world, and decided this was their best option. In addition to the mechanical retrofits, the ship was scheduled to get upgrades throughout the "hotel" part of the ship, and she indicated this was part of the work in Poland -- but she didn't answer whether it will include all that had been previously planned or not.

 

But she left no doubt that the conversion of the Wind to an ice-class ship is happening, starting now, and the Wind will be ready for the winter season as planned. 

 

In terms of South America trips this winter, she said they expected to have clarity by August or September. but in terms of Antarctica in particular, she seemed very upbeat. Cruising to Antarctica isn't a problem; the only issue is getting passengers to and from the ships. For that, she said they have Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D. Three of those, she said, involve bypassing Argentina. She didn't go into any more specifics, but this could likely entail using Puerto Williams in Chile instead of Ushuaia, Argentina, a change they previously announced for the Silver Explorer, one of their three ships operating Antarctica cruises this winter. But she seemed very confident that they would be able to get people to and from ships and sail the Antarctica season.

Bolding is mine..

 

I bet they are trying to use  only Chile ( Santiago) charters SCL-USH r/t. Ovoiding Buenos Aires (EZE-USH) completely.  Or, ALL Pureto Williams for ALL Explorer.  And, I believe only smaller aircraft can fly into Puerto Willams, so that 's why Explorer only ( pax size 100) Unless they want to reduce the pax of Cloud and Wind to the # of Explorer, only Santiago would work.  Puenta Arenas for the longer trips like the 14th of November Cloud.  Going to have to  be nimble with charters.  

[cruiseej]

7 hours ago, kimanjo said:

I bet they are trying to use  only Chile ( Santiago) charters SCL-USH r/t. Ovoiding Buenos Aires (EZE-USH) completely.  Or, ALL Pureto Williams for ALL Explorer.

 

The trips on the Wind and Explorer have been scheduled to fly from Santiago, not Buenos Aires, so the only ones to possibly change to avoid Buenos Aires would be the Cloud trips. So let's say that's Plan B.

 

But what are Plans C and D? They already moved all the Explorer trips from Ushuaia to Puerto Williams. It does seem Puerto Williams is too small for flying passengers and cargo for the Wind and Cloud; the airport runway is too short for most commercial jets. So what other options are there?

[rosewood jo]

Maybe cruise out of Santiago?  No charters

[les37b]

Silver Wind gas now arrived in Gadansk...... So sad I never got to sail on her final classic sailing as scheduled.

 

 

[kimanjo]

3 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

The trips on the Wind and Explorer have been scheduled to fly from Santiago, not Buenos Aires, so the only ones to possibly change to avoid Buenos Aires would be the Cloud trips. So let's say that's Plan B.

 

But what are Plans C and D? They already moved all the Explorer trips from Ushuaia to Puerto Williams. It does seem Puerto Williams is too small for flying passengers and cargo for the Wind and Cloud; the airport runway is too short for most commercial jets. So what other options are there?

 

SS has to get to the most southerly airport(s) that have docking for the ships?  Puerto Williams and Punta Arenas.  So, in order to use Puerto Williams, if it's the Wind or the Cloud, you have to  C. reduce your passenger size to Explorer size.

Or, if you want to keep the same amount of  passengers, you would have to sail all the way up to Punta Arenas.  How much extra time does that add? Is it 500 miles?   That would be D, adjusting itineraries.

 

Sailings of 16, 18 + nights have wiggle room for itinerary adjustments.  A 10 night Cloud or Wind originally out of USH, which I count 8 between November thru January.  Is there any wiggle room?

[rosewood jo]

How far is it from puente arenas to Falklands  islands.   Vs.   Ushuaia to Falklands       Not that much difference is there?   Why can the ship leave from puenta arenas?

Edited June 2, 2021 by rosewood jo

[kimanjo]

6 minutes ago, rosewood jo said:

How far is it from puente arenas to Falklands  islands.   Vs.   Ushuaia to Falklands       Not that much difference is there?   Why can the ship leave from puenta arenas?

I think Punta Arenas to Falklands is  500 miles.   About the same from Ushuaia to Falklands. Coming back up from theAntarctic peninsula, to go up past Ushuaia, north to port of Punta Arenas is 300+ miles.  Adding 1.5 day???  It's certainly an option.  And if that's where the ship ends up after a particular sailing, then that is where the new pax embark. So, it's another 1.5 days back down, instead of using the normal port of Ushuaia.  

   This is all speculation of course, but the main factor I see is an airport/size that can handle airplanes big enough to hold 200+ passengers.  And the extra time it takes to/fro Punta Arenas.  

   We're on the the Nov 14th sailing out of Punta Arenas, and disembarking in Ushauia.  But if that sailing ends in USH, SS not wanting to use Argentina, somehow they have to send the ship somewhere else ( back to Punta Arenas? or with a smaller group of pax they could go to Puerto Williams), where the new  group of pax can board. That's the logistics in a nutshell.  Where to embark/disembark all in Chile??

 

[rosewood jo]

So you can’t go in/out of punta arenas?   You saying u have to go up the peninsula?   Silly me as I thought you could go in and out of that punta arenas?  I guess u can’t cut thru at   Campo Cerro Manantiales ????

Edited June 2, 2021 by rosewood jo

[kimanjo]

51 minutes ago, rosewood jo said:

So you can’t go in/out of punta arenas?   You saying u have to go up the peninsula?   Silly me as I thought you could go in and out of that punta arenas?  I guess u can’t cut thru at   Campo Cerro Manantiales ????

You can go in/out of Punta Arenas.  Our Nov 14th departs from there, heads thru Straight of Magellan over to South Georgia, then heads south to Antartica peninsula, then back up, supposedly ending in Ushuaia.  But with SS not wanting to use Argentina,  where will it end, that's the question??  It very will could go back to Punta Areanas, but that takes 1.5 days.  It's 300+ miles north of Ushuaia.

 

So they could ALL sail in/out of Punta Arenas, but it adds extra sailing days on either end.  I don't think the 10 day sailings have that much extra time.

[cruiseej]

We're booked on the Dec 21 Wind trip which is supposed to be roundtrip Ushuaia, 18 days going to the Falklands, South Georgia, and the Antarctic peninsula. The question is what would be cut out if they tried going roundtrip from Punta Arenas. PA to the Falklands is probably comparable to or faster than Ushuaia to the Falklands? But as noted, the issue is returning back to Punta Arenas instead of Ushuaia. If that can be done in a day, what would we lose? This is a bucket list trip for us, and we would not be happy to lose any time in South Georgia or Antarctica; I'd be okay losing some time in the Falklands. Just speculation at this point…

[kimanjo]

9 hours ago, cruiseej said:

We're booked on the Dec 21 Wind trip which is supposed to be roundtrip Ushuaia, 18 days going to the Falklands, South Georgia, and the Antarctic peninsula. The question is what would be cut out if they tried going roundtrip from Punta Arenas. PA to the Falklands is probably comparable to or faster than Ushuaia to the Falklands? But as noted, the issue is returning back to Punta Arenas instead of Ushuaia. If that can be done in a day, what would we lose? This is a bucket list trip for us, and we would not be happy to lose any time in South Georgia or Antarctica; I'd be okay losing some time in the Falklands. Just speculation at this point…

 

I'm game to speculate... I think Puenta Arenas r/t for the longer 16+ day itineraries is entirely possible, bypassing USH.   I think reducing the passenger size on the Wind and Cloud to Explorer passenger numbers in order to fly in and out of Puerto Williams on the 10 day sailings.. And I think maybe sailing into Ushuaia and not allowing any passengers to disperse from USH to other airports ( Buenos Aires), keeping them all together and charter flying directly back to Santiago. Unless you are a passenger from Argentina and can go back to your home in Argentina.

[Randyk47]

On 6/2/2021 at 7:20 AM, les37b said:

Silver Wind gas now arrived in Gadansk...... So sad I never got to sail on her final classic sailing as scheduled.

 

 

The Wind was our first Silversea cruise back in 2012 and we have sailed on her a total of six times since so obviously one of our favorites.  We had wanted to be on her final classic cruise but my wife’s post graduate school break was earlier so we took her January 23 sailing out of Ft Lauderdale.   Had a great 11-day cruise and little did we know her last classic season was going to be cut short in a few weeks.   

Edited June 3, 2021 by Randyk47

[rosewood jo]

yep, i am suppose to be on that same dec 22 sail!  one day less of falklands is great with me......if we had a vote;)

[mspjerry]

Based on the coordinates from Marine Traffic and Google satellite images, the Wind is moored at Remontowa Shipyards.

 

https://www.remontowa.com.pl/

 

I have not found any reports detailing the scope of their involvement 'updating' the Wind.

[cruiseej]

This shipyard seem to have a history such that doing the hull renovations make sense, but they don't seem to have much history of working on the hotel side of luxury cruise ships.

 

I hope this isn't an indication that Silversea has cut back on the previously announced plan for renovating the Wind: "an upgraded theatre, all suites will undergo another full upgrade, the Spa & Salon will each be completely refurbished, the Reception/Atrium will be overhauled , and additional improvements will be made to La Dame, La Terrazza, the Main Bar, the Observation Lounge, the Panorama Lounge, the Pool Bar, public bathrooms, and the Theatre, among other spaces."

 

This question has been asked of Silversea's Babara Muckerman in more than one forum, and she has been vague (evasive?) about what the current renovation plans are/are not.