alithecat

On the Silversea website the Wind cruises show as Waitlisted (ie. cancelled) from May until November 2025 but then show as available starting in November 2025 for the entire Antarctica season. So, unless they haven't dealt with the cancellations that far out, the ship is not sold.

The excursions are run by local operators, not by Silversea. Depending on the customs of the area, of course, but most want and expect tips.

@tvl4life the train or bus transfer should show up under Details on MySilversea. Unless they changed it, all D2D passengers are sent on the train which is included in the fare. P2P on the bus, unless the P2P passengers pay to upgrade to the train. The train follows the highway, so the scenery is just as good from the bus, and the bus takes about 3 hrs. vs 4-1/2 on the train. If you start your cruise in Seward and take the train you won't get to the ship until close to dinner time.

Sunglasses are necessary, not goggles. Bring eyeglass holder straps that go around your neck. You don't want to lose your glasses/sunglasses if it's windy on the zodiacs. This happened to some people.

We wore two base layers under our thin waterproof pants. Long underpants -- we had both thin silk underwear and thicker Uniqlo Heattech underwear, depending on the weather, plus Smartwool pants. I wouldn't expect the thin waterproof pants to fit over puffy ski pants, and you definitely need the top layer to be completely waterproof. It can get very wet in the zodiacs.

Silversea charters a train. This is not the Alaska Railroad train mentioned above. They bus you from the Silversea hotel, if you are staying in one, to the train station at the airport. They collect your luggage in advance. If you are not staying at a Silversea hotel you need to go to the train station at the airport with your luggage on your own. The train usually leaves around 1pm. The train takes disembarking passengers from Seward to Anchorage in the morning, then embarking passengers back to Seward in the afternoon. You should get full details from Silversea.

@cruiseej 2022 was our 3rd try too. We booked the Seabourn Quest in 2020 -- Covid cancellation, then the Silver Wind in 2021 -- ship issues, and finally the Cloud in 2022. We're glad we waited. The first cruise we booked didn't go to South Georgia. [and apologies for hijacking this thread]

@cruiseej I would like to try the new Silversea and Seabourn expedition ships too. But the prices were a lot higher than the Iceland/Greenland cruise on the Wind.

No you can't. The boots are rented from ship to shore traveler in advance. You pay with a credit card when you order the rental. Shipboard credit only works for purchases on the ship such as La Dame dinners, special wines, spa treatments, boutique purchases, non-included excursions.

Disagree with @Fletcher. We were on the Cloud Holiday cruise this past winter and loved it. The ship did not feel either too old or too big. The food, service and suites were lovely. The expedition staff were great. All very knowledgeable, helpful and professional. Our expedition leader was outstanding. We are booked on the Wind next summer for Iceland and Greenland.

Definitely open at 8am. Not sure if they close at 8pm or 10pm. Use of machines is free. Laundry detergent is provided. Bring your own fabric softener sheets.

What I don't understand is that when you order poached eggs they always serve each egg on a small round piece of soggy bread. I always order toast, dump the soggy bread, and move the eggs to the toast. I prefer lox under my eggs not bacon. This is called eggs royale, but most of the waiters give me a puzzled look if I ask for that. So again, I order the components and some assembly is required.

Usually there are at least 3 planes. They don't fill the middle seats. They stagger the departures over a couple of hours. You might be on the first flight. They return the disembarking passengers in the morning.

The charter planes go non-stop to Puerto Willaims on the way down, but make a stop in Punta Arenas for fuel on the way back.

This is the real answer. These are Silversea charter flights, not regular airline flights. They need several planes to fit in everyone on the cruise. They assign you the specific plane/time/seat when you get to the hotel. The planes are all one class. Silversea takes everyone on buses in groups by plane from the hotel to the charter terminal. It's all organized very well.

We paid $90 + $100 deposit, as @EbonyJ quoted, last year. They were not $50. Rent in advance from shiptoshore. Do not expect to find your size on the ship. I recommend renting boots, as they are heavy and bulky, but buying your own thin waterproof pants and lightweight, collapsible poles. Don't forget that the Santiago weather will be very hot, so take a few summer clothes. And finally, there is lots of robbery in Santiago. Be careful out there.

Agree with the 2nd day advice. One more thing for you to consider when making dinner reservations. La Terraza is on the top and the end of the ship where you will get much more motion of the ocean. Same with the Grill. I recommend checking your itinerary and not making reservations there when you are crossing to/from South Georgia or on the Drake "shake".

It's the Anchorage Convention Center. That's where the buses depart from for Port to Port passengers. I'm sure you'll get your luggage tags there, as they take all but your hand luggage away from you, transport it separately to the ship, and put it in your suite. Personally, I'd stay the extra day in Anchorage and take the Silversea bus.

The Crystal fans think the food. lectures and entertainment are better. The Silversea fans prefer the smaller ship and larger veranda suites, and are happy with the food. [as I was typing this @Texas Tillie posted with exactly this about Crystal. Yes, Crystal expanded (and repriced) many of their suites and lowered the passenger capacity, but they couldn't shrink the old ships. The large size restricts where they can dock. I still remember being on a Crystal ship that docked in Laem Chabang, a very long (2+ hour) bus ride away from Bangkok, and then finally arriving and seeing a small Silversea ship docked right in the city.

On our Alaska cruise last year, we needed to show ID to get past port security to reboard. Silversea had my passport. I had nothing but the ship's card, which wasn't good enough. I was alone and coming back from a different tour than my husband. Fortunately, he arrived from his tour shortly afterwards and they accepted the copies of our passports on his iPhone. I learned from that experience that even though I was not planning to drive, it was a good idea to take my driver's license with me as another form of ID.

They deliver room service breakfast and dinner, caviar and appetizers, and wine on request, take and return your paid laundry, stock/restock your mini refrig. with your preferences. They can make dinner reservations for you, but we have found it more efficient to ask the restaurant managers directly. They will get you any extras you need for your suite like hangers. They can pack/unpack but we have never asked for that. They like to get your shoes shined. We have to ask them not to do that, as my husband's shoes get ruined if polished.

The flights leave in the early morning. I can't remember how many charter planes they use. At least 2, possibly 4. They assign you a plane and timeslot and you can't change this. The charters stop in Punta Arenas for fuel. The runway in Puerto Williams is short and they can't take on enough fuel there because it would make the plane too heavy. The flights land in the Santiago charter airport. Silversea takes you from there either to the main airport or one of their hotels. They assigned those with early/same day flights to a hotel near the airport, the Hilton I think. Those staying overnight went back to the Mandarin Oriental. We did not use Silversea Air. We booked a room at the Holiday Inn Airport Terminal and that's where we were dropped off. Our flight was around 11pm that evening.

The other factor to consider is the type of cruise you want. Silver Spirit is a Classic ship. Dress is more formal, you dock or take tenders to shore, shore excursions are often bus rides to attractions. Silver Wind is an Expedition ship. More casual, more adventurous, zodiacs to shore, hiking, more remote locations. Both are good but different styles of vacation.

There are multiple flights, because the planes are small. You are assigned a flight and seat and can't change. The flights are assigned in the same order as the flights to Puerto Williams. We were on the first flight down, which was great, but also the first flight back, which meant leaving the ship around 5:30-6am. The flight back takes around 5 hours, I think. They have to stop once to refuel because the runway in Puerto Williams is short and they can't take on enough fuel there -- too heavy -- to make it back to Santiago. The plane lands at the private airport. From there, they take you on vans/buses to either the main airport or to the post-cruise hotel(s). I think in the worst case you'll get back to the hotel in Santiago by mid to late afternoon.

Yes, there are SS reps. with big signs at the airport. You wait for the entire group to gather with their luggage, which can take quite a while as the immigration line was very long. Then they walk the group with all their luggage a long way across the parking lot to where the bus is parked to take you to the hotel.