Silver Wind live

[WesW]

Brian, the Silver cloud Deck Plan below is accurate from what we experienced in December and January 2022.  Zodiacs are stored forward just behind the Observation lounge.  Fitness center is now on Deck six (as shown in the Deck Plan).  Can't wait to board the Cloud again

in September for the Azores expedition, then board the Cloud in March next year for Africa/Indian Ocean, and in June for Northern Europe and Greenland.

 

https://cdn.sanity.io/files/rd0y3pad/production/26677b6ff5c4c4a743fbb8b5e1b1d4fb645400a6.pdf

[Randyk47]

2 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

That’s what I was thinking… what a way to destroy the intimacy of La Terrazza and the views afforded during al fresco dining.

 

So, from your explanation above, has the Cloud changed where it stores the zodiacs?  Pre-Covid, when we were on board in 2020, the zodiacs were stored near the bow just outside the workout room, not aft.  

The recent pictures of the Cloud I’ve seen show the zodiacs stored on a platform/crane like contraption aft and some forward behind the Observation Lounge.   

Edited June 7, 2022 by Randyk47

[FauxNom]

7 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

It would appear to me that unlike the Cloud where the zodiacs are stored aft but above deck 9 on the Wind they are stored aft on a platform on deck 6.   Not view enhancing but it is an expedition ship now.  

This is correct. They added a platform and I honestly don’t think it kills the ambience @Stumblefoot The zodiacs are lower than eye level so you barely notice them. I do think they make the stern look a bit awkward when viewed from a distance, but you get used to it.

[Stumblefoot]

2 hours ago, FauxNom said:

I honestly don’t think it kills the ambience @Stumblefoot The zodiacs are lower than eye level so you barely notice them.

That’s good to hear.  
 

I was thinking they’d destroy the view when sitting at a table along the rail.  Glad to know that isn’t the case.  Thx FauxNom.

[clarky]

I agree with Kathy.  You really don't notice the zodiacs.  Today is another sea day and we are sailing through the straights of Gibraltar.  The expedition team are busy on deck giving commentary.

 

All is well in the wind world.  Seville tomorrow.  We love Seville so looking forward to this port.

[FauxNom]

Gibraltar!

[Silver Spectre]

21 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

That’s what I was thinking… what a way to destroy the intimacy of La Terrazza and the views afforded during al fresco dining.

 

So, from your explanation above, has the Cloud changed where it stores the zodiacs?  Pre-Covid, when we were on board in 2020, the zodiacs were stored near the bow just outside the workout room, not aft.  

Hi Stumbles, remember the Wind was modified many years ago and lost the open area behind the Obs Lounge that exists on the Cloud. It was all filled in. The other zodiacs are stored at the back of the walking track, blocking it off.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Silver Spectre

[Stumblefoot]

4 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Hi Stumbles, remember the Wind was modified many years ago and lost the open area behind the Obs Lounge that exists on the Cloud.

You’re right Mr. Silver. I totally forgot about that earlier remodel.  Thank you!

[highplanesdrifters]

16 hours ago, FauxNom said:

Gibraltar!

Oh yes please

[carefreecruise]

On 6/5/2022 at 6:37 PM, carefreecruise said:

Hi Les,

I think at 150 you get additional 5% discount. Not sure but we are only 20 days behind that and will look forward to another five percent off. Will ask when we got on the Wind in a few weeks.

Don't know what I was thinking. Yes it is 250 days for additional 5 percent. I looked an we are 220 days, so a little more cruising. 

[rclarky]

Let me preface this post by saying we are loving our Athens-Tromso cruise on the WIND so far.  It is actually better that I hoped for in many ways.

 

The refurb during Covid shutdown has been well done and the ship looks elegant and fresh.

We have been fortunate enough to move from a normal verandah suite (VS, 622)  to a Silver Suite (SS, 723) during the cruise. But the change has highlighted some epic fails in the bathroom design for the SS.

 

I have no idea which company is responsible for the current design - but they need to be fired.

 

EPIC FAIL 1 - NO SHOWER SCREEN (VS & SS)
When having a shower, it is impossible to not soak the bathroom floor. There is no screen or door to stop water splashing off your body and onto the floor. See  picture.

This same fault was in our VS and SS.

 

Also as part of the refurb, the tile floors in the VS bathrooms have been replaced with fake-wood. No problem with that but the unavoidable water on the floor was starting to cause the floor in our VS to start curling. Another couple reported that their floor makes a squishing sound as they walk on it ... seems it is lifting up also.

 

EPIC FAIL 2 - POSITION OF WATER CONTROLS (SS Only)
See the picture.
There are a number of issues here.

 

• The top lever controls the ceiling shower ONLY.
• The lower row of controls are for the BATH and HAND SHOWER ONLY.

 

If you want a ceiling shower - you have to get under the shower to turn it on. That blast of (initially) cold water is an unwelcome shock to the system.
It is odd that the Ceiling shower control is not mounted higher, but who cares.

In the VS, the ceiling shower control was mounted near the opening where you step in ... so easy to turn on and adjust temp before getting into the shower.

 

My wife likes using the HAND shower when she does not want to get her hair wet. Generally (including in our VS) this can be mounted in a hands-free bracket high up the wall so it behaves like a wall shower. As you can see, in the SS the wall mount simply does not exist. 😞

 

EPIC FAIL 3 - DOOR OPENING (SS Only)
Standing on the floor mat while drying yourself is a pretty standard procedure.

 

In the VS, if your travelling partner opens the door and barges in - no ankles/toes are at risk.

 

But in the SS, the dryee will be slammed with the back of the door and the ankles/toes of the dryee are at serious risk.

 

EPIC FAIL 4 - BASIN OVERHEAD LIGHT POSITION (SS Only)
Bathroom design 101 will tell you that the light over a basin should always be located midway between the person's head and the mirror. If the light is above the person's head, you lean forward into your own shadow.

 

See the picture of our SS bathroom. The light is in the wrong position.

Yes - I know there are two mirror lights to illuminate your face, but they are not bright enough to compensate. We did not have this problem in the VS bathroom.

 

Conclusion:
We much prefered the VS bathroom to the SS bathroom.

 

Again: LOVING the cruise. All the above are 'first world problems' and not detracting from us having a great cruise.

[machotspur]

1 hour ago, rclarky said:

 

I have no idea which company is responsible for the current design - but they need to be fired.

 

EPIC FAIL 1 - NO SHOWER SCREEN (VS & SS)
When having a shower, it is impossible to not soak the bathroom floor. There is no screen or door to stop water splashing off your body and onto the floor. See  picture.

 

EPIC FAIL 2 - POSITION OF WATER CONTROLS (SS Only)
See the picture.
There are a number of issues here.

If you want a ceiling shower - you have to get under the shower to turn it on. That blast of (initially) cold water is an unwelcome shock to the system.

 

 

 

rclarky - thank you so much for this post and your observations - albeit they are most disappointing. As you say these are really basic issues that should have been eliminated at design stage by any bathroom fitter of note.

 

Some points to clarify if I may please.

 

Is the overhead shower at the 'tap end' of the bath ie behind the glass half screen, or at the open end where one enters ?

If it is the former then is the shower head movable to enable it to be diverted whilst one turns the tap on ?  Or is it at the 'open end' - if it is then this is just ludicrous, causing - as you say - much water to be splashed onto the bathroom floor. 

This latter point is a real 'red flag' for us. We detest wet bathroom floors and will always refuse a bathroom that has a 'wet room' style.

 

Also - do you think that a sliding door have been fitted to close the opening ?  Or does the half screen 'open outwards' - as often is the case - to enable one to reach in to fiddle with the taps ?   

 

Thank you.

        

[rclarky]

 

Q:Is the overhead shower at the 'tap end' of the bath ie behind the glass half screen, or at the open end where one enters ?

A: Shower in centre. Tap one end, behind glass screen. Opening at other end.

[Taps]----[Shower head]-----[Opening]

 

Q: If it is the former then is the shower head movable to enable it to be diverted whilst one turns the tap on ? 

A: The shower head is fixed. Not moveable at all

 

Q: Also - do you think that a sliding door have been fitted to close the opening ? 

A: A sliding door/screen would solve the problem of wet floors, but does not exist.

 

Q: Or does the half screen 'open outwards' - as often is the case - to enable one to reach in to fiddle with the taps ?   

A: The glass screen is very fixed.

 

[clarky]

As this is another sea day I thought I would post some thoughts on the silver suite.  We are in 723 and I will post some photos of the suite.

I'm not loving this suite as much as I do the medallion  suite 741.  Firstly the bathroom is tiny and badly designed. You can not turn on the shower before you get in the bathtub shower.  My husband has posted on this topic so I won't go into details of the bathroom here.  The walk in robe is also terribly designed.  you can not hang a dress. The hanger is not high enough to hang pants or dresses without them being scrunched up.

 

I'm enjoying the extra space but I would not book the silver suite over the medallion  suit 741 even though 741 has no balcony, during refurbishment they added a window that can open.

 

Our friends who were in 702 a royal suite had the ceiling collapse last night and were moved to the owners suite,
 

There have been several problems that have come to light with this cruise after the refurbishment.

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by clarky
fix photos

[FauxNom]

That is a horrendous bathroom design! At least when the floor got wet in my Vista Suite the puddle of water wasn't sitting right at the threshold to the bathroom door, in prime slipping territory. In my suite, you could use the mat to confine the water to the edge right next to the shower. And the floor was tile, so no problem with sitting water. Even so, this same problem existed last time I sailed on the Cloud, so it's a shame they didn't take the opportunity to fix a known problem.

 

Collapsed ceiling? Oy!

 

I'm glad you guys are still having fun. How's your trivia team holding up?

[jpalbny]

Those half-enclosed showers are all over Europe. We see them in hotels all the time and we aren't the biggest fans. Apparently someone thinks that they look good?

 

They never work well to contain the water...especially since someone has compared my splashing about in the shower to that which might be expected from a poorly-trained walrus. And the comparison is not favorable! 

Edited June 14, 2022 by jpalbny

[cruiseej]

5 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Those half-enclosed showers are all over Europe. We see them in hotels all the time and we aren't the biggest fans. Apparently someone thinks that they look good?

 

Well, if the shower head was a moveable mount, so you could direct the water towards the closed end — especially before getting in — they wouldn't be quite as bad. The decision to install a fixed shower head in the middle of the shower just seems like bad design. Also, in many bathrooms which use the half-open design, the controls are placed on the back wall or the wall nearest the open end, so it is easy to turn on without getting wet. But that requires more pipes in the walls, and they took the easy way out here. Having the controls low near the tub deck adds insult to injury if you're trying to get into the shower without getting blasted with cold water. 

[Stumblefoot]

11 hours ago, clarky said:

 

 

Did the dry dock not replace the suite’s hard goods? Between the nasty looking couch and super worn mattress where you can see the sagging, I’m not impressed with the revitalized Wind.

[cruiseej]

3 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

Did the dry dock not replace the suite’s hard goods? Between the nasty looking couch and super worn mattress where you can see the sagging, I’m not impressed with the revitalized Wind.

 

You may remember that the Wind had a major refurbishment in 2017, which included renovations of suites. The announced plans for the 2020 ice-class refurbishment stated that "all suites will undergo another full upgrade". Then the planned 2020 renovation was delayed multiple times due to Covid, and finally moved to a different shipyard in 2021; Silversea didn't make public pronouncements about which of the originally-planned upgrades got trimmed from the revamped 2021-22 renovations. It's certainly possible some suites updated in the first renovation were not updated a second time, or the updates were more minimal than originally planned.

[ex-hippie]

Guess I'm going to have to pack my mini dresses! Thanks for the info!

[dawntrdr]

With that bath/shower set-up, there is certainly no way you can ask the butler to run a bath for you!  They'd have to take off their shoes and socks and get right in there to reach the controls.

[highplanesdrifters]

Thanks for all the photos, suite details and Wind info.  We had the same bathroom and short closet issues on the Cloud. Except for those issues, we really liked the Cloud Silver suite.  Although no tub, it had two full bathrooms. Now that was luxury! We are in the Wind Grand suite in Oct.  Hope the ceiling is fixed so we don't fall through to the Royal. Maybe they can put in a connecting slide. 🤣

[Silver Spectre]

On 6/15/2022 at 2:02 AM, Stumblefoot said:

Did the dry dock not replace the suite’s hard goods? Between the nasty looking couch and super worn mattress where you can see the sagging, I’m not impressed with the revitalized Wind.

And where on earth would you hang a long dress, in the shower maybe?

[Silver Spectre]

Great to see the Wind back through Tower Bridge again. Photos elsewhere.

[les37b]

5 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Great to see the Wind back through Tower Bridge again. Photos elsewhere.

 

I was gutted after booking the Stockholm extension (leave this evening) so missed the sail in and departure today.

 

There certainly would have been some high flying videos had I been home for the one time only visit in 2022.