Cloud or Wind for Antarctica?

[DaveA]

I am considering a cruise to Antarctica and South Georgia. Silersea offer the same itinerary with both Silver Cloud and Silver Wind. I would appreciate thoughts from those who know these ships regarding the pros and cons of each.

 

Thanks

Dave

[Fletcher]

I have been on the Cloud, not the Wind, though they are sister ships and virtually identical.  They are also 30 years old and despite Silversea's reburbs they are showing their age and limitations.  Neither ship was built for expedition style cruising.  I reckon there are much better ships these days, such as the stunning-looking Seabourn Venture as well as the latest vessels from Lindblad, Scenic and Ponant etc. 

[WesW]

Have been on both the Wind (Norway, Crossing) and the Cloud (Antarctica, South Georgia islands, Myanmar, Iceland, Crossings).  As Fletcher notes these are sister ships and nearly identical.  However, since we are fitness inclined we much prefer the Cloud (fitness center is open 24/7, on Deck 6) vs the Wind's fitness center (on Deck 9 one room closed (from 11pm to 7am) due to being directly over Grand suites).  Also, Spa is on Deck 7 on the Cloud, and on Deck 9 on the Wind.  However, if you see wildlife or sights that interest you while exercising on the Wind, there is a door leading directly to the Observation Library where your can go outside to get a better look.  

 

Hope this helps.

Edited March 26, 2022 by WesW

[alithecat]

As others have said, the ships are nearly identical. The more important question is the time of year that these cruises are offered. The weather is colder with more snow on the ground in November, and penguins are still sitting on their nests. In Jan/Feb it's warmer, so less ice and you can get further into Antarctica. Plus there are lots of penguin chicks. Silversea doesn't have many trips that include South Georgia, so you don't have many choices.

[machotspur]

We are cruising Antarctica, Falklands, South Georgia in December 2023 - on Silver Wind.

We were originally booked for the similar itinerary on Silver Cloud in February 2023.   

 

So why did we change ? Well - there were some trade offs.

 

Firstly a significant reason for the change was that the  Wind is sailing round trip from the new Puerto Williams port in Chile !  This means that one can come into Santiago from the UK, transit on the Silversea dedicated charter to Puerto Williams and get on the ship without entering Argentina.. Many itineraries still leave from Ushuaia, which is far more hassle as it is on a scheduled flight - and involves Ushuaia. I'd recommend you check this out when making your choice.

 

We recognised that February is regarded as superior in terms of penguins etc but we were prepared to accept the slightly inferior experience of December. A key reason for us visiting is the whole Shackleton thing, which is relatively unaffected by the calendar. In addition the price was significantly lower for the November Silver Wind sailing.

 

One other thing - we booked a Silver Suite, for which the two ships are most certainly NOT 'near identical' - at least with regard to Suite configurations. For reasons unknown the Silver Wind has not been converted in the same way as the Cloud. Nowhere near the same number of Silver Suites on the Wind - and they are smaller. Take a look at the two 'From Nov 2021' deck plans side by side - there are some significant differences IMHO.

 

Whichever you decide I am sure it will be great !         

 

    

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by machotspur

[cruiseej]

Keep in mind that no one has yet seen, let alone cruised on, the Wind after its most recent refurbishment so comparisons here are based on the past and deck plans. Did Silversea learn things from the ice-class conversion of the Cloud in 2017 which creates any improvements in the Wind's implementation? Time will tell.

 

I know @Fletcher repeatedly posts that the Cloud and Wind are old and showing their age, and he has cruised far more than we have, so I respect his opinion; however, I will say that our first experience on Silversea was an expedition cruise on the Cloud in Greenland, and we didn't find it old or tired. We're now scheduled to return to the Cloud in December for the Antarctica/South Georgia holiday cruise (after being scheduled on the Wind and being canceled each of the past two years). I absolutely expect the new Seabourn Venture to outclass the Cloud and Wind in many areas — but I also note that the cost of the comparable Seabourn trip, including business class air, would have been more than $20,000 more expensive than the Cloud/Wind. Although I very much wanted to select the new Seabourn ship, I know we will not "suffer" on the Silversea ship, especially with the focus on what's outside the ship on a cruise like this. The cost difference was just too much on what is already a very expensive cruise for us.

 

Back to the original question: I believe the Cloud and Wind are similar enough that you should choose based on which time of summer you want to visit Antarctica, which dates work best for you, best cost; I don't think the small differences between the two ships are difference-makers. 

[Stumblefoot]

2 hours ago, cruiseej said:

Back to the original question: I believe the Cloud and Wind are similar enough that you should choose based on which time of summer you want to visit Antarctica, which dates work best for you, best cost; I don't think the small differences between the two ships are difference-makers. 

Totally agree.  The Cloud is awesome. Imagine the Wind will be as well once she re-enters service. Wouldn’t hesitate to book either ship.

[DaveA]

Many thanks for all your responses.

I'm planning this trip over Christmas and New Year 2023 and Silversea have Wind and Cloud doing the same itinerary leaving just one day apart. Some lines haven't yet published their schedules for December 2023 yet so I'll wait and see what other options I have before making a decision.

[bohaiboy]

Is the Wind about to undergo a refurb?

 

[FranSur]

I would say sail with a different company. I just finished a cruise on silver cloud to Antarctica and to say the least it was fractured with mishap after mishap and poor decisions by 

Silversea / Royal Caribbean management to continue to make the cruise worse and worse right up until the covid testing before we boarded a plane which we nearly missed. They boarded healthy tested passengers onto a boat that had covid infected crew in quarantine. Two out of the four a la carte restaurants were closed for the entire cruise. The other two restaurants were serving buffet instead of ala carte for most of the cruise. 30% of the crew was in quarantine by day two of the cruise which completely hampered the five star service. We were supposed to go on  twelve excursions on zodiacs forgive or take 3 hours each. We went on four excursions for an hour each?. Please check out this link discussing plenty on the cruise line. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2839956-ill-fated-silversea-antarctica-cruise-feb-8-2022/

[cruiseej]

5 hours ago, bohaiboy said:

Is the Wind about to undergo a refurb?

 

Yes or no, depending on your timing and point of view. 😉 (Short answer: yes, it's happening now.)

 

The Wind has been undergoing a renovation to convert it to an ice-class hull and install zodiacs for its focus as an expedition ship. After a major refurbishment in 2018, the retrofit and additional refurbishment was scheduled for a two-month period starting in August 2020 in Valetta, Malta. With Covid, that fell through. It was then re-scheduled for spring 2021. Then that fell through, and it was re-scheduled for fall 2021, in time for the winter 2021-22 Antarctica season. Then the retrofit was moved from Valetta to a shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, where the Wind spent June through November, 2021. Delays there led to the cancellation of the winter 2021-22 and spring 2022 cruises. In December, the ship sailed from Poland to the Mediterranean, supposedly to complete interior renovations which were not done in Poland. For the past month or two, the Wind has been moored at a port in Souda (on the island of Crete), Greece. 

 

A close-up Google satellite image of where the ship is docked shows it's a commercial dock, not a shipyard where construction would likely be taking place. So is the renovation now 100% complete, and she's just tied up awaiting the resumption of cruising two months from today? Or is there a further delay in finishing the renovation? There haven't been any recent knowledgeable reports.

 

I would expect Silversea would make a big announcement of the completion of the work, but perhaps not until it's scheduled to resume service in late May. But the ship is likely to sail from Greece to Athens (where the first cruise will embark), or somewhere else along the Mediterranean mainland to start taking on provisions and crew within the next month.

[machotspur]

5 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

Yes or no, depending on your timing and point of view. 😉 (Short answer: yes, it's happening now.)

 

 

I concur with your account cruisej.

 

In late January a member of management at Silversea London had reason to contact the Wind's Hotel Director on my behalf, with regard to the new configuration of the Wind.    

 

The ship was indeed in the Med, for the internal fit out to take place. The HD confirmed that new furniture was being delivered and installed at that time - and also some significant differences versus the Cloud - certainly with regard to the quantity and configuration of Silver Suites (see the online deck plans).

 

What has been taking place since then I know not but the communication certainly indicated to me that the final stages of the refit were taking place. The fact that a Hotel Director was actually onboard in January surely indicated that the ship was being prepared to enter service sometime fairly soon.     

[cruiseej]

11 hours ago, machotspur said:

some significant differences versus the Cloud

 

The part I'm curious about is where they have installed the Zodiacs and equipment to deploy them. We've been on the Cloud, and the Zodiacs are on Deck 9 (top deck) forward, in an open deck area behind the Observation Lounge. There's a moving rail system which hoists each boat and transports it over the side of the ship and lowers it to the water.  (You have to walk up a stairway from Deck 8 and then go outside to cross this open deck area where the zodiacs are stored in order to get to the Observation Lounge.) But on the Wind, that area on Deck 9 is the fitness center and spa. (On the Cloud, the fitness center, spa and library are on Deck 7; on the Wind, those Deck 7 spaces are four extra passenger suites.) So I'm wondering where all the zodiacs will be stored on the Wind. 

[machotspur]

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

 So I'm wondering where all the zodiacs will be stored on the Wind. 

 

Ah yes - I see what you mean.

 

The fitness centre/spa/beauty salon appear to be in the same position they always have been methinks - so as you say where are the zodiacs going to be placed !!!

 

FWIW it appears that the refit of Silver Wind has been done 'on the cheap' with some of the more structural changes that took place on Cloud not repeated on Wind.  

 

I will try and persuade my Silversea UK contact to make contact again with the Hotel Manager on the Wind to ask 'the zodiac question'. 

 

Oh - and i've just noted on the new deck plan of the Wind that something else has been omitted - apparently the ship doesn't have a Bridge !! 😕

Edited March 29, 2022 by machotspur
additional info

[cruiseej]

21 hours ago, machotspur said:

FWIW it appears that the refit of Silver Wind has been done 'on the cheap' with some of the more structural changes that took place on Cloud not repeated on Wind.  

 

I wasn't familiar with the Cloud before the retrofit, so I'm not aware of what structural changes you're referring to?

 

I don't think they intended the Wind's renovations to be done "on the cheap"; it had just had a major refurbishment in 2018, so the renovations planned for 2020 were focused on the hull reinforcement and other functional changes to allow polar cruising, as well as some additional soft goods replacements. Until the ship sails again, we don't know if some of the pre-pandemic plans were scaled back to save money. 

 

(Here's a link in the long thread about the Wind renovations where I pasted the full text of what Silversea originally stated as the plans for the 2020 renovation.)

[machotspur]

As advised previously an excellent manager at Silversea London contacted the Hotel Manager of the Silver Wind in the Adriatic for me, to confirm the accuracy of the deck plan on the SS website. I was particularly interested in obtaining confirmation that there were way fewer Silver Suites on the Wind than the Cloud, and that those on the Wind were slightly smaller and with a different configuration to the Cloud.

 

Those same managers have been incredibly helpful in answering the above question regarding the storage location of the Zodiacs and the locations of the fitness centre & spa - as requested in a post above.

 

1.    Decks 5 & 6 have actually been extended towards aft, with the extension being used for storage of the Zodiacs and technical equipment.

2.    As a result of the extensions the Zodiacs will not be stored adjacent to the Observation Lounge, therefore the Fitness Centre & Spa remain on Deck 9, unlike the Cloud.

3.    The result of these changes is that a little additional space has been maintained for passengers on Wind versus the Cloud.

 

4. the deck plan for Wind on the website is essentially accurate, and as advised above shows some significant differences compared to Cloud. 

 

The manager on Dawn has been unbelievably helpful by also sending some marked up photos of the location of the Zodiacs, and the extensions to Decks 5 & 6.



 

And yes - the ship refit is now all but complete, awaiting decisions on reentry into service.

 

I trust that this is of some help to those interested.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2022 by machotspur
Typo

[cruiseej]

Thanks for seeking out and sharing that information about the zodiacs on the refurbished Wind! I'm sure it will be easier launching them from the aft on lower decks.

 

It does appear to make the aft look a bit clunkier than the smooth sweep that existed before… not that that really matters. Here is the look pre-retrofit:

 

4 hours ago, machotspur said:

The result of these changes is that a little additional space has been maintained for passengers on Wind versus the Cloud.

 

Well, yes and no. 😉 The Wind carries more passengers (274 versus 254 for the Cloud) and crew (239 versus 212 for the Cloud). So that additional space is largely additional suites for passengers and crew on the wind versus the Cloud. 

 

4 hours ago, machotspur said:

And yes - the ship refit is now all but complete, awaiting decisions on reentry into service.

 

Decisions?? The Wind is scheduled to resume cruising from Athens at the end of next month, on the way to cruising Iceland, Greenland and Norway this summer. Is there any question about those cruises going ahead as scheduled?

 

[clarky]

We are boarding the wind on the 28th of May for our cruise Athens - Tromso.  We will be in a Verandah Suite for part of the cruise and a Silver Suite for another part of the cruise.  I beleive this will be the first cruise to sail after the refurb of the Wind.  I will be posting as often as possible during the cruise and I'll be happy to answer any of the questions you have.

[Stumblefoot]

5 hours ago, clarky said:

I will be posting as often as possible during the cruise and I'll be happy to answer any of the questions you have.

Fantastic!  Look forward to reading your impressions.

[FauxNom]

6 hours ago, clarky said:

We are boarding the wind on the 28th of May for our cruise Athens - Tromso.

I'll be on for the first leg; I'm glad to hear of other passengers popping up now and I look forward to sailing with you! (I did start a roll call if you want to join.)

[machotspur]

6 hours ago, clarky said:

We are boarding the wind on the 28th of May for our cruise Athens - Tromso.  We will be in a Verandah Suite for part of the cruise and a Silver Suite for another part of the cruise.  I beleive this will be the first cruise to sail after the refurb of the Wind.  I will be posting as often as possible during the cruise and I'll be happy to answer any of the questions you have.

This is great news clarky. We are booked to be on Wind for Antarctic, Falklands & South Georgia but not until next year so your insight will be of great interest thank you.

 

Like you we are booked in a Silver Suite so will be very interested in your impressions of this, particularly as I’ve been advised that these suites are somewhat different to Cloud. If I may be a little cheeky in asking that you post a few photos of the Silver Suite please 😄

 

I will keep any eye out for you posts - enjoy !

[clarky]

No problems.  I will post photos of the Silver suite for you.  We love the Wind and are booked on her for our Antartica cruise in January 6th 2024 so I will be as interested as you are in the refurb.  

[clarky]

FauxNom, I will join the roll call now.  Are you on for the three segments?

[clarky]

FauxNom,  I followed the link to roll calls for the wind and selected the month of May and it came up with zero.  No roll calls for the month of May.

[FauxNom]

12 hours ago, clarky said:

auxNom, I will join the roll call now.  Are you on for the three segments?

No, I'm just on the first segment, though I'm sure I'll be tempted to stay onboard 🙂

 

Try going to the roll call page for the Wind without selecting the month. I think it's the second thread right now.